morghus' place

You know how every damned action manga out there has a hero. Every freakin’ one of them has a dream, all of them are bloody paragons of virtues, and they’ve ended up being lonely for daft reasons we struggle to care about. They’re all so damned special for some unique aspect of their being, and in the beginning they all suck so much we groan.

Not to mention that they’re always presented as shy little kids and teens with no hope in hell of wooing women. Forever have we been presented with these characters that endlessly drag on about tired and old conventions, littering the landscape with drab and boring creations whose sole redeeming feature was being appealing to us poor addled creatures because they were slightly more exciting than the girly NANA and (blood-)sucky Vampire Knight.

Then came Isutoshi, the genious behind Slut Girl and Tende Freeze, forth from the darkness to give us AIKI. Joukyuu Kunitoshi, the anti-hero that struggles to care, tries to have sex with any female with breasts and doesn’t feel particularly lonely. He’s fucking awesome at martial arts, is far from shy and unlucky around the girls, and a superspecial asshole martial arts prodigy with a handicap created by his father in a fit of paternal worry and anger through devious means.

Confused because there cannot possibly be such an amazing piece of work out there, and I have to be making it up? Fear not, for S.A.S stepped up to the plate to deliver unto us that which is awesome!

What more to say to truly do this series justice in words? Imagine King Leonidas screaming: “Go! Read! It!” and kicking you in the nads for not being on your way already. Take the hint, read the damn thing.

Right now I’m listing my favourite mangas like this:

1. One Piece
insurmountable gap between the awesomeness that is One Piece and the rest
12. AIKI
13. Full Metal Alchemist (still writing about this one :) )

With lots of on and off loveable series onwards. The fact remains that One Piece and Full Metal Alchemist are the only two mangas that manages to not only be awesome all the time, but getting increasingly so.

AIKI is a relatively new addition to my list at all, so longterm quality and fun can still be questioned. The thing is though, Isutoshi’s known for his strong cast of characters and focus on fun, and since I love a good cast of characters I think I’m justified in having high hopes for this series. While I know that reading a manga that a (primarily) hentai-mangaka’s writing can be offputting for some, I sincerely think that any reservations of that kind should be cast off to give this one a chance. It’s got it’s moments of ecchi, and quite a lot of raucous humour, all of which I love in the story. It’s not a hentai (drawn porn :P), like Isutoshi’s previous work either, though it contains nudity and the aforementioned ecchi stuff. Oh, and it’s a bit haremish, though it might be a bad definition in the story so far. You’ll understand if you read it.

Edit 12.06.09: IT STILL ROCKS! \o/

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