Genshin Impact “Prologue: Songs of the Wind” (Part 1 + Part 2) Webtoon Review
Major Spoilers are included in this Webtoon Review. Please read with caution.
On October 8, 2020, I started and finished the Webtoon Genshin Impact’s two-part “Prologue: Songs of the Wind”. To be clear, this isn’t a review on the video game that had recently come out a few months ago—this is a review on the Webtoon series.
Synopsis: Aeons ago, the elder elemental gods granted civilization to the human race, but the world soon splintered as corruption and greed grew without check. Can the forces holding this world together be balanced against human desires, or is everything ultimately doomed to end in destruction?
After playing the video game for a few days though and being immersed with the storytelling, my brother told me this was based on a Webtoon, so that was likely the reason for my odd fascination with the video game’s story.
Here are my thoughts after reading the two-part “Prologue: Songs of the Wind”.
First of all, that’s a beautiful name. The story centered around a slave girl named Venessa, who’s forced to fight against her owners to free her enslaved tribe. Now, the story was fascinating and the artwork was beautiful—incredibly gorgeous like the video game did the artwork justice. The world-building was outstanding too—delivering the exposition about the characters, the current social classes, and their world through fairy tale storytelling.
I just felt like the pacing of the story suffered due to the long length and hasty pace whenever Venti saved the day—he acted like a Deus Ex Machina whenever Venessa was in trouble. Having two long chapters and trying to rush the story at various times made the experience exhausting, but the consistent artwork made the climb sort-of worth it. I did enjoy the character dynamic between Venti and Venessa.
Venti the Bard’s character design and personality shined throughout the two-parter, easily making him one of my favorite characters in this series—putting aside the bias of me rolling him out in the video game. I enjoyed learning about Venti’s background and seeing him as a super entertaining character. Venti and Venessa appear to be set-up as the two main protagonists of the series.
Overall, there were a few storytelling issues in “Prologue: Songs of the Wind”, but the beautiful artwork held my attention. I would recommend checking out Genshin Impact if you’re playing the video game. I think you’d appreciate the mini-series. The series only has 13 chapters that are split into 26 Webtoon episodes, so the reading journey wouldn’t take too long. Just something to think about.
Thanks for reading this Webtoon review, everyone! Let’s keep it reading!