Kongou Banchou

By the time I was reading Nakaba Suzuki's previous work Seven Deadly Sins, I kinda drifted away from it's premise. It was entertaining to read but somehow the manga wash't cutting out how I expected to be so I decided to read some of Nakaba's other works until I stumbled upon one manga. This manga being so Kongou Banchou. By looking at the cover of the first volume it had MANLINEST written like a colored sheet. The main pro tag Akira reminded me a little of LeoBanchomon from Digimon(I don't know why but it stuck with me). So I decided to read it, and afterthe first chapter I stayed up till midnight not realizing i was on chapter 35 already. I didn't know what else to say. This manga is surprisingly very good. The introduction of the characters, the hilarious humor, the heart warming moments that will make you a sucker for the tough characters, and great 80s tropes and 80s art style that blended beautifully with the ink drawings on the action scenes. This was manga worth reading However it's sad that manga like this is left in the shadows that manga fans like us don't notice it's existence. It's this type of classic manga that makes you think that other good manga left in the dark should be given a chance to be recognized for it's potential and development for it's story. This is what makes a good classic and occult manga. Overall Kongou Banchou is probably the best manga I've read in the spring and summer of 2016. It truly is the MANLIEST of manga from start to finish, giving off the Fist of The North Start and JoJo Bizarre Adventure vibe that you won't be dissapointed.

Looking from the other 2 reviews present as I am writing this review, this is the first review for the completed manga. And that is important. Why? Somehow, from chapter 100 onwards, everything became so rushed, unexplained, crazy and sick at times, especially chpt. 100 (which literally changed the mood of the manga from medium to dark for 1 incident). Kongou Bunchou is a hopelessly underrated manga and I am extremely grateful to the scanlators for translating such an awesome manga cause I'm sure all of Suzuki Nakaba's mangas are relatively unknown and underrated. [Story:8] The story used to be 10, even if some minor things were notreally explained well, up to around chapter 80 or so. This is because the plot was full of twists, and usually I would be surprised by what will happen next. This is unexpected, seeing how many shounen mangas I have gotten bored of (esp. Rosario x Vampire 2, which is kinda similar to the ending plot of Kongou Bunchou). Seeing as how the twists are part of the beauty of this manga, I will refrain from mentioning any development as they will be spoilers. Anyways, one issue with the manga is that aside from unexplained things, there were some inconsistencies in storyline and plot holes especially after chapter 100. But the ending, even if it is a bit confusing and baffling, it is heartwarming and brings a nice close to the manga. This is partly why I chose to give an overall of 9/10. For most of the manga, even if there are tons of violence, people dying (but not often), and sometimes sick stuff, surprisingly, there is not a lot of gore (compared to Rosario x Vampire 2 and Gamaran). This helped the manga maintain a light to medium mood for most of it. The manga is quite good in terms of the presentation style of heartwarming, intense, heartbreaking, love and hate etc. moments. Somehow, the story reminds me of Bleach too, I'm sure you can draw some references (e.g. the crazy destruction of the venue of the fight and how there is only 1 main fighter each among the heroes and the villains). It's good how almost all of the main past was explained well, leading me to understand why the characters made certain decisions. O, and one more final note about the story, this manga does touch about a certain Russian history when Stalin was ruling over the Soviet Union. The plot there really resembles collectivisation, the Great Purge (involving show-trails) and Politburo. This is interesting since I have not seen anything like it in mangas before and it piqued my interest since I love modern history XD. [Art:9] Honestly, I'm amazed at the art at some parts. Apart from the splendid action scenes, there were a few background scenes which are among the best in recent comics (E.g. There is 1 in the last chapter, which is a view of the town from a hill). Sometimes due to the small panels and cramming of characters, I could not understand what the mangaka is trying to portray but generally for most of it it was good. The art was mostly consistent especially for character designs. [Character:8] Hmm for character I really want to give it a 9 but I think overall, it is only a 8. Remember how I said there were inconsistencies and unexplained stuff? I guess some of it could be for the Kondou family. Especially the power up part. Character development is great for most of the main characters, especially with their pasts mostly covered, which explains the actions or goals they have. Also, I really enjoy most of the characters, be it villain or not, as like in Bleach. And they are mostly unique, whether in appearance or skills, and the involvement of many characters in jokes or events are good as well. Character personalities are well distinct, and mostly consistent as the manga unfolded. I enjoy the manga as the characters grow and learn over incidents and events, forming a gradual progression in character development, instead of stagnating with the same old skills and personalities. This is especially true for the few main characters, not only the main fighter character, unlike some mangas which focus on developing only 1 character while the rest act like sidekicks after a while. "Wholesome development", I call it, it is really rare in a manga nowadays. [Enjoyment:10] Needless to say, the enjoyment is great for most of the manga. Sure, chapter 100 was a desperate turn-off, and after that it seems quite rushed and crazy (especially due to little explanations), but overall as a package I couldn't think of a more unique shounen manga than this. It's not just unique, the beauty is in the catchphrases, the jokes, the subtle romance, the "kids and elderly" inclusiveness in this manga, the actions scenes, the backgrounds and many many more XD. [Overall:9] It's a pity that the manga was quite rushed at the end, and there were some parts where the story was not very coherent, but for the most part, it was coherent and there was smooth progression between scenarios and incidents. If you like manga like Bleach, One-punchman or basically other shounen, adventure and action genre mangas, I believe you will find Kongou Banchou a rare find. Recommendations: Bleach (There's a similar feel, about camaraderie, one main fighter, powerful enemies, especially someone like Aizen) Onepunchman (OP main fighter character who is very kind, altruistic and self-sacrificing) Noblesse (Webtoon which has a similar feel, about the gathering of allies through kindness and fights) God of highschool (Webtoon which has a tournament/project for fighting, and similar plot twist) Tower of God (Webtoon with special abilities)

Kongou Banchou is a manga that deserves your attention, it's a little gem forgotten by time. It's my pleasure to write a review about it. Let's get into it. Story Kongou Banchou's premise is very simple: a strange, very tall man appears in Tokyo, claiming that he will destroy the "23 District Project" and the people behind it (using his own fists, of course). One can argue that it's basic and generic battle shounen, lots of fights with small thugs until the final boss, put this on repeat and your manga is done, but don't get the wrong idea, it's a fine example of executing the formulato it's finest. The plot itself wasn't all that clear from the get go, but considering everything that happened till the end and how well paced the manga is, it's good in an overall view. Art Art is OK, the mangaka did a good job with the "80s like" style. Not really outstanding, but quite charming, not bad tho. What I really like is how unique his style can get, from his character designs to the basics of how anatomy and clothing work, it really grows on you. Character Character development is there, but not so often, just like backstory. It's pretty much what you'd expect from this type of manga (not so cheesy like true shounen classics like Hokuto no Ken, where usually only the protag and a few close friends get to grow) what really stands out here are the relations and interactions between both heroes and villains. Enjoyment Indeed the strongest point of the manga, there are quite a few twists to keep you hooked when there's no hype fighting scenes happening that will make you enjoy it from ch. 1 to ch. 114, finishing the manga in two or three days (well, at least I did). Final Opinions It's sad to see that this gem doesn't receive the deserved attention, it's truly an 80's MANga made nowadays. The gandiosity of this series can easily touch your heart, the characters and their personalities, the events and the brotherhood feeling are well placed to make you really feel what is happening on the pages. I really want this to be animated, but since there's only a small chance, I recommend people to read it, it's really, REALLY worth it.

Well I have to say, the large amount of detailed action in this manga folks, is literally insane! For those who would be squeamish on blood and gore throughout the fighting scenes, I would highly advise you to read something else because the characters are constantly bumping into tons of fights lol. When I first read the manga, I didn’t even realise it was made by the author of the well known series “7 Deadly Sins” like I’m surprised this shounen hasn’t gotten an anime adaption yet! Nakaba-san really did well in creating a decent amount of character development by introducing a variety of Banchou’sthroughout the story. The characters I really admired in this series were Hikyou (he’s like a father figure to the foster kiddos), Iai (yes he’s a bishounen but a smart one), Kenpei (yes I know be would be a dangerous husbando), the magician girls (both baes too) and Machine (he honestly has a good heart even if he’s portrayed as an “anti hero”). I’m also glad there wasn’t any annoying side characters in this like for example, Hinako would have been a great superhero if the author gave her a chance to shine more… This series needs a sequel…period