Akatsuki - Chapter 1
Pledge 1
Orochibiru
Description: Akatsuki: a powerful demon of illness which spread into victims, turning their eyes red, and slowly killing them. Usually, they take form of a strong monster connected to the victim’s body. The only way to cure the victims infected with Akatsuki is to slash the victim’s body with special anti-Akatsuki weapons, known as "Crave." The people who possess and use these weapons are called "Kiri-Isha" (Slash Doctors). Hibiki, the protagonist of this story, is a Kiri-isha. He is partnered with Kirisa, another Kiri-Isha. Their mission is to cure people infected with Akatsuki.
(Source: Ju-da-su)
Genre: Action, Aventure, Shounen
Author & Artist: Koide Motoki
Year: 2009
Serialized in: Shonen Rival
It finally got scanlated. I’ve been waiting for this series for some time.
Basically, it’s an action shounen where there’s a magical disease called Akatsuki. This disease infects humans and takes control of their bodies. The Kiri-Ishi is an organization built to deal with this. The Kiri-Ishi have special weapons that can slay the Akatsuki and free people from it.
Yeah, the title and the main character’s appearance will immediately take you to Naruto and make you think that this is probably just someone ripping it off. But, really, for now it isn’t. Hibiki’s face looks like Naruto but, it’s different and his personality is also completely different, taking aside the recklessness. As for the Akatsuki name, it’s a Japanese word, anyone can use it and if you look at it’s meaning, it makes sense to call the disease Akatsuki.
The chapters starts with Hibiki and Kiria, low ranked Kiri-Ishi fighting an Akatsuki. They only use sword-like weapons for now, I’m not sure if their physical abilities are just from training or if Kiri-Ishi have special capabilities, besides wielding the Crave and sealing Akatsukis. From the conversation they have in their room, it seems like something must have happened in Hibiki’s past related to Akatsukis and why he really wants to fight them.
So, a higher ranked Kiri-Ishi gets infected. Because of his level and the Akatsuki’s level, Hibiki and Kiria can’t cut him. Hibiki remembers why he joined the Kiri-Ishi and takes desperate action to prevent that from happening again to another person. So, he drinks one of Gaizen’s Akatsuki and uses it to slay the one infecting Gaizen. I’m guessing Gaizen then saved him from being taken over from the Akatsuki he drank.
Overall, it was good first chapter. There’s potential for this series to turn good. The fights were nothing special and, although the art is nice, the way the action was drawn wasn’t very cool. I hope this manga improves on that. What I liked more for this chapter was the two main character’s relationship, the comedy and the fact they both look like they are on the same level, not the usual strong boy weak girl combination.
- Personal Enjoyment: 3/5
