Ultra Red

Once again writing a review for a manga that has none. Makes me happy :)

Ultra Red is a martial arts manga about Sen who practices Haikaiken a martial art that concentrates on dislocating joints.

The story starts off in typical shouen fashion with a young boy who wants to be the strongest and defeat his dad. While the story is virtually cookie cutter of so many other manga this really didn't bother me. When I started reading I didn't think it would be a great literature masterpiece or anything. The story was simple enough that I didn't have to think much but it was carried out well. One thing I was a little disappointed with was that the story finished its first but then there was no second arc made me a little sad.

The art in this manga is actually quite good. The character designs are well done and I can usually tell whos who when they are fighting. Also the fight scenes are well drawn. I really don't like when there are so many effects around the people that it makes it difficult to actually tell what is going on. This manga does a nice job of making the fights interesting while still letting u feel that u can tell what is going on.

Character development is kept to a minimum. You do get a decent amount of info on the characters throughout but this manga doesn't waste it's time telling you every single characters life story. Like I care anyway. So the character development was to my liking but if your the type that likes backstories you'll be disappointed. Other than that the characters themselves are loveable enjoyable characters and with Sen's personality, all the enemies become likeable characters as well.

Overall this is an enjoyable manga. A quick read for someone who's just looking for something simple. If you like martial arts the techniques used in this manga are unique and while they do take a little bit of an artistic license with some of the fight scenes for the most part they are believable.

First of all, I would like to pity this series for being obviously axed. It is very similar to the way my favourite underrated manga ended, Double Arts. Also, Mx0 was a good series that was axed as well.

[Story:8]
Consistency is there, although there were some points which I didn't really understand who some characters were referring to when they say "he". Well the story is simple, short and sweet. But the last chapter was obviously cut short. Still, the ending is pretty nice since it does not seem that terribly rushed. Yes, some things were a bit unclear due to the rushed ending, but even after factoring that in, I would give it a 8/10. This manga has potential for 9/10 and 10/10, before the last chapter.

I'm not a martial arts expert so it is hard to pinpoint the accuracy of the moves shown and explained in the manga but it was interesting. If I remember correctly, Karate Shoukoushi Kohinata Minoru has similar "martial art info pages" as well.

[Art:8]
Mostly clean, clear and detailed. Characters are clear so I could determine who is who in a glance. The action scenes were well drawn, and one could easily feel the intensity of the fights.

[Character:7]
Character-wise, I do think it is a bit lacking. For one, the main character seems a bit too strong (especially recovery), I know there are ridiculous examples such as the Insane Hounds in King of Hell, or a ton of other shounen manga characters been "invulnerable-like", but honestly, I think that it was not explained clearly how he really recovered or got stronger properly.

Other characters at times were missing focus here and there.

Nice character development overall, but could be more focused on the main few characters, especially the past and training.

[Enjoyment:9]
Excellent work, too short to be very satisfied, and somehow I don't like blood showers. I felt that sometimes the manga features unnecessary blood (cos it's just a high school tournament... the mangaka made some fights seem serious but they all recover easily somehow==).

[Overall:8]
In light of being axed, this deserves a 8. But in terms of potential and coherency I'd say this manga deserves a 9 or 10. It's a really good fighting manga.

On a side note, these are the mangas and a webtoon I would like to recommend if you like this series:
- God of Highschool (Very obviously similar for the tournament part, focuses on martial arts, although it is exaggerated and supernatural)
- Double Arts
- Mx0
- Karate Shoukoushi Kohinata Minoru