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Aug 19, 2023
STORY: 4
Meet Usogui the king of gamblers! He has an agenda and he is willing to bet his life to succeed. Along with his companions, his fate will cross a LOT of very colorful (read mostly psychotic) characters along Kakerou, a mysterious organization of game referees (and at the same time assassins because why not) that operates in the shadows of Japan.
The story is a succession of high-stake 'games' that Usogui takes on to conquer power. Call the right number and immediately 30 guys in black suits show up to insure the game goes as it should. Each game is anything-goes as long as
...
it's within the set of rules decided by the Kankerou referee. And then things get boring very rapidly as the same formula is repeated non stop over 49 volumes:
1 The nice guy starts the game with some super smart move.
2 However, the enemy saw that coming with an even smarter strategy that encompass all possibilities and moreover he is cheating using extremely convoluted ways. How evil! All hope seems lost!
3 But wait! The hero had an even more complicated strategy that includes all the possible actions of the enemy and had somehow anticipated for the treachery of the enemy and has used an even more cunning way of cheating.
4 There he wins! Oh but no! The enemy had a last, even more unrealistic and unlikely trick and it's over for the hero, who would have thought!
5 As despairs arrives, in an totally ridiculous twist (and after dragging for a loooong time), the hero ultimately wins because he had planned for basically all events in the universe (with flashbacks to explain how things truly went).. No wait nothing makes sense! Oh whatever, you will get tired of it quickly anyway.
On top of this tedious adventure add (at the same time) a ton of tough characters that pop out from nowhere for testosterone brawls with constant power-ups and you have a boring, over-confident mess of a manga.
ART: 5
As a half enigma and a half manly-fights manga, the focus is clearly on faces and bodies with some influences from titles like Baki or the Jojo saga. Lines are very detailed and show the experience of the author with some flexibility and ranges of emotions but the end-result is not that great. The main problem being that the approximate anatomy (the author is struggling with chins) makes the artwork feel weak.
Everybody looks the same and we need haircuts, accessories or moles to keep track of who is who in the huge mess of characters.
There is some clear skill progress along the many chapters, however, and a few nice panels, but globally the art self-seriousness fails as much as the story.
POLITICAL POTENTIAL: 4
Kankerou, the shadow organization of game-referees has ramification up to the corrupt government or the police and.. that's it.
Each of the too many characters has long tirades about justice, heart, power, but they mostly feel like incoherent babbling given the lack of consistence in the story.
FEMINISM: 3
Here is a manga that loves men so much that the female to male ratio feels like it's around 1:30. On one hand you have men characters who engage in brutal violence just for the kick of it and you can feel that the author enjoys depicting those over-the-top fights where the feeling of manhood is more important than any attempt at realism. That glorified violence in Usogui, similar to the masculinist classic Baki, is so ludicrous that it seems to have been written by a 13 years old.
On the other hand, the only two noticeable female characters are made into the 'femme fatale' trope: they are strong, beautiful and deadly. As often with this trope, they are shown as having a very active sexuality that makes them abnormal (which is a threat for men). And here you go, basically two women over 49 volumes.
There is also one bad allusion to sex through the manga: in one episode, a grateful host wants to reward one of the heroes. He then gives him two girls for sex like if they were objects. That scene is purposed for comedic relief and does not succeed -_-.
CONCLUSION: 4
Usogui is a failure of a cross-over between Detective Conan (for the crazy enigma) and Baki (for the ridiculously-strong manly-men lame fighting). Unconvincing in most of its aspects, sometimes unwillingly funny, it could have been so much better if it were 10 times shorter.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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May 19, 2023
STORY: 4
Kurokawa is an average worker who feels he has not accomplished anything in his life. He is grumpy, awkward, envious and shy. His story is a succession of painful moments as he fails at being respected, attracting women or making friends. And the rest is frustration as he keeps comparing himself to others or his idea a what a great man is.
That is, until the moment he gets to use violence!
The whole story supports the character's new-found use of violence to 'take your fate into your own hands' and celebrates his 'putting your life on the line' to the point of kitsch.
The story
...
is a succession of ridiculous scenes where male interactions are conditioned by the perceived violence of Kurosawa: aggression, emotion, fear, respect.. The reactions of the ordinary Japanese men depicted (no care is given to women save for one granny) are so primitive it feels like watching a documentary about the social life of apes.
ART: 5
The art is very old-school and stiff but it's still pleasant. That touch of 80s-90s is serving the story with faces that are easy to remember and a dated flavor that is in line with the 'primitive' feelings exposed in the manga.
POLITICAL POTENTIAL: 4
A man can get respect though violence and our hero, once he has stepped in this direction, is compared with a Samourai, a warrior, and the manga shows that it is an admirable thing.
For example, a moment of glory comes when Kurokawa announces that he is going to fight school delinquents in the middle of a restaurant. Then all the patrons are moved (!) by his resolution and follow him the next day to assist to the fight. During the fight, the spectacle of violence fascinates the (vastly male) audience and moves them to tears. Let's stop here: a crowd is moved by a grown-up taking the risk to kill a kid with a steal pipe.
How nice, after his fight the hero gets a confidence boost and becomes appreciated by his coworkers, starting the ‘legend’ of the strong man Kurosawa.
Politically our hero becomes a rebel. Against the system? Not really. In a typical masculinist fashion, Kurosawa only fights because he feels he does not have the place he deserves in society. He cannot, however, think of changing the system neither by himself or collectively (he gets some followers after enough display of violence).
FEMINISM: 4
For a change we have some old-school masculinism here which made me wonder when that title was published (2003 to 2006, surprising!). We have a man who is suffering because he is not doing great things like real men do. We watch him spending a lot of time being frustrated and unable to express his emotions correctly, instead he does his best at acting like a man: not communicating openly (until he's drunk at least), making terrible decisions to save face and engaging in violence.
Poor Kurosawa has never done it for real, 'for real' means that he has never had sex without paying a woman. The empathy is only for him and not for the sex workers. As in too many manga, men participating in the prostitution industry is too natural to even be questioned.
Empathy again for the poor Kurosawa who is a victim of temptation: just going to a swimming pool he gets so excited that he sexually assaults the women in the pool. Zero thought is given to the women who got his head bumping into their vaginas. And fortunately for Kurosawa, the rich delinquent that recognizes him as 'the real deal' helps him avoid being taken to the police. He even lectures his female friends that were rightfully disgusted by Kurosawa's behavior.
CONCLUSION: 4
All the guys are crying in this work, it's the first time I read a manga with that many male tears. That should be a good thing, suggesting that the male characters are more compassionate, empathic or emotional than usual (which are great reasons to cry). Alas, the tears here mostly come from envy ('why am I not successful?'), loneliness ('I want to be recognized and respected!') and fascination for violence ('Seeing you putting your life on the line when fighting with punks moved me to tears bro!').
Kurosawa is a character with the maturity of a baby (he is seen having tantrums on the floor a few times like a kid) who suffers because of toxic masculinity. While the manga is trying to show how tough men have it, this title is mostly (rather involuntarily) showing how patriarchy can make men selfish, dangerous and pathetic.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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May 17, 2023
'Nice babes, big cars and real men!', patriarchy is loving it!
STORY: 4
A school kid goes to Korea, becomes head of the local mafia and solves all his problem through violence, 80's testosterone style. The rest is just a series of fights and women bodies. Characters' evolution is poorly executed and interest is quickly lost due to the outrageous sexism through the series. Maybe the most consistent parts are the food scenes.
ART: 5 (average between 8 and 2)
Boichi, the author, is a great artist and a master of anatomy for male bodies. His body lines are flexible and look great whether its comedy time with some
...
light panels or heavy tension with furious strokes. His depiction of food or even landscape are enjoyable too. If it were just this part art gets a 8.
The problem, however, is when Boichi draws female bodies: there is no creativity anymore, just the same terrible sex-doll body over and over every single female character (save for the occasional grandma). The only variations are the haircuts, otherwise you could replace any girl with another. This doll body is an indicator of the degree of objectification of women in that manga and is painful to watch. There's so many frames involving girls that have a cringe camera angle close to their crotch that it feels like watching hentai. If you want to see talented anatomy drawing of how panties espouse the contours of vaginas then Boichi is here to serve. To add insult to the injury, all sexual assault scenes (and there's many of them) are depicted as sexually arousing. Just for women the art gets a 2.
POLITICAL POTENTIAL: 4
The only original thing is that the manga takes place outside of Japan. It's not often you have a story happening in a foreign world (here Korea) with some knowledge of the place and outside of stereotypes (A Bride's Story is an example of doing things great). Is it because the Mangaka is brave, open and curious? No, it's just because Boichi, the author, is actually Korean.
Some heroes have clumsy mentions of the political corruption, the fate of migrants or the mafia systems of Korea and Japan, but in the acts there's a total disregard for the life of ordinary people.
This is especially ironic for Ken who is depicted as righteous but at the same time is the head of a Korean gang that deals with stealing off shops, drugs and prostitution bringing despair to many regular citizens. He says things like "power is used to protect good people" and then kills thousands of people through the story. It's not like there is much that makes sense anyway.
Oh and also luxury brands and cars are components of what makes a man great apparently.
FEMINISM: 1
I stayed away from this series for years because the book covers looked so lame: stereotypical strong dude with a lightly dressed cute girl in the background like a VHS action tape from the 80s. Then, a video praising the artwork got me to open this manga, what a mistake.
At first the machismo present at every page made me think that the author was maybe raised by a brotherhood and he had never met a woman in his life. Then, as you progress through the manga, you realize that women are not only treated as objects or trophies, they are also denied empathy or even dignity. It is not a coincidence for example that, despite the title being all about men fighting each others, the strongest violence committed in the manga is towards women who are tortured.
With his mix of Shonen vibe and borderline porn Sun-Ken Rock gets the lowest grade possible here.
CONCLUSION: 3
With an art that is definitely modern and a sexist substance that feels so outdated it was hard to guess when Sun-Ken Rock was published. The answer is between 2006 and 2016. I have read worst titles when it comes to misogyny but those were for an adult public. Here Sun-Ken Rock is clearly aiming for the Shonen (young boy) demographic while spicing things up with its execrable treatment of women that is not far from porn and I don't know of any Shonen title that is as infuriating.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Feb 22, 2023
Trigger warning for basically everything that comes with toxic masculinity.
STORY: 6
A heavy story focusing on the relationships of a female school teacher and the persons around her. The focus is on woman/man interactions and for once dynamics of power (aka sexism) are at the center of the story.
ART: 6
Akane Torikai's art is pleasant but clearly not the focus here.
...
POLITICAL POTENTIAL: 7
'Sensei's pious lie' exposes the violence of patriarchy all across its chapters. Physical violence, rape, emotional abuse, cheating, loneliness, family pressure, trauma, incest, women pushed against each others, support from colleagues for the male aggressor.. All of this is portrayed in a realistic way and without complaisance.
FEMINISM: 8
This manga is far above the average in terms of feminism.
First there's a frontal description of what women are subjected to in the patriarchal society of japan and this level of violence and realism is extremely rare in manga.
Second, the artwork is always avoiding the male gaze so even sex scenes are sober and to the point instead of the usual 'rape is drawn to be arousing' common in the industry.
Dialogues are smartly written, characters are complex and the time spent on their background makes things quite (not perfectly) coherent. Women are doing their best at solving their issues and there is not male hero to save the day.
That being said, there's a slight feeling of masculinism here and there, with some story elements going a bit too far with the 'men are also victims of patriarchy' aspect. If you are hoping for a huge scream to the face of men you will feel that this scream is not as powerful as you would have wished for in the end.
'Sensei's pious lie' ended in 2017 and in an interview the author said that she had put feminism a bit aside when she married Asano Inio (very famous mangaka) in 2018, is it related to that feeling of tameness? Or is it because of the author own efforts or the editor's directions in order to not alienate too many readers? I don't know but I'm happy for her to hear that they have divorced, especially since the infuriatingly masculinist manga 'Downfall' written by Asano may in some ways refer to his relation with Torikai..
CONCLUSION: 7
It's not everyday that a medium tackles sexism within its own sexist industry. If you are ready to face the subject with a heavy approach don't miss this occasion.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Feb 13, 2023
STORY: 7
Let's enjoy a solid story where technology is about to turn the flow of information into a new form of consciousness, written before mass cellphones and social media! Not everything is clear, the pace is sometimes strange but cybernetics, geek sci-fi, political embroilment, police action, this manga does it all quite right.
ART: 9
Fantastic work that helped defined the style of mangas from the 90s, reading it 30 years later everything still looks great. Even the use of computerized textures (in 1990!) still serves the graphics although it should be dated by now!
POLITICAL POTENTIAL: 6
The big picture politics that the section 9 (where
...
the protagonist works) is dealing with point at democracy manipulation, corruption, foreign policies that disregard the interest of peoples and terrorism. It's great to feel individual points of view at the same time and see that our hero can sometimes be bad or that bad guys have goals that you could sympathize with. There's also reflection about human rights and even what defines a human.
My favorite quote: "Emphasizing a lifestyle based on consumption is the ultimate violence against poor countries".
FEMINISM: 6
The cyborg Major Kusanagi, who is female, is the central character of this manga. She is the cream of her profession with her abilities, her information network and her expensive top-secret body parts. She can infiltrate bigwig politicians, butt heads with terrorists and fight giant robots. On her free time Kusanagi has a boyfriend or gets some cybersex with girlfriends of her. Her partner Batou, who takes after Arnold Schwarzenegger, offers a solid support but is showed as less competent.
Major Kusanagi seriously kicks ass.
And.. that's it for women.
Guys come in all sizes and shapes but almost every other woman in the manga has the same sexy body. Whether they are sex-doll, secretary, technician or nurse does not matter (and yes there's not many girls in a position of power). One could argue it shows sexism is still prevalent in this futuristic society and women are still pressured to have conforming bodies. But considering the annoying amount of male gaze through the manga I'd argue that it says more about sexism in the mangas of the 90s..
CONCLUSION: 7
A major title that stands the test of time and a great read before watching the masterpiece that is the anime adaptation.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Feb 10, 2023
STORY: 4
The story revolves around two female protagonists and their relation. The first woman was abused by her husband and the second killed the husband although there is no love to be gained in return.
There's three volumes showing the aftermath of that murder committed in the name of love. The atmosphere is heavy and tragic and tries to provide real-life in-your-face drama. Alas somehow dialogues always feel a bit off for a realistic story and prevent the reader to empathize with the characters.
ART: 5
Art is not great compared to the average of the industry and you can find some anatomical mistakes here and there.
However,
...
character drawings immediately sets this manga apart because there is no lookism.
Lookism can be seen as a mechanism of social domination where the marker is beauty (instead of race for racism or gender for sexism). Cultural productions like Hollywood movies or mangas are full of it: if you were to pick a random person in the street a few times you would find a few people that are not 'attractive' in the eyes of society. But in stories it's extremely rare to find a main protagonist that could be perceived as ugly, even for average characters. On the opposite characters that are 'ugly' are never random but are defined by their appearance, which implies that good-looking people are the norm (while it's not the case in reality). This is similar to the way women (see the Smurfs) or black people (see the trope of the token black friend in TV) are essentialized in fiction.
Almost every single manga uses good-looking protagonists (especially in the case of women) by default and not-good-looking protagonists only with a reason (because they are dumb and funny, bad, to show they have suffered, or just because they are feminists..).
Gunjou does not follow that trap and the same character can be drawn either cute or hideous depending on their emotions like in real life, which does a good job at making the story feel real. Too bad though that the dialogues don't manage to serve the same purpose.
Moreover, those are women that can look unattractive and even their naked bodies are crudely realistic instead of being something erotic to gaze at.
POLITICAL POTENTIAL: 5
The interesting content is more about feminism than politics.
FEMINISM: 7
This title completely centers on two women and their complex relationship. They don't even desire a man. Patriarchy is present and responsible for a great part of the misery occurring. There's no man to save the day and characters are not sexualized, that's already so much for a manga that I guessed that the author is female. Apparently the author is a woman and gay, let's hope cis men can also tackle such works someday.
CONCLUSION: 5
A heavy drama that cares about women and has non-conventional art. It's a pity that the weak dialogues block a full immersion.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Feb 6, 2023
STORY: 2
This is how I imagine the story was born:
One day in the editor's office Kitazaki Taku was pitching for his new series.
"I have a plot for an adult-love triangle story.
- But there's already so many, how will you set your story apart?
- Well one of the girl will be 10 years old.
- No way, pedophilia will block us from the mainstream market!
- Wait I have a trick, the girl is actually 19 but she has a disease that makes her body younger, this way we can offer the thrill of child sex while staying legal!
- You are a genius, let's publish this!"
And here
...
you have the gist of what Sakuranbo Syndrome is about. Besides the borderline pedopornography the love triangle is better executed than average thanks mainly to the depth given to the characters.
ART: 5
Art is only focused on the characters and is good at rendering emotion and interactions.
POLITICAL POTENTIAL: 3
Using sex with a kid as a turn on is quite political, not in a good way.
FEMINISM: 3
Besides the problematic child/love interest, the character of Asou is quite interesting as her struggles as a lover, an older woman and a business worker are empathically depicted. It's also worth noting that she is a woman that enjoys sex without it being ridiculed or seen as something wrong like in many mangas.
CONCLUSION: 4
A uncomfortable love triangle that would have been much better without that disgusting 'sexy-10-years-girl novelty'.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jan 15, 2023
STORY: 6
Great a story that is not black and white: good guys use questionable means and bad guys may not be so bad. Alas, some of the bad guys are still just evil whereas the story could have done a better job by showing and exploring the systemic nature of corruption. There's different arcs and some could have been dealt with quicker, that's a lot of volumes for a manga that could have been short and to the point.
ART: 6
Gets the job done.
POLITICAL POTENTIAL: 6
...
Finally a title that goes head deep into politics! It's great that a manga author tries to tackle politics and economy but his point of view stays contained within the paradigm of 'economic growth = good' so the analysis and opinions coming out from this manga are embarrassingly outdated. Things like social sciences, alternative political organization or environment are out of the picture.
Most things revolve on the trope of 'Japan is on the decline because of incompetent politicians' and it's annoying because the trope ignores that Japan is one of the richest countries on earth, does not understand that the ecological footprint of the country is already unsustainable (and any improvement in the economy would make things worse) and eludes the fact that the crisis is more existential : without economic growth what is the goal of the country? What keeps society together?
There is also a welcome discussion on violence and its use but it's not going very far neither.
FEMINISM: 4
Love interest, damsel in distress, rape attempt, the usual package except for one strong female character.
CONCLUSION: 5
Akumetsu is not bad and it's a nice read if you are into vigilante justice. Otherwise it still has qualities if you don't mind the length, violence, and political naivety.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jan 15, 2023
STORY: 4
Dated, cliche and inconsistent (from high school delinquents to martial art tournament to demons from hell). One can feel the pressure of editors in bringing in or changing characters and arcs that don't give any coherence to the series. The storytelling rythm is also quite chaotic with some events that drag on and some major developments that just pop out suddenly.
ART: 5
A weak copy of Dragon Ball.
POLITICAL POTENTIAL: 4
Ultra generic shonen.
FEMINISM: 4
...
Love interest, damsel in distress, casual rape attempt, the usual sexist shonen package.
CONCLUSION: 4
Clearly the popularity of the series is only due to the anime being put out to capitalize on the success of Dragon Ball. Just read Dragon Ball and if you have already you can skip to more modern shonens.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Dec 25, 2022
STORY: 3
The supposed power of a unique intense relationship that sees characters change and progress until the dramatic ending falls short all along. The review of Gundroog already explains everything, it's sick, repetitive and boring.
ART: 2
Art is quite weak and strangely it's at its worst on the main characters.
POLITICAL POTENTIAL: 3
...
Jokes center around anus, nothing beyond.
FEMINISM: 3
Some will see the main female character as leading a fight against her curse but I just see the usual sexual-object/love-interest, that the male protagonist loves so much (but cannot even communicate with to understand her circumstances).
CONCLUSION: 3
Sundome is neither funny, sexy or romantic, don't waste your time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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