Sun-Ken Rock

This story has a simple enough plot , it´s about a guy that confesses to the girl he likes ,and after kinda getting rejected learns that she is going to Korea to become a cop. He goes after her and by accident becomes a gang member. It´s actually embarassing how bad the overall story is , character motivations change out of nowhere and it´s overall just made so that Boichi can flex his 10/10 art ,If you want to read a good manga with a very strong story this isn´t it. The characters in here are mediocre , there is 0 development and they stay has simple stereotypicaltropes. And i don´t even want to talk about how the female are portrayed here , because it´s appalling. This is a good read if you just want to turn off your brain and look at amazing art. Overall, Sun-Ken Rock , is just an aesthetically beautiful manga with 0 substance.

Summary of review: Art is amazing(100/10). Characters are bland and 1 note. Near the ending the characters make uncharacteristic decisions which are then poorly explained. Aside from the last 2 arcs the manga itself is a fun read if your can turn your brain off. Action is decent as well. Story 5 - Decent: Starts off pretty fun but as time goes on it slowly starts to fall off. Arcs don't really feel like they're connected and instead they feel like stand alone stories. The final arc is also pretty whack. There is no overall goal that any character really wants to accomplish. The ending lacksany emotional reward that a regular ending should have. Since there isn't any foreshadowing it makes no sense why certain situations are occurring or why certain characters make random 180 degree personality decision especially in the final arc. Sometimes a character will make a random uncharacteristic decision and they just roll with it for an arc and then retcon it all by giving some half assed explanation even though there was no evidence of that actually happening. Art 10 - I genuinely do not believe words can define the magnificence of Boichi's art! The art is of the same caliber as Takehiko Inoue's Vagabond, Shin Ichi Sakamoto's Innocent, Tomo Takeuchi's Ballroom E Youkoso, or Kentaro Miura's Berserk. Body anatomy is superb, and the detail is unparalleled! Characters 4 - Decent: The characters are serviceable until the second half of the story. That's when they start making unexplained uncharacteristic decisions with no explanation or hit of malice. Which is all then retconned with a half assed explanation and flashbacks which don't really explain much. Enjoyment 7 - Good: It's quite an enjoyable fighting gang manga but unfortunately it falls off in the last 2 arcs. But if you can turn your brain off and just enjoy it for what it is then you'll probably like it. Total score: 7 Scoring Math: 5+10+4+7.5 = 26/40 = 6.5 -> 7 Note: Honestly, the saving grace is the art and that's what allowed for a 6.5 which in turn rounded up the final score. Otherwise this manga is mid tier 6.

I think reading Boichi sensei’s Sun-ken rock is an experience everyone should go through, The author captures alot of his creativity and top level drawing in his backgrounds and food panels, The emotions that are portrayed by the characters feels so real the reader has to feel compassion for the characters especially with Kitano Ken, The story is a journey worth going through its a roller coaster of emotions it knows when to be funny and knows when to get serious, In my opinion some plot points couldve been handled way better and seem random BUT some plot points fit the narrative that is portrayedi wont go through details, The ending is a beautiful open ended ending the reader chooses what they want to feel, It reaches a climax of emotions especially with Kitano Ken the ending is not for everyone but its a beautiful ending non the less, I recommend everyone to give it a try i know you will feel the warmth and the burst of personalities of these characters.