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The Legend of Zelda: Legendary Edition #1

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time -Legendary Edition-

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Link must defeat evil at every turn in his perilous quest to help Princess Zelda!

The Legend of Legendary Edition  contains two volumes of the beloved  The Legend of Zelda  manga series, presented in a deluxe format featuring new covers and color art pieces by Akira Himekawa.

The battle for Hyrule and the Sacred Realm has begun! A young boy named Link must defeat evil on his long, perilous quest to find the spiritual stones that hold the key to the Triforce, and deliver them to Zelda, princess of the land of Hyrule. 

Young Link embarks on a perilous quest to find three spiritual stones that hold the key to the Triforce, the wielder of which will rule the world! Link's plan is to deliver the stones to the Princess of the mystical land of Hyrule, Zelda. But obstacles abound and his long journey has only just begun!

378 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2016

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About the author

Akira Himekawa

83 books413 followers
Akira Himekawa is the collaboration of two women, A. Honda and S. Nagano. Together they have created nine manga adventures featuring Link and the popular video game world of The Legend of Zelda, including Ocarina of Time, Oracle of Seasons and Four Swords. Their most recent work, Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, was serialized in Shogaku Rokunensei.

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5 stars
1,270 (50%)
4 stars
853 (33%)
3 stars
331 (13%)
2 stars
61 (2%)
1 star
16 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 289 reviews
Profile Image for Brittany.
181 reviews15 followers
February 17, 2018
So unlike many people, I have never played any game form of Zelda; therefore, I went into this manga almost completely blind. I did know it had something to do with Link and that Zelda turned into Sheik....other than that I really had no concept. Going in with that mindset I was actually pleasantly surpised about how much of a fun read this story was.

Link starts out as a child in the Kokiri Forest, but he doesn't seem to fit in with the others there since he does not have a fairy. After the Great Deku Tree is attacked, Link finds out that he is actually an outsider from Hyrule and he is needed to have the kingdom. Thus begins the journey of Link.

The best part about this story is honestly about how sweet, nice, naive, and generous the main character Link is. He has been given an impossible task, to go out into a world he has no idea about, to save a kingdom that he barely knew he was a part of. Despite all of this, Link shows incredible courage and overcomes any and all hardships with courage and quick thinking.

I love the story between Link and Zelda, and this has definitely intrigued me to play the game. If you want to read a story about an extremely likeable hero, who does not get too big for his britches, then Link is the hero for you. I am super excited to continue on with this series.
Profile Image for Clara (clarylovesbooks).
594 reviews79 followers
May 26, 2021
Breath of the Wild is one of my favourite games. I have fallen in love with the story and the beautiful world of Zelda, and I bought this manga as soon as I discovered it. I never played Ocarine of Time, but the illustrations are so beautiful and the narration is so smooth and clear that the story was so easy to enjoy. I read this in one sitting! It was really interesting to get to know Link's origins and how everything began, and his interactions with Zelda were so cute...and he talks!! It's so cool to finally get to know his thoughts and his feelings!
This made me appreciate the world of Zelda even more, and I love the fact that Breath of the Wild is so coherent and faithful to the original story/game, and this manga helped me to understand and appreciate BOTW even more.
Profile Image for Avery (ThePagemaster).
595 reviews88 followers
March 16, 2017
This was a Christmas gift I got from my parents and IMMEDIATELY, I had to read this! I was searching high and low for a Legend of Zelda manga when I heard about them; they were on Amazon, but I couldn't justify paying the entire box set for $50-ish dollars(not including shipping).

When someone asks "What is the greatest video game of all time?", almost without hesitation, the majority consensus would say "Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time". It seemed to be created by the right people, on the right system, in the right time(no pun intended) as it set the standard for the bountiful of fantasy games preceding it. Not only that, but Ocarina of Time added depth to the Legend of Zelda mythos and lore and will forever be known as the quintessential video game classic, being the 4th best selling game for the Nintendo 64.

As much as I love the LoZ video games, and I do, I was very curious to see other adaptations and mediums these stories could be told. But, since a TV/movie adaptation is still either a rumor or "no comment", a manga adaptation will have to suffice, and I got to say, it was very refreshing. It's drawn in that old school, 90's anime: with the big eyes and sharp facial features, which, in that time, produced many successful animes and mangas, seemed only fitting for this adaptation.

Sure, there are minor tweaks in the manga: For example, and this will be the only spoiler-ish thing I will give away, as an idea of what to expect, there is no Shadow Temple. But despite a different way of telling the story, the manga stayed absolutely true to the source material. Even with Link having dialogue, and he does(HE TALKS!), it felt like if Link had dialogue to begin with, he would say the things in the games, as he said in the manga...if that makes sense.

There are also scenes that just punches you--even low blows you--in the heart; there's a scene with Volvagia....ugh...not gonna talk about that lol

If you haven't gotten the message already, READ THIS BOOK! If you are a manga fan; if you are a Legend of Zelda fan, I cannot implore you any further to read this!
Profile Image for Dameon Fowler.
90 reviews2 followers
October 17, 2021
This was a perfect little add on to the land of Hyrule. I played the game a little bit when I was younger but I didn't know a hole lot about the story. After this I learned a lot and still got the same feelings I got as a kid mixed in with some humor! I am surprised that they did such a great job with Link giving him more of a personality. It was great but I do feel like some scenes were cut way to short which is a big bummer! If you loved the video game I almost certain you'll really like their recreation of Zelda's beautiful land.
Profile Image for Tyler.
78 reviews6 followers
January 17, 2023
Had a great time with this (my first manga) and was thrilled to see how they dealt with converting a video game into a novel. They made changes to the plot that were largely "prosaic" and I think it was better for them.

What I missed was the Temples--that's the coolest part of the game, and they didn't really include them at all in this, and I'm not sure why. They even skipped the Shadow Temple completely!
Profile Image for Kerri.
1,036 reviews15 followers
December 6, 2020
An interesting revisit of the Ocarina of Time game with some changes and twists, of course. Pretty artwork and it was fun to read though it seemed a little disjointed in some places. I have been wanting to revisit the Zelda games since playing Breath of the Wild and this made me want to play Ocarina of Time again even more.
April 22, 2023
Ik vind het verhaal geweldig. Alleen had ik zoveel moeite om het te lezen omdat boek via de Japanse bindwijze is gemaakt en je dus van rechts naar links leest. Iets wat mijn hoofd niet altijd even goed aan kon.
Maar verder vond ik het geweldig
Profile Image for Undomiel Books.
1,074 reviews28 followers
November 21, 2019
Overall, I quite enjoyed this manga. I never played Zelda as a kid, and so I went in to it knowing little to nothing about it. It really gave me Rayman vibes, which is the epitome of my childhood, and so I really enjoyed that.

I thought the art style was really cool, and the drawings were the perfect mixture of cute little ones (baby Dyuk tree was the world's cutest little thing) and awesome, powerful ones of Zelda fighting off enemies (although, some of these were kind of hard to see exactly what was going on in them).

I also really liked the artistic styling of the box layouts, and how it was different on every page. This is only my second manga, and so I'm not sure if its the norm for boxes to be drawn like this, but even if it is, I loved it! Especially when characters would sometimes come out of the box and overlap another, giving them a 3D effect.

The only reason I deducted a star was because the storyline was a bit rushed. I understand and appreciate that they were probably trying to recreate the video-game vibe where as soon as you defeat an enemy, another pops up, and everything seems to be in constant chaos, however on page, I think it would have helped to slow the pacing down ever so slightly outside of the battle scenes.

On the whole though, this was great, and I can't wait to read the next instalment!
Profile Image for Stephanie.
48 reviews5 followers
February 15, 2021
Ohhhh I was getting some major N64 Ocarina of Time flashbacks while reading this manga. Definitely one of my favorite Zelda Games to date so I was lovin’ the nostalgia of it all. How I miss the 90s. ***reminiscing*** Okay, time traveling back to 2021...The art is absolutely amazing and I really enjoyed the extra sketches and stories in this Legendary Edition. I would give this more of a 4.5 star rating. I can’t wait to read the other 4 volumes.
Profile Image for Sophia K.
185 reviews17 followers
July 2, 2021
I had a friend that was obsessed with The Legend of Zelda. When I saw this at the comic book store I bought just for that(I haven't played the game). Great edition, nice extra stories and I loved the story! Buying the rest volumes.
Profile Image for Naomi.
373 reviews11 followers
January 16, 2023
Sigo sin acostumbrarme a que Link hable, pero de todas maneras todo lo relacionado con Legend of Zelda es hermoso.
Profile Image for Miyacore.
12 reviews15 followers
February 22, 2018
Ein schöner Manga mit einem tollen Zeichenstil. Da ich Ocarina of Times nie gespielt hab kannte ich die Story noch nicht, verstanden habe ich sie trotzdem. Ingesamt war es eine doch recht spannende Story. Nicht einer der besten Mangas / Geschichten die ich gelesen hab, daher nur 4 von 5 Sternen, aber durch aus ein guter Manga.
Profile Image for Link.
93 reviews1 follower
October 5, 2022
Absolutely amazing.
Has some cheesy bits but it’s so good and cute! It represents ocarina of time well!!!!
Profile Image for Melanie.
752 reviews
June 25, 2021
I can't believe it's been so long since I read this manga. Even re-reading it now I can't help but love the story. Actually, given all the other mangas that I have read before, it feels like Ocarina of Time survives wonderfully to the test of time. It does have overused tropes, but somehow it still feels nice and fresh like a breeze in summer. I had forgotten how well drawn it is, and how balanced is the distribution of action scenes. Even with the simply - and maybe even typical - hero's journey, I love the fact that it doesn't necessarily try to retell what happens in the game. Link is not a silent hero in the manga, but he still has a lot of personality and is super likeable.

Zero regrets for getting the physical copy of this story.
Profile Image for Katherine.
96 reviews
March 1, 2020
My first foray into manga and I really enjoyed it! I've been playing a lot of zelda games over the last year for the first time, and Ocarina of Time is a pretty necessary title. I think this adaptation fleshes out the characterisation more, and also looks very pretty too. I found it very engaging, moreso than the game at points. The only gripe I have is a lot of the important dungeons and battles are dealt with very quickly, so at times it felt rushed. But overall this was a really enjoyable experience.
Profile Image for Javier Lárraga.
275 reviews21 followers
January 15, 2021
Ocarina of time fue uno de aquellos videojuegos tan revolucionarios que desde el momento de su salida ya era considerado como perfecto por la prensa y el mejor juego de todos los tiempos. Al día de hoy a más de 20 años de su debut en el mercado no creo que siga siendo así pero es innegable que este Zelda en específico marcó un antes y un después en la industria del gaming, pues no solo fue reconocido por sus mecánicas jugables, su diseño de escenarios y mazmorras, también lo fue por su historia que es lo que nos compete el día de hoy. ¿Es acaso la narrativa de Ocarina of time lo suficientemente buena como para levantarse por sí misma sin las cosas que un jugador puede hacer su cuenta?

El manga de Ocarina of time es una adaptación del videojuego homónimo escrita y dibujada por la dupla de mangakas conocidas como “Akira Himekawa” que en un principio fue ideado por un pedido de Nintendo a estas artistas como un producto accesorio al videojuego con el objetivo de que la marca “Zelda” también entrara al mercado del manga debido al gran margen de consumidores que existía ahí. Por lo tanto, aunque la historia principal de ambos es muy parecida y se desarrolla de la misma manera la mayor parte del tiempo, lo cierto es que hay cosas que en el medio del manga si se podían hacer a diferencia del juego, tanto por las mecánicas jugables impuestas por los desarrolladores como por las limitantes del hardware de la consola. Es por eso que este producto tiene un montón de libertades creativas y nuevas interacciones que funcionan aquí pero que quizá en el videojuego hubieran sido muy difíciles de recrear sin gastar muchos recursos en el proceso.

Ocarina of time nos cuenta la historia de Link, un chico del bosque que esta destinado a salvar el reino de Hyrule del malvado Ganondorf, un hechicero del desierto que pretende tomar el poder de las diosas para controlar el mundo, es por eso que el Gran Árbol Deku envía al joven Link a conocer a la princesa Zelda para que juntos puedan reconciliar a las tribus del reino y encontrar el poder de las diosas antes que Ganondorf en una aventura tan épica que trascenderá las barreras del mismísimo tiempo.

Como dicen por ahí, lo importante no es el final sino el viaje y aquí esta frase queda muy bien representada pues el modo en que Link progresa y el final de la travesía son prácticamente iguales peeero entre una cosa y otra hay ciertos diálogos que cambian, a Link se le da una personalidad propia, hay personajes que se conocen desde antes o relaciones que no estaban en el material de origen, incluso personajes como Sheik y Link Oscuro siguen estando presentes pero con un giro de tuerca y lo mismo aplica para las resoluciones de los templos que como ya se podrán imaginar se tuvo que cortar toda la sección de resolver acertijos para ir a pelear directamente con los jefes.

También otra cosa que me gustó es que se le agrega contexto a ciertas cosas del juego que no tenían explicación como el hecho de que en el momento de Link obtenía la Ocarina del tiempo esta reemplazaba a la Ocarina básica (que había sido un regalo de gran valor sentimental) sin volver a verla nunca más, mientras que acá se explica la anterior Ocarina fue destruida en el momento que obtienes la nueva, como dije antes, cosa que no se hubieran podido representar en el juego porque habría sido alargar la cinemática en un cartucho al que de por si ya no le cabía nada más por las limitantes técnicas.

Ahora, por la parte negativa la verdad es que es poca pero hay escenas totalmente nuevas que terminaron reemplazando momentos del material de origen y eso esta bien ¿Quién quiere ver exactamente lo mismo una y otra vez? El detalle es que hubo veces en las que si no hubiera jugado el videojuego si habría dicho “¿Quién es este personaje? ¿Y esto cuando pasó?” o directamente hubo un par de escenas relacionadas a la templos que fueron cortadas y cuando Link llega a la batalla final a pesar de que esto no se resolvió en un panel del manga pareciera ser como que si se le dio resolución en algún momento pero no se vio dibujado.

Aun así y a pesar de las muy notables diferencias, la visión que las mangakas tienen del juego es magnífica pues si de por sí el material de origen ya es algo épico, aquí podemos observar a detalle los combates, el arte hace que los monstruos se vean intimidantes y también el hecho de que aquí no exista ninguna limitante de espacio en el cartucho hace que las artistas puedan hacer algo tan simple como recorrer el reino (que en el juego tomaba un par de minutos porque la llanura no era tan grande), una aventura que necesite hacerse en varios días de viaje y en el camino pasa cada situación que la verdad uno agradece las libertades creativas, aunque claro son estas libertades las que hacen que al final el manga sea un producto a parte y no algo canónico dentro de la saga.

Con todo y los pequeños detalles, creo que el manga de The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time es un producto que disfrute bastante, como fan me dejaron satisfecho los agregados y los giros en la trama, además del arte que vuelve un poco más realistas los gráficos ya bastante anticuados del Nintendo 64, e incluso si no conociera la saga creo que es una historia que logra sostenerse por si misma (respondiendo a la pregunta del principio) debido a que aunque la del material de origen era simple tenía unos personajes encantadores y un lore muy interesante. Lo recomiendo bastante…
September 1, 2020
Wonderful, beautiful, and nostalgic for me. I love the fact that they gave Link a voice, and I love the voice and personality they gave him!

While many of the sequences from the game were somewhat rushed, I really liked how they gave Link a companion for each one. Also, some of the supplementary stories were very welcome and added some interesting perspective on the main plot!
Profile Image for Lulu Joanis.
Author 0 books6 followers
December 25, 2021
It felt rushed at times but... the silliness... the androgyny... the cute anime girls... the gorgeous paneling...` the nostalgia and the *awareness* of its nostalgia, all added up into a grand adventure!
Profile Image for caitbookish.
33 reviews3 followers
January 15, 2019
SUCH A CUTE READ!!! It also gave me all the feels 😭 I NEED MORE!!
Profile Image for Giuls.
525 reviews97 followers
June 29, 2019
Era da un secolo che non leggevo un manga e sì, probabilmente questo è merito del let's play di Poketonx 🤣 (se non lo seguite su Youtube fatelo!). Ne ha parlato talmente tanto che mi ha incuriosita *-*.

Se sognate un gioco di Zelda in cui Link parli, beh leggete il manga! Perchè sì, Link finalmente parla e vi giuro è la cosa più bella di questa storia <3 okay no, forse non la più bella, ma comunque ci voleva 😜.

Adoro la storia creata con i videogiochi di The Legend of Zelda. Io non sono un'appassionata di videogiochi, ma in quest'ultimo anno mi sono appassionata a questo e a Kingdom Hearts, soprattutto per la trama. I giochi con una trama intricata a mio parere sono i migliori, forse perchè potrebbero facilmente essere trasportati in un libro fantasy XD.

Se non conoscete la storia di The Legend of Zelda ve la spiego in due secondi: Link deve salvare la principessa Zelda dal Ganondorf. Ecco, essenzialmente è questo il succo di ogni videogioco (o quasi) sulla serie. Certo, poi ognuno sviluppa la sua trama in particolare, ma se dovessi spiegare cos'è in due parole direi proprio questo. Eh sì shippo un sacco Link e Zelda, dopo questo manga ancora di più, ma chi non lo fa? Anche se la mia versione preferita di Link e Zelda è un'altra di cui se non sbaglio non c'è un manga 🤔.

E niente, ora vado a cercare di recuperare tutti i volumi della Legendary Edition per leggere il manga di Majora's mask 😋
Profile Image for The_Mad_Swede.
1,315 reviews
January 15, 2020
Having spent much of the autumn (and still spending time) in Hyrule as Link in the Nintentendo game Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (an absolutely breathtaking video game experience, in my humble opinion), I felt myself grow curious about the various manga adapting characters and concepts behind various of the games (albeit not, as far as I have seen thus far, Breath of the Wild). And, as my library had a few to choose from, I opted to for this first of five volumes in the Legendary Editions, collection manga creator duo Akira Himekawa's work on the Zelda franchise's comics branch.

This volume collects the two longer, and connected, story arcs Ocarina of Time and Hero of Time, as well as two bonus stories: the two-parter "The Skull Kid and the Mask" and the standalone "Rouru of the Watarara".

It was an interesting experience reading this, both because of my familiarity with some of the Zelda mythos and my having no familiarity with the actual game upon which these stories are based, i.e. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. All in all, it is enjoyable material that presents characters and concepts in an interesting way, and I think I will be checking out more Legendary Editions from the library in the future.
Profile Image for Zachary White.
69 reviews
January 3, 2022
Long story short read this manga.

This manga was amazing. I was skeptical at first because I love legend if zelda and was worried they how they would translate it to manga form. Long story short they did it perfectly. They gave link a personality that perfectly described what it is to be a kid and an adult. Kid link acted like a kid. He was wild, head strong, and care free. He went on this quest and acted like how you thought a kid would.

Adult link on the other hand faced harder challenges and acted.more level headed. He acted like a hero and had no fatal flaws as like the game.

The manga inuded aot of main and side characters and gave them all stories. The stories may not have been 100% faithful to the source material; however, it gave the story and its characters added dimensions and ultimately worked for fleshing out tbe story.

Here comes the spoiler. An example of fleshing our characters would be volvagia the fire dragon. In the game you would think it was just a random boss. In the manga, volvagia was a friend to kid link.and Ganondorf made it evil. Link had to battle.with himself on how to kill his friend to ultimately free him.from the curse.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for ❄ Pixelflocke ❄.
297 reviews39 followers
April 6, 2017
Da ich quasi den kompletten März mit "Breath of the Wild" verbracht habe und seitdem eigentlich auf nix anderes als "Zelda" mehr Lust habe, musste ich einfach zu dieser Manga-Reihe greifen.

"Ocarina of Time" wird immer eines mehr liebsten Zelda-Spiele bleiben und es war so schön, die Geschichte nochmal in Comicform zu erleben. Himekawa haben den schrägen Humor, die actionreiche Handlung und die vielen emotionalen Momente des Spiels wirklich gut eingefangen. An einigen wenigen Stellen der Geschichte hätte ich mir gewünscht, dass sie dem mehr Zeit / Platz gewidmet hätten. Manche Kapitel wirkten etwas eilig erzählt.

Der Zeichenstil gefiel mir richtig gut. Sehr passend zu "Ocarina of Time". Die Gestaltung dieses Bind-Ups ist auch toll gelungen: die Farbbilder am Anfang, die vielen kleinen Bonuszeichnungen + Bonusgeschichte, aber auch die ausklappbaren Buchdeckel lassen jedes Mangafanherz höher schlagen.
Profile Image for Brydon.
261 reviews2 followers
September 20, 2022
I first read this before I had goodreads, wanted to reread to refresh my memory of it and add it proper. Ocarina of Time was my first Zelda game that I played as a kid and while it was so nostalgic and nice to see it in manga form, I feel like it kinda missed the mark.

The story just feels too big to have in one volume. Things felt very rushed at times, especially during fight scenes. The water temple itself was presented and finished within four pages, it just all went by too quickly. I wish that this game had a full manga series like Twilight Princess did (still need to read that one though).

Also sometimes I felt that the eyes on some characters (mostly Zelda) looked way too far apart. But other than that the art is very pretty, there’s some really cool scenes of Link in it.

Even though I wasn’t a huge fan of this, I’m glad I got it just to collect as the cover is beautiful. Definitely plan on getting the rest in the future. Hopefully the stories in them flow better than this one though.
Profile Image for Giekes.
124 reviews5 followers
October 31, 2018
Ocarina of Time was - in de tijd dat ik nog videogames speelde - één van mijn favoriete games. Het Zelda universum was best leuk met kleurrijkere fantasy figuren dan in vele andere populaire cultuur.

De manga gebaseerd op de games is goed gemaakt, maar het grootste nadeel van deze strip vind ik eigenlijk het feit dat een verhaallijn van een videogame niet zomaar over te zetten is naar een film, boek of strip. Dit wordt weliswaar deels goedgemaakt door de 'extra' losse verhalen, bijvoorbeeld dit over young Link en de Skull Kid.
De tekeningen zijn zeer verzorgd en deze strip is volgens mij top voor kinderen. Maar voor mij persoonlijk, op dit moment, kan je één ster aftrekken van de rating.
Profile Image for Fugo Feedback.
4,289 reviews146 followers
June 1, 2018
Pero qué pavota que es la historia, los personajes, las supuestas "revelaciones" y casi todo lo que tiene que ver con el lado del guion de este manga. Pero qué bonito que es el dibujo (la mayoría del tiempo), el mundo de Zelda en general y esta edición en particular, con páginas a color, letras doradas y demás espejitos de colores incluidos.
No sé qué les parecerá a los fans de Zelda, pero a mí, que apenas pude jugar un rato el jueguito en lo de un amigo pudiente con Nintendo 64 en los 90s, me resultó una lectura agradable y pasatista, pese a las casi 400 paginotas que tiene el tomo.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 289 reviews

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