I’m a huge fan of the Zelda mangas by Akira Himekawa. My interest in them began in the early to mid-2000s, when people were uploading the mangas to YouTube for easy viewing. At the time, they were only available in Japanese to read, but a few dedicated fans were able to provide their own translations for everyone to enjoy. Shortly after, I stumbled across the Four Swords manga, and needless to say, it became my new fixation as I fell down the rabbit hole. I even had a Four Swords-themed username on YouTube!
My passion for the manga has been sustained for years now, hence why I chose Vio Link as my username when I joined the Zelda Universe team. My love for a certain purple-clad hero is certainly no secret to the other columnists; in fact, our lead Columns Editor, Stephanie, drew me a picture of Vio Link for our Secret Santa in 2021. I was absolutely thrilled to receive such a gift, and I treasure it dearly! Even at 26 years old, the manga still holds a special place in my heart. That being said, this particular article is a special and exciting one!
A. Honda and S. Nagano of Akira Himekawa were invited to be special guests at Salon del Manga in 2018, the oldest and most extensive manga event in Spain. Aside from the duo, some representatives from Norma Editorial (who publishes the Spanish editions of the Zelda manga) were also present. It’s very similar to your standard anime convention, but this event focuses exclusively on manga. Akira Himekawa held interviews, panels, live drawings, autograph sessions, and so on. Six Spanish newspapers published articles about Himekawa’s participation, and according to them, they were surprised at such a high level of interest in the matter.
Akira Himekawa’s booth mainly featured the Four Swords manga in order to promote the release of the Spanish version of the “Perfect Edition” in October 2018. Lucky attendees were able to obtain various pieces of merchandise, including a double-sided fan, tote bags, and a high-quality print of Volume One’s cover art. It seems the fans were available for anyone who visited Akira Himekawa’s booth, while the tote bag was only given out to those who purchased three or more mangas. I’m unsure of how one was able to obtain the print, but I assume it could be purchased from their booth.
As far as I’m aware, these items were only obtainable through this event. This is significant because these items appear to be the only official, licensed merchandise to be produced for any of the Zelda mangas. I occasionally check eBay to see if any of this merchandise has surfaced, but unfortunately, I never find any listings. As a huge Four Swords manga fan, this saddens me greatly, but I do wonder if we will see more merchandise for any of the other mangas in the future. One can only hope!
