Tag Archives: Manga

Deadpool: Samurai Review

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This manga is definitely a pretty unique one that really takes advantage of how crazy Deadpool is. It breaks the fourth wall consistently and we even have some guest stars show up like All Might. It’s a fun read all the way through and it’s also neat to try and see if you can catch all of the references. It’s fairly short but is a fun and memorable ride all the way through. I guarantee that you won’t be forgetting this one anytime soon which shows that the series definitely did something right there.

The series starts with Deadpool being recruited by Iron Man into the Avengers. Now keep in mind that Tony was against this but Captain America felt that it was necessary. Apparently the crime rate across the entire planet has gotten super high and so there aren’t enough heroes to deal with it. That leads to the tough choice of putting a known murderer like Deadpool in on the action. Keep in mind that in this version Deadpool is murdering people on screen while the Avengers debate about recruiting him. It’s all really bonkers the whole time but I guess it shows how desperate they are. They are willing to take him no matter what.

Deadpool’s not really a team player but his services can be bought out so that’s an option there. The main villain of the story is Loki. He’s assembled a team of all star villains that are going to unite their talents to take over the world. Deadpool will need to be the one to stop them along with his Samurai Force but it won’t be easy. Deadpool recruits two girls for the task, Sakura and Neiro. Can the 3 of them really make the difference and save the world?

Right off the bat the series is already throwing in a bunch of references and such as early as chapter 1 so it sets the tone early. I like how Deadpool even mentions how long it can take to draw a page while readers go through it in an instant. It’s true, I can finish a chapter really quick even when it’s very detailed with the artwork. That’s just the way it goes even if it can be a little tragic there.

The humor lands really well which is important. I think a series like this would absolutely fail if the humor was no good but fortunately it never gets annoying or anything like that. I would say instead the manga just feels surreal the whole time and in a very good way. Perhaps if there were a lot of manga like this then it would get old but it feels very unique which is part of the charm. I can’t say I remember another manga that goes as far out as this one.

It can be quite violent but all the scenes tend to be played for laughs. I wouldn’t say that makes the violence itself nonexistent as it can still be extensive but thanks to the context it doesn’t feel as bad as it could have been. It helps that Deadpool is fully immortal as well so no matter how many times he get sliced, the guy just keeps on coming back. He jokes about this a lot as well of course. It’s also interesting having a villain like Deadpool as the main character because he certainly murders a ton of people in his way. He may be working for the heroes but he hasn’t changed his standards at all. He still does what he wants whenever he wants.

Deadpool’s art is also very strong here. The character designs are on point and every character is on model. The style works for both the action and humor scenes. Whoever drew this series put in a ton of effort. It holds up a lot better than you may expect and isn’t some simple franchise-tie in. The art is legitimately great.

As for the characters, I’ve already talked about Deadpool a bit. If you liked him in the comics then you’ll like him here. He’s always very confident and likes to throw jokes around 24/7. It’s fair to say that he never gets serious here. Even when he is trying to play the part, you know that he’s faking deep down. Things just don’t phase him the way that they do for everyone else and I figure it’s a side effect of being an immortal.

Then you have Sakura who is the first hero recruited to the cause. Her hero name is Sakura Spider and she’s a fun character. Sakura is super optimistic and always really happy so she tries to help make Deadpool a real hero as well. Of course that doesn’t work but it’s a nice attempt. Her humor scenes work really well too and she’s a nice foil to Deadpool who is a lot more jaded which is partially why he jokes around a lot. Having a true hero like her on board is a nice way to keep him honest.

Then you have Neiro as the final member of the big 3. She is the current Venom host and is a popular idol on the side. She and the symbiote have a very good partnership going. She feeds him snacks and he eats up any bad people that approach her. Neiro doesn’t care about murder so much but wants to make sure the symbiote doesn’t eat too many fans so that at least keeps him from eating a bunch. Her role never gets as big as Sakura’s and she ends up missing the climax but I had fun with her. The series did good with the two original characters for the series since they were both fun. The writer was really solid here.

As for Captain America, he’s definitely quite naïve here as that part of him is played up a whole lot. It’s part of the humor of course but his choosing Deadpool was not a smart move if you look at just about any aspect of it. It could also hurt the Avengers’ reputation. Iron Man’s role is smaller but he does get to land a petty attack on Deadpool near the end and openly voices how he doesn’t like the guy. So I like how bold Iron Man is, he speaks his mind and doesn’t care what the others think.

As for the villains, the only real big one is Loki. Sure he summons a bunch of others but they’re basically mindless minions. Deadpool and friends make quick work out of them. For Loki it was fun to find out the true reason behind why he’s causing so much chaos. In true Deadpool fashion the reason will come out of nowhere and be a little crazy. You can count on that. Loki does his best to be really serious the whole time so I’ll give him props there. Deadpool is always trying to psyche him out but it doesn’t work.

While his role is fairly small, Thanos shows up too which is fun. It leads to his famous battle against All Might which was a big thing back then. It’s probably the most memorable scene in the whole manga because of how out of the blue it was. I’m glad to see All Might getting his props here. It also showed just how much effort the series was putting in to really make it break the fourth wall all the time. Thanos and All Might fans should be pleased at how it all turns out.

We also get double Deadpool action later on and even a reference to the Wolverine prequel. That was pretty neat. I can still remember how everyone was outraged at his role there. Look, the design was definitely not very good but at least his abilities were impressive and he worked as the final boss kind of threat. I suppose at this point he will always be known as the worst incarnation of the character though.

If we do get more Marvel manga, I hope they can take place in the same continuity. Build up some kind of mega Marvel multiverse for the manga. That would be a lot of fun. Whether you’re here for the action or comedy you’ll want to check this one out. I dare say it’s one of the funnier manga I’ve read as of late along with Mieruko-Chan. Humor is something that can always be hard to land so I have to give the manga a good shout-out for pulling it off. It ain’t easy!

Then the action scenes are legitimately cool. Even while Deadpool is joking around, you have solid choreography and the fights aren’t too short. You have time for the characters to really trade blows and go all out. It also goes back to how the art here is really good. I’m still surprised at the level of detail that went to it. Choosing Loki as the main villain may have been a little overdone since the guy is constantly the main villain everywhere but he works out well enough. His powerset always makes him a good choice as the villain.

Overall, Deadpool: Samurai is a lot of fun. It’s a shame that so many series end early like this, I think this had potential to be a really solid, long running series. Certainly there are more things they could have done with this premise instead of just ending it all. Give us more references, fights, and all the hype. Hopefully they continue making more Marvel manga in the future. There are so many heroes and stories you could tell in this format. Either way I would definitely recommend this one. It can get a little violent but as long as you read it in a comedy context you should be good.

Overall 7/10

Star Wars Rebels Review

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Star Wars has returned for a quick manga adaption of the Rebels show. It didn’t end up making it that far but is a fun little read. Ideally this will get you interested in watching the show which was probably the objective from the start. It’s a classic space type adventure and you can see how this premise could be turned into a long running show as needed. The Star Wars universe is vast after all so you could definitely do a lot in there and that’s why spinoffs to the franchise can really be unlimited as needed.

The series starts off by introducing us to Ezra who is a kid that runs around stealing and doing whatever he has to in order to survive. He lives in a rough district and there aren’t exactly a lot of options for him right now. One day he bumps into the Jedi known as Kanon and that ends up being a rough twist of fate for the kid since he can’t hope to beat this guy. He eventually finds out that Kanon isn’t so bad though and reluctantly joins his group along with Hera, Zeb, and Sabine. The group of them help the poor and restore justice to the world but they do so in a very low key way. You could sort of call them scavengers or bounty hunter types. They have to be careful though because Darth Vader and the Inquisitor would like nothing more than to find and shut these guys down.

This takes place after Order 66 went out so most of the Jedi are long since dead. Kanon was able to survive but that could easily change. He has pretty much stopped being a Jedi in all respects as while he still uses the lightsaber, he isn’t going around training or any of that. To an extent he’s just too nervous now and the series delves into this more later on. This is a good era for storytelling since a lot should have happened in this period. I still find it odd how all the Jedi got wrecked by Troopers so I wouldn’t mind a retcon one day where they were all beaten by Sith Lords or Inquisitors. Would make a lot more sense.

The series is fairly short with 15 chapters but that’s still enough time to get in some quality adventures here. I’d say the most impactful one is when Kanon takes Ezra over to meet his former master Luminara. Unfortunately it turns out that she was already murdered and this was a trap laid by the Inquisitor. It works really well as a big mission here by really introducing us to the villain and also helping Kanon get over his doubts. Before then he was constantly deflecting Ezra’s requests to train by saying that Luminara would do it.

Ezra didn’t want her to train him, he wanted Kanon since that’s the guy he looks up to as his teacher. This was a tough concept for Kanon to grasp for a while but this adventure at least gave him his confidence back. The action scene here was also really good as the Inquisitor could absolutely fight with the best of them. His lightsaber style was very good and I would like to see him more in future stories.

While the art can sometimes be a bit on the “Tie-In” side where it doesn’t feel great, the artist does know how to handle the dramatic scenes really well. You’ll suddenly get a lot of ink for important moments that makes the villains look absolutely fierce. Darth Vader’s appearance at the end for example is a great example of this. You certainly won’t forget that scene for quite a while. It really pops out at you and reminds you why he’s going to be a big threat if he ever catches up to the heroes.

Hera, Zeb, and Sabine don’t get a whole lot to do here before the series ends but they all seem like fun members of the crew. I think the ship has a nice dynamic with all of these characters running around. They may not have Jedi abilities but they can still use their blasters and help out that way. With more time I’m sure they all would have gotten their own mini arcs at some point or another.

Ezra was a solid character right from the start. I liked that he was fairly tough and could look out for himself. He didn’t need anyone to protect him and surviving like that took a lot of skill. In a way you’ll probably miss this part of his character once he is a part of the crew but once he’s with the team he’s still fun. He’s slowly learning how to use more of the Force and his lightsaber so after the time skip he’s probably really strong. The series ends real quick at that point so we don’t really get to see what he can do yet. Perhaps a sequel will come out some day.

Kanon doesn’t look great at first due to those confidence issues that I mentioned but by the end he’s good. Once he has finally embraced his calling as a Jedi and a teacher then he is ready for the big leagues. I am also glad that the heroes have at least one Jedi Master on board because I can say that a big reason as to why Star Wars is cool is due to the lightsaber battles. If your whole cast couldn’t really fight all that much then that would have been disappointing.

As for the Inquisitor, he makes for a very imposing villain. I like how determined he is to destroy the heroes and really doesn’t give up no matter how far away they get. His trap using the dead master was a very smart one as well. He reminds me a bit of Darth Maul with his design. I assume this guy is probably not ready to go up against Sith Lords like that but his skills are still good enough to be worthy of fear. You don’t want to mess with this guy unless you have to.

There is a mini arc here about Teebo, an alien who knows what happened to Ezra’s family. It’s definitely one of the most emotional parts of the series because of course Ezra blames Teebo for running off. The characters all try to help him get past this and even he knows that it’s unreasonable, he just has a hard time getting around that anyway. Realistically Teebo couldn’t have done anything, it’s not like he’s a fighter. I wouldn’t say I was a fan of Teebo myself but you still couldn’t blame him for this.

It does help lead to the rest of Ezra’s character development though from being a loner who wasn’t very forgiving of others to someone who can lead the whole team like a capable leader. I wouldn’t be surprised if he totally took over as leader eventually because it comes naturally to him. So I did like Ezra quite a bit here, he’s a fun main character.

The series ends in one of those ways where the adventures continue and you can imagine how it all plays out. We still got a good amount of adventures on our end to have fun with in the meantime. The emotional stuff is handled well and works to make the action even better. If the show is really like this then I can see why it was a hit. Usually I see more fans of the Clone Wars but there are a good amount of Rebels supporters too. I never really see people talking bad about it at least. I’m sure the show would have more time to really show off the characters too since the manga didn’t have too much time for that.

In a way I would say the whole manga version really works as an origin story for Ezra. It’s not really going too much farther beyond that and this succeeds well as an origin since there was a good amount of action. It’s not one of those slow boils where you’re waiting for the main character to step up to the plate. Of course you have to assume these guys ultimately get bumped off or something since we don’t see them in the main films but that’s what also helps to enhance the stakes here. They could die at any moment so every mission suddenly becomes a lot more dire.

Overall, Star Wars Rebels is a pretty good manga. You’ll have a fun time with it. It’s well balanced with the action and adventure while also just being fun to read. It may not be super memorable at the end of the day but it’s a good story and makes for a fun read. At the end of the day the objective of any title is to be enjoyable and this one fits the bill. It never drags on and it’s just a good story for any time with a lot of replay value. I’d recommend it if you’re looking for a good sci-fi action.

Overall 7/10

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

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