King of Wolves by Kentaro Miura & Buronson

Synopsis: Kengo Iba won his second consecutive title at the Japanese National Kendo Championship in 1968, a year later he gets lost while in a solitary expedition to the Silk Road on Western China. His bride, Kyoko, went out on a quest to find him, only to be sent back in time to China 1212, era where Genghis Khan was the terror of all Asia. Now Kyoko must find Iba and return to their own time to continue the happy promising life they once led.
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Buronson and Kentaro Miura pair up for the first time in history to work on a historical science fiction manga; King Of Wolves, that gives a twist on the historical facts about Genghis Khan and his reign by filling the gap historians haven’t filled yet. With Buronson behind the writing and a young Kentaro Miura, 23 years old, doing the artwork, this manga is and was a hit.

Even though Miura was still young we can surely see that his art style is rounding up to the one we all know thanks to Berserk, especially in character design as well as the need to draw main characters with long swords. The level of detail is worthy of any careful and patient eye, while the action sequences are fluid and easy to catch with a quick glimpse.

The real issue comes in with the plot. Even though there are some low quality moments in the writing followed by great moments filled with historical facts to explain who is who and what is what, the plot is just too ridiculous and unbelievable that it makes it impossible to avoid thinking of how ridiculous and unbelievable it is.

But even when the plot is what it is, the pacing is appropriate and makes the story go around one step at a time, mixed with good artwork and excellent action scenes you end up with a story that is very well worth the read, not because it is educational but because it is also very entertaining.

Kilico by Hirohiko Araki

Synopsis: Akira Yuusa is a though detective in Tokyo, he is renown for his brutal skills and rash thinking that always, somehow, solve the case. While walking down the street with his brother, his future changed. His brother got shot in plain daylight in the back of the head, his brains flew out in all and every possible direction, but Akira’s inner cop spot the culprit instantly, a female with dead looks and skills, and the chase begins. Will Akira be able to revenge his assassinated brother?.
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If you have been following my reviews through out the years you will know by now I like action, and if my action gets bloody, even better. But in this case Kilico offered me something more than that, and it delivered. It gave me thrills and goosebumps, it gave me cold hearted characters doing what they know best, kill. Some scenes had enough shocking power to just make you relax and laugh like a maniac and say: “Oh shit!”

The characters are very well rounded up, specially Kilico and Akira mainly because they are the primary characters, but some of the secondary characters need more attention since some of the question that rise during the story about the characters are never answered. Akira could use a little bit more of background but he works almost perfectly as he already is and Kilico is a true gem, with her past fully explained and future completely outlined. And the rivalry between Akira and Kilico is among one of the best, I think it is up there with the rivalry between Kakihara and Ichi from Koroshiya 1. Maybe it is not as violent but it sure doesn’t fall out short, it is right behind its heels. Rape scenes, stabbings, gunshots, mutilation, beheadings, heads exploding… You get the idea.

The art may throw you off at first but you will get quickly used to it and to its great action scenes as well as the camera that works for the best pretty much all the time. Character design is great too and really authentic basically because the battle scars remain through the amazing 4 volumes the series is composed of. There are times when it felt like I was reading something by Tsutomo Takahashi when in fact I was reading something by an unknown author to me: Koichi Kiba, who I must praise and thank for the great stuff here.

Kilico is one hell of a ride that everyone that likes to get their hands blood stained from the action should read. The story is solid, although it could have used a less rushed ending, the characters are cold, merciless yet full of life and desire and the art is unique and great for this kind of stories. If you don’t have anything to read right now, get it, if you are reading something right now, get it.

Kaine by Kaori Yuki

Synopsis: One year has passed since the Endorphins broke into the music world, amazing everyone with their magnificent music and lyrics. One day Kaine, the vocalist, was involved in a car accident where he died. Yuuka Oda, the group’s producer, sets up a perfect plan, saying that the one killed wasn’t Kaine but Shinogu, Kaine’s twin brother, while actually using Shinogu to pose as Kaine just to keep selling records. But Shinogu doubts if he can make it past appearances and actually become Kaine and it is then when he learns that Kaine’s death wasn’t an accident, but a murder, causing Shinogu to doubt everyone, even himself.
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Confusion master, Kaori Yuki, is back with Kaine a dark story and as always with excellent art. Yet the confusion was sometimes too much to handle which became a problem, and when the art and dialogs were mixed up, instead of helping you understand they did the entire opposite.

Now when we get past that fog of confusion we see wonderful main characters that interact and behave like real humans. Which is the best thing this manga will give you and to explode the characters Yuki was kind enough to make an excellent work with her designs, as usual. Filled with bishounens Kaine is a twisted, dark, beautiful story that will take you in a frenetic roller coaster of confused emotions.

Weak secondary characters and a predictable plot, to some extent, are the only lows I could find while reading the manga. This sure is shocking to a lot of you; a manga by Yuki that is predictable? But it is as sad as it may sound, specially because of Yuki is among my favorite when it comes to storytelling and plot development. Yet a bump now and then is as not that bad, hell, I guess it’s even allowed.

Kaine has its ups and downs, yet it manages, somehow, to reach the “It’s OK” criteria, most of the problems it has, are because the manga is only 100 pages or so. Yet this is no excuse to create something that it’s just OK specially when you have something called Cruel Fairytales and Boys Next Door.