HERO - A Man Who Succeeds the Dying Wishes of AKAGI
- Thread starter MangaDex
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What's going on with the scanlation efforts for this? Is there just too much of a narrative barrier for entry for most teams? At least Endless Moment is veeeerryyy slowly updating a smattering of FKMT series, but I will never forgive FKMTCrazy for losing his marbles after shouldering so much on his back.
Man this series has been a disappointment. Starts off alright if a bit formulaic but gets so much worse when the main tournament arc gets underway.
I have to wonder how much (or how little) Fukumoto's involvement is at that point, none of the characters have any substance or direction, their skills feel derivative, the mahjong is simplistic and the whole thing just reads like bad fan fiction.
I have to wonder how much (or how little) Fukumoto's involvement is at that point, none of the characters have any substance or direction, their skills feel derivative, the mahjong is simplistic and the whole thing just reads like bad fan fiction.
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It wasn't his work, that's the problem.
I think he only got credit because it was a sequel, but he probably didn't have much input based on the author's notes at the ends of the volume.
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I agree, it was bad storytelling at that point. The author introduced so many new one-dimensional characters with different quirks to separate them apart. They felt underutilized, especially the supposed Final Boss Wan which was had his rug pulled when they Introduced his Father Da Wan/Urabe.
I guess the author aimed too high, and didn't know what to do with his characters and tried to compensate with these complicated Mahjong rules which introduced another layer of complexity and wasn't really enough to cover the bad story telling.
I do like what he did with Kano towards the end, though. I think that's my highlight for this series.
I wished the author wrote in less characters.
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Well, this was a nice bonus after reading Akagi and Ten. Obviously it's not Fukumoto's style of storytelling or gameplay, but I think it's a nice spin on the characters with some nice fanservice of returning characters. Was immediately happy to see Sawada be remembered lmao. It's a pretty interesting angle of Hiro kinda being like Kaiji, where he gets screwed over with cheating/rigged rules, then uses his wits to figure out how it's rigged and turn it against his opponents. He also makes a lot of mistakes or loses his wits, which is a nice contrast to Ten and Akagi who never let up for a single moment. Makes it more satisfying when he does pull through and make amazing plays. The characters and story can get goofy and cheesy, but since it's basically just an extra story I think it's fine, and kinda fun lol.
I will say, I think I prefer Fukumoto's approach to gameplay over Maeda's here. For the standard mahjong matches, the gameplay is fine, but when there's altered rules like Yaku-Capture, Maeda doesn't cover it as extensively as Fukumoto would. With Fukumoto, you know he would cover the game from every angle possible and extensively explore all the crazy things that can happen with that alterred ruleset. Meanwhile with Maeda, it felt like we only got halfway through the interesting stuff of Yaku-Capture before it switched to the next game. Makes me wish they just played that from the beginning in the East-West war rather than antlion mahjong, which is essentially just standard mahjong in the context of a larger tournament.
I also wish Ten wasn't out of the picture in this story. It would've been nice to have him as a character who shows up every now and then to measure against Hiro and see how he grows. Instead he gets "kidnapped" in some contrived plot that later turns out to be half-bogus, and only appears again at the very end calling Hiro from Jamaica (????). Since Akagi can't appear at all, it would've been nice to have Ten appear a bit more.
I do like the new characters here, the more cartoonish storytelling lends itself to some interesting personalities. The big players of the west like Saeki and Shinomiya were built up really well, and the disciples of Washio were really fun. Kishibe was also really good as a right-hand man for Hiro, although that part where he "betrays" Hiro for cheap drama was absolutely stupid. I also like the returning characters, Ken has a really nice glow-up, and it's interesting to see Ichikawa somehow still alive lmao. I will say, I think Urabe being the final opponent was a bit disappointing, I would've rather he been a penultimate opponent, and a new character like Wan Fen being the ultimate obstacle for Hiro. It just makes it feel like "Oh yeah, Hiro's ultimate triumph is defeating some guy that Akagi casually smoked 40 years ago and then never thought about ever again"
Overall, I think it's a nice bonus after reading Ten and Akagi. Mostly enjoyed it for the mahjong action, even if some of it wasn't cooked as much as it could've been. The characters are pretty fun and enjoyable, in a distinct style from the regular story. Some areas could've been improved, but since Akagi and Ten tell enough of a meaningful story as it is, I don't think it's much of an issue that this manga is mainly fluff
I will say, I think I prefer Fukumoto's approach to gameplay over Maeda's here. For the standard mahjong matches, the gameplay is fine, but when there's altered rules like Yaku-Capture, Maeda doesn't cover it as extensively as Fukumoto would. With Fukumoto, you know he would cover the game from every angle possible and extensively explore all the crazy things that can happen with that alterred ruleset. Meanwhile with Maeda, it felt like we only got halfway through the interesting stuff of Yaku-Capture before it switched to the next game. Makes me wish they just played that from the beginning in the East-West war rather than antlion mahjong, which is essentially just standard mahjong in the context of a larger tournament.
I also wish Ten wasn't out of the picture in this story. It would've been nice to have him as a character who shows up every now and then to measure against Hiro and see how he grows. Instead he gets "kidnapped" in some contrived plot that later turns out to be half-bogus, and only appears again at the very end calling Hiro from Jamaica (????). Since Akagi can't appear at all, it would've been nice to have Ten appear a bit more.
I do like the new characters here, the more cartoonish storytelling lends itself to some interesting personalities. The big players of the west like Saeki and Shinomiya were built up really well, and the disciples of Washio were really fun. Kishibe was also really good as a right-hand man for Hiro, although that part where he "betrays" Hiro for cheap drama was absolutely stupid. I also like the returning characters, Ken has a really nice glow-up, and it's interesting to see Ichikawa somehow still alive lmao. I will say, I think Urabe being the final opponent was a bit disappointing, I would've rather he been a penultimate opponent, and a new character like Wan Fen being the ultimate obstacle for Hiro. It just makes it feel like "Oh yeah, Hiro's ultimate triumph is defeating some guy that Akagi casually smoked 40 years ago and then never thought about ever again"
Overall, I think it's a nice bonus after reading Ten and Akagi. Mostly enjoyed it for the mahjong action, even if some of it wasn't cooked as much as it could've been. The characters are pretty fun and enjoyable, in a distinct style from the regular story. Some areas could've been improved, but since Akagi and Ten tell enough of a meaningful story as it is, I don't think it's much of an issue that this manga is mainly fluff
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