I’m afraid that this looks like it’s going to be about as bad as the Rock Lee series. Hopefully it won’t be quite that bad, but this feels like it could get very ugly, very quickly! I shall review the series when it finishes someday.
Overall 2/10
It’s time to review a manga title that I consider to easily be one of the best titles of all time. This was a series that I started all the way back in 2011 and finally finished a few months ago. It essentially has everything that I could want in an action title along with an excellent main character. The Kenshin manga was on the road to success from the start and never looked back.
The series is about a wandering swordsman known as Kenshin. He used to fight in the wars, but has now decided to retire to a quiet life after traumatic events, which are eventually told to you during a mini flashback arc. He believes that peace will always be better than violence, but knows that it is not really possible to have one without the other. He wanders across a dojo where he meets up with Kaoru. After he helps her take out a random thug, he decides to stay there a while.
Essentially, the first part of the manga deals with a lot of one shot adventures. Kenshin meets up with several of his soon to be rivals like Sanosuke, Saito, and Aoshi. He takes down several villainous groups and helps people out as often as possible. Kenshin solidifies his standings as a peaceful warrior who only fights for justice and his friends in the current days. That being said, his opponents could not accept this.
A villain by the name of Shishio has gathered a group of the most dangerous villains on the planet to aid him. He wants to purge Kyoto into madness and he gets ready to basically kick off some new wars and battles with the destruction that he is causing. Kenshin is asked to help out and he reluctantly goes, but Aoshi will stand in his way and Shishio ends up proving to be one of the strongest enemies that Kenshin has ever faced. Can Kenshin defeat him or have his skills simply been lost with how long he’s been inactive?
The final arc deals with an enemy from the past. He blames Kenshin for the death of his sister and wants him to know what it’s like to despair. Kenshin warns his allies that this man is dangerous and that things may get personal. There are a lot of fights and even some casualties as the arc goes on and Kenshin loses his will to fight. Can he regain it in time or are the heroes doomed?
Naturally, a whole lot happens during the span of the series as it is 28-29 volumes. While there are only 2 big arcs and a lot of mini ones, one could make the case that some of the mini arcs were basically real ones. It has been years since I read some of the original adventures although I did re read the first several volumes a while back. This is a series that has a very large amount of replay value.
Let’s get the technical aspects out of the way first. The art is spectacular and it is why the fights really end up popping out at you. The fight scenes can hold their own against any other manga title and they are long enough where you can really enjoy them and get a feel for how each character fights. Having good art is almost half the battle for a good manga series.
Naturally, writing is the next half and Kenshin certainly excels there as well. The characters are all pretty mature in how they handle things and most of them are very likable. Another good sign of this is how the series virtually has no fanservice. That was certainly impressive considering how long the series went on and it’s always good to see a series that doesn’t need to rely on such cheap tricks.
There are many cool/hardcore moments scattered throughout the series. I always get hyped when a scene like that is handled well, which is why I like Bleach so much and enjoy Kirito a lot in Sword Art Online. That high level of confidence and great moments before fighting an opponent can make a big difference between a good character and a great one. Whenever Kenshin, Aoshi, or Saito gets serious, you know that something cool is about to happen. Those characters don’t mess around and you’ll always be treated to a great action scene.
My favorite part of the whole series was probably the final gauntlet against Shishio. First, Saito attacked him and was crushed, then Aoshi took his turn and was also defeated before Kenshin jumped in. Sanosuke also took his chance there. I always like group scenes where a bunch of heroes run at one villain only to all be thrown back by his overwhelming power levels. This was similar to the big Aizen battle from Bleach, but to a slightly smaller extent as Shishio took out 3-4 fighters instead of the 10+ that Aizen defeated. Still ultra impressive though and a truly great scene.
Time to look at some of the characters as the cast is one of the reasons why the series excelled. Kenshin is essentially a perfect main character. He started out as a samurai who destroyed many people during the war. It was war so he just went along with it, but after it all, he decided to never slay another person again. Circumstances made this tough as many criminals continue to get in his way in the modern day, but he does his best so spare them and only destroy when necessary. He doesn’t even fight unless pushed into that situation. At one point, the weight of his past crimes start to drag him down and he enters a hopeless state, but he is eventually shown that he can move past that.
Kenshin’s story is one of redemption and I’m glad that it has a happy ending. He went through a lot, but he ultimately accepts what he’s done and that he can still make sure that he lives a good future. He’s certainly a main character that you can look up too and he stands up there with Goku and the others as a very noble hero. He’s also very skilled and while he is a human, there are very few mortals who can swing a blade quite as efficiently. With a sword in his hand, Kenshin can be a threat to anyone.
Kaoru is the main heroine. While she gets a decently large role, she isn’t quite as integral to the plot as some of the other characters. By and large, she’s a good character even if she doesn’t have as much personality as other heroines. She can fight to an extent and she is always there to reassure Kenshin and give him some confidence. Kaoru’s certainly a decent character and beats Yahiko. I can’t say that I ever became a fan of the kid. He looks up to Kenshin and wants to be a hero like him someday, but he will just need to get a little older first. He gets his big moments as he fights serious opponents more than once, but it’s typically just cheesy in the end.
Sanosuke is the friendly rival of the series. Kenshin has several in this series, but Sanosuke’s the closest to a friend. I would say that they are friends and rivals. Unlike the other characters, Sanosuke doesn’t use a sword and just fights with his fists. He’s not quite as strong as any of the heavyweights in the series, but he’s much better than most of the average fighters so he’s essentially in the middle. I like Sanosuke and he always fights with honor. In another series, he could have been the best character, but he got trapped in this manga so he has to settle for 4th place. That’s just how good the cast is and Sanosuke could easily hold his own series.
Saito is another one of the rivals for Kenshin and he’s easily the most antagonistic of the bunch. He works with the cops and respects Kenshin as a fighter although he believes that the hero’s senses have dulled. Saito fights for the side of justice even if his methods make you wonder a little. He may be a little over the top at times, but he’s certainly a very likable character. Easily one of the best in the series and I’d put him as number 3 for me. In case you were wondering, I’d say that Kenshin is number 1.
As for my second favorite character in the series, that would certainly be Aoshi. He was my favorite rival of the group. While he started out as a bit of a villain, he quickly turned into the rival who fights on the side of justice. He unfortunately did not get a huge role in the series and would be gone for large amounts of time, but when he did show up things would typically get very epic! His fighting style was a lot of fun to see.
Misao is a kunoichi who works with Aoshi at times. Like Yahiko, she wants to be a pretty good fighter. She’s decent at the moment, but far too young to go up against any of the big bads. She’s more charismatic than Yahiko, but still not quite on the level of the other characters who I just mentioned. Megumi is a supporting character as well, but she really doesn’t do anything in the series. She heals their injuries when necessary, but for the most part her path just doesn’t cross with the others.
Jin-E was the first real villain of the series and I actually liked him. As a villain he’s certainly imposing. He’s not incredibly powerful or anything as he’s taken down in an instant, but the design was neat and we needed a villain to go down quickly to show off how powerful Kenshin was. To that extent, I’d say that it worked out quite well.
Shishio was one of the true threats in the series and his fighting abilities were second to none. You could even make the case that he is stronger than Kenshin since Kenshin has grown a little weaker over the years. While his goals would have likely been impossible since the army would have eventually blown him away, he did do a good job of forcing Kenshin to make a move. He was certainly an imposing figure and if not for the fire illness that plagued him, he certainly could have won. I can see why this guy was a fan favorite.
Yumi is always at Shishio’s side. I can’t say that she was very good or had a whole lot of character here, but most of her character development was in the spinoff/prequel that came out a while back. At least she is loyal and Shishio knows that she would never betray him…unlike some of the other members. Seta is very ambitious and is actually a lot tougher than you would have guessed upon seeing him for the first time. While he is one of Shishio’s generals, he’s at Shishio’s level when it comes to a fight. He actually had the upper hand against Kenshin for a while due to his insane speed. While not as cool as Shishio, I can definitely respect this guy as a villain. He’s always very smug though so you couldn’t wait to see Kenshin take him down.
Usui was a pretty decent villain. I liked his gimmick since he was a defensive fighter in a series where everyone relied on offense. Naturally, he didn’t last too long against Saito, but I still liked the change of pace there and I remembered him, which is always a good sign. Anji was the power hitter of the group who used hand to hand combat in his fights so you can imagine who he fought. Anji was an impressive villain and he put up quite the fight. He had some honor, which is always good and made for another solid member of Shishio’s team.
Cho was another member who was interesting. He certainly wasn’t much of a threat next to the other members, but he had fun with his fights and was still talented. Fuji also deserves a mention as his size was quite impressive, but he had the unfortunate luck of fighting Kenshin’s master. Kenshin’s teacher was actually really cool and it’s a shame that he did not get to appear any more. Finally, a sensei who was actually serious, cool, and could fight. It’s a true shame that his screen time was so severely limited.
Enishi was the big boss of the final arc. He was certainly a great fighter and he gave Kenshin a run for his money, but I think it’s safe to say that he was not quite as good as Shishio. If Kenshin had been at the top of his game, he probably would have won with less difficulty. Enishi’s on a mission of revenge, but he does like to ignore several facts to make Kenshin out to be the bad guy. While you can sort of understand what he’s saying, he’s not a very sympathetic villain in the end even if it’s possible that he won’t go all the way through with his demands at times. Still, he made for a decent final boss.
Gein was a puppet master who had a pretty big role in the Shishio arc when you think about it as his puppet did a lot of damage. His true form is pretty anticlimactic and won’t be gaining him any fans, but his puppets were certainly lethal. If only his puppet had been real, that may have helped him. Hyogo was a pretty neat fighter as he actually gave Kenshin a decent fight, which was unexpected. His attacks are a lot quicker than you would expect based on his large size and I actually liked him as a villain to an extent. Not the greatest villain out there, but more enjoyable than I would have thought.
Banjin is a skilled hand to hand fighter so he was Sanosuke’s final big opponent. I can’t say that he had a whole lot of character other than being a bit of a hot head, but that was good enough for me as he meant business and gave Saonosuke a decently good fight. He was a little generic, but served his purpose. Yatsume was interesting because his appearance was definitely based off of Venom’s. That was amusing and it’s the main reason why I remember him. Otherwise, he’s not the most impressive fighter, although his long limbs can certainly come in handy when in a sword fight. The heroes have a hard time getting him to stick to one place.
There are naturally many more characters to be found in the manga. I’ve also read another one of this author’s series named Busou Renkin. I thoroughly enjoyed that one and would give it a solid 8/10, but this was definitely the definitive series by the author. Everything that Busou Renkin did, Kenshin basically improved on, although I think it came out first anyway, but I may be mistaken on that.
Aside from all of the non stop action, Kenshin was just a very deep manga series that dealt with serious topics while keeping that fun Shonen feel. Even the throwaway fights tended to be fairly interesting since the art would ensure that the fights would still be a lot of fun. I’m sure that the TV show adaption would also be a lot of fun, but the fights would likely not be quite as good since it’s tough to match up to the art style here.
It’s tough to say whether Kenshin even had any slow moments or parts of the series where it grew boring for a while. Naturally, I did marathon through some sections, but it was always interesting. I know that the series got a remake/AU thing called Restoration, which should be interesting to check out. There’s almost literally no way that it can beat the original, but just putting up a good fight would be most impressive. Kenshin shows that even if a Shonen Jump manga stays down to earth with low power levels during a 20+ volume run, it can still be an elite fighting manga!
Kenshin was one of the final “Big” manga series that I had not read. Now that it is gone, the only one that I can think of is Saint Seiya. I don’t believe that there are any of the super legendary, hype manga left, which is neat. I’m essentially at the end of an era and we’ll see if the modern titles are able to reach these levels of epicness. Toriko and Bleach are doing a good job of helping the modern era while One Piece is pretty solid, but we need more! What I’m waiting for is a new ongoing DBZ title or a full fledged Kenshin title to help the ranks. That would be awesome!
Overall, Kenshin is easily one of the best manga titles out there. I haven’t really made a top 10 for that yet, which I should probably get around too. I’ve basically got most of my top 10 for anime, but aside from knowing that Megaman NT Warrior is my favorite manga, the rest of them are all just shuffled in there somewhere. Nevertheless, Kenshin basically has all of my pros while avoiding the typical negatives. While I’m sure that there are some to be found in the series if you look hard enough (Like some origin stories being a little iffy or possible animal violence although I can’t recall any) they end up getting lost in the flood of positives.
Overall 9/10
It’s time to look at an action manga that I hadn’t heard of before I started it, but it’s evidently more popular than I realized. It’s always good to meet an action title that is pretty high tier while also being fun. In many ways, this series reminds me of Bleach. It has its weaknesses, but manages to be a fun ride.
The world is filled with humans and yokai. The humans are unaware of these beings aside from a group of yokai hunters. The Yokai essentially own the world as each group has a territory. Some yokai are evil and some are good. The series revolves around the Nura clan, of which Rikuo is the rising leader. His grand father runs the organization for a little while, but Nura (Rikuo) quickly embraces his role as the leader. Rikuo’s job is to stabilize the region and keep his demon group at the head of the pack. They like to scare humans and have fun, but in peaceful ways. There are many yokai who want to hurt the humans so Rikuo’s group has to keep them in check. Rikuo is only 1/4 yokai though, which can cause him issues. He becomes a yokai during the night and stays human by day.
The first main arc deals with Haggoromo as she bands together a group of villains to take over the world. Their master plan actually involves giving birth to an incredibly powerful demon, but they are destroying dozens of earthlings along the way. Nura naturally can’t let this stand so his group gets ready to work. Unfortunately, his minions have their doubts since Nura is part human and his abilities are far below that of Hagoromo’s, but a little training can go a long way!
Seimei is lose on the world and that is the plot for the last arc. Interestingly, the author decided to throw in a bunch of new villains as well. So, aside from the Seimei plot, we have some villains who want to revive Sanmoto and decide to cause havok in the streets. They challenge the heroes to a game. The villains will try to destroy as many people as they can and the heroes have to destroy them to prevent the casualties. The game of cat and mouse will certainly have high stakes! Still, the heroes can’t be distracted from their true objective…stopping Seimei!
Since this series is of a decent length, we have a very colorful character cast. I’ll quickly discuss most of them and then write about the series as a whole. Let’s start off with the main character as that makes sense. Rikuo is the main character and he’s certainly one of the better leads that I’ve seen in a while. By day, he starts out as a timid protagonist who is in a little over his head when it comes to leading the large demon group. Luckily, he slowly starts to believe in himself and by the end he has come to accept his demon blood. This way, he can fight during the day or night, but in the daytime he will still be a lot weaker. He was a fun character, but his night time version is naturally the real deal. The difference between them is a lot like Yugi and Yami Yugi. The night time version is simply more intense and he’s the true fighter of the two.
Night Rikuo’s abilities are second to none and he continues to prove himself as he goes up against many incredibly powerful fighters. Towards the end of the series, Rikuo unlocks his attack mode, which was a great transformation. He was already very self confident and sure of his abilities, but now he was even more open about this. His transformation into an Ichigo/Kirito character was complete and he went on the offensive more instead of strategizing and waiting for an opening. With his speed, it makes sense to press on the attack as often as possible. Rikuo is one of those main characters who doesn’t come along very often so you always want to really remember his appearances while you can. He’s simply hard to top!
Tsurara is one of Rikuo’s main allies and she is always by his side to protect him from Rikuo’s many enemies. She has mastery over ice and this has helped her against many fighters. Unfortunately, her abilities do not increase very often so she is outmatched against the later enemies, but Tsurara still does her best to help out when Rikuo is in a pinch. Unfortunately, she has a subplot where she likes Rikuo, which does make her distracted at times, but luckily the series has Rikuo keep her in the friend zone. It’s always good to have allies, but Rikuo can’t afford to be distracted anymore than that.
Yura is one of the main supporting characters who is not part of Rikuo’s group. She is with the Onmyoji group, who are humans that fight off the yokai. As such, she is wary of the yokai even though she gets along with the heroes. She develops from a relatively weak heroine to one of the strongest heroes in the series. Yura was a likable character to be sure and from the three heroines she is in second. She can be a little too distrustful of the yokai at times, but they are Yokai after all.
Kano is another one of the heroines and I got her mixed up with the other two quite a bit during the beginning of the series. They just look very similar, but the artist did a good job of differentiating them as the series went on. Kano is not quite as interesting as the other two characters because she never gets to contribute to the story. I don’t believe that she had any important moments in the series and the author didn’t know what to do with her. She was simply another friend to add to the yokai watch group. Giving her some spells or power would have been cool.
Rikuo had some other friends as well, but they didn’t really contribute to the plot. Technically, they helped out as one of the friends tried to prove Rikuo’s innocence to the world. Still, the author seemed to have just added them for the pre arc so that we could learn about Rikuo and then they were ditched. It doesn’t help that the one shot stories involving them were never that great and none of the friends were very likable. At most, they were passable, not bad characters, but not good ones either. Thanks to their small role, it shouldn’t matter to the reader too much unless one really dislikes them.
Nurarihyon is Rikuo’s grandfather and he gets a lot of hype for being the clan’s ultimate leader back in the day. His skills were incredible and it’s heavily implied that Rikuo has still not surpassed him. This is essentially confirmed during the very ending as Nurarihyon is quickly able to revert back to his prime for a few minutes. In that time, he effortlessly defeats one of the big enemies and almost gets to fight the main villain before his transformation expired. We don’t get to see him in his prime a lot, but at least the leader backed up his hype this way. Finally, we had an old man who was actually pretty decent in a manga. Typically the author tries to make that kind of character unlikable.
Rihan is Rikuo’s father and he couldn’t get outshined by his two relatives right? Rihan is extremely powerful as well although I think it’s safe to say that he has been surpassed. He had a rather tragic and sudden ending because he simply didn’t see the blow coming. Nonetheless, he was still a very powerful figure back in his day and he helped the Nura Clan to reach levels of honor and greatness that lasted a very long time. He was a likable character even if he slacked off a lot. Rihan could have held his own series quite well since his adventures were fun, but his flirting tendencies made him a lot less enjoyable than Rikuo.
Aotabo is the power hitter of the group. Unlike most Shonen series, some of the characters are tough from start to finish without any real power ups. That’s certainly very impressive even though it also means that a lot of plot hax will present itself when necessary. Aotabo just forgot about his true powers until he needed them. He’s a nice guy and certainly means well. While Aotabo may not have the “cool” factor that most of my favorite characters have, he makes up for it with his heroics. Aotabo is a very loyal comrade who you would want to have by your side.
Typically, Aotabo’s partner was Kurotabo. Kurotabo has a plot twist involving his origin, but it wasn’t too iffy and it certainly didn’t change the fact that Kurotabo is a good hero. I was never too impressed with him, but his technique of summoning unlimited blades is very handy. He believes in being very stoic and honorable, which are always good qualities in a fighter. As one of Rikuo’s main subordinates, Kurotbao is naturally one of the stronger warriors. He’s another class act.
Finally, we have Kubinashi of the main squad. He uses strings to fight and his head floats above his body instead of being on it. He dances around the line between villain and hero for a while, but he ultimately decides to stay on the light side. I’m glad that he made the right decision, but he still isn’t my favorite hero. His abilities are certainly very lethal. I am glad that he doesn’t back down against the other group of Yokai that arrive with Rikuo once the hero’s training was complete. Those guys were certainly very full of themselves even though they proved to be a little weaker (debatable I suppose) than the main guys.
Zen helps Rikuo get the others to trust him early on. Zen sees himself as one of Rikuo’s closest allies and really tries to help him out during dangerous times. Unfortunately, he is quite weak so there’s not always a lot that he can do. Still, he’s a nice guy. Rikuo also has a group of friends who like to go outside to look for Yokai. They are essentially filler as they never help to make a true difference, but every hero needs some friends right? They certainly could have been worse although it’s safe to say that I never really liked any of the friends.
Gyuki mentors Nura for a little while. He doesn’t have much in the way of super abilities, but his fear is very powerful, which allows him to stand his ground against any opponent. He gives Rikuo a hard time, but he never gets too exaggerated in his training methods and stands by as a loyal ally in all of Rikuo’s fights. I respect his abilities and he was a good mentor. Finally, we got a mentor who didn’t act like Jiraiya or Master Roshi for a change. I definitely give Gyuki kudos for that. The guy never got to fight all that much, but he still left an impression.
Itaku is one of the yokai that Rikuo brought back after his training. There are other members of the team, but most of them don’t get any real development anyway so I didn’t feel the need to include them. One of the members had her own fight where she faced her fears in a maze and managed to win. Beyond that, it was Itaku’s show. His personality is that he’s a very strong warrior who bows to no one. He considers himself to be stronger than Rikuo for a while and even at the end of the series he tries to take on some of the strongest villains. He is powerful and his fear is certainly real, (Offensively of course. He’s not afraid of the villains) but sometimes his boasts could be a bit much. He is good, but Rikuo is undoubtedly better. Itaku was certainly Rikuo’s rival and while he is no Sasuke, he’s still a good ally to have.
Hidemoto is an onmyoji from the olden days. He is revered as the strongest one of all time and he certainly lives up to this as he manages to keep his spirit alive for decades. Hidemoto is crucial in the final battles of the series and he gives the heroes a lot of advice. He’s a very quirky character, but not in an annoying way and you certainly can’t say that he doesn’t have personality. Moreover, he treats the whole situation like a game, which is a nice change of pace from the other characters at times. It is too bad that he couldn’t physically show up, but that may have made him a little too overpowered. As it is, he served as a nice mentor figure.
Tamazuki was one of the first villains of the series. I barely even mentioned him, but he ended up having a large role in the climax. That was surprising, but maybe he was fairly popular back in the day. He isn’t very skilled as he lost to a pre arc Rikuo, but as the Shonen system works, he grew much stronger. His illusion abilities are his bets bet to winning a match, but when he loses control, he can also dish out a lot of damage physically. He’s the kind of character who could have definitely become a fan favorite had he appeared more. As it stands, I did like him more once he returned to the series.
Hagoromo had one of the more tragic stories as she is really not allowed to have a happy ending. In her first life, she is betrayed. In the next one, she is mind controlled into betraying her father. Then she finally gains her freedom back and sees the light, only to be confronted by a villain who is more powerful than her. She is certainly a likable character and one of the better villains, but if would have been cool if she could have beaten the final boss on her own. It would have been quite the twist! Hagoromo was a fun character to have in the series and she seemed to be a very nice person before her world turned upside down. It would be hard to surpass her as the best villain and there is only one antagonist who I like more than her in this series. Without Hagoromo as the end boss, the big arc would have been less exciting.
Tsuchigumo was my favorite villain in the series and it is easy to see why once you start reading the manga. He is like Zaraki and many of my other favorite characters. He loves to fight and always believes in a fair fight. Tsuchigumo doesn’t care about what is really going on, he just wants a piece of the action so he fights both villains and heroes. While he is immensely powerful, Tsuchigumo is surpassed as the series goes on, but he never backs away. He ends his role heroically and he was my favorite villain by a long shot. I always like this “Hungry for honorable battle” kind of villain and I am glad that Shonen Jump continues to use the trope for a character.
Seimei is the ultimate villain and his powers are leagues ahead of the other opponents. He has the classic scene of snapping Rikuo’s sword in half with ease and he can fly. This guy looked incredibly powerful when he first appeared. He may not have been quite as impressive when he returned, but his power level was still high. His mistake was hiding out for a while, which let Rikuo power up a lot. By the time Seimei had returned, the heroes were ready. I don’t actually like him and Seimei proves himself to be a very untrustworthy fellow. He is a villain so it comes with the territory, but he certainly could have been more likable. Ah well, at least he had a really good design, which stood out. You could easily mistake him for a DBZ villain and Seimei has the feats to back it up.
Encho is one of the random villains who entered the fray towards the end of the series. He can use his voice to make tales come true, but he is not much of a fighter. Encho is one of those villains who doesn’t have much of an overall plan as he just wants to watch the world burn. Certainly a generic figure in the grand scheme of things. Sanmoto was the leader of the group and he was treated as a big shot. I can safely say that he did not live up to the hype though. Sanmoto’s true form is huge and not very maneuverable. It didn’t take a whole lot to ultimately stop him. Seimei really outshined this guy.
Raiden is the only member of the villain group who was actually likable. Unlike Sanmoto’s other men, Raiden didn’t rely on cheap tricks in order to win. He attacked Rikuo head on and gave the hero quite a fight. If Rikuo hadn’t unlocked his new form, it likely would have been game over for him. Raiden was a very impressive fighter and he was one of the best villains in the series. The Raiden name is still being held up quite well.
Kidomaru was one of the higher ups in Seimei’s organization. While he appeared to be a normal human, his abilities were very impressive. It was surprising that he never got more development as it seemed like he was going to be an important figure before he was written out of the action. He was a decent villain although, very two dimensional. Who knows, maybe it was for the best that he stayed a background character. It is a role, which works for some characters.
Mamiru is one of the onmyoji and his role was always that of a very minor supporting character. He can certainly fight as he has thunder abilities, but he never got to do anything that was too important. He is another character that the author just seemed to forget as time went by. He seems like he would have ended up as a fairly heroic character had he gotten more development. Mamiru was usually likable when he was on screen. Unlike Mamiru, Ryuji was a major supporting character in this series and he was a fun hero to watch. He strongly dislikes Yokai, but he grudgingly works with Rikuo and the others once the stakes continue to rise. He has good reasons for disliking them, but I was glad to see that he was reasonable about that. Ryuji is actually not very powerful so all of his fights revolve around strategies and simply outsmarting his opponents. It can be a bit much when he is fighting a very strong opponent, but his water attacks are no joke. This was definitely my kind of character and he almost could have been thought of as Rikuo’s rival if that angle had been played up a little more.
That was a lot of characters eh? The series made it to a little over 20 volumes so the cast was of a fairly good number by the end. By and large, I’d say that the series did a good job with them. There was a good amount of likable heroes and villains in the series, which is always important. Rise of The Yokai Clan did have some issues with where it wanted to go in terms of the story and plot, but I’ll mention that a little more in a second. First, I want to compare it to a certain all star title.
The series has a lot of similarities to Bleach. Rikuo is like Ichigo and the actual vibe of the manga carries that serious, yet intense vibe that Bleach had. The art is very different though. While Bleach’s art is serene and calm, Nura’s can get rather heavy with the ink. It gets to the point where you will sometimes be unsure of exactly what just happened. You will just know that it must have been something epic! This is particularly the case when the battle involves Rikuo in one of his super forms. The author really wants to show how intense the battle is. You’ll likely remember that Ichigo also gets a lot of those moments over in Bleach if you have read that title. Tsuchigumo is really similar to Zaraki and there are more similarities as you read the series. That’s a good thing as you should always model yourself after the best if you are planning to draw on some inspiration. Of course, there’s another reason for why Rikuo gets so many great shots in the series.
The heroes all fight using their fear to entrap the opponent. Fear is naturally associated with darkness and shadow so it makes sense that it would look that way when the fighting gets started. The fear battling is a pretty nice twist. It’s also another way to say “Aura” as it works just like the ki in DBZ, but it’s still a nice way to put it. There certainly aren’t many series that can say that they’ve tried this approach. It works quite well alongside the yokai theme. Since fear is essentially your power level, it’s a way to power scale the various enemies. Don’t worry about a lack of feats though because we definitely get a lot of those. One villain is able to destroy Kyoto with a single swing and he was not yet at full power.
As the series is about yokai/demons, it can be a little dark at times. Not too dark as it’s still Shonen, but the series tries to incorporate horror elements whenever possible. I’m certainly more inclined to enjoy the action segments, but I suppose that this makes sure the audience gets to stay on its toes. There’s also a decent amount of comedy involved as well to keep you from crumbling when the long action parts draw near. Unfortunately, there aren’t too many people who would want to read a series about nonstop action even though that sounds epic.
That being said, this is what I was talking about when I said that the manga lost its sense of direction at times. It will go from a really epic sequence of fights to a lot of one shot horror/comedy stories that just feel like filler. It’s the kind of series where you will actually feel like you are just reading side stories even though they are part of the main adventure. It’s like if the Pre Arc of Naruto occurred after volume 10 or so. That can throw you off your rhythm a little and I’m convinced that the author was stalling for time or simply forgot what happen.
After the first big arc with Hagoromo, Seimei escaped with his henchmen. The heroes head off to recruit more fighters and get stronger, but then a new villain group comes in to waste some time. Aside from one member, I didn’t like any of these new villains and they felt like a distraction. Seimei finally showed up with his group of villains, but they almost literally come out of nowhere. It gives us another chance for some epic fight scenes, but the arc between them was simply odd. The game of “tag” was definitely unique though and it’s where we got Rikuo’s new form so I’ll give it props for that.
The middle arc also deserves major kudos for most of the fights taking place within a city. Also, not just any city, but a modern/urban one so there were many tall buildings. That’s still my favorite environment for a fight and they are extremely rare in any manga. So, it was certainly a lot of fun to see and that was the highlight of the arc in the middle. Seriously, try to count on one hand how many times you’ve seen a big fight take place in a city area that had large buildings. It’s tougher than you may think! (Also, it doesn’t count if the fight is down to Earth like a simple hand to hand fight or a gun battle. I’m talking Superman level threats here!)
The series can definitely remind you of Gamaran a little in the sense that it can get very violent at times. I’d say that it is certainly more intense than Bleach, but still not as over the top as Gamaran. Luckily, it is mostly relegated to the combatants aside from a few scenes where spectators get involved. One of the most unfortunate stories involved a demon who trapped a lot of people in a dream world where they were stuck for many years. That’s certainly a skippable one as it was filler and doesn’t add anything to the story. One of the main villains also needed to eat a lot of livers to get her strength up, which could certainly be gruesome. It’s a dark action to be sure, but the series typically doesn’t dwell on these moments.
Luckily, we still get a lot of great action scenes that don’t rely on such tactics. The yokai can survive many lethal blows, which is why it can get a little violent, but typically not in any unfortunate ways. Nura’s battles are the ones that you will want to focus on as they are always close range encounters. A lot of the other main characters use ranged attacks, but there are other close combat fighters to be found. Hand to hand or sword to sword is my favorite kind of fight, but the versatility can be really fun as well. The sheer speed at which the characters are fighting is amazing and using fear to dictate how the battle goes is certainly a smart way to go about it.
You’ll be glad to know that there isn’t much fanservice here either. We get one of those generic hot spring scenes, which are always a little dicey, but at least it isn’t a regular occurence. The main villain also spends a decent amount of time with nothing on as she goes into a purification place to prepare for her offspring of destruction. The series is careful not to actually cross the line and show anything, but this would certainly count in the fanservice department. It may seem like a little more than “not much” but remember that this is from the full 21 volumes. There was certainly some around, but it was really rare and the series never gets bogged down by it.
As you can tell from my paragraph on the main character, the series has some similarities to Yugioh. Unlike Yugioh, they aren’t completely different people, but it was hinted at early on. Rikuo’s night form is able to talk with the day one and you would think that they are different based on how they act. It seems like they simply are the same person, but the demon blood represents the night form while the day acts as Rikuo. By the end of the series, they have essentially come to terms with each other and both forms are capable of engaging in combat. It’s the same guy, but with a split personality. I wouldn’t have minded if they had ended up splitting by the end, but that would have been a little sad for the day version since he wouldn’t have been very important to the series anymore.
Overall, Nura ended up being one of the best manga series that I have finished in a while. It did stumble into some issues which kept it from being a 9, but an 8 is still more than respectable. This guy could certainly hold his own against other Shonen Jump All Stars. He’s not quite ready to defeat Ichigo quite yet, but with his various super forms, most of the other heroes would be fair game for him. The art was solid and we had a good group of characters. Naturally, the fight scenes were incredible as well. You really couldn’t ask for a more complete manga and I would certainly be open to a sequel at some point. If you’re looking for a solid action series and don’t mind some violence (Around Bleach level or slightly higher, but nothing too graphic) then this is definitely the title for you. Get ready for a solid adventure and one where you can finally root for the Yokai instead of the humans. (Although there are heroic humans as well.)
Overall 8/10
The Law of Ueki was one of my favorite manga titles back when I had been reading it. The ending had not been totally satisfying, but it definitely had a good run. I was certainly thrilled to hear that it got a proper sequel. Not one of those spinoffs where you wonder what happened like with Beelzebub, but a sequel that would take itself seriously and contain a lot of action. It is certainly not as good as the original series, but it is still a good title and it’s nice to see Ueki back again. This sequel was as good as I had hoped it would be.
Ueki’s life has returned to normal after the events of the last film. He is back to being an ordinary human, but that doesn’t stop him from helping people out like the good ole days. When his best friend is attacked by a mysterious foe, Ueki launches into battle. It is a valiant effort, but the die had been cast. All of the inhabitants of Earth minus Ueki have lost their memories. Ueki must now venture into a new world to win a big tournament and get everyone’s memories back!
It is a race against time and I have always liked the tournament angle so it was a good move for the series. Law of Ueki Plus is 5 volumes long and the tournament takes up most of the series. It is paced pretty well although the ending is certainly rushed. The tournament also didn’t get a proper conclusion, which was a little sad. It is not entirely unexpected since that actually does happen a lot, but it is always sad to see.
Ueki is still a very likable main character. He is very trusting and always ready to lend a helping hand. He can easily be considered one of the most heroic leads in manga. That being said, it can be tough to see him talk so big when he is typically outmatched in this series. He has the ability to stretch his mop. It is a really terrible ability and it makes the plot hax s little more evident than usual. How can Ueki hope to match opponents who have super strength and speed at their disposal? Ueki is back to being a normal guy besides the mop right so how is he actually enduring these hits? It definitely stretches your imagination quite a bit.
To the manga’s credit, they do give Ueki a subplot where he wants to get stronger so that he can back up his words and protect his friends. It is a noble effort to be sure, but it is still pretty dicey at first. Ueki actually mentions that power doesn’t really matter at one point. He changes his mind after being defeated in battle, but based on the events from the first series, he should definitely remember why being strong is important. So, he is very heroic, but he simply can’t back up his promises for a good chunk of the series, which is sad. Nonetheless, it’s hard for this guy not to instantly become one of your favorite main characters when he utters so many hardcore lines. “I’ll definitely find a way!”m
Nagara is one of the supporting characters in the series although he is not much of a fighter….or is he? Nagara is mainly just used for hype and he never actually helps since he wants Ueki and the other friends to level up on their own. Nagara has a healing ability at his disposal, which is pretty neat. That being said, he is lucky that he is physically super human as well or he could have gotten speedblitzed. He is decent I suppose, but not very interesting. I certainly could have done without him. If Nagara had gotten his own fight, that would have really helped his chances.
Haiji is one of Ueki’s teammates for the tournament. He has a dishwasher that he can throw at people and he is also able to shoot blasts at water by the end. The ability isn’t great, but it is a start. Again, he is fairly generic and not in a good way. Haiji doesn’t like to act as nice as he is to preserve his tough rep and he is always squabbling with another one of the members. His sob story is also a bit much considering how heroic he wanted to be. He is a loyal ally, but not one that you will end up being a big fan of.
Sora is the final member of the crew and he really likes eating. When he eats a burger, he is able to “double.” This means that he can split in two or double his speed. Those are just a few examples of what he can do. Naturally, this is easily the best ability from the whole group. It is an ability that you can actually take seriously! Personality wise, Sora isn’t likable either. Seeing a pattern? Aside from Ueji, who is an established character anyway, none of the characters are that good. I think that it is a sign of the author running out of ideas. Sora likes to pretend that he doesn’t know what is going on sometimes and he spends a lot of time just trolling everyone. He finally gets serious near the end and then we figure out that he isn’t even used to fighting. He does get some good fights of course, but I would have preferred another personality for his character.
Byaku is one of the antagonists, but he really just has a hard time sharing his feelings. There is a big plot twist in why he wants to win the tournament and let’s just say that it probably won’t help you become a fan. He was actually my favorite villain in the series even if it’s by default to an extent. His ability to manipulate his hair was certainly formidable and it was one of the best powers in the series.
Minus is the final boss of the series and he makes for a climactic finish. His design is mostly good although I could have done without the lipstick. As far as his personality goes, that’s another story altogether. His reasoning for wanting all of the memories to go away isn’t great and bringing along one of Ueki’s friends was pretty pointless. Villains do love their mindgames at times, but I need a better reason than that. He has a really cool energy blade that is not only practical for battles, but a must have if you are to stay relevant. One of his first decisions is to take out Ueki’s arms and it’s a solid battle strategy. His speed is also pretty unreal as he took out two of the heroes before they even knew that he had moved. He’s pretty high tier and it’s hard to see how Ueki was able to give him a fight at all. That being said, this is Law of Ueki Plus. The series where Ueki went from being a normal human to a guy with LS reactions after being asleep for a while. The power levels are certainly ditched from time to time, but it does make for some great scenes. Minus may not have been an interesting villain and his comic relief moment at the beginning was a little off putting, but he tries to be cool.
The villain who really stole the show was Spark. Now that was a great villain! I’d also go as far as to say that he is the strongest one in the series. He essentially took out the whole cast of the series without breaking a sweat. It was just his bad luck that he had to go up against an enraged Ueki. Spark has super speed at his disposal as long as he blows into his whistle. It may seem like an odd gimmick, but it certainly works. Without plot hax, there’s really not a single character in this series who can hope to defeat this guy. I’ve already mentioned that the series does have a lot of power level inconsistencies, but this fight definitely took the cake. There’s no way that Ueki should have been able to have outsped him so much here. It was an incredible scene since we hadn’t gotten to see Ueki this hardcore since the original series, but the author should have just gone all the way and given him a true power up. There was a power up in this scene, but it should have had no effect on his speed. That being said, this fight is the highlight of the series and you won’t want to miss it. It may be the longest one as well!
All right, the characters section was certainly pretty negative for the most part, but the main character was still good and we had a great villain, which helps a lot. You may have thought that the manga was not very good based on that, but I can assure you that it is still a fun series. For starters, the action scenes are a lot of fun. We get a lot of them as the series goes on and I am always a fan of a good action scene. I do wish that the heroes had better abilities though since the villains really should win if we disregard plot hax. I feel like the series really held itself back by weakening the heroes so much. Give Ueki his old powers back and the heroes will be in a great position. This hurt the potential of the series for Earth shattering fights, but as I mentioned earlier, we still got quite a few fun ones over the course of this adventure and I was satisfied.
Considering that this is a sequel, fans may also be saddened by the fact that the old cast doesn’t get to appear aside from some brief cameos. They may have lost their memories, but it would have been great to have seen them try to help out at the very least. This is barely a negative though and simply another path that the series could have taken. It would have been well worth the author’s time to have done this as it would have been great seeing the old cast come in to help out. They weren’t very tough either to be honest, but it would still have been fun.
It was a quick journey, but it really hit all the right notes. There was no fanservice to be found here and the series never got excessive in any aspect. The villains mean business and they deliver some big hits to the heroes, but it never goes too far. You have to give a lot of credit to the artist here. The series isn’t always very consistent, but some scenes look downright amazing. When Ueki returned to the battlefield, it’s hard not to cheer with such a great splash page. The fights look good and the writing is also very good. This is a series that is easy to pick up and read all the way through without a break. What keeps it from an 8 are really the character issues from earlier and how short it is. With some more intense battles and an extra volume or two, I’m confident that this would get an 8. So, don’t let the 7 stars fool you, this is still an excellent title to check out.
Overall, Law of Ueki Plus is a pretty fun sequel. It is easily one of the best manga sequels that I have read. It loses to DBZ, Duelist, and Gigamix, but it probably beats almost everything else. The cast was pretty unimpressive and the heroes were given pretty bad powers for the most part, but we had very good artwork and action scenes to counteract that. This series ended really quickly so it probably would have been able to address most of my critiques with more time, but this was just how the ball bounced. Law of Ueki still ended the franchise on a high note and I definitely recommend this to fans of the original and to anyone who wants a good action title to check out. Also, if you’re looking for a main character to root for, Ueki is your man! Who else uses a mop to tie up someone who can run faster than a Bullet Train?
Overall 7/10
Deltota Quest is a book series that became a bigger franchise than anyone could have imagined. It got two sequel series, a manga, and a TV show. That is pretty impressive. I read the books and watched the show so now I finally got to check out the manga. It is pretty good, but could it match up to the anime? Let’s take a look at this adaption.
The plot follows a kid by the name of Lief. He lives in the Kingdom of Deltora, unaware that the rest of the planet has been taken over by the Shadow Lord. The only way to stop him is to travel the world and find the missing gems of Deltora. Once united on the belt, they can be used to vanquish the evil being. Lief is joined in his quest by a bodyguard in the form of Barda and a girl in the forest who goes by the name of Jasmine. Let the adventure begin!
The series is 10 volumes long, which is pretty good for the average manga series. It is still a little rushed by the end though, which shows just how much content needed to be covered. There were quite a few gems so the adventures were numerous. Unfortunately, this meant that some of the battles had to be trimmed. Particularly, the final big boss (minus the Shadow Lord) was reduced to a single hit KO. Most of the exposition was kept in and some battles were extended, so it wasn’t all rushed. The series probably would have had a more even pacing if it had been boosted to 12 volumes.
The artwork for the series is pretty intense and the artist must have loved old classics like Yu Yu Hakusho and Kenshiro. You really feel the punches and this is probably Barda’s best portrayal. His fight with Doom is extended and the tournament’s final rounds are turned into a free for all, which allows for more action. The gritty/shonen art works for the fight scenes and while it may be a little generic during the regular scenes, it works well enough. It is a little more violent as a result of this, but certainly nothing compared to the average SJ title. Just watch out for the rats scene as it can be pretty sad.
One thing that you will notice immediately is a large amount of plot hax. The critical mistake that many fantasy series make is to have the lead characters be humans without any special abilities. So, how can these guys take on all powerful beings of darkness or a witch who is protected by a barrier? Bring in the plot hax crew. The witch scene wasn’t that bad as it is the monsters who usually take the fall. They are simply stabbed or are too slow to escape the heroes. The main characters decide to play dead at one point, but things almost don’t work out very well for them as the villains prepare to critically stab them anyway. A sound makes them forget what they were doing, but it is an example of a scene where the heroes were only saved by luck.
Lief is the main lead and he is pretty heroic. He is definitely not the strongest character around, but he knows self defense, which is always a useful skill to have. He has most of the qualities that you would expect to see in a hero and Lief never backs down from a fight. I definitely don’t have a problem with him being the main character, but he could certainly have been a little more interesting. His plans are also some of the worst ones a lead has ever come up with and luck is the only reason why he survives for so long.
Barda is the muscle of the group and he is a talented fighter. Lief never manages to surpass him in the art of fighting, but Barda does have more experience on his side. He gets quite a few fights during the course of the series and Barda definitely ends up being a good character. He is certainly more interesting than Lief, but it is hard to say who is more likable.
Jasmine is the team’s link to nature and she is the quickest fighter of the group. Her big weakness resides in her lack of physical strength. She typically manages to get past this though and her animal friends provide her with some backup. Her initial distrust and aggression regarding the mysterious figure named Doom is a little much as it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but there is a reason for it. I am just not sure if I buy the fact that the plot twist would have caused this.
Beyond those 3 heroes, there isn’t much of a supporting cast. They do gain more allies along the way, but their appearances are sporadic at best. They befriend a boy who has lost the ability to speak. The kid helps them out more than once and the heroes would have been doomed otherwise. The heroes are also helped by a flying creature who fights off a powerful beast. Naturally, Doom also lends a helping hand when the stakes get high and he proves to be a formidable ally. His strength may even be a match for Barda’s.
The villains have less character to speak of since most of them are giant monsters. Aside from the Vraal, I don’t even remember their names. Some monsters were unlikable like the giant Toad, while others were pretty cool like the Vraal. It is definitely a case by case basis and I just wish that the heroes could have gotten some power ups so that the fights would not feel all of the plot hax. There is a traitor and a villain related to Lief’s past, but they were both thrown back into the manga at the last second so it lacks the emotional punch that it could have had. Fans of the Shadow Lord or at least the concept of the big bad may be disappointed by the fact that his screen time is extremely limited. He comes into the picture at the very end of the series and he it outmatched very quickly. The author should probably have given him a fight scene a little sooner so that he could at least get one win before it was all over. The Shadow Lord has a cool design, hopefully that will satisfy you….
I already discussed the artwork, but the fight scenes deserve a paragraph of its own. The artist is pretty good at hand to hand fights as well as sword clashes. This is due to the gritty, detailed style that is used here. It may be counter productive at times for the non action scenes, but the fights make it worth the trade off. Deltora Quest sometimes ends up looking like a classic SJ title when Lief really gets into the heat of battle. The monsters certainly look intimidating and I have always liked the design of the Ols. The fights just feel out of place because they are so serious in what is otherwise a fairly laid back series. I’m certainly all for it!
This is a journey series so you could argue that while the plot is important, you’re really supposed to look at the visuals and that’s how you will find the series to be a lot of fun. Lief helps people from various lands and it really pays off by the end. Some of the quests may seem like filler, but Lief typically gets a gem out of the ordeal so that certainly helps his quest. It’s like LOTR, but in manga form so it is infinitely better.
Overall, Deltora Quest is a good manga. At 10 volumes, it is almost the perfect definition of what a good manga is. We have enjoyable fights, decently interesting characters, no fanservice, (Which is pretty incredible) and some solid artwork to back it all up. It’s a complete package. There are really no big negatives to speak of. It was a little rushed and the rat violence was sad, but that’s about it. The series managed to stay afloat on its positives. This title won’t be making your top 10 or anything like that, but it’ll be a fun read and you can compare it to the books or the anime. There’s just something satisfying about checking something out in all 3 formats. Maybe the manga will get a sequel series to cover the book’s sequel, but the chances are slim. Still, we can hope!
Overall 6/10
Scan 2 Go is a show that I started a little over 2 years ago. It was a pretty solid series, but then it was pulled from TV…never to be shown again. Now, it has finally made it to Youtube so I got to blast through the final 7-8 episodes. Let’s just say that this is a great show that really manages to hit it out of the park in several areas. On the surface it’s just another awesome toyetic show, but it decides to go all Gurren Lagann on us in the final 2. This title is pretty obscure so let’s go over the plot first.
There’s a plot? Of course! Kaz Gordan is from Earth and he has three friends. Together, they form Team Jet and they are training to become the best racers in the universe. Scan 2 Go is a futuristic game that lets you mentally synchronize with your (tiny) toy car as you travel across dangerous tracks. The game never really hit it off on Earth, but every other planet is playing it. Kaz convinces his teacher to let Team Jet travel across the universe after he crushes him in a toy car fight. The heroes win tournament after tournament as they meet strange allies and tricky villains. There are many tournaments and training sessions throughout the show, but it’s difficult to call them actual arcs. One of the big story arcs was when the team went to Gurao to train since that’s where they got to bond with their allies. Finally, the team went back to Earth for the universal tournament. The final Grand Prix to decide who the fastest racer in the universe is. Unfortunately….an old enemy has decided to show up as well. There will be much more about that in a moment.
Scan 2 Go’s animation is actually pretty good. To an extent, I expected this, but it really shines during the space battles or really any scene with Ryu. The energy attacks are great and I’m convinced that this show could have pulled off a hand to hand battle scene. How does it stack up against other toyetic shows? I think that the animation is behind Cardfight and Buddyfight, but it beats Tenkai Knights and the original Yugioh series. Animation isn’t typically a gamechanger for a show, but it sure makes the racing scenes more exciting. I can’t say that any episodes had bad animation and that’s always a good thing.
The soundtrack for the show is one of its biggest strengths. There are technically not a whole lot of themes in the show since the old ones just play again and again and again. That’s all right though since they’re so good. From the starting theme, “Scan 1….” so Ryu’s theme, Scan 2 Go’s music selections are intense. The Ryu one is definitely intense and it makes for a very good villain theme. It’s in sharp contrast to the racing theme that typically plays since that one is very fast, but hopeful. Unfortunately, the opening isn’t very good, but this is the kind of show that can get by that thanks to all of its other strengths.
Let’s talk about Ryu. He changed the entire series, which is very impressive. Until he showed up, Kaz just had fun outracing everyone and showing them why his Falgor was the best car in the biz. That all changed when Ryu introduced the notion of racing to destroy the other competitors. His car is the fastest and the strongest in the series so none of the other racers can hope to beat him in a fair race. Luckily, that’s not what he wants anyway. He just wants to destroy the universe! As you can imagine, that was pretty shocking to see in this show. Until then, one could argue that the strongest fighters weren’t even planet busters…so how did we upgrade to universe busting?
Well, Ryu is a living embodiment of a black hole and the power gem that is on his forehead gives him additional power. His car has the ability to instantly regenerate injuries although it may just be Ryu’s ability that transfers to the car since they are fully synchronized. Ryu is so great that he actually pulls off a feat that people have been waiting for DBZ to show. He destroys a moon just by having his car ram into someone else’s. It’s a great scene and it’s pretty tragic since you’re not used to seeing other people get injured in this show. That being said, Ryu goes even farther than that.
Only one character is destroyed in the entire series and you can probably guess who did that. Ryu has a climatic battle with the greatest racer in the universe..or at least, the man who was the greatest racer in the universe. It was a very fun, high budget battle in space and we got to see both of them really put everything on the line. That was easily the darkest episode and the moment where the series had changed forever. It’s hard not to quickly begin to love Ryu as a villain. He toys with all of the heroes and he is the only one who seems to realize that their cars can be used as weapons. After all, they can shoot thunder, make tsunamis, black holes, etc. Why should they only be used in races?
Another reason why the final episodes were so great was because we finall got to see the mysterious council make their move. It really felt like a moment out of Shonen Jump when we got to see Ryu fight these new characters. They all had unique powers and they talked a good game so it was pretty great. I don’t think anyone ever questioned who would win the fight, but it was just fun to see. Ryu’s car also gets to smash through an entire army and it can move so quickly that it turns into a giant meteor.
It doesn’t stop there though as its gravity powers (Or Ryu’s) are enough to push the Moon out of orbit and send it crashing to Earth. Ryu’s universe destroying plan is also rather simple. His car just needs to win one more big race to have enough power to make a black hole big enough to suck everything in. (He absorbs the powers of those he has defeated after all) Naturally, Kaz and friends are here to stop him so it ends up being a 8-12 vs 1 matchup in the final battle. It’s pretty great to see, but the heroes sure look weak and completely out of their league compared to such a fighter.
The heroes are able to let their cars reach FTL speeds as well, although I found Ryu’s feat more impressive since he was doing it on his own. That being said, it’s intense to see them just cruising past planets on their way to victory. I also have to give the show some props since the easy way would have been to just have had Ryu die when they pushed him into the sun. Let’s just say that it’s not enough to stop him. I think that he should have been able to have just left and regrouped somewhere else, but it was pretty much impossible to stop him so they had to end everything somehow. At least the heroes got to try their luck at pushing a moon. It’s a good strength feat since we need to keep in mind that Wonder Woman, Superman, and Martian Manhunter teaming up couldn’t move the moon while the heroes from Gurao were able to move it. (Even more impressive is that the Moon was already crashing so it’s different from pushing a Moon that’s in orbit.) Other heroes come to help after that, but the heroes already got the main job done.
Now, all of this does bring to mind one big concern with the sport and why you have wonder about how safe it is. The show is rather inconsistent in showing just how synchronized you are with the car, but it seems to suggest that you feel the virtual damage that you car does. It’s why the humans will wince or groan with pain after a big attack or end up getting knocked down. They also seem to abandon the real world completely, but is this physical or just mental? At the very least, your conciousness leaves like in Sword Art Online, but other times we see the fighters just appear where the cars are. (Even if it’s thousands of miles away from the arena) So, it’s possible that their physical bodies are able to instantly warp to their cars or they are spirited away during the match. However, they stay at the racetrack at other times to trade insults with the others.
Ultimately, I don’t think that the show could really make up its mind on this. I’ll just think of it as throwing your conciousness into the car, which is why you feel the damage and wind up wherever the car is. After all, we can’t really look at Zero’s battle with Ryu any other way. How else could he breathe in space and follow Ryu there? (Ryu can breathe in space, but he’s not even human so it’s all right) I’ll just add that you can quickly go back to the real world as well or stay there the whole time depending how synched you are with your car. Naturally, this means that mind games work very well in this series.
I still haven’t mentioned what the risk of racing is have I? Well, if you feel the virtual damage, then you are put at great risk. One fighter ended up synching with his car while in space so when the car was blown up, the guy was either blown up with it or he ended up suffocating. Luckily, it seems to be the former. Another guy is obliterated by an energy blast because his car was. There’s no way that you can find this hobby safe and it makes you wonder about all of the one shot characters who got crushed throughout the series. It seems like the virtual damage doesn’t affect you if you don’t have a high synch rate so the throwaway characters might be safe, but it’s still hard to see how this sport is condoned. Maybe that’s why Earth isn’t exactly head over heels for it. Well, that’s enough about how awesome the series is for now, let’s look at the rest of the characters. (Since I basically already talked about Ryu a lot. He’s my favorite character in the series while I have to boot Kaz down to number 2)
Before Ryu took the spot, Kaz had been my favorite character in the series from the very first episode. He’s just awesome and a shining example of how I want my main characters to look. Kaz doesn’t pull any punches whether he’s racing against little kids or old men. In the very first episode he ends up beating his mentor so that he could escape Earth and race in the big leagues. It was pretty cool since the future is luckily safe enough that 10 year old kids can fly around the cosmos unchaperoned. (Unless you count their little robot friend.) Kaz always has a lot of determination and he constantly mentions how he wants to be the Fastest in the Universe. It’s a noble goal to be sure and one to be proud of. He makes quite a few rivals along the way, but he’s never outmatched for very long. His car’s special ability is that it can fly, which actually isn’t one of the better abilities, but it hasn’t failed him yet. While Ryu wields the power of darkness, Kaz holds the power of light and there are only two to three other characters who have wielded a similar power in the past. Zero and one of Kaz’s masters come to mind. Unfortunately, he only uses it a few times throughout the series and surprisingly not in the final fight. That’s a missed opportunity, but it doesn’t stop Kaz from being one of the best main characters out there. I agree with just about all of his decisions and he doesn’t make any huge mistakes throughout the series. No, Kaz is all about the win and then the team..in that order. His Galaxy Falgor is also cooler than almost every other car in the series.
Shiro is the main rival of the series, which guarantees him a spot in the top 5 of the series. He has ice abilities so he can freeze an entire battlefield and stop everyone in their tracks with minimal effort. Unfortunately, he can’t totally control this power and he ends up turning into a wolf sometimes. He seems to be part of a wolf changing species, but he looks pretty human while in..human mode. His car is pretty great since aside from ice abilities, he can also teleport. That is very handy to have in a race and it’s hard to see Shiro ever losing once he gets that power. To an extent..you’d be right, but it’s also partially because his role is lessened a whole lot by that point. By the end, he’s barely in the show anymore aside to just be in the background. No matter, he’s still a pretty great character. The only part of the show where he got to be a little annoying was when he was having a lot of internal drama and he let Ryu play him like a puppet. That was pretty sad, but luckily it was also very brief. Shiro is one of the only racers who can actually give Kaz a fight so he needs to stay in the game!
Zero is known as the greatest racer in the universe and Kaz has always wanted to surpass him. It’s a little sad that they never get to have a proper race since that would have been pretty great. Zero is essentially perfect, which irritates his rivals, but shows why he has so many fans. He doesn’t use any gimmicks or cheap tricks to win as he just races from start to finish. That being said, his decision to fight Ryu may not have been his greatest one. It was an awesome moment since Zero had gotten a whole lot of hype while Ryu was the mysterious son of the black hole. Zero put up a good fight since his car could shoot lasers and he held his own while in space. It was an admirable fight and it was a great way to wrap up his character arc. Let’s just say that I wasn’t going to forget him after that. I’d actually say that he is one of the coolest characters in the show and I’d probably place him at third behind Ryu and Kaz. That final fight certainly did a lot to help me gain respect for him.
Fiona is the main heroine in the series and she has a long lasting rival in Hebina. Her car’s ability is that it can navigate through a race track by using its gliders to look at the stage layout, but the writers probably realized that this wasn’t much of an ability so she gains thunder powers as the series goes on. Those are very useful to be sure so I was glad that she got those new powers. She likes to think that she’s just as good as Kaz in a race, although all of his allies seem to illogically believe that to an extent. Even if Kaz proves them wrong over and over again…their honor is at stake here! She’s definitely better than Myron and Diego, but Shiro would take the number 2 spot on Team Jet…if we decide to count him. She’s definite a pretty likable ally and at least her skills are considerable. She may be top 3 as far as toyetic heroines are concerned, which is a feat in itself.
Diego is the Dex/Bud/Bronx of the show. He’s always eating except when he’s too nervous or upset to do so. His car is pretty slow, but strong. The problem is that there are several other cars that are simply stronger than his, which takes away his only gimmick. How can he hope to win a true race with such a car? Typically, his will power is just that much better than his opponents so he is able to get an extra boost to win the day. I can’t say that I believed many of his wins though and he’s not one of the better allies. He gets a subplot where he feels like he is the weakest member on the team and the sad part is that it’s probably true. Kaz puts a lot of effort into training, but we never see Diego proactively decide to do this. He’s too interested in eating so why should he expect to be strong? It was emotional and all, but he really doesn’t add anything to the show. I still wouldn’t go as far as to say that he’s a bad character though. He’s just not that good.
Myron is one member of Team Jet that I definitely didn’t care for. He’s the smart member of the group, but that doesn’t stop him from still wanting to be one of the fastest racers in the universe. He’s asking for too much if you ask me. His Storm Slazer actually has a pretty good design and it’s gimmick is that it can drive well over ice, sand, and water. It can also drill under the track to hide if necessary. The problem is that Myron is always quick to turn against Kaz since nothing can ever be his fault. He’s worse than Diego and some of the allies from Gurao, which is pretty sad for him. He was definitely a little worse than I could have expected.
Dradd was Kaz’s first rival and he stayed with him until the very end. He has a rivalry with Ryu going on, but he has to get in line since Kaz and Taiga also have beef with the guy. His car’s special ability is that it can hit the ground hard enough to make it jump forward. It’s pretty nifty, but not that practical compared to the other cars. Power is his thing like with Diego and Ryu, but he’s probably second in that category. He talks tough and he is older than Kaz, but he had to start his training from scratch since he had stopped improving. He’s the best member from Gurao. That may not be saying a lot, but his races are fun to watch and I definitely wouldn’t call him a bad character. He’s outmatched against Kaz, but that’s just his bad luck right?
Taiga is Kaz’s second rival and I guess that makes him rivals with Dradd as well to an extent. He races so that he can become better than Zero and then a big rivalry starts with Ryu. He is a good racer, but his will power isn’t so great and he can be manipulated rather easily. He’s not bad, but he tries to act a little too cool at different points and it just doesn’t work. He’s a decent rival, but I’d say that Kaz is clearly superior in a race. I could probably take Taiga a little more seriously if he could have convincingly defeated Diego in the race, but it was a little too close for comfort. He talks really tough the whole series, but he’s usually on the losing end of a race. At least he learned the values of friendship by the end…
I’m starting to realize that the sad characters were not great in this show. I liked Shiro, Zero, Kaz, Fiona, Dradd, and Ryu. That sounds like a lot, but considering how many characters are in the show…that’s a pretty small number. I just ended up not really feeling like the other characters were that good. Kraken is no exception as he is a King who enjoys the game, but it rather overconfident about it. His voice doesn’t help matters at all, but the worst part is that he just doesn’t seem to be that good. His car can shoot large waves of water, which is a pretty great technique, but his car isn’t great on the ground…and that’s where almost all of the races take place. He bonds with the heroes at one point, which gets them all on his side, but he didn’t get me on his side.
Hebina might be the worst member from the Gurao team since she is clearly a villain who just happens to race. Her abilities are not great so she constantly cheats to ensure that she claims victory in her battles. None of the other characters call her out on this half the time and she certainly didn’t earn her spot with the best in the Final Grand Prix. Her theme is also awful and the only piece of music that I didn’t like. It’s not an exaggeration to say that she may be the worst character in the show. Her gimmick is that her car can make illusions so that it looks like her car has multiplied. It’s not very original though since a shadow council member could do that with his car and likewise with Kaz’s original teacher. She’s going to have to do better than that if she wants to be an expert racer and hopefully she becomes likable someday…but the sequel series would really need to change her character to make that possible.
Jack is a cop who also happens to be a racer and he’s definitely not likable. He’s probably the weakest racer from Gurao and it’s hard to even remember what his gimmick is. He definitely has something since his character needs a gimmick, but it probably wasn’t that great. He has a hero moment towards the end of the series where he destroys a meteor, but it just doesn’t make up for a whole series. He needs to just stick to one field and master it instead of dabbling in both. He constantly goes after Hebina, which would be okay if it was just to arrest her, but he doesn’t take his job seriously enough for that. He just likes to give her a hard time. He must have been lucky to have made it to the final grand prix.
Ray is Kaz’s teacher from Earth and he’s pretty cool. His attitude is similar to Kakashi’s in that he is always very confident and mysterious. It’s a little hard to take him seriously since he was defeated in the very first episode of the series and then disappeared until around episode 49, but he quickly made up for this in the final race. His skills are apparently up there with some of the world’s best and that’s pretty cool to see. From Kaz’s three teachers he was definitely the best. Master Hippopo is arguably the strongest master since he’s the leader of the super council and he fought Ryu, but he was certainly not very likable. The only good scene with Hippopo aside from his fight against Ryu was probably his “death” in one of the earlier episodes since Kaz got to have a rage moment as he dueled against Hebina. Now that was intense!
Antares was one of the less interesting members of the main guys. He is a publicity guy first and foremost. He like to always be in the spotlight and he acts as if his races are just shows for his adoring fans. That ultimate comes back to bite him in the final episode. His car’s gimmick is that it can use its tail to do a flip on the track so that it can dodge attacks. It’s pretty useful, but definitely not the greatest bonus for when it comes down to a contest of speed. I just don’t really find him to be that likable and I also doubt his skills.
I have to say that the ending wasn’t great though. I Loved the huge climax and how out there is got, but some parts were still a little disappointing. One part that I was underwhelmed by was Kaz’s big charge against Ryu. He decided that winning on his friends sacrifices wouldn’t be worth it so he attacked Ryu in a rage moment. Unfortunately, he is just thrown to the side and he couldn’t deal any damage. He didn’t even last 5 seconds so that was pretty sad. I also think that they should have just said that Kaz was the winner at the end instead of just saying that all fans of the series were winners. That’s a bit of a cop out right?
Overall, Scan 2 Go is a great show and it’s certainly not one that you’ll want to miss out on. The series mostly doesn’t have a whole lot of stakes in it since it’s just about seeing the heroes race as they get through their challenges, but that definitely changes once Ryu enters the show. Before Ryu’s appearance the show still would have gotten a 7 easily, but his battles gave it the push that it needed to reach the elusive 8. It’s a great experience from start to finish and the visuals as well as the soundtrack only help to enhance that. Kaz is a likable main character and Ryu’s a great villain so you don’t need to worry about the characters dragging it down. Some subplots like Shiro’s origin don’t really go anywhere and we could have done without it, but maybe it’ll be in a sequel at some point. Regardless, the show just wins on all accounts so you definitely want to see it as soon as possible!
Overall 8/10
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