Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin

In my opinion, Rainbow is not really a feel-good type of manga, so if you're looking for a good hero story to lift your spirits Rainbow isn't the story for you. But if that's not what you're looking for I would say that Rainbow does have some of the best story arcs I have read in a long time. It's drama, mixed in with redemption, and A LOT of tragedy. It has it's really depressing moments, but the promise of a good story providing a consistent stream of adrenaline-pumping moments keeps the reader reading. Artistically its also a beautiful manga. I can't get over theawesome covers and consistency of the artwork through the whole series. My only complaint is that the grungy tone doesn't change too much (hence my score of 8/10). As with most stories where there isn't much complexity in tone, it can get a bit boring.

a group of young men that continue to fight for their place in the world despite all the pushback and the continuous stream of problems they face. rainbow manages to take a simple and timeless premise and make it utterly unrecognisable. the title's biggest downfall is sacrificing good, simple storytelling for moments of spectacle. everything has to be an event and our heroes have to fight against oppression and horrid villains all the time. to put it simply, it suffers from delusions of grandeur. it assigns nonsensical character motivations at every turn and all of this makes for a horrible reading experience. if you look past allthat you might find a heartwarming, inspiring tale about a couple of boys seemingly brought together by fate, striving to follow their dreams. unfortunately, it's very difficult to look past all of it's drawbacks and downright infuriating. you could chalk up my horrible experience to reading scanlations, though.

As I attempt to write this review, tears cloud my vision. Just moments ago, I read through the final chapter of Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin, and the emotions that I currently bear from this series can in no way be put into words. While I'm sad that it's over, I find myself encouraged in many ways. This is without a doubt the series that I needed most during these confusing and often troubling times in my life. I wholeheartedly believe that even years from now I'll still think back to the seven from compound two, cell six, as I take strides towards my ownfuture, just as they had. Shounen Special Reformatory, a place only comparable to hell for those unfortunate enough to end up inside. A place run by truly abhorrent individuals, broken at the depressive state of post-WW2 Japan. The dishonest guards, unafraid to lash out upon the helpless minors serving their sentences, as they abuse their positions of power to sate their own disgusting pedophilic and violent urges. It's in this wretched place that fate brings together an unlikely group of young criminals and plants the seed of eternal camaraderie in their hearts. The six delinquents, each with their fair share of wrongdoings committed to survive, are met with the displeasure of being locked away within hell. As they're raped, beaten, and ultimately treated like animals, they're each left with a looming feeling of hopelessness. Thrown in cell six, with anger rampant and all pride lost, only their cellmate Sakuragi Rokurouta (An-chan) gives them hope. Keeping the morale high and further uniting the group, he encourages them to look after one another and continue moving forward, no matter what. They begin to respect him as the caring older brother they never had, and as time marched on, so did they. Their familial-like friendship further thickens as they selflessly value one another's lives over their own. The friendship they've constructed inside this reformatory will stick with them for the rest of their lives, as they'd never forget how much they all mean to each other even if they wanted to. Through sorrow and loss, they stuck together and held strong. Manga is often portrayed by many as childish and thoughtless, with little to no real literary value to offer. However, as Rainbow displays, this couldn't be further from the truth. There are countless motivational elements to Rainbow that've heavily inspired me in many ways, so many that attempting to list them all would prove impossible. No media has impacted me as much as Rainbow has in a long time, if ever. The combination of George Abe's impeccable writing and Kakizaki Masasumi's captivating illustrations truly had me savoring each page. I'd find myself emptily staring at a badass illustration, reading the profound lines over and over in my head with tears welling up in my eyes. I'd lose myself, completely immersed in the story, and suddenly break down crying. That's how much this manga affected me emotionally. George Abe's writing isn't based on what he simply imagined Japan was like after WW2, no, he experienced it firsthand. He found himself in a similar situation as the boys in Rainbow, and because of this, he was able to truly pour his emotions and bits of his life into the characters. Although the story and characters themselves are fictional, one could feel the author's past emanating brightly from the panels. I also recall reading an interesting afterword from one of the volumes, in which George Abe stated he received Kakizaki's manuscripts crumpled, almost as if someone had gotten them soaked and later dried them. He soon realized that Kakizaki drew the illustrations for the series while crying. So much heart went into the creation of this manga, further contributing to my undying love for this masterpiece. As a result, Rainbow is among my favorite manga series, if not my favorite. I enjoyed every page and will without a doubt read it again in the future if I'm ever feeling down. I highly recommend this series to anyone going through hardships and feeling hopeless. The harsh reality is, that life can get difficult, and when things are difficult, giving up can seem easy. But the boys from cell six never did. They never once gave up. If there were even a 1% chance of success, they'd take it. The storm is sometimes rough, but the rainbow is always beautiful. May you rest in peace, George Abe. Thank you for the beautiful work that you've left behind for us all.