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REVIEW: Fire Punch GN 1

Both also have an Anti Villain/Hero protagonist who kills a lot of people and both seem to try too hard to be edgy.

I read the first volume, and lost count of how many try-hard, edgy violent incidents it had (can't get much more edgy than "eats own arm to survive--multiple times!") especially ones featuring kids & rape. There were some interesting details about the world, and I might read volume 2, but unless the violence lets up, I don't think I'll stick around to read the inevitably gruesome ending.

I read the first volume, and lost count of how many try-hard, edgy violent incidents it had (can't get much more edgy than "eats own arm to survive--multiple times!") especially ones featuring kids & rape. There were some interesting details about the world, and I might read volume 2, but unless the violence lets up, I don't think I'll stick around to read the inevitably gruesome ending.

I like weird, and I don't mind violent or even depressing. It was the over-the-top aspect, especially regarding kids and rape/bestiality that threatened my suspension of disbelief. Sometimes, a story can be so violent it ceases being horrifying and delves into unintentionally funny territory. If the violence lets up and the story develops more evenly, it won't bother me as much.

I've coincidentally just finished this manga, before even knowing about this review in the site.

I gotta say, besides the crazy over the topness all the way through, it actually makes a lot of sense in its very own twisted way, besides get VERY confusing later on.

The manga as a whole was a bit too nihilistic and at times even offensively bonkers for my tastes (the whole first arc is probably as much disturbingly graphic as the story will get, but not at all its darkest point), but believe me, it isn't really even trying to be edgy. It's unpredictably bizarre and screwed up in such a natural way because of the settings, you will feel yourself slowly descending into the insanity the plot and its many peculiar themes go exploring. This manga deconstructs everything it stands for at least 3 or 4 times, it's one hell of a ride.

I can't really talk about it without going into spoiler territory, but hell, this thing is beyond twisted and wild even with its main plot devices... and yet, they somehow make sense.

My biggest question still is how the heck did this ever got published for 83 issues in a shounen magazine, that one being Jump of all things too. This was probably way more heavy in content than most actually try-hard edgy Seinen manga I've read, and that says something, as I've read a lot of those.

In any case, as it was such an unique and indescribable experiment, I can't possibly rate it properly considering the whole big picture of the manga, I just find difficult to compare to anything I've read thus far, as the story exponentially escalates into something so absurd and surreal I've never thought any manga would follow towards a similar direction with such... insane (that word would be too little to describe) twists... that again, SOMEHOW, makes a lot of sense given the bizarre context as a whole, and at the same time, it's just too WTF to follow through without going "what in the name of a burning god in cocytus is going the fudge on in here" at least once a chapter after some point.

This author also has one great love for movies and even uses that as an actual recurring element in the story (and somehow it still works, just... how!?), so expect lots of references coming out of nowhere and very unexpected twists.

As unrate-able as this experimental piece of madness in form of manga is, I'll go for a 9/10 considering the story as a whole. I highly recommend anyone to actually marathon it instead of reading it weekly or in big intervals of time, otherwise this will be an upsettingly confusing hell to even begin to interpretate.