Elden Ring’s ‘Goofy’ Manga Is Controversial Because It’s Too Accurate

Manga and comic fans who also enjoy playing the worldwide sensation that is Elden Ring were delighted to learn that an official manga adaptation of the video game had been released. However, many of those fans were disappointed to find the series is a comedic look at the game rather than sincere dive into its deep and beloved lore.

Since its debut in February 2022, FromSoftware’s Elden Ring has been one of the hottest video games in the world. The game follows the mission of a character who is known as a “Tarnished” – a person who previously enjoyed status in the society where the game takes place but loses their position and is banished. However, when society suffers a catastrophe, the Tarnished are called back to save the day and take their place as rulers over a new and glorious era. In essence, the player has to resolve numerous challenges to save society and restore peace and order. It’s a beautifully rendered game with a rich backstory that adds to the brilliance of the experience. The game does have one drawback, however – the infamous difficult found in FromSoftware’s ‘Soulsborne’ output, for which its creator has even issued an apology.

Considering the game’s tone, aesthetic, and story, more than a few fans expected that Nikiichi Tobita’s manga interpretation would mirror its dark fantasy vibe. While Tobita does perfectly reflect the look of the game, in regard to the storyline, he serves up an absolute curveball that few if any fans could have guessed. Rather than depicting the story as the grim tale of the Tarnished that the game introduces, Tobita’s story is a slapstick comedy, where Aseo – the protagonist Tarnished hero – is portrayed as a cowardly, goofy simpleton whose survival is due more to dumb luck than his skills and experience. For many serious fans of the games, Tobita’s interpretation was so unrepresentative of the game that the manga has been trashed as unreadable.

In addition to the fans angered by Tobita’s actual changes to the story, there is also a segment of the game’s fandom who believe Tobita’s depiction is directly poking fun at them. This perspective is based on the difficulty of the game, where even the best players normally suffer multiple embarrassing losses over the course of the campaign. Tobita clearly plays on some of the more common humbling experiences of gameplay, such as the frustrating difficulty of a Tarnished to get past the first horseman at the start of the game. Tobita reproduces this as a main plot point of the first and second issues. Likewise, the hero’s struggle to use Elden Ring‘s healing/buff flasks reflects the FromSoft-game theme of players often having to figure out what even powerful items do for themselves.

While the comedic Elden Ring manga isn’t for everyone, it does recreate the much-mocked experience of diving into a FromSoft game and being confronted by a confusing world packed with rock-hard enemies. In making the central character so inept, Elden Ring: The Road to Erdtree imagines what it would actually be like to follow someone dropped into a deadly environment with no supplies, few skills, and little understanding of the world around them. Even skilled Elden Ring players require countless resurrections to make it to the end of the game, and the manga recreates this by depicting a supernaturally lucky ‘player’ who has no right to still be alive. Ultimately, the mangareplaces the game’s ultimate sense of empowerment with a forced ineptitude familiar to any fan of the Soulsborne genre. Of course, the story has only just started, and the character may actually become a skilled warrior as it unfolds.

It should be noted that Tobita clearly understood how fans might react. Indeed, the first issue warns, “THIS IS A COMEDY MANGA.” Nevertheless, Elden Ring: The Road to Erdtree has many fans in uproar, offering up a comedic account of playing Elden Ringrather than exploring its atmospheric world.

Elden Ring: The Road to the Erdtree #1 & #2 are available now.