Kill Ao
Kill Blue

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found about this Manga today, and it has been knocking my legs out from under me. It is absolutely one of the funniest mangas I have read.

It can also handle current topics, references, Drama and action very well without it bogging the other elements down. If there is a critique to be had it is that some things can be a little cliche and stereotypical but it's like the Author knows this and is getting the cliches out of the way quickly to get to the really good stuff sooner.

So this is a recommendation from this humble fan and reviewer.

Hope you ... like it.

Yet another Spy/Assassin series in Shounen jump, and somehow this one is also pretty solid. Whereas Spy x Family has great slice-of-life with decent action and Sakamoto Days has incredible action with good characterization, Kill Blue is more well-rounded, with pretty good action and pretty good characterization/slice-of-life. The premise sounds somewhat cliche, with a top assassin becoming a child, causing several antics. However, Kill Blue executes this premise well, using it to both for some fun comedy and self-reflection of the protagonist. In between fun battles which often involve the innate awkwardness of a middle-aged man in a child body, we get legitimate introspection from ... the main character, who has, in some ways, gotten a second chance at a childhood and education he never got to appreciate. It also helps that the other characters are pretty enjoyable too, although the possibility of an inflated cast seems to grow bigger as the series goes on.

My only real issues involve, and I know this is groan-worthy, some of the brief sociopolitical '''commentary'''. Listen, I am absolutely fine with this kind of stuff, but as an example, one time a character said something to the effect of "That makes as much sense as the Japanese Government's plan to raise birth rates!" Like, what? Is that a joke? If you want to commentate on social issues, commit to it. Don't just make a weird joke that no teenager would ever say. Other than that, as this is a recent series, there's not much else to say. I mainly reviewed this because it's a genuinely good series that's gotten little attention and I don't want it to get cancelled. I'd definitely recommend it. 7/10.

I’m still very much ambivalent about this series and don’t fully understand the push Jump is giving it. The issue that has plagued it so far is that it seems to sample many genres without establishing itself well enough in any.

It has potential as a character driven story with the protagonist’s emotional growth as a middle aged man in a middle grade student’s body providing enough stimulus to keep it engaging, but unfortunately it doesn’t feel the character writing is strong enough to convince me that the character is some 40 something year old, as he often sounds like he’s just some fragile child ... navigating puberty.

The action and comedy aspects of the series haven’t meshed so far, and while I feel there is more to get out of the comedic situation the premise sets up, it just doesn’t lean enough into it to classify it a comedy. The mystery too isn’t engaging as yet, but I recognise it’s still early in the series.

Kill Blue has seemingly taken aspects popularised in other series and assembled them together haphazardly. While I can see this series sticking around due to its inoffensive nature in a magazine always committed to a handful of its kind, I don’t foresee it being anything more impactful or memorable than its current standing. Given the strength of the author’s previous works, I hold out a small hope it develops into something worth following in the future. But for now its pieces have nothing going for it to make it a worthy weekly read.