YMMV / Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens

• Adaptation Displacement: Most who were able to watch the anime/read the manga wouldn't know that it started as a light novel series.
• Designated Hero: Most of the protagonists have this, as a natural consequence of the narrative trying to portray their conflicts as Black-and-Gray Morality when it instead comes off more as Evil Versus Evil:
  • The Niwaka Samurai (Banba) is seen as one of the biggest forces for good in the city because he kills other serial killers and hitmen only. Disregarding the morality of a vigilante judging others for their crimes, this still makes him one of the biggest mass murderers in the story.
  • Lin shows no qualms about abandoning others when they get in his way and is also a hitman who has killed many innocent people during his life. The story tries to paint him as a victim of circumstance, but many readers don't buy it.
  • The Avengers are committed to punishing those who escape justice, and are viewed as underworld heroes because of it. However, their preferred form of punishment is torturing and killing people. It's not always proportionate, either (they once drew and quartered a man because he killed someone's cat), nor are they always correct in their assumptions of guilt (they nearly kill the innocent Saito before they suddenly receive information about his innocence). The story continues to play them as good guys without any irony or self-reflection, but if they were on any other side but the protagonists' they'd likely be considered some of the biggest monsters in the entire series.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The numerous crimes committed throughout Hakata is a bit harsher when Fukuoka Prefectural Police arrested one of their own in 2017 for masterminding the death of his wife. The suspect however denied the charges when he was detained.
    • It also brings to mind the supposed death of Shane Todd, which was credited by Singaporean law enforcement to be a case of suicide, although family and friends insist that his death was disguised as murder related to his work.
  • Fukuoka is actually the second-most-dangerous city in Japan. Obviously, it's not to the extent depicted in the books where contract killers lurk around every corner, but it's hardly a completely safe place, either. However, this could be a bit of a misleading statistic as Nakasu ward is considered to be far more dangerous than Hakata ward in real life.
• Iron Woobie: For Lin. Especially when he finds out that Qiaomei was discovered dead by Fukuoka Prefectural Police.
• The Scrappy:
  • Saito; as a Non-Action Guy load, the heroes have to spend the entire second light novel protecting him. It's understandable as he's an ordinary guy in a World of Badass, but considering the only time he is actually useful is when the enemies are even more pathetic than him (which isn't often), many fans just wish he'd get offed already so the story can focus back on the comparatively more interesting Banba and Lin.
  • Yuusuke was always meant to be a despicable Hate Sink, what with his being a Psychopathic Manchild who repeatedly murdered for no reason and lacked any badass characteristics. But in a sense, it worked a little too well, and fans were miffed that he, by sheer luck, ended up as the Big Bad of the first arc after many of the more interesting antagonists were rather unceremoniously killed off. Many of those same fans ended up enjoying karma catching up to him, him being forced to confess his and his father's crimes to the world, and his brutal ironic death at the hands of the protagonists a little too much.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Lin's former gang and the hitmen they hire to take him out could have been nice recurring villains, especially their ringleader who has an interesting past with the Niwaka Samurai. Instead, they're quickly and anticlimactically killed to show just how strong Banba actually is.
  • Reiko, who could have been used as an opportunistic Manipulative Bastard who opposes the protagonists in future arcs. She gets captured with minimal effort and the protagonists frame her for Yusuke's Engineered Public Confession, torture and death after they dispose of him.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: When almost every single named character is a Professional Killer, a Psycho for Hire, or just a scumbag, it can become very hard to root for anyone. Pretty much the only difference between the protagonists and the antagonists is that the first group at least have consciences.