Rikudou

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This manga is a new favourite and love of mine, it's gritty and emotional with sports at the heart and a pinch of ecchi. Don't let that throw you off though, it's this gritty double punch and quick ecchi jab that really make this story feel real.

Everything isn't rosy in this manga much like life. Strong Hands, their own hands that's all they have to get back up on there feet and that's what makes this manga feel real and gives us that emotional pull of something we can all relate to in some way shape or form.

Yes it does have some typical ... tropes but overall the main thing that makes this manga so great is the characters development, (much like fruits basket) you get to see these characters develop, grow, overcome and deal with their emotional baggage through the sport of boxing of course.

Definitely give it a read and i would 100% recommend. Best boxing manga in a long while

I am surprised that not as many people read manga as I thought. Every manga that I have read so far had all of the scans but it turns out that working on these scans are quite the feat. There are some manga that I want to have finished, such as Rikudou.

This journey that Riku goes through it very tough and it is all about how he is searching for "strength" and how he is trying to get "stronger." This manga gave me Hajime no Ippo vibes as there is clear progression within the story and I'm a sucker for progression as a whole. As ... I feel as if I am not qualified to talk about manga, I feel as if its important to share this underrated manga.

This manga throws a lot at you, and the scenes themselves are amazing. There are also a lot of life lessons which is always an added bonus. I hope this gets you off of the cusp of whether or not to read this manga.

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Story - 7
Art - 9
Character - 8
Enjoyment - 8
Overall - 8
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Sorry if this review isn't the best, new to manga as a whole and I'm still working on it :)

The classy sport of boxing holds many entertaining merits for the average viewer, exhibiting technical precision amongst the most primal physical activity, effectively casting a shiny aesthetic over devastating injuries and sacrifice. Rikudou, like many sports media, attempts the delicate balance between violence and what one could argue is an art form. The manga follows Riku Azami, a boy from a tragic background, who discovers a light of salvation in the combat sport. In his search for purpose, there lie trials and tribulations, but more importantly, Matsubara contains the dramatization within tenets of real-world struggles. While some of it may be telegraphed around coincidence, the ... bulk of it is indeed character growth through stimulating masculine desires. The very idea of pummeling an opponent's face seems like savagery, yet the trained eye will notice beautiful combinations of fluidity, which is depicted here in impressive detail. There is elegance in spilling blood on the canvas under the limitations of merely being allowed your two hands.

As a character study, the series excels in creating consistent parallels across multiple deuteragonists. The intersecting paths to glory is a recurring theme, and Matsubara emphasizes the element of achievement. Unfortunately, it's also occasionally a detriment given the number of boxers introduced, where one will remember a face merely because of a one-liner. Nonetheless, the major takeaway from Rikudou is successful in emanating why athletes even bother staking their lives, and it's noteworthy that the idea of keeping one's fight record clean is discarded early on. Initially, it spends a fair bit of time exploring the middle ground of Riku's past and how he can harness those experiences, although, after the shaky beginnings, the narrative settles into stronger points of archetypes, simultaneously rejecting talent or even hard work as what dictates the direction of a fight. The fights have their fair share of predictability, but ultimately, the outcomes intend to carry personal weight.

Matsubara's visual style has all the right traits for action, be it exaggerated movement or distinct impact shots. The musculature and metaphoric imagery combined with dotted shading make for solid blacked-out X-ray effects. Admittedly, his paneling is not friendly for newcomers to either the medium or the sport, and that's partly due to the terminology not being supported by ample context. There is a lack of exposition that may create varying levels of understanding among readers, specifically during quieter sequences, where techniques like feints and defense are simply implied without the sweet science behind them. My knowledge of the sport compensated for anything the storytelling lacked in clarity, however, I'm willing to acknowledge that targeting Riku's training more attentively might have given the series a better impression in its premature stages. Rikudou intentionally contains itself in the hungriest challenger mindset, perpetually encouraging those who dare to be great.