Eh I probably could have translated Blues into Proto Man at the end but I figured I’d just keep it as is this time. It’s pretty nice to be reading a classic Mega Man story with a fully original story. It’s pretty rare since most of the manga adaptions are based on the games. It makes things a little less predictable and I’d say the manga really makes the most of it as we get a lot of battles and a ton of different bots to appear. That’s definitely a good way to handle it and while the series goes by in the blink of an eye, you will be having a good time throughout.

The volume starts with some machines going haywire again. Initially this seems like the same old situation except Wily runs in confirming that it’s not him this time. Sure, he’s lied about this kind of thing before but this time he is completely serious. Mega Man is a little skeptical but even Dr. Light is supporting Wily so the hero gives in. The government decides to give Wily their full support in stopping this robotic menace so the evil genius creates the Wily Corps. These guys will be protecting the world from the evil robots and before long Wily has bases all across the country. The only one who is not in favor of this is Proto Man and he warns Mega Man that this is all a trap. Who should Mega Man believe, Proto Man or Wily?

Now obviously Mega Man should be turning on Wily by this point. One of the blue bomber’s fatal flaws is that he’s just too nice sometimes. He should absolutely be yelling and causing a scene instead. Of course there is a reason why Light is siding with the guy and lets say it involves even more trickery. Mega Man really needs to start coming around to the idea that Wily is just not going to turn good. He’s not some lost soul who is about to have a change of heart any minute now. At this point he is just determined to keep on getting in the way and making trouble.

The fact that he has any trouble accepting that is pretty crazy. I still like Mega Man of course but he does come across as super naive here the whole time. It’s not his best look by a longshot. At least power-wise he looks really good. For the most part he crushes the competition with just a few exceptions. Punk and Enker really give him tough fights. Enker in particular was pretty fun to see. His ability to absorb moves was really handy and it took a lot of strategy to beat him. I always like when Mega Man has to put on the thinking cap on in addition to his usual buster. It helps to really cement how much of a threat the villain is.

While this is Proto Man’s big chance to appear a lot, I would actually say he doesn’t look great. He definitely looks really smart since the guy doesn’t believe Wily at all. However, in the actual fight he is soundly defeated by the Wily copy of himself. It’s particularly embarrassing since he told Mega Man that he would prove he was the real deal by winning. So that was really unfortunate. Also, how can Wily just make a fake that’s even better when Wily and Light teamed up to make the original Proto Man? I know tech continues to evolve but that just felt disappointing. Fortunately Mega Man tapped into his potential and secured the victory there.

Another element I enjoyed from the title was all of the homages to the previous games. You had Cossack and his own robot masters show up to help save the day. This meant we had 3 different factions running around and causing chaos. Naturally the battles are mainly off screen but it was still cool to see so many robots on screen. Also, while the side battles were off screen, the big fights were extended and on screen. Again, the Punk and Enker battles were really intense. Likewise the fake Proto Man battle was also fairly long.

Whenever a series isn’t afraid to have a long fight that is a big green flag in my book. It’s not something that you see every day and it’s real impressive. The art is also really good and definitely does justice to the fights. It’s clear and really tells you the whole story. You’re never lost and the big panels also means that it is very easy to read. It’s one of the better art exhibitions I’ve seen for the manga.

There’s really nothing to dislike here except for the fact that the series is so short. With 5 chapters, the whole thing ends fast no matter what you do. So it’s a great one shot but it could have been even better as a full blown series. someone needs to start a full ongoing already. I’d read a Mega Man title for however many years it can last. The possibilities are really endless here. Naturally I would hope Mega Man won’t be so easily fooled next time. Poor Roll and Beet had to pay the price here. It was pretty eerie seeing them be completely dismantled. I know they’re robots so it’s not like they felt anything but it’s still something I wasn’t fully expecting.

Overall, Mega Man: Resurrection Blues is pretty fun. Again, I really liked the idea of having a unique story here. There’s a whole lot you can do with the franchise after all. Now granted, this one was only 5 chapters so the adventure really ends rather quickly but ultimately it was a fun read. Proto Man got to get some action and we had all kinds of robots going at it. I would definitely recommend this to any Mega Man fan. You don’t want to miss out on this, especially since the franchise doesn’t generally get a whole lot of content nowadays.

Overall 7/10