Black Torch

So this manga started up at the beginning of this year. It's a monthly publication that I think is really good so far. The first chapter is basically the opening of Bleach but the second chapter goes in a completely different direction. My current avatar is Rago, one of the main characters, and he has so many great reaction shots that it's hard to pick which one to use.

Sadly, I don't know of any official sources that have picked this manga up yep in English so you'll have to use alternative methods if you wish to read it.

Oh, yeah, I've read it. Pretty interesting start, but I'll need some more chapters to get a better feel of the plot and characters.

I affectionately referred to it as Amalgam of Distortion done better. I really dig the sketch-y art style.

Chapter 3: In which Ichika is sick of sexism.

Also, the heads of the organizations are... literal flying heads. Weird.

Title Drop~!

Considerably more heavy-handed than needed, but eh, it still counts as characterization.

Checked out the new chapter. This series continues to be promising.

On one hand, the whole sexism thing isn't something I see brought up in Japanese media often so that's good, even if it is a little heavy handed. On the other hand, this feels somewhat undermined by Ichika's battle outfit (on a side note, she's just shy of being a Super Sentai reject with it) which gives some emphasis to her breasts, a couple of her poses during the fight (admittedly, one of those poses I'm really iffy on since it's a common pose in fighting shounen manga and the other one is just kinda bad under its own merits), and the fact that she was getting her ass kicked before Jizo stepped in. At least she killed the speedy one on her own.

Also, Black Torch now has something it can forever lord over Bleach: It's name actually makes sense.

Like, the entire point of that fight was that she had to get Jizo's help despite the fact hat she looks down on him as just a host of a demon. Her attitude needs to change especially since they will be on the same team.

Is there no chapter this month? I tried checking the scanlator's website but it seems to be down.

That might've something to do with the lack of chapter.

Turns out the chapter is out after all.

We get to meet a shitty four eyes. There's a fight. Mission will start next chapter.

Chapter out. Sexy, sexy uniforms.

Quantum pants activated!

So after this chapter we still know basically squat, but hey, at least we'll get a fight in the next one!

Read the first two volumes − after seeing some Bleach comparisons in fact. It does have a bit of that feeling in the art and the premise, though it rapidly strays away from it.

And it's… okay? It's a pretty effective action fare, and the protagonist is abrasive while staying likeable. I also like the fact there are benign monononoke that are acknowledged as such and not hunted "just in case." As a female protag, Ichika is rather… standard, but at least she's somewhat good at her job and seems like she genuinely tires to improve. Oh, and Rago is pretty cool, obviously.

So far I can't say this blows me away, but it's still competent in its execution.

I just took a look at the first chapter.

Damn, you guys weren't kidding about the Bleach comparisons. It's a little too blatant to be a coincidence.

Anyway, on the second chapter now, so we'll see how it starts to diverge now.

…So the series ended after five volumes apparently. I expected it to be longer, but it'll be easier to catch up on it that way.

Good. I haven't actually been able to read it for a while. The sites I go to are no good. Glad to know I won't fall too behind.

Same here. With all of these incredibly long manga out there, having one that's a meager five volumes is crazy. I just hope that it's good so that way I can add it to my recommendations.

Are there official translations or just fan ones? If there are official translations I just might buy the whole thing.

The first 3 volumes are out in France, I don't know elsewhere.

Still, I'm not sure the series was really planned to be this short… The first two volumes at least, seem like a classic setup for a long-running shonen…

Edited by Lyendith on Jul 12th 2018 at 1:40:39 PM

reviving this thread because why not...

Why the manga has no trope pages yet.

Anyways, Chapter 1:

So our protagonist here is named Jirou who is able to talk to animals. One day, he found a stray cat named Ragou who is revealed to be Mononoke, some creatures that eat humans. He was beaten up because he refused to join a gang of Mononokes and one of the Mononoke found both Jirou and Ragou and ended up fatally wounding Jirou. But in miracle, Ragou fuses himself with Jirou because of the kindness he shows earlier and manages to defeat the mononoke who pursued them. Unfortunately both Jirou and Ragou were captured by the organization because why not.

Overall the first chapter seems interesting. Gonna read this shit.

Chapter 2:

Huh... So the girl named Ichika and her companion were from a Bureau that exterminate Mononoke and same with Jirou's grandpa and holy shit he's powerful.

So I've finished the series… A pretty good ending actually. Amagi turned out to be a more compelling villain than I expected and he even wins a sort of moral victory at the end regarding is "might makes right" worldview. The artstyle felt a bit more sketchy than in the last volume, but that actually added dynamism and personality to the visuals.

The only hiccup is that Ichika and Reiji's character arcs were kinda left hanging but it's not a huge loss.

The second half of the series was pretty damn entertaining, I must say. I'm curious to see what the author has in store now.

The author of Black Torch has started a new manga on Shonen Jump +, called Heart Gear.

A post-apocalyptic tale about a girl and her robot(s). Pretty nice so far. The heroine is really likeable.

For those interested, there's an official translation on Mangaplus!

https://mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp/viewer/1001864

This is really good, I'm glad to see the author's still producing more work after BT got cancelled.

Wasn't expecting Chrome to actually be a pretty boy inside (I thought the can look was cute) but I suppose it's more expedient for action and story purposes and it does set up more intrigue so