Kazuo Koike wrote the greatest manga of all time. Why the fuck did he write this garbage ten years later?

Crying Freeman is about an artist who, upon witnessing mafia activities, was kidnapped and hypnotized into becoming a perfect assassin. And yet, as he never wished to be a killer, he cries every time he kills. That’s pretty much all there is to his character, other than how horny he is.

Freeman never has to change, grow, or even struggle. He can be outnumbered and surrounded by men with guns, but as soon as he takes out his knives, you pretty much know he’s gonna come out of it on top with the other guys dead. There’s no tension, because Freeman is already the ultimate assassin and nobody can really compete with him. If it ever makes it seem like he’s in trouble, don’t worry, it’s probably all according to his plan anyway.

The static protagonist, the paragon, is a technique that Kazuo Koike has used before, in a much better manga. There, it worked because the character was deeply interesting, with many complex themes to explore. Here, it feels like no more than a power fantasy. It’s not just in fights that Freeman has an easy time. If a woman shows up in the story, she’s almost certainly going to end up horny for Freeman, and chances are if she’s attractive, she’ll be having sex with him sooner or later. The amount of sex in the story feels juvenile rather than mature, and people tend to fall in love for no reason.

Including at the start of the story, where Freeman and his love interest fall in love at first sight. And somehow, falling in love turns Freeman from a tragic character, forced to kill without the heart of a murderer, into an ambitious mafia lord. He gets handed leadership of the supposed most powerful mafia in the world, simply because his assassination ability, with no tests of his loyalty or leadership ability. And apparently my initial read on his character was wrong, because he’s actually fine with killing, and will spend the rest of the manga as the ruthless leader who takes down other mafias that dared to mess with him.

That’s how most of the story flows. Some other criminal gang tries to take over theirs or crosses them in some other way. Freeman deals with them, with very little struggle. It never builds up to a finale or climax; there’s just more of these episodes until it’s over. At least you get some violent fights out of it, which don’t hold back on gore.

The art’s fine. I like how it draws faces in closeup. From a distance, they can be a little undetailed, with thick brush strokes, possibly in imitation of a much better artist Koike has partnered with in the past. The backgrounds can be very detailed, which can make the undetailed characters look jarring against them. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of it is traced.

I hated reading this manga. No character has depth. There’s an idea they start from, which mostly just boils down to “badass” or “loyal wife” or whatever, and they never diverge from that base idea with a single surprise. Their decisions are illogical and never fleshed out in a believable way, because they're just written to conform to that base idea even if how they got there is completely unrealistic. If I wanted to be as charitable as possible, I would maybe say it explores themes of loyalty and dedication. Does it honestly say anything interesting about them?

If you honestly just want a badass mafia man killing people and don’t care about the story being well written beyond that, or if you love the idea of mafia leaders tattooed with animals that represent what their gang does, then maybe you’ll find this entertaining enough to be worth reading. Personally, I thought it was pure mindless schlock. I only read it because it came from the same mind that created Lone Wolf and Cub. If you’re looking at it for the same reason, please, just don’t bother.