Bokko by Mori Hideki, Sakemi Kenichi & Kubota Sentaro

Synopsis: Kakuri is a member of the Clan Of Bokk. A clan dedicated to save as many lives as possible when times are rough. And the year 230 B.C. was one of those rough years, with unceasing wars that cover the entire 7 countries of the country of China. But the Clan Of Bokk has only one rule: Never ally with any country or kingdom for personal benefit. But with the sudden and increasing amount of wars the Clan Of Bokk is walking a path that goes against their teachings and Kakuri knows this, so he sets on a quest to cleanse his Clan and end war at all costs, even the cost of his own life.

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Think of Bokko as a History class like you wished you had on High School; it has violence, torture, public execution and all those pretty things your teachers conveniently “forgot” to tell you about. It is here where Bokko has its strong points along with the action and strategy involved. Kakuri has but a few pages of background and the secondary characters are most of the time just there, with out you taking them into account even when they participate on important scenes and have important roles to play, because of the impression they leave, which is barely noticeable.

The art it self is great, character designs that feel real, although a few are a bit exaggerated but it won’t ruin the experience of reading through the pages in a rapid way. You can easily read one of the eleven volumes of Bokko in thirty or so minutes, due to the fast pace large scale action and dialog. But more importantly because of the art, since it is really plain there aren’t too many details to look at, which is a good thing, because if you need to spend a lot of time deducting what is happening instead of understanding what is happening, the fast pace of the action sequences would be lost.

With very interesting characters that need a lot of work but an interesting plot that grows and grows as you turn the page and you can’t stop turning the pages, you will devour it. Even with this main flaw, the manga doesn’t need a fully developed character to make its point about war and violence and the outcome of those two. If you enjoy action manga, be sure to check Bokko out, it will be well worth your time.