In late 2023, VIZ Media announced their Originals platform, which enables North American creators to pitch and publish their original manga stories alongside legends like Rumiko Takahashi and more. Less than six months later, VIZ's February line-up includes various brand-new acquisitions, including Status Royale by Ru Xu, a manga about the world of eSports.

Inspired by Yu-Gi-Oh!, sports anime, video games, and the author's chronic use of the internet, Status Royale is an extremely exciting addition to VIZ's catalog, and is the very first manga of its kind to be published under the label. With an interesting perspective on the heavily explored niche of gaming and VR technology, Status Royale Volume 1 is a shimmering start to what is going to be an incredible manga series.

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What is Status Royale All About?

The Most Popular VR Game in the World

Status Royale is set in the late 2030s, at the height of VR technology as the titular game of the series dominates the world of eSports. Competitive Status Royale is played in teams of three, with three possible player classes introduced at the start: Tank, Attack and Support. Vell (@VellRaptor), a casual, has fun playing Status Royale with her childhood friend Min-Jun, the famous eSports player known by his handle @CheckmateYourKing (CMYK) as he teaches her how to play; however, one day, he blocked her on all platforms and left town after his team, the Dallas Rodeos, was dissolved due to a match-fixing scandal.

Determined to find out what went wrong in her friendship, Vell's spirit of competition emerges as she seeks to challenge and defeat Jun; the best Status Royale player in the world, at his own game. Vell soon meets aspiring Status Royale pro Henry (@Helix_Nightmare), and his close friend Pepper (@MightCloud), and together, they embark on the grind to go pro at the most popular game of the time.

An Immersive Story About Gaming From a Different Perspective

In-Game and Real Life Both Very Significant to the Story

One of the major things about Status Royale is that it is the only manga currently that takes place largely within a game; however, the offline lives of the characters bear the most significance. The game is the vehicle through which we are told the story of Vell's crumbling friendship with Min-Jun, and Status Royale balances the significance of the things that take place in-game and in real life. What makes Status Royale an immersive experience is this balance, but also Ru Xu's art style and composition, which play into it being a story about a VR game.

The story begins with Min-Jun's team winning the Winter Warfare Status Royale tournament, which is a few months before the story takes place in the Spring. A large part of the manga is made of visuals other than drawings of characters or background, with the futuristic aspect of the story made clear through the presentation of various text windows, screens, panels and the like, but also through the "Tutorial Stages" – pages dedicated to briefly explaining the rules of Status Royale that are placed in between each "Game" (chapter).

"One of the things that you don't really expect as a comic creator is just how much research you have to do, and I really enjoy the research part..."

– Status Royale creator, Ru Xu

The world is meticulously crafted in a way that makes it very easy to link your own understanding of gaming and eSports, because of how deeply the game is explored. The devil is in the details, and there was clearly very meticulous research and planning put into the series, making Status Royale feel like it was created by a gamer. Aspects like the characters discussing their preference for wired connections as opposed to Wi-Fi, the natural use of slang in certain parts gives even more of an immersive feel because of how faithful it is to the culture, but also does well to give more life to the characters.

Several pages set the scene in interesting ways that give the feeling of immersion by showing more than just how the game is important to the lives of the main characters, but also how developments in technology, eSports, and the overall gaming market in 2037-38 have importance in the greater society. News headlines and excerpts, screenshots of social media posts, and even in-universe memes all come together to broaden the reader's understanding of not just the game, but the version of America in which the story of Status Royale is set.

The Titular In-Universe Game Is Incredibly Well Thought-Out

From the VR to the State of eSports, the World of Status Royale is Rich

As previously mentioned, Status Royale feels like something written for gamers, by gamers. The game has mechanics that are reminiscent of various immensely popular games which bring in a lot of money through eSports. Players of games like League of Legends, Smash Bros, Overwatch, or virtually any other kind of competitive arena battle-style game will find Status Royale very similar in how it's based on combat between teams of 3, the different kinds of "champions" or characters available to the players and even the depth of its rules. Like with any arena battlers, the point is to defeat the enemy team; however, depending on the mode of play, victory conditions can vary.

Tanks are defense-heavy, with three health bars; Attack players are damage-dealers, while Support characters have the lowest defense stat, barely any offensive capability, but are integral to the success of the team through their rigorous assignment of buffs, healing, and debuffs to the opposing team. At random intervals, a brand-new "Status" is applied, briefly changing the conditions, and the tides, of battle. Beyond the kinds of champions players can select, Status Royale takes things even further by explaining just how vastly different people's play styles can be.

The VR technology is capable of getting a read of the user's bio-readings, and using those to inform their initial play style, which can either be On or Off-Sync. On-Sync play allows the player to move in the way that their chosen character would, and is wholly based on their moveset; while playing Off-Sync puts the player in total control of their character's movements. Neither style is necessarily superior, but a player's preference highlights their comfort zone and tendencies outside of the game.

However, as important as those styles are, Status Royale elevates its story by exploring the secret third thing that emerges from the contrast: "Perfect Sync" – the liminal space between On and Off-Sync play that is necessary to going pro. This element is taken even further when it is explained that Perfect Sync is not a feature of the game per se, but a glitch discovered by none other than CMYK himself. By being able to seamlessly switch between modes in-game, players are able to take advantage of their character's most important moves while removing predictability from their gameplay. The reason that Perfect Sync is a brilliant element to the Status Royale manga is that it exists as an unintentional mechanic of the game discovered in competitive play – much like how mastery of the Korean Backdash is what separates decent Tekken players from exceptional ones.

Dynamic Art Elevates the Experience

A Great Mix of Drawing and Design

Art is used as a major weapon in this series, and it mainly uses a deformé art style commonly seen in various kinds of anime and manga before, but Ru Xu's touch combines those elements with brilliant execution and variety of line weight, intricate panels that are full of visual information. Backgrounds vary greatly due to the depiction of environments both in-game and in real life, but they are often just detailed enough to not take away from the action.

Combat panels in Status Royale are incredible, with various shots, angles, panel styles and compositions making the manga a feast for the eyes, and the in-game character models are interesting to look at, particularly because the art style changes slightly to give the characters in-game a much simpler kind of look in contrast to their real-life appearance. Overall, the first volume of Status Royale has made a very strong case for the series going forward, and it is definitely an exciting new title to look out for.

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