Kongou Banchou

Kongou Banchou is a manga that deserves your attention, it's a little gem forgotten by time. It's my pleasure to write a review about it. Let's get into it.

Story
Kongou Banchou's premise is very simple: a strange, very tall man appears in Tokyo, claiming that he will destroy the "23 District Project" and the people behind it (using his own fists, of course). One can argue that it's basic and generic battle shounen, lots of fights with small thugs until the final boss, put this on repeat and your manga is done, but don't get the wrong idea, it's a fine example of executing the formula to it's finest. The plot itself wasn't all that clear from the get go, but considering everything that happened till the end and how well paced the manga is, it's good in an overall view.

Art
Art is OK, the mangaka did a good job with the "80s like" style. Not really outstanding, but quite charming, not bad tho. What I really like is how unique his style can get, from his character designs to the basics of how anatomy and clothing work, it really grows on you.

Character
Character development is there, but not so often, just like backstory. It's pretty much what you'd expect from this type of manga (not so cheesy like true shounen classics like Hokuto no Ken, where usually only the protag and a few close friends get to grow) what really stands out here are the relations and interactions between both heroes and villains.

Enjoyment
Indeed the strongest point of the manga, there are quite a few twists to keep you hooked when there's no hype fighting scenes happening that will make you enjoy it from ch. 1 to ch. 114, finishing the manga in two or three days (well, at least I did).

Final Opinions
It's sad to see that this gem doesn't receive the deserved attention, it's truly an 80's MANga made nowadays. The gandiosity of this series can easily touch your heart, the characters and their personalities, the events and the brotherhood feeling are well placed to make you really feel what is happening on the pages. I really want this to be animated, but since there's only a small chance, I recommend people to read it, it's really, REALLY worth it.

By the time I was reading Nakaba Suzuki's previous work Seven Deadly Sins, I kinda drifted away from it's premise. It was entertaining to read but somehow the manga wash't cutting out how I expected to be so I decided to read some of Nakaba's other works until I stumbled upon one manga. This manga being so Kongou Banchou.
By looking at the cover of the first volume it had MANLINEST written like a colored sheet. The main pro tag Akira reminded me a little of LeoBanchomon from Digimon(I don't know why but it stuck with me). So I decided to read it, and after the first chapter I stayed up till midnight not realizing i was on chapter 35 already. I didn't know what else to say. This manga is surprisingly very good.
The introduction of the characters, the hilarious humor, the heart warming moments that will make you a sucker for the tough characters, and great 80s tropes and 80s art style that blended beautifully with the ink drawings on the action scenes. This was manga worth reading

However it's sad that manga like this is left in the shadows that manga fans like us don't notice it's existence. It's this type of classic manga that makes you think that other good manga left in the dark should be given a chance to be recognized for it's potential and development for it's story. This is what makes a good classic and occult manga.
Overall Kongou Banchou is probably the best manga I've read in the spring and summer of 2016. It truly is the MANLIEST of manga from start to finish, giving off the Fist of The North Start and JoJo Bizarre Adventure vibe that you won't be dissapointed.

UNDERRATED BATTLE SHONEN!!! MANLINESS!!!

From the creator of "The 7 Deadly Sins", this is one of the most over the top battle mangas you'll ever read! Kongo Bancho is essentially a tournament style series with participants being Banchos (delinquent leaders). Akira Kongo is our leading hero who does not sway from his old fashioned convictions of honor & chivalry. His goal is to stop the conquest of Japan so he participates in the tourny, fighting against various martial arts & ludicrous opponents such as a giant shark, an android, hot blooded women, a giant cow, manly men & he even fights a mecha!!

Much is offered in this series as it also contains a main cast each with their own traits & convictions. Thankfully none of main characters are pushovers & neither are the villains. The two main enemies are Kongo's older brother & father being a throwback to the classic shonens of the 80's.

Being very testosterone heavy, Kongo Bancho displays muscular men & other tropes found in 80's MANIME. To balance out this series, there's also a few attractive looking women who also partake in battle. Aside from fights, the series contains over the top humor & surprisingly dramatic moments found in the flashback of the characters. Many other staples of shonen are featured as Kongo Bancho is a tribute to the classic themes of shonen being "Friendship, Effort & Victory" & excels at it!

Other recommendations would be Sakigake Otokojuku, Toriko, Fist Of The North Star, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Baki The Grappler etc. Sakigake Otokojuku is the closest in being similar as both partake in outrageous battles in highschool. XD

Kongo Bancho is an obscure series vastly underrated in favour of the author's current work Nanatsu no Taizai, despite the fact that not only is it better than that generic Shonen, but better than most modern Shonen in general.

It's plot structure can be considered your typical Shonen story, featuring tropes such as tournament/team battles, a constant escalation of scale and typical messages of not giving up. It also starts to feature a few contrivances towards the end such as inconsistent powerscaling and the reveal of a secret dynasty for the main character, making it little more than average. However, it's the way it presents itself the the other unique quirks to it that makes this series stand out. For instance, it has great themes of anti-escapsim and criticism of modern Japanese society such as otaku pandering and the creation of vapid, shameless products that are massed produced by the media; in other words, a necessary criticism of the state of the modern anime/manga industry in general.

Along with this, it's characters and art feature a good deal of inspiration from the manly 80s Shonen of old, helping it stand out as having a lot of good rule of cool and it's characters, particularly Akira, being highly assertive and with great disdain for the current state of society. This desire to bring things back to the way manga stories were during the 80s is something I can definitely get behind, with this allowing Kongo Bancho to feel like Toriko done right.
Further expanding on the characters, none beyond Akira really stand out as being more than a few tropes, much like those of Nanatsu no Taizai, but have colourful enough personalities and good enough internal consistency to be found as serviceable. Each one is at least assertive and clear enough in their goals that I can see them as far more engaging than those of most modern Shonen.

As a pure source of entertainment, it's also one of the best series out there due to the over the top feats of manliness in order to capture the sense of 80s Shonen. Everything from Kongo beating up a giant cow to get it's milk to the climactic battle feeling like something out of a Kaijuu movie all help this being an entertaining read in it's entirety.

Overall, Kongo Bancho is a series that unfortunately has the same Shonen structure seen time and time again, though if you take the series as a rule of cool and a critique of modern manga, it's quite a fun ride. Regardless, it remains a truly unique experience and a series that deserves a lot more attention, moreso than any modern title the masses are hyping up as a masterpiece anyway.

Looking from the other 2 reviews present as I am writing this review, this is the first review for the completed manga. And that is important. Why? Somehow, from chapter 100 onwards, everything became so rushed, unexplained, crazy and sick at times, especially chpt. 100 (which literally changed the mood of the manga from medium to dark for 1 incident).

Kongou Bunchou is a hopelessly underrated manga and I am extremely grateful to the scanlators for translating such an awesome manga cause I'm sure all of Suzuki Nakaba's mangas are relatively unknown and underrated.

[Story:8]
The story used to be 10, even if some minor things were not really explained well, up to around chapter 80 or so. This is because the plot was full of twists, and usually I would be surprised by what will happen next. This is unexpected, seeing how many shounen mangas I have gotten bored of (esp. Rosario x Vampire 2, which is kinda similar to the ending plot of Kongou Bunchou).

Seeing as how the twists are part of the beauty of this manga, I will refrain from mentioning any development as they will be spoilers.

Anyways, one issue with the manga is that aside from unexplained things, there were some inconsistencies in storyline and plot holes especially after chapter 100. But the ending, even if it is a bit confusing and baffling, it is heartwarming and brings a nice close to the manga. This is partly why I chose to give an overall of 9/10. For most of the manga, even if there are tons of violence, people dying (but not often), and sometimes sick stuff, surprisingly, there is not a lot of gore (compared to Rosario x Vampire 2 and Gamaran). This helped the manga maintain a light to medium mood for most of it.

The manga is quite good in terms of the presentation style of heartwarming, intense, heartbreaking, love and hate etc. moments. Somehow, the story reminds me of Bleach too, I'm sure you can draw some references (e.g. the crazy destruction of the venue of the fight and how there is only 1 main fighter each among the heroes and the villains).

It's good how almost all of the main past was explained well, leading me to understand why the characters made certain decisions.

O, and one more final note about the story, this manga does touch about a certain Russian history when Stalin was ruling over the Soviet Union. The plot there really resembles collectivisation, the Great Purge (involving show-trails) and Politburo. This is interesting since I have not seen anything like it in mangas before and it piqued my interest since I love modern history XD.

[Art:9]
Honestly, I'm amazed at the art at some parts. Apart from the splendid action scenes, there were a few background scenes which are among the best in recent comics (E.g. There is 1 in the last chapter, which is a view of the town from a hill).

Sometimes due to the small panels and cramming of characters, I could not understand what the mangaka is trying to portray but generally for most of it it was good.

The art was mostly consistent especially for character designs.

[Character:8]
Hmm for character I really want to give it a 9 but I think overall, it is only a 8. Remember how I said there were inconsistencies and unexplained stuff? I guess some of it could be for the Kondou family. Especially the power up part.

Character development is great for most of the main characters, especially with their pasts mostly covered, which explains the actions or goals they have. Also, I really enjoy most of the characters, be it villain or not, as like in Bleach. And they are mostly unique, whether in appearance or skills, and the involvement of many characters in jokes or events are good as well.

Character personalities are well distinct, and mostly consistent as the manga unfolded. I enjoy the manga as the characters grow and learn over incidents and events, forming a gradual progression in character development, instead of stagnating with the same old skills and personalities. This is especially true for the few main characters, not only the main fighter character, unlike some mangas which focus on developing only 1 character while the rest act like sidekicks after a while. "Wholesome development", I call it, it is really rare in a manga nowadays.

[Enjoyment:10]
Needless to say, the enjoyment is great for most of the manga. Sure, chapter 100 was a desperate turn-off, and after that it seems quite rushed and crazy (especially due to little explanations), but overall as a package I couldn't think of a more unique shounen manga than this. It's not just unique, the beauty is in the catchphrases, the jokes, the subtle romance, the "kids and elderly" inclusiveness in this manga, the actions scenes, the backgrounds and many many more XD.

[Overall:9]
It's a pity that the manga was quite rushed at the end, and there were some parts where the story was not very coherent, but for the most part, it was coherent and there was smooth progression between scenarios and incidents.

If you like manga like Bleach, One-punchman or basically other shounen, adventure and action genre mangas, I believe you will find Kongou Banchou a rare find.

Recommendations:
Bleach (There's a similar feel, about camaraderie, one main fighter, powerful enemies, especially someone like Aizen)
Onepunchman (OP main fighter character who is very kind, altruistic and self-sacrificing)
Noblesse (Webtoon which has a similar feel, about the gathering of allies through kindness and fights)
God of highschool (Webtoon which has a tournament/project for fighting, and similar plot twist)
Tower of God (Webtoon with special abilities)

I noticed this manga haven't been talked about enough, kinda sad since Kongoh Bancho is easily one of the best mangas I've read to date. Brief summary:

Akira Kongoh (the main character) has one goal: to end the "23 District Project" (a project made by the Japanese govt. where humans w/ insane superhuman abilities - known w/ the common term Bancho, fight for control of all the districts). Early on in the manga, he's forced to compete in the project against other Banchos while looking for the leaders of the project (reason is b/c he hates the idea of having other people influence others' lifestyle/beliefs and more) - I won't spoil it but let's say they have close ties w/ Akira. Best way to describe what this manga does: pulls badassery to new levels (in many ways for many characters - especially Akira)

Story (9): while it may start slow at 1st, it picks up REALLY quick in the 1st chapter, though I'll spoil just the 1st chapter - Akira tears up a yakuza hideout by carrying a CAR w/ one arm!!! and that's not even the tip of the iceberg for how much badass levels Akira has. for the rest of the story, mainly goes against the various districts battles but also derives into past bits b/t Akira and other characters (which are done quite nicely, along w/ the rest of the story, really hard not to spoil anymore - so you have to read the rest to know what I mean - you'll be hooked after the 1st chapter - guaranteed)

Art (9): the art style of the manga has a very surreal feel to it and not sure if it'll affect your opinions. though it flows beautifully w/ the motions the manga portrays. plus it makes the humorous moments (and they're quite a few) look vivid and well-set up.

Characters (10): you've already heard about the Badass awesome of Akira so I won't go further on him. You'll come across a nice variety of other characters (like the other Banchos in the other districts - each have their own unique way to trying to "save" Japan from corruption of today's society and some you'll find creative and amusing). the non-Bancho cast is subpar at 1st but some get a nice "personal" boost so to speak and climb higher in win. without giving too much away - I'll say that "cowardice never looked so awesome" - when you meet the character that resembles this, you'll know why.

Enjoyment (10): enjoyed this manga tons, fights are done is such awesome style that you'd be blown away by the badassery content of them. though the humor parts makes for some great laughs too (like holding back a giant's fist while eating pudding ^_^ making humor/badass go so well together).

Overall (10): it's hard to fully describe this without spoiling everything. Though I'll say that should you choose to read this: you will DAMN GLAD you did, a fantastic read w/ all the badass you could ever want and more. Kongoh Bancho - the most underrated manga ever known and one all those who enjoy manga should not overlook.

If you're searching for a fun, easy, battle-based manga, Kongou Banchou is exactly what you're looking for. With only 114 chapters, it is of little commitment but looking at just how far you go in those 114 chapters - it's an insane journey that you won't want to put down.

Admittedly, things do get a little repetitive for the first half but character development isn't thrown out the window as we build up to an epic second half of the story. Twists and turns keep the story going as the stakes continually are raised.

The artwork is fairly easy to follow. There were few panels that I couldn't make out immediately what was going on. There's not many that I would qualify as "beautiful" but a story like this does not need that sort of artwork. In a "Fighting First" manga, it's so crucial to be able to follow battles and overall, Kongou Banchou does that really well. There are A LOT of fights in this manga so that easy to follow artwork is very helpful and noticeable to a reader

Most characters are one dimensional but their strengths are highlighted very well. Our main cast gets to grow more as character - which is to be expected - and each add one to three more layers throughout, depending on whom we are discussing.

Overall, this manga was very enjoyable, nothing that was perfect but it's something that I would still highly recommend due to its fast pace, good storytelling, and easy to follow battles.

a very good manga for those who like fighting anime all the chacters are unique and diffrent and the ideas are new and many havent been used befor. the main chacter is diffrent from any chacter ive ever seen and its a very good manga to read.