Fire Punch #1 Manga Review

Are you looking for a dark, somewhat edgy manga to get into for 2018? Do you take your manga with a dash of dystopian future and intense violence? Then Viz has you covered with their English-language release of Tasuki Fujimoto's "Fire Punch"!

I'll admit that I went into this one not really knowing what to expect. This is Tatsuki Fujimoto's first English release so I had nothing to go on there and besides the previous press release I didn't see much info going into it. The title had me thinking it would be something a bit more light-hearted than it was. When you see "Fire Punch" you might think something like "One Punch Man", but if you go in with that mind-set you'll be in for a big surprise, I know I was. I'm not sure if I consider this the darkest or most violent manga I've ever read, but there are no happy endings here to be found here .(I know this is only the first volume, but I can't imagine it getting any better for anyone!) It takes things to a very grim edge that borderlines on general mean-spiritedness, but never really goes off the deep end where you're left feeling drained after reading it. Anyhow, I'm done being vague, let's dive into this first volume head first!

Fire Punch takes place in a world very similar to ours except that this world contains humans called "blessed" who possess certain inherent abilities ranging from regeneration and being able to control the elements. (Think mutant powers you might find in the Marvel Universe) Hundreds of years from now (The novel references a timeframe I think to be post 2300 if I remember correctly) one of these blessed, a nameless "Ice Witch", cursed the world by covering it completely in perpetual winter. (Think an extreme version of "Frozen") Enter two siblings, Agni and Luna. Simply trying to survive in this harsh world the manga opens on these two repeatedly chopping off Agni's arm in order to feed the few elderly people living in their small village. You might be asking how Agni is able to have his arm repeatedly chopped off but in case you haven't guessed, he's blessed with the power of regeneration. Luna possesses this power too, but hers is much weaker; Agni is able to regenerate almost instantly while it can take hours for Luna. In order to survive this village has turned to cannibalism and those who refuse to partake find themselves faced with the real threat of starvation and death. Death is shown as the one thing no one in this world can ever give in to. One must always struggle against it and this theme is revisited several times throughout. This is where our story drops us.

Call me naive, but I initially thought we were going to follow the story of Agni and Luna for most of this series from this introductory scene. We learn a lot about their relationship very early on, but we also learn that Luna's affections might be running a little too deep for her brother. This leads to an awkward scene that thankfully doesn't go too far. Anyhow, the story takes a very sharp turn when Agni and Luna go out hunting and return to find that an armed party led by a man named Doma has arrived in their village hailing from a city known as of Behemdorg. This city apparently is aiming to rebuild civilization, complete with a sort of caste system with the young and blessed at the top, and are on a scavenging mission in order to replenish lost supplies. Doma offers a place for Agni in the city but that offer is quickly rescinded when he discovers evidence of cannibalism. Not waiting to hear the truth behind this grisly discovery he sets fire to the village and its inhabitants. You see Doma is one of the blessed and his power is an ability to unleash an all-consuming flame that isn't extinguished until it devours whatever it is set upon. As you might imagine this spells instant doom for the village and its residents but not necessarily that of Luna and Agni. I mentioned earlier that Luna's powers aren't as strong as Agni's and she shortly succumbs to the flames leaving Agni all alone in the ashes of their former home. Her dying word: "Live" is all that keeps him going.

Repeated amputations for food? Yeah, that's how this one starts...

It may seem like I spoiled a ton of the plot there, but I really didn't. This is all in the first chapter and is just the set-up for the actual story to follow. Agni eventually gets a grip on his regenerative powers and is able to heal himself to the point where he can push the all-consuming flames wherever he wishes on his body. After years of torment and attempts to harness both his power and the flames, Agni is able to focus the flames into his fist. (Hence the name!) Basically he has now become a figure of living flame and, having lost everything he's known, sets off to seek revenge on Doma. Besides Doma there is a general thought to avenge all the wrongs done by destroying the unseen "Ice Queen", but that seems almost secondary to the hunt for Doma. What follows is a story that feels very reminiscent of the general "Fist of The North Star" plotline replace Kenshiro with Agni and you basically get the same story of a tragic figure travelling a desolate wasteland seeking revenge. He even gets joined by a young sidekick named "Sun" who I'll admit I thought was a girl for most of the time, but is revealed to be a boy after a somewhat humorous, and admittedly also disturbing, scene. I'll refrain from too many more spoilers here for the sake of those wishing to check it out, but I will say that this manga doesn't really play around with fillers and we are fairly quickly brought to Behemdorg and we witness Agni battle with several other of the city's blessed. We are shown the limits, and the full scope, of Agni's powers and let's just say that he's pretty much unstoppable in most cases. We even are reintroduced to Doma by the end of the first volume though it leads to the somewhat cliffhanger ending, but this is just the first part of series so that is to be expected. As I stated before this manga is dark, but one thing it isn't, is boring.

Let's talk briefly about the art. While I don't think this series is going to win any awards for its art, I do find it very well-done and definitely nowhere near the worst I've seen. Nearly everything in Fire Punch is dark and when it's not dark it's a barren landscape. Now many artists can get lazy with these types of settings and give us only the bare minimum, but I never felt that here. Every location looks unique and, while I'm not sure if this trend continues throughout the series, the first volume had several memorable set-pieces. While I usually had a good idea of where I was at any given time the same couldn't always be said of the people who occupied the scenes. Character design is a little lacking. Agni stands out obviously, but I found myself confused a few times over who was who in some parts and I wouldn't have even recognized Doma the second time around if it the manga didn't explicitly tell me. Fire Punch is extremely violent and there is also a spattering of nudity here and there joined by SEVERAL gory scenes. Even though we start with this series with scenes of amputation and flame-consumed flesh, I never felt that it was taken too far. The violence served its purpose story-wise and, while it might not be for everyone, it was used well as a set-piece and a plot device (as in setting up the cruel world the story takes place in) and wasn't just violent for violence's sake. In short I do feel that the art is the weakest point of this release, but it is by no means a deal-breaker and it's only a weak point when compared to this manga's other strengths.

Kenshi-I mean AGNI is reborn!

Now the big question: Is this manga for you? Let me start with the obvious, it's rated "Mature" so that might limit a few potential readers right off the bat. If you're okay with dark, violent imagery and the very dark plot points this story takes (There are references to incest, bestiality, slavery, prostitution, and more here after all...) then you can find something enjoyable in Fire Punch. I use the term "enjoyable" loosely here as there isn't a whole lot that's pleasant here and, besides some occasional humor from Sun, everything stays fairly grim. Slightly derivative story elements aside, this is one of the most unique stories I've read in a while and once I picked it up I poured through the entire thing in one sitting and was left wishing I had the next volume on hand. While I enjoyed it very much and was extremely surprised at how engrossing it was, I realize that completely recommending it to a general audience is a little difficult due to the subject matter and content... Anyhow while I struggle to find what exactly makes this manga a good read I'll wrap this up by stating that if you read this to the end and are still interested then you should go grab this either in physical or digital versions and keep an eye on future volume releases since I am definitely interested in seeing where this story goes! Also there is a free preview from Viz that I'll have a link to below for you to check out if you're still not sure!

Volume 2 of Fire Punch is set to release April 17, 2018

-Manuel (alavic_222)

For More Info on Fire Punch & A Free Preview:
www.viz.com/fire-punch

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Overall Rating: A-

Pros:
+Engrossing Story
+Agni is a cool Kenshiro-esque character.
+General FOTNS-stylings are a good thing.
+Fast-paced with no filler

Cons:
-Dark subject matter may turn off some.
-Character designs aren't all as good as Agni's.
-Slightly predictable story beats with somewhat derivative plot points.

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Note: This item was provided to us by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This fact does not affect the outcome of the review in any way.