Category Archives: Manga

King of Fighters Gaiden: Origin of the Flame Review

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King of Fighters seems to get a whole lot of manga titles. I haven’t been able to finish most of them yet though so interestingly one of our starters gets to be a time travel story. You can’t really go wrong with that though and it’s a fun adventure. I wouldn’t say that I’m a big fan of the main character but we’ve got a good story here with some action and adventure before it all ends.

The series starts with Shingo still being really weak and wishing that he could compete with the big shots like Kyo and Iori. His family is a big mixed on his chances but he knows that one day he will be the best. Unfortunately he falls into a portal that leads him into the distant path in the days of Orochi and the original ancestors of Kyo and Iori. Now Shingo realizes this is a unique opportunity to learn from them but unfortunately nobody trusts him. When the villains start to make their move, Shingo will need to step up or all hope is lost.

It is an interesting way to have Shingo get stronger by fighting people who are just like the ones he aspires to be like. I can see why they’re all a bit suspicious too since Shingo isn’t great at actually conveying all of this. He’s a bit slow on the uptake in regards to his having travelled back in time but eventually he gets it. This feels like a classic Isekai adventure because now he’s in the wilderness with mysterious creatures/monsters and it all takes place in the old times. Of course I do prefer a more modern backdrop but it works out well enough.

The series is only 10 chapters long, however some chapters are split into 3 parts so you could say that this is closer to about 25 chapters. It’s enough time to quickly get Shingo some skills and then throw him back out. I wouldn’t say this one feels rushed or anything like that which is good. The story is balanced all the way through and the art is really solid. At least, the art for the fight scenes is great. I like how the flames are handled and the action scenes have a lot of weight to them. That’s important because there is a lot of hand to hand here so if the animation wasn’t up to par then that would be really bad.

My only issue is that some characters look way too similar. In particular Yasakani and Kusanagi are almost identical at times. They have almost the same uniform and hairstyle as well. The only difference is usually that Kusanagi tends to be smiling while the other guy is always frowning. With the context in the show you’ll usually be able to tell them apart but it’s a little close for comfort if you ask me. So the artist could have done a little better there.

As the main character, I never thought Shingo really rose up for me. I do want to underscore that he’s not really bad or anything like that but at the end of the day he’s a comic relief character trying to quickly transition into being a full fledged hero which is a tough road. It’s not something you can just say that you’ll do and then it’ll be accomplished. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication. When he has his serious moments, I can’t always take them seriously and usually he doesn’t either as he’ll go back to yelling after that.

In a power levels sense it also hurts the final fight just a bit because you have a hard time believing that Shingo could pull this off. This is probably the only area where being so short hurts the series because there wasn’t enough time to properly show him getting stronger. We do have a little montage where he remembers the opponent’s skills and starts to adapt to them but it’s a little rushed. Particularly since he was fighting someone with Orochi abilities. I feel like Shingo should have gotten wrecked there.

Kusanagi was a lot more interesting. He’s a guy who likes to fight and protects the villages as best he can. His role grows bigger in the second half once Yasakani is kidnapped and he has to fight off the Orochi opponents. The guy has a lot of confidence and style, both things that I appreciate out of my main characters. His skills were the real deal and he didn’t have to act as gruff as Yasakani the whole time. He just went with the flow.

Yasakani is a good character who is actually a nice guy even if he can’t show it. My only issue with him is that it ultimately feels like he goes down real quick and he doesn’t have a ton of willpower. The way his plot ends was also rather unexpected if you ask me. I didn’t think it had to go that way. He basically decides that he can’t defeat the power within him and runs off in a complete retreat. This dooms everyone to go through the cycle of violence which lasts through to the present. Why not fight against that and control the darkness? Sure, that may be easier said than done but you have to at least try.

Kaya is Yasakani’s wife and she has a solid role here as she can see into the future. Unfortunately this also makes her act rather complacent about the future since she thinks that it can’t be changed but it’s not as egregious as Yasakani because she can’t really fight. Her two opponents would have been too much for her either way. She helps to give Shingo more confidence which is always appreciated though and I would say that she was a good character.

Finally we have the main villain Yakumo. He gets quite a lot to do near the end with all of his scheming. The guy can fight too beyond just being a mastermind which is really good. You always want someone who can do a little of both. Ultimately he doesn’t even let defeat get him down and I appreciated that he took everything with a lot of dignity. To the end he was still really amused and he also helped to raise the stakes of the series as soon as he appeared. Now that’s a good way to make an entrance.

There are two other fighters who appear that are controlled by Orochi but they are almost literally dead bodies that are reanimated with his power. They have some character but appear super briefly. It does remind you that seeing Orochi bring together 8 warriors would have been really awesome but it just wasn’t in the cards this time. I guess the series wouldn’t have been quite long enough for all of that but it would have been a great battle.

I would say the biggest strength of the series is that it’s engaging all the way through. Even though the past isn’t always my thing, the series had a good plot right from the jump. The small character cast allowed everyone to be built up really quick and you could expect a fight in virtually every chapter. Some of them would be training fights of course but the hand to hand was always good. While Shingo wasn’t my favorite lead, I did like that he always had a positive attitude about things.

This was a short series that always felt like it was going to be short so it wraps everything up and does have a very definitive beginning, middle, and end. Whether you’re a fan of the franchise or not I think you would be able to appreciate the series on this basis. It’s just good storytelling even if again, Shingo probably should have gotten wrecked in the final fight.

Overall, This is a solid King of Fighters title and worth checking out. The story itself may feel random but that’s the fun thing about spinoffs. You can pick a character and just drop them into any setting or situation that you want. I imagine Shingo fans in particular would get an extra kick out of this. Why not go all out if you’re going to make a story right? I feel like that’s what this series did and it worked really well. I look forward to finishing some of the other KoF titles as well.

Overall 7/10

Cardfight!! Vanguard YouthQuake

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This is a pleasant manga so far. I’ve knocked out the first volume and it captures that low key energy of discovering a trading card game for the first time and having fun with it. I don’t see this being a super long running story but technically there are a lot of stories you can do here. I’ll have a review up as soon as I’ve completed the series.

Overall 7/10

Star Wars – The Mandalorian

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The Mandalorian manga adventure has started! I’m only one chapter deep so I’m pretty early on but it’s a good start. The main character already seems like the hardcore type of lead that I like to follow. He’s very down to business. I’ll have a review up for the series as soon as it’s over. We’ll see how good it ends up being.

Overall 6/10

Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG Stories

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Yugioh is finally giving a manga with true action as opposed to the card fights. It’s going to be difficult to beat the card game ones but it’s off to a fun start. I’m always up for an alien invasion story and there’s a lot going on here so I like to think it could last for a while. I’ll have a review for the series as soon as it’s finished.

Overall 7/10

Mortal Kombat Review

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Mortal Kombat is still one of the best video game adaptions to the big screen of all time. It is a spectacular movie all around with crazy amounts of replay value. It’s cool that they made a manga based on it. Granted, it’s a complete one shot so it’s only about 7-8 pages long but it still manages to get through most of the adventure. Just picture everything being sped up quite a lot in order to cover the distance. No time to slow things down that’s for sure.

So the manga starts with Johnny Cage, Liu Kang, and Sonya Blade being recruited to the tournament. They come for several reasons including fame, revenge, and honor. Standing in their way are the most dangerous fighters to ever exist. Creatures and beings with powers far beyond those of mortal men. It’s enough to get you rather excited isn’t it? From there we jump into the battles and then the manga ends by telling you to watch the movie if you want to see how the final fight plays out. I was low key expecting the manga not to adapt the whole movie in 8 pages but at the same time it got so close that they may as well have shown the ending of the fight right?

It does its job as being a good promotional tool for the movie though. I think you’d be hyped to see how it plays out on the big screen and I wholly recommend it. For the manga itself it is definitely a good idea to check it out since it won’t take you longer than 5 minutes anyway. That said there is only so much that you could do in such a small space of time. You probably won’t be remembering it for very long afterwards either.

The artwork is good though. It’s not your typical movie-tie in kind of deal. The character designs are on point and there’s a good amount of action to be had here. It reads pretty cleanly and the plot is solid. I definitely had no issues with it aside from the fact that it should have been a lot longer. That part dashes a quick star out from under it only because you do need to at least be a little longer to tell a full story. This is like having an appetizer but only 1/10 of it.

Hopefully Mortal Kombat gets more titles at some point. It’s one of those franchises that can be difficult to adapt because a lot like to go overboard on the violence angle when the original movie showed the exact tone and level of intensity that you should strive for. To this day that has never been topped and I don’t think it will in the future either. It was pretty much perfection in the series after all.

Overall, Mortal Kombat is a nice nostalgia trip down memory lane. I should probably go to Youtube and rewatch some of the fights one of these days. It’s a really iconic title and the manga will hopefully get more people to watch it. If you’re on the fence about checking the movie out then I hope this manga will do a good job of convincing you. The 3 main characters all have a lot of personality and the manga gets to show that off in their brief screen time. They’ve all got different approaches to the tournament but at the end of the day they all know how to fight.

Overall 6/10

Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas – Gaiden

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The Lost Canvas is still one of the best manga titles of all time so reading into one of the spinoffs definitely sounds like fun. It’s off to a good start to far with each Saint getting a volume to themselves. It’s going to be tough to keep giving them big fights without making them look too weak though since there should be few who can challenge them. I’ll have review for it once the series is over.

Overall 8/10

Snow White with the Red Hair

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This is a fairly low key story so far about a girl who wants to be a master herbalist. It’s a fairly unique goal so I’m ready to see how it turns out. The series is off to a good start and the prince is solid right now as he could pass off for the main character in more of a Shonen title.. I’ll have a review up for the series as soon as I’ve finished it.

Overall 7/10

Mieruko-chan

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The main girl always looks pretty sad here, but such is the life of being able to see creepy spirits that nobody else can. The series has an interesting premise but is getting a bit bogged down by the fanservice so far. I think this could take the next step once it gets past that but for now it’s in the middle. A pretty easy read with some good potential. I’ll have a review up for the series when I finish it.

Overall 5/10

Black Torch Review

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Black Torch didn’t last very long which is definitely a shame. The series had a really solid premise and good action scenes. I thought it got good real fast personally and it’s the kind of premise that could have kept on going for a long while. Ah well, it’s still a really fun read either way and you’ll definitely appreciate the epic action that’s here. At least it uses character bios in the final volume to tell you how things would have played out if it had kept on going.

So the story starts by introducing us to Jiro who is living a normal life. Well, mostly normal. See, he can actually talk to animals and one day he finds a cat that is injured. Jiro helps this cat out whose name is Rago but then he’s attacked by a Mononoke, a kind of monster of incredible power. Unfortunately Jiro is destroyed but Rago revives him by fusing his essence into Jiro. Jiro is now a power wielder and so a mysterious group known as the Bureau shows up and forces him to join. He must now help them stop the rest of the Mononoke or they will destroy him personally. Not much of a choice if we’re being honest here but them’s the breaks. Can Jiro get these guys to trust him?

So at its core this isn’t anything new and different. It’s a fairly classic premise with a demon inside the main character and now he is one of the strongest in the verse. We’ve got the demons attacking and a group of heroic fighters who do battle with them. So what made this one stand out to me? Well, it’s the fact that the series really doesn’t waste any time in getting to the good stuff.

For example, by volume 2 we’re already seeing some pretty serious battles with the villains. High speed action scenes and the characters are powerful. This is the kind of series that seems like it was going to give everyone a high power level right out of the jump. The art is also really good and looks a lot more advanced than what you would expect from a new manga. All of the battle scenes are very detailed and the series uses ink really well to emphasize the power of each attack. I can’t stress enough just how solid this looked right from the jump. The level of detail here is excellent and I already liked the character designs. You’ll be blasting through the series really quickly as a result since each volume goes by so quickly.

Black Torch was really firing on all cylinders and another good reason for this is the main character Jiro. Jiro’s an excellent lead who feels a lot like Ichigo to me. He minds his own business but if he sees someone in trouble then he helps out. Jiro was ready to fight with literal monsters to save a cat that he just met and throughout the series he is always ready to jump into the fray. He never really holds anything against Rago or the other characters for keeping secrets and doesn’t let the villains sway him with words either.

Jiro is very self confident and knows that he’s on the right side. No mind games work on him so the guy comes across as a veteran. He’s easily the highlight character here. Then you have the main heroine Ichika who is solid. She’s more of a classic tsundere type who insults Jiro and is always acting rather aggressive. She starts to mellow out later on though and I thought that she was a solid ally. I think she would have only continued to get better as the series wore on. As soon as she finally accepted Jiro as an ally then it was all up hill.

Reiji is the third member of the big 3 and he even has a whole plot to himself involving his brother. Reiji is skilled but I would say he was quickly surpassed by Jiro so it’s hard to really call them rivals. Allies probably works better even if Reiji thinks that he stands a chance. I would say he’s just strong enough where he doesn’t fall into the issue of really holding Jiro back like Renji from Bleach. So I ended up liking him.

Ryosuke’s the leader and he’s a crafty old guy. You always feel like he may be hiding something or probably lots of things. I wouldn’t trust him if I was Jiro but at the end of the day he seems like a good guy. Either way the series ends before anything too tricky happened there but otherwise I feel like he may have ended up becoming a bit of a villain by the end. Not totally sure though, it all depends on if the Bureau itself would have been antagonists at some point. I don’t tend to trust big groups like this, it feels like there is always a mole in there or they just want to destroy Jiro because he has a monster in him.

Hana helps the group as a support member but she can’t really fight which means that she was never going to be too relevant in this series. You absolutely have to have abilities in order to get through to the end. Otherwise you stay as a supporting character. Hana is nice enough but there’s just not much to say about her as a result.

There are two fighters who appear later on in Takeru and Banri who are upper members of the Bureau but the series ends before they can do too much. I did like how powerful they were even if Jiro surpassed them quickly. It’s always good for the heroes to have some upper echelon members who won’t be immediately surpassed in the power creep. They at least give Jiro something to think about if he wants to run off. Granted, it’s always the Bureau starting trouble if you ask me.

Now one character I really didn’t like was the grandpa Toshimasa. This guy is just awful. So Jiro is doing the right thing in saving lives and fighting monsters but his grandpa is not understanding at all and just starts beating the living daylights out of Jiro. Keep in mind that Jiro won’t fight back since he’s not trying to beat up his own grandfather. This continues on for quite a bit and sure we get that Toshimasa has some history with the Bureau (Which he is keeping secret) and doesn’t want Jiro to be in danger but beating him up and landing severe blows isn’t helping. He comes close to murdering Jiro a few times as well. It was annoying and I never like when a hero takes it this far while trying to say that they’re just protecting the guy. Nah, it doesn’t add up.

Meanwhile Rago is a solid character. He has a good bond going with Jiro even if he ultimately tends to fight it out alone. When the going gets tough, Rago is always ready to throw Jiro away to save him instead of fighting as a team. I don’t dock points from a character for doing that but it shows that they didn’t have perfect trust among each other for a while. Rago is sort of like the Nine Tailed Fox but a little nicer from the jump. After all he wanted to protect humans from a long while ago.

One part of the series that I didn’t think made sense was Rago’s reaction in the past though. So the main villain here is Amagi and he wants Mononoke to rule above the humans. Naturally one part of his plan is to murder all of the humans so that they’re not in the way. Okay, I follow up to this point and he wants Rago on the team. Right now Rago is protecting some humans so what does Amagi do? He murders them….yeah he just shows up and destroys them all as well as their families.

Lets not say what happens next for now but in theory shouldn’t that destroy Amagi’s plans? He wants Rago because Rago is the most powerful demon on the planet and right now nobody can beat him. So if Amagi shows up and starts messing around then Rago will probably end him and there goes the plan. So it made no sense for Amagi to approach this the way that he did. The most frustrating part is that it worked. Rago is so sad about all of this that he allows himself to be sealed up in a rock for all eternity while Amagi goes back to murdering everybody.

You’re going to roll your eyes at that because it was so convenient. It is the only possible way for Amagi to have survived in the past and it makes no sense. You’d think that Rago would have finished the guy off first instead of going to sleep. The guy just disrespected Rago to his face and should have paid the price for it. Definitely not a good look for Rago. I like him in the present but in the past that made absolutely no sense.

Meanwhile, Amagi’s plan also doesn’t line up anyway. So his power is that whenever he murders a mononoke, he gets stronger. So right now he knows that he can’t beat the humans and has decided to destroy all of the mononoke in the meantime so he can be strong enough to do so. Except…his goal was to protect the mononoke from the humans. So somewhere along the way he compromised on his goals and so instead he’ll just destroy everybody. At the very least most of the Mononoke would be dead by the end so instead it seems like his true goal was just to be the strongest of them all.

I guess it shows how insane he is, but I’d rather he had just made that his goal from the start. He even comes close to challenging the demon of the forest which would indirectly have been a big help to the humans but ultimately backs off. Amagi is crazy powerful so this strategy did help him rise to being near the top of the verse but regardless, it isn’t going to be doing much for the mononoke. It’s just putting them in another bad situation. At least he does have a cool design though.

I did like Ibuki though. She’s another super powerful demon and is a lot more reasonable than the others. She owns the forest and just lets the humans know not to go in there. If they do then she murders them but otherwise she is content with this space. It’s a solid arrangement considering how powerful she is and it’s quite reasonable. I was glad that Ibuki didn’t back down when Amagi showed up and in general she got a good amount of hype. Now here’s someone that you want on your side.

Another villain I liked was Kouga. Initially he is with Amagi and just follows orders but gradually he realizes just how insane this all is and makes a move. After all, a lot of the Mononoke are on board with destroying humanity and making a better spot for themselves, but they aren’t about to destroy their own comrades for this goal. So once Amagi starts to show his true colors, Kouga really comes in handy. He ultimately isn’t strong enough to stop Amagi or anything like that but he still comes in clutch.

Then we have the most interesting villain in Shinji. He’s the older brother of Reiji who turned evil and fled the scene a while back. The series hints that he may actually be possessed by a Mononoke but at the same time implies that it may just be him in control. Either way he’s extremely powerful and it feels like he would have been one of the end game bosses for a future arc. I thought there was a lot of potential with him here, you get some Itachi vibes. I somehow don’t think there was a heroic reason for doing this so his only chance at still being a good guy is if he is mind controlled. Maybe he tried to stop a demon from hurting the family but it defeated him and then possessed him. He’d probably be traumatized by that point.

There’s another villain named Roren but I wouldn’t say he’s that good. He liked Ichika a lot and while he isn’t gullible enough to fall for her tricks, he makes his goals rather clear. He’s more interested in her than in the big plans at large which says a lot about his lack of dependability. He doesn’t have the drive that the other characters have the whole time and isn’t as powerful either. This guy is not someone I’d depend on even if he fully turned good.

That about wraps it up for the characters. Now with the series ending so quickly, one of the questions would probably be, why? If I had to guess why this may not have hit it off with some folks, I would say that they may have just been bored of the demon hunting sub genre at the time. There are always a ton of those after all and with this one not trying anything different, it may have just felt like the same old thing they’ve seen a ton of times.

If that is the case then it’s definitely a shame because the execution is on point. The only worrisome thing I could see would be how Jiro really likes animals and that’s a part of his character. That could have easily been used against him in a future arc which would get real bad real fast since I don’t want any animal hostages or sacrifices thrown into the mix. If we trust the series not to have gone down that route though then I think it would have been just fine. There are a lot of ways you could go with the plot and it’s not like Jiro had finished powering up. The sky was the limit here.

Why the series worked for me really come down to the action and main character. This feels more like an old school manga like Bleach. Yeah Bleach is old enough where I can call it old school at this point. Black Torch had a very retro vibe to it and the world building was on point. This would have really been something special if it was given the chance. It can be a little violent and the series doesn’t hold back there but I wouldn’t say it ever got too dark either. I think it would have all balanced out. Another volume or two would have really thrown it over the top as the next big great. There goes all the potential. We still needed to learn more about the brother, the organization, world building with the mononoke, etc. There were a whole lot of seeds planted here but the series did an admirable job of at least finishing off the big plots right away.

Overall, Black Torch hit the ground running and never looked back. It had a very interesting setup and cast right from the jump so it’s a shame that this didn’t become a hit. Of course not everything can become super big and that’s just the way that it goes sometimes. I’d still recommend checking this out if you ever see it. It strikes me as a fairly rare title so that may not happen too quickly but don’t miss the opportunity when it arrives. It’s not every day that you find a hidden gem like this one.

Overall 8/10

Haikyu!! Review

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It’s time to dive into Haikyu, a series so well known that even Slam Dunk and Prince of Tennis had to give it a side glance before resuming the race to the top. It’s definitely a great title and I can see why it got so big. The volleyball really goes into depth and there’s time to develop a whole ton of characters. The tournaments really don’t hold back either. It’s too bad it had to eventually end since I feel like the time skip had the potential for a whole lot of other stories but maybe someday we’ll get a true sequel series here.

The series follows a kid named Shoyo who is really into Volleyball. Unfortunately nobody else in his school seemed to care that much so it was hard to form a team. Even when he did, he was promptly knocked out of the tournament right away. Now in High School he is eager to show the world what true power really is but he will have to be on the same team as his rival Kageyama. Kageyama is a prodigy and one of the best up and coming setters out there. Meanwhile Shoyo likes being a spiker but he’s rather short which is tough to get around in this sport.

At least if you aim to be a spiker. It’s not as bad if you want to be the guy digger or another position but that’s not Shoyo’s passion. He did get to see someone on TV in the pros who was also short and made a name for himself though so now he is eager to go all the way for the win. Along the way he will meet a lot of friends and enemies but as long as he is alive, Shoyo will continue to get better. The other teams have to watch out!

With 40+ volumes at the ready Haikyu is really able to give a lot of time to both character development and the actual matches. It’s not all that uncommon for a single game to cover 2 volumes and longer which is really impressive. I don’t think any other series has the games go on for this long on such a consistent basis and you love to see it. Each game has a whole lot of emotion to it and you can feel the drama. Part of why the series is so good is because whether you’re a fan of the sport or not, you know the characters well enough to where you can feel their sorrow.

Fortunately I do find Volleyball interesting so I also like the sports aspect on its own too. I can’t say I knew much about the professional rules beyond the basics so I even learned a few things here. It’s really a team sport too so you can’t just dominate the whole game on your own. Of course there are some players that come close and a good spiker/setter can get a lot of points but at the end of the day a balanced team will always be your best bet to claiming victory.

One of the benefits of being a sports title is also that the series is basically devoid of fanservice. That can be a little rare for the average series but Haikyu passes with flying colors. There isn’t really any big romance here either. A few crushes and such but the characters are just so busy with volleyball that they don’t have a whole lot of time for anything else. That’s the manga’s focus and it knows it so I applaud the author in not trying to cram too much in. It’s always the right balance here.

The artwork is also really good. It’s got a lot of detail to it and the action scenes come across very well. You can always tell what is going on and you don’t get overwhelmed. It makes the books a real page turner but at the same time I wouldn’t say it’s a super fast read. There’s a surprising amount of dialogue even during the matches as everyone has a lot of inner thoughts and plans. As far as the sport series go it’s probably the longest read on a chapter to chapter basis.

As I read the series I wouldn’t say there are any weaknesses. The cast is very solid all around, I liked a lot of them. At most I guess you could say that the series doesn’t have any standout characters the way that PoT, Kuroko’s Basketball, or Eyeshield 21 has. Even my favorite characters here aren’t ones I’d really write home about but they’re all consistently good. So instead of a few characters who transcend their limits, it’s more that everyone does good and helps the team out.

The only other thing I’d say is that the ending feels rushed which is something you may not expect from a series that’s over 40 volumes long. Surely by then you would have been able to set everything up. That’s what I figured at first but with how the time skip happens it just feels like there was a lot more of the story to tell. The ending is pretty emotional and does leave room for a true sequel but this series had a lot of gas left in the tank. It’s not the kind of thing that hurts the series since I naturally want any good title to end. This one just stood out to me.

As the series really focuses on the high school adventures, you could say that the heroes have 6 chances to become the champions. There are 2 big tournaments a year and they’re around for 3 years. Of course the seniors wouldn’t be around for future years so that’s something to keep in mind. Not everyone gets to dash off into the sunset here and often times sport titles can be about sacrifice as well.

So each tournament that goes on in the series starts to feel more and more important as they are all really running out of room. Their time is ticking after all and meanwhile every other team has reasons on why they want to win too. Everyone has their own aspirations and goals so in trying to accomplish their goals, the heroes know that they are sinking someone else’s. So it becomes a battle of wills and you don’t always know who is going to win.

Now lets start talking about the characters. First up is Shoyo and he isn’t an expert prodigy at first or one of those super talented players. Initially he’s rather weak in all of the areas and gets better as the series goes on. He has a solid rivalry with Kageyama the whole time and he’s a fun lead. Even by the end it’s fair to say that Shoyo isn’t the greatest player or anything like that but he has certainly made a name for himself and is no pushover. He can hold his own and really came a long way. Shoyo even builds a lot more confidence in himself.

I did prefer his rival Kageyama though. Kageyama is a very serious guy who wants to be the best setter there is. He was talented right from the jump but initially he wants to be more of a one man army and as the series goes on he learns about the true values of friendship. It ultimately makes him a better player since taking other teammates’ preferences and skills into effect is a skill in itself. I thought he was consistent all the way through and was a lot of fun. You need this kind of character to keep the fun dynamics going as Shoyo needs someone to compete with.

Tsukishima is another fairly big character here. He isn’t obsessed with volleyball the way that the others are and so he starts to doubt himself several times. He wonders why he is putting so much effort into this and starts slacking off a few times. Gradually he learns to love the game as much as the others and that’s when he really comes into his own as a big player. He also knows how to trash talk which is always important. You need that in your teammate to keep the other team off balance.

Daichi is the all around kind of character. He’s a solid captain who keeps the troops in line. He doesn’t have a specific specialty for the most part but it’s still good to have someone who can do a bit of everything. In that way he’s definitely still one of the most important players on the field. I don’t feel like he ultimately got to do as much as some of the others but as one of the older players he was quite desperate to win. He stood by for all the years when the school didn’t have a great team. He just kept at it until victory was at hand.

Then there’s Sugawara who is a nice guy and used to be the setter before Kageyama. As you can guess that pretty much means he was doomed from the jump. I appreciated that he never got petty or super jealous about this though. Sure, he wishes he could be out there but he put victory above all else and didn’t make a scene. Even then he had some moments where he would come off the bench and land some key points. He’s a real good moral booster at all times.

Azumane is the big spiker on the team so in a way he’s also a rival to Shoyo. Shoyo utilizes his quick speed and Kageyama’s instant throws to land points while Azumane just smashes the ball in there. As the power hitter that means a lot of teams will have a moment where their player stuffs Azumane to show how good they are. The worf effect hits Azumane the hardest and he can be a little timid for my liking. I never felt like he could compete with some of the other setters. He’s a good guy to have around but I think he should have been portrayed as just a bit stronger if you ask me.

Nishinoya is the libero, the defensive player of the team. He does really good in this and starts out as one of the best in his position. He actually stays near the top for the whole series so that shows how much time he put into this. His position won’t get a lot of the splash plays that others get but he gets a good amount of focus and can always be counted on. I liked his energy and spirit throughout, he’s definitely one of the more enjoyable characters here.

Tanaka is the punk type of character from the team although while he is loud and has the signature haircut, he’s a nice enough guy. He has a crush on the team’s manager and is always acting rather desperate around her. He’s a spiker but isn’t nearly as skilled as the others. It feels like he is often stuffed at the line and just can’t move forward. He has a lot of drive though and never gives up no matter how tough things get. It’s definitely something you can appreciate about the character.

Kiyoko does well as the manager, she keeps the team focused and makes sure they have what they need for the games. Whether it’s getting the equipment or even something like making sure they have their lunches for away games, Kiyoko takes care of it. It would have been nice if she could have joined in the games as well at some point but ultimately that’s not one of the duties.

An underclassman Hitoka works under Koyoko to be her eventual successor. She’s a lot more nervous though and isn’t quite as capable at first. She continues to improve as the series goes on but just doesn’t have Koyoko’s poise. Then there’s Takeda who acts as the coach for a while. I forget whether he or Keishin has the official position but Keishin really helps with devising up the plays and strategies. Takeda is more about reminding the team to play fair and have a good time. As long as they try their best then there’s nothing to worry about. He’s a good guy and doesn’t make any real mistakes. Keishin is also solid and while he only very reluctantly joined the group at first, he ends up getting very invested in it.

That about wraps it up for the main character’s team. Now you can see why the character roster is so big since every team has that amount of players. They all get real designs and things to do as well but for the most part every team has 2-3 really memorable guys who ends up playing a big role. I’ll mainly stick to the big members of each team. So first off is Oikawa who was easily one of my favorite rivals. He’s always taking shots at Kageyama and is immensely confident in his own abilities.

The guy deserves to be confident too because he actually does back it up. He’s one of the most impressive setters in the whole series and he has to pull off his big plays without someone like Hinata to break through the enemy lines. Part of what makes the main team (Karasuno) so good is the combo that Shoyo and Kageyama have where they can put the ball anywhere. The fact that Oikawa can keep up without that is impressive.

Then you have Kyotani, known as the mad dog who is a big player on their team. His offense is really good and if he would follow the plans and play sensibly then he would be an even bigger threat. Either way he’s not someone that you are able to take on lightly. I liked him well enough and he made for a very solid villain to pit against the heroes.

Kenma is probably the smartest character in the whole series. He is a big video game player and treats everything like an RPG. He’s always looking into how to make the team more efficient and how to get past the opposing team players. Considering how many players there are on both teams, it’s really impressive that he can plan things out so thoroughly. I was really impressed all the way through at least. Not just anyone could pull off what he did. He was also a good friend to Shoyo. While there isn’t often a lot of time for things to happen between games, the series gave them some moments to just have a good time.

Then there’s Kuroo who is really the opposite. He’s great friends with Kenma but he’s all about throwing the insults and getting inside the heads of the opposing teams. It’s quite the valid strategy and I thought he did a good job with it. They really didn’t know what hit them the whole time. I liked his confidence and I would often root for this team when they weren’t fighting the main one. They’re just a likable crew, particularly as their team is an underdog like Karasuno.

Bokuto is one of the more memorable characters because the series went all out with his design. He’s got spiky hair and a very loud personality. His play can be a little too affected by his emotions so he’s not the most consistent player out there but he can play very well when he is in the right mood. His name also just makes me think of Boruto the whole time. His teammate Keiji does a good job of keeping him focused at all times though. I think it would have been a lot tougher if his team was without Keiji because then they would all fall flat as soon as Bokuto got knocked off his rhythm.

The twins Osamu and Atsumu definitely have a good role as well. It is easy to mix them up which is intentional but even their personalities are rather similar. It was cool to see them pull off a team combo as well. Hey, if anyone could copy the bond between friends that Shoyo and Kageyama had, twins would make the most sense right? They’re on the same wavelength and all much more than standard players could be. They were quite skilled as well and made for good antagonists.

Sakusa is one of the best spikers around and he got to train with Kageyama at one of the summits. Beyond being a great spiker I can’t remember too much about him but it’s always nice to meet the top players. Ushijima really left an impression for that reason as he is known as the very best. In every sport there will always be someone at the very top and it just so happens that Ushijima got that spot this time. He has quite the rivalry with Shoyo as well. The guy seems to take the main character very seriously which in a way is a pretty big complement.

I liked Ushijima, he always had a whole lot of presence to him. When he appeared it was easy to see that he was the best. That’s probably true even by the ending as well so if this was a 1 on 1 sport then things would be tricky. There are a lot of other players and also some new characters who appeared after the time skip but that’s it for a lot of the big ones. It’s a pretty well rounded cast with a whole lot of people to meet. Also, not all of them would go on to stay with volleyball forever which makes sense. So in the time skip we see that a lot of them have moved on to other things and it’s not something you see usually. I thought that was interesting, they can still play but it makes sense that they would have other passions as well.

As you go through the series you really get to know all of the characters and the teams which is why it isn’t as simple as just saying that you’ll root for the main characters all the time. Of course you still might which is totally fair as they are the leads but as you read through the origin stories and character motivations that really could change. For the most part a lot of the teams are likable but of course you’ll find a few that aren’t quite as easy to root for. None of them turn into actual villains or anything as these are still school tournaments and all but not everyone has a tragic backstory. Some are just here to play volleyball and that totally makes sense. If anything there would be something funny about a team like that winning it all.

The series has its share of humor as well which is handled well. The games themselves tend to be deathly serious to the point where characters have to remind the lead to breath (He actually faints at one point because he forgot to even drink water) and so you can see how everyone’s stressed out. As a result they all hang out and relax between games. It’s the only time where they really have any down time so they have to make the most of it. It never get boring or drawn out and works well in getting more character development. It is still very character driven in as much as it’s also super detailed with the sports. That’s why it’s got such a good balance.

Overall, Haikyu is definitely a great manga and I’d recommend it to anyone. There’s really no reason to miss out on it. Whether you like sports or not, you should be able to enjoy this one just on account of the solid writing and plot development. There is always something happening here and the manga does a great job of getting the emotions across. Once you start the manga it’s a real page turner so you don’t want to put it down. I would say that it’s one of the best sports manga titles. I’d put it right after Prince of Tennis and Kuroko’s Basketball as the third best one. That could change once I finish Eyeshield 21 and Slam Dunk, but either way it’s in very distinguished company. All of those are heavy hitters worthy of the top rank.

Overall 8/10