Print Review: Buso Renkin volumes 1-5

Review Buso Renkin volumes 1-5Written by WarpshadowRating good

I thought Buso Renkin was a pretty good series although I suggest that you don’t get your hopes up when you learn about who made the manga.

Kazuki Muto was just an ordinary High School student until the night he ran into one of his teachers who in fact was a man eating monster called a homunculus. Kazuki nearly died but was brought back to life by the alchemist warrior Tokiko who gave him a kakugane. The kakugane not only gives Kazuki new life but also allows him to manifest a homunculus slaying weapon. Even though Tokiko thinks that Kazuki is nothing more than a naïve greenhorn who should stay out of combat Kazuki is eager to use his powers to save all the lives he can.

There is some expectation that a story made by someone who has created other famous stories and this manga being created by Ruroni Kenshin’s Nobuhiro Watsuki is no different. Busou Renkin is in the unenviable position of not being a classic in the wake of another one but still manages to be an interesting action manga. The main reason for this is the characters are more interesting the many that you would find in the genre, particularly the female lead Tokiko who has more of a spine than most female leads and Kazuki’s flamboyant rival Papillion Mask. I would recommend it to people who like shonen adventure type of stories but not to anybody else.