Rosy's scrawled manhwa recommendation: Chunchu by Kim Sungjae

Chunchu
Kim Sungjae

Blurb

Cursed from birth, Chunchu is the holder of the demon stone which renders its host invincible. Abandoned by his father and raised by a people not his own, the young man, whose name becomes synonymous with bloody massacres, arouses only fear and hatred wherever he goes. He has however decided to try to understand why such a destiny was reserved for him, but his twin brother is having none of it.

Alternative names
천추
Cheonchu
Chonchu
Chunchu The Genocide Fiend

Status
Ongoing

Manga reader sites (free)
Manga Here, Manga Anime

Rosy's scrawlings on Chunchu
Chunchu is a manhwa of a little boy lost. Not just lost though, but humiliated, rejected, tortured, vilified and terrorised to the point of insanity. But Chunchu is a survivor so despite what's thrown at him or what cuts him he comes through with a will to live. It's an insane drive emphasised by the demon part of him, the results of which are gory battles leading to massive body trails. The number of people he killed when he first completely snapped is enough to make him a terror in anyone's eyes but unfortunately for Chunchu he already is one.
The story so far is simple, revolving around who is really the demon's child and Chunchu's efforts at survival, but it is enthralling in its goriness and for the small glimpses into Chunchu's past that we are afforded. There is a promise of the story becoming more complicated as Chunchu's brother negotiates taking over vast swaths of territory, usually by force, and attempts to hide his own demonic problems. There is a big clash or two to come between the brothers and while they're at it a several clans and countries are likely to fall. Death surrounds them both but only Chunchu bears the brunt of being told all the deaths around him are his fault. So far.
The art, by Kim Hyung-Jin, of Chunchu is one of the most appealing aspects of this manhwa. It is dark and at times splattered. The demonic faces pulled by Chunchu and his brother are striking and the actions scenes are fluid. The style used to portray bloody battle scenes and old world landscapes is brilliant and engrossing. The dark depths of the art make you want to know more about the boy with his head hanging low in the middle of a battle, the demonic marks and just how crazed Chunchu can become.
Also of note is the distinct lack of care when it comes to portraying the physical body realistically. There are many mangas and animes out there with unrealistic body-types and this manhwa follows the same trend, though thankfully not to its extremes. Six packs conceivably become eight packs, shoulders so heavy characters should fall over, but that's all no never mind once you get used to it.

I'd recommend this manhwa to: those interested in gory action, demons and historical fighting methods. I'd say that anyone who likes gory action movies would likely enjoy this manhwa.

Notes on manga reader sites
The quality of manga readers can vary. The uploads are often done cheaply or as a serious hobby by a collective. Be aware that sometimes licence hasn't been given but the sites noted above, Manga Fox in particular, are extremely careful about adding and pulling mangas according to license agreements. So you shouldn't have to worry too much about the material being pirated. There are also translated works and non-translated. Amongst the translated works you will find that the quality of translation may vary according to the skills of the translators. Usually the works are perfectly readable anyway, with only a few added or dropped words or a word in the incorrect tense or with/out plurals. But sometimes the text becomes gobbledygook. In which case, either seek another version or give up and buy an official copy once a printed translation comes out. The other issue of note is you may need to expand the screen to read the text easily as sometimes the scans are minimised a little.
I find that if a page doesn't download properly or some other issue occurs (too slow or someone ordered the pages incorrectly etc.) with one reader then skipping across to another reader and picking up where I was is quite easy and rarely annoying.
Otherwise, enjoy and watch out you don't get too addicted you forget about the necessary things in life.

Rosy's scrawled manga recommendation: Blame! by Nihei Tsutomu

Blame!
Nihei Tsutomu

Blurb

Killy is a man of few words. He wanders, seemingly endlessly, through a lonely, gargantuan labyrinth of concrete and steel, fighting off cyborgs and other futuristic nightmares, searching only for something called Net Terminal Genes. And he has a very powerful gun, which he uses without hesitation whenever anything resembling danger rears its ugly head.
Who is this quiet, violent, determined man and what are these Genes he seeks? The small communities he finds tucked into the crevices of this towering, dystopic ruin hardly give him leads on his treasure, driving him to find larger enclaves of civilization where people can reveal more about the world he lives in and the quarry he seeks.

Alternative Names

ブレム！

网络迷宫

Status

Completed

Reading Instructions

Chapters 1-19: Read from left to right
Chapters 20-66: Read from right to left

Sites for reading online (free)

Manga Fox, Manga Anime

Rosy's scrawlings on Blame!

Brilliant. Love it, love it, love it.

Okay, that says about all you need to know but I'll write some more.

Within Blame! you'll find a dystopian nightmare that seems to stretch on endlessly and without reason. The world is its own and seems completely disconnected from ours except by a few similarities and IT based or science based ideas. You will likely need to dust off your physics knowledge as you go but if you don't have much of that to start with then just enjoy the play of hard science-fiction. There's little that will get in your way if you don't understand as most of the time you'll feel a little like you're scrabbling for answers just with the plot. This is actually one of the best aspects about Blame! and, in fact, most stories I've truly loved. That the reader is kept guessing and intrigued by the unexpected is a sign that the story is new and quite unique, as far as unique goes in this world.

What life there is isn't really life as we know it. The beings of the world are constantly being built or constructed, blown to pieces and patched up again, backed up and remade or just rebooted endlessly without explanation. There are even some who heal wounds generally fatal even to their own kind and go on to fight another battle. Characters change forms and even bodies with ease although they don't always like it. Rarely are there those who stay dead without being beheaded and or exploded by a gravitational gun.

The violence is extreme and long lasting although the gore and horror impact is limited so you get the same sort of viewing pleasure with this as you do with zombie stories. The violence has a different meaning due to the different set of rules you need to comprehend it by. All in all, I'd say that there's something hypnotic about the artistically stilled violence that only sometimes flows and blooms.

As to the characters, their base motivations aren't always explained but you do become familiar with them as you read on. Reading Blame! is almost like watching a silent movie in this respect. You have to watch the action and interpret the meaning just as much as pay attention to the odd explanation that comes your way.

The art is very dark and scratched in, mirroring the jagged and stark landscape, characters and events. Light is used sparingly throughout and because of this it is as harsh as the darkness. Add to that, Killy is more often than not dwarfed by the landscape and the creatures he encounters, making the entire text a tad disturbing spatially. The art is truly beautiful but not in the way you'd expect beautiful art to be. It is entrancing and pulls you along, making up for the lack of speech and hidden plot lines until all becomes clear. Why it pulls you along is a need to find out what the next space is, what is to be discovered by the characters and what sort of cyborg, human or silicon life Killy will encounter next.

I'd recommend this manga to: anyone who likes dystopian literature, cyborgs, IT or tech, The Matrix and all things dark and violent. It is very male in style but females will love the story too, as long as they match the above description.

Notes on manga reader sites
The quality of manga readers can vary. The uploads are often done cheaply or as a serious hobby by a collective. Be aware that sometimes licence hasn't been given but the sites noted above, Manga Fox in particular, are extremely careful about adding and pulling mangas according to license agreements. So you shouldn't have to worry too much about the material being pirated. There are also translated works and non-translated. Amongst the translated works you will find that the quality of translation may vary according to the skills of the translators. Usually the works are perfectly readable anyway, with only a few added or dropped words or a word in the incorrect tense or with/out plurals. But sometimes the text becomes gobbledygook. In which case, either seek another version or give up and buy an official copy once a printed translation comes out. The other issue of note is you may need to expand the screen to read the text easily as sometimes the scans are minimised a little.
I find that if a page doesn't download properly or some other issue occurs (too slow or someone ordered the pages incorrectly etc.) with one reader then skipping across to another reader and picking up where I was is quite easy and rarely annoying.
Otherwise, enjoy and watch out you don't get too addicted you forget about the necessary things in life.

Rosy's scrawled manga recommendation: Akumetsu by Tabata Yoshiaki

Akumetsu
Tabata Yoshiaki

Blurb

Nagasawa Shiina was just your average 3rd year high schooler when her parents' company went bankrupt. In order to help pay the bills, she sells herself into prostitution. At her first job, a mysterious masked man crashes the party... and it's someone she knows.
Akumetsu is the story of Shou, who defends his own view of justice in a vigilante manner while wearing a mask and calling himself Akumetsu.

Alternative names

アクメツ

恶灭

Sites for reading online (free)

Manga Fox, Manga Reader

Status

Completed

Rosy's scrawlings on Akumetsu

Some of you may have run across Tabata Yoshiaki's other piece Wolf Guy, which turned away half or more of its fans with the explicit gang rape - hmmm can't call it a scene -scenario was introduced. This scenario continued for enough editions and in such detail that it made many readers more than a tad sick. It seems that ultra-violence in many other forms is acceptable but rape isn't (and it doesn't have to be of a woman). So, for fans of Wolf Guy up to that point - the ones who loved the plot and violence and illustrations - here is another of Tabata Yoshiaki's that was illustrated by the talented Yuuki Yugo. This time without gang rape, which has been replaced by mass murder and mass suicide on scales that will have you gaping.

The premise of Akumetsu is rather simple but one that most people can understand to a certain extent. Some too much so, as can be witnessed in the murders of politicians and the political ranting justifying the act that follows, but mostly in theory only, if that. Ideally though, the political message at the core should be taken to heart but all the actions of Akumetsu as a result of it should probably be ignored except in the worst case scenario - Hitler rises again so throw him off a building.

Otherwise Akumetsu is a mix of tech based science fiction - with a tad of Asimov's political interest included - and an extremely gory and outlandish modern day vigilante story. The science fiction aspects take a long to build up while you are almost immediately hit with the violence, which seems to be a trademark of Tabata Yoshiaki's. In other words, the science fiction is mainly there to justify one person being able to rampage through the political world, killing nearly everyone in sight. By half way through the series I was beginning to wonder if there was anyone left to run the country. The number of deaths becomes mind-boggling very quickly and you can tell that Tabata Yoshiaki has been sitting there wondering just how he's going to kill the next batch off. He gets rather imaginative and it is for this that you'll likely sit through the political speeches and ramblings, disregard half the scrawled justifications and read on.

That said, there is something in this manga that made me worry for those in power right now. The edge of anger is rather sharp. This is another reason to recommend it though as it provides a glimpse of just how impatient and intolerant the general public is becoming, however suppressed, to those who perceive the public as potential victims or as a giant cash cow to milk.

The illustrations in Akumetsu are not as darkly beautiful as those of Wolf Guy but the style used in Akumetsu is perfect for the story. (For those who haven't read Wolf Guy at all and never will now that I've mentioned gang rape the illustrations have that swirling style you see in Van Gogh's Starry Night but in black and white (mostly black) and with longer swirls.) There is something playful and yet stark about the illustrations that perfectly matches the amount of mad imagination that's gone into the kills and the amount of hate and anger that seeps from the pages. Yuuki Yugo also has a particular talent for drawing the ugliness into an ordinary looking person. It is all about the facial expressions but with a hint of heavy eyebrows, sweating foreheads, beady eyes and oily skin. I have to say, the art is repulsively brilliant.

I'd recommend this manga to: anyone with a sturdy stomach, interested in political or white collar crimes and/or a bit of ultra-violence with their milk plus. This is likely to appeal more to teen boys than anyone else but otherwise there is a fair amount of enjoyment that can be had in the shock value of this manga no matter who you are. That said, keep this away from the young or young-at-heart. The grisly factor is rather high.

Notes on manga reader sites
The quality of manga readers can vary. The uploads are often done cheaply or as a serious hobby by a collective. Be aware that sometimes licence hasn't been given but the sites noted above, Manga Fox in particular, are extremely careful about adding and pulling mangas according to license agreements. So you shouldn't have to worry too much about the material being pirated. There are also translated works and non-translated. Amongst the translated works you will find that the quality of translation may vary according to the skills of the translators. Usually the works are perfectly readable anyway, with only a few added or dropped words or a word in the incorrect tense or with/out plurals. But sometimes the text becomes gobbledygook. In which case, either seek another version or give up and buy an official copy once a printed translation comes out. The other issue of note is you may need to expand the screen to read the text easily as sometimes the scans are minimised a little.
I find that if a page doesn't download properly or some other issue occurs (too slow or someone ordered the pages incorrectly etc.) with one reader then skipping across to another reader and picking up where I was is quite easy and rarely annoying.
Otherwise, enjoy and watch out you don't get too addicted you forget about the necessary things in life.