Bakudan

Do you need to spice up your daily (i assume) manga reading sessions with a dose of MANga? Are recent shows/JoJo protagonists just not scratching that itch for extremely burly MEN duking it out? Then you'll love Bakudan!

Bakudan comes to us from mangaka Akira Miyashita (creator of the more well-known Otokojuku) and follows Baku Ryosuke, nickname Bakudan (bomb) an arrogant, foul-mouthed and absurdly well-built 18-year-old delinquent in the tradition of Jotaro Kujo whose aspiration is to reach the summit of the Yakuza hierarchy by the power of his own two fists. After being discovered by, and inducted into the gang, Bakudan proves to be cocky and unwilling to bend to the rules. To keep his ego in check, he is sent on an assignment that unbeknownst to him, will change the course of his life.

The story is shonen sports manga fare, nothing special, but still interesting enough to hold your attention, with some rare creative ideas and some unexpected, genuinely touching moments. But the villains are all brawn and characters generally get off the hook pretty easily, which cheapens the stakes a bit. Add to that a very abrupt ending (which I can only assume was due to cancellation) that ruins the pace, and you've got a pretty decent, but not good, plot. But the story is not the main appeal here, as long as you keep your expectations in check, you'll enjoy it. The appeal lies in the art, and in the character of Ryosuke.

The art follows in the 80s tradition of imposing, sometimes comically large muscular characters as seen in Hokuto no Ken, early JoJo, and the author's very own Otokojuku. An artstyle which, full disclosure, I absolutely love. The characters (and their muscles) are detailed, actually have noses (!), and the faces are a bit static but they give you the information you need to know. My only problem with the art is that the punches don't "hit" as hard as I'd like them to, mainly due the lack of speed lines on the faces that are being hit, and the rarity of "face craters" (as I like to call them) resulting in many of the hits looking like the target turned his head and the punch just whizzed by. The sound effects do their best in selling the brutality of the punches, but the visuals still don't "click".

Now to talk about the main draw of this series, the Bomb himself, Bakudan (who kind of looks like a roided up version of Yusuke from YYH to me). This is a really interesting character, and one I'd like to see more in manga (maybe I just have to read more sports manga?) His foul-mouthed, cocky demeanor results in some unpredictable and extremely badass moments and his mere presence elevates any scene. The true reason I like him though is that he develops, not by a lot, but convincingly in the extremely limited length of this manga but still manages to keep his spontaneity and unpredictability untouched. He's generally really fun to watch and is the engine that keeps the series going. Only two of the side characters are given some depth, and are lightly developed, but we're really not given enough time to grow to like them.

All in all, if you enjoy MANLY MEN fighting, definitely give this short 2-volume series a read, it won't take long. A series tragically after its time, published way after readers have seen all the sports manga tropes and moved on to slimmer, less absurdly stocky characters. If it'd been published a decade back, who knows, we could've had a long-running sports manga classic. Anyway, just manage your expectations and you'll enjoy it just as much as I did.

6.5/10