Crying Freeman

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Japanese: クライングフリーマン

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Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 9

Chapters: 103

Status: Finished

Published: Mar 31, 1986 to Apr 18, 1988

Genres: Action, Adventure, Romance, Ecchi

Themes: Detective, Martial Arts, Organized Crime

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Big Comic Spirits

Authors: Ikegami, Ryoichi (Art), Koike, Kazuo (Story)

Statistics

Score: 6.89¹ (scored by 1,910 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #10058²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #2747

Members: 6,771

Favorites: 82

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Wikipedia

6.89

Ranked #10058Popularity #2747Members 6,771

MangaBig Comic SpiritsIkegami, Ryoichi (Art), Koike, Kazuo (Story)

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Volumes: /9

Chapters: /103

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Synopsis

You Hinomura was an ordinary Japanese potter when a run-in with a Chinese mafia changed his life forever. Now an assassin for the 108 Dragons, Yo is the perfect killing machine. As a sign for remorse over his victims, he sheds tears after eliminating his targets. Because of this, he is infamously known by the Dragons and every other crime gang as "Crying Freeman."

(Source: ANN)

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Background

Crying Freeman was first published in English by Dark Horse from March 8, 2006 to March 14, 2007. Dark Horse also released a digital version of the title from November 2, 2011 to February 8, 2012. The publisher Creek ＆ River Co has similarly released a digital edition of the title on June 29, 2015. The series was also published in Polish by Japonica Polonica Fantastica from 2006 to 2009.

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Adaptation:

Crying Freeman

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Characters

Hinomura, Yo

Main

Hino, Emu

Main

Jigon

Supporting

Bayasan

Supporting

Tania

Supporting

Shimazaki, Shudo

Supporting

Shieshinye

Supporting

Fu, Ron

Supporting

Tsunaike

Supporting

Shikebaro

Supporting

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Nov 25, 2020

AlgebraicPizza

Not Recommended

Kazuo Koike wrote the greatest manga of all time. Why the fuck did he write this garbage ten years later?

Crying Freeman is about an artist who, upon witnessing mafia activities, was kidnapped and hypnotized into becoming a perfect assassin. And yet, as he never wished to be a killer, he cries every time he kills. That’s pretty much all there is to his character, other than how horny he is.

Freeman never has to change, grow, or even struggle. He can be outnumbered and surrounded by men with guns, but as soon as he takes out his knives, you pretty much know he’s gonna come out ... of it on top with the other guys dead. There’s no tension, because Freeman is already the ultimate assassin and nobody can really compete with him. If it ever makes it seem like he’s in trouble, don’t worry, it’s probably all according to his plan anyway.

The static protagonist, the paragon, is a technique that Kazuo Koike has used before, in a much better manga. There, it worked because the character was deeply interesting, with many complex themes to explore. Here, it feels like no more than a power fantasy. It’s not just in fights that Freeman has an easy time. If a woman shows up in the story, she’s almost certainly going to end up horny for Freeman, and chances are if she’s attractive, she’ll be having sex with him sooner or later. The amount of sex in the story feels juvenile rather than mature, and people tend to fall in love for no reason.

Including at the start of the story, where Freeman and his love interest fall in love at first sight. And somehow, falling in love turns Freeman from a tragic character, forced to kill without the heart of a murderer, into an ambitious mafia lord. He gets handed leadership of the supposed most powerful mafia in the world, simply because his assassination ability, with no tests of his loyalty or leadership ability. And apparently my initial read on his character was wrong, because he’s actually fine with killing, and will spend the rest of the manga as the ruthless leader who takes down other mafias that dared to mess with him.

That’s how most of the story flows. Some other criminal gang tries to take over theirs or crosses them in some other way. Freeman deals with them, with very little struggle. It never builds up to a finale or climax; there’s just more of these episodes until it’s over. At least you get some violent fights out of it, which don’t hold back on gore.

The art’s fine. I like how it draws faces in closeup. From a distance, they can be a little undetailed, with thick brush strokes, possibly in imitation of a much better artist Koike has partnered with in the past. The backgrounds can be very detailed, which can make the undetailed characters look jarring against them. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of it is traced.

I hated reading this manga. No character has depth. There’s an idea they start from, which mostly just boils down to “badass” or “loyal wife” or whatever, and they never diverge from that base idea with a single surprise. Their decisions are illogical and never fleshed out in a believable way, because they're just written to conform to that base idea even if how they got there is completely unrealistic. If I wanted to be as charitable as possible, I would maybe say it explores themes of loyalty and dedication. Does it honestly say anything interesting about them?

If you honestly just want a badass mafia man killing people and don’t care about the story being well written beyond that, or if you love the idea of mafia leaders tattooed with animals that represent what their gang does, then maybe you’ll find this entertaining enough to be worth reading. Personally, I thought it was pure mindless schlock. I only read it because it came from the same mind that created Lone Wolf and Cub. If you’re looking at it for the same reason, please, just don’t bother.

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Nov 24, 2018

hexashadow13

Recommended

This manga is hard to get into, in that the main character is really difficult to sympathize with or get invested into. His basic premise of an assassin that doesn't actually want to kill works and as far as that went it was a reasonably strong story. But from there, he somehow becomes the head of the organization that kidnapped him in the first place, who were first portrayed as the villains, but they suddenly become the side the reader is supposed to be on the side of, with no justification given for why the reader should suddenly sympathize with them over any of their opponents. This is compounded by the fact that ...

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Crying Freeman General Discussion spoilers arimakenshin - May 2, 2010	1 replies	by busterbeam »» Dec 11, 2017 7:57 PM
Poll: Crying Freeman Volume 1 Discussion arimakenshin - May 2, 2010	2 replies	by busterbeam »» Dec 11, 2017 7:53 PM
Poll: Crying Freeman Chapter 1 Discussion alpir - Mar 19, 2016	0 replies	by alpir »» Mar 19, 2016 2:48 PM
Poll: Crying Freeman Chapter 5 Discussion ZetaZaku - Jun 16, 2013	0 replies	by ZetaZaku »» Jun 16, 2013 9:32 AM

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