Black Torch
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''Black Torch'' is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tsuyoshi Takaki. It was serialized in
Shueisha (lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The foll ...
's monthly magazine ''
Jump Square , also written as , is a Japanese monthly '' shōnen'' manga magazine. Published by Shueisha, the magazine premiered on November 2, 2007 as a replacement for ''Monthly Shōnen Jump'', another manga anthology that Shueisha discontinued in June of t ...
'' from December 2016 to March 2018, and later on the digital platform ''
Shōnen Jump+ is a Japanese online magazine for manga created by Shueisha, spin-off from its '' Jump'' line of magazines. Launched on September 22, 2014, the magazine operates as a free mobile app and website. The magazine serializes original titles and titl ...
'' from April to July 2018. Its chapters were compiled in five ''
tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...
'' volumes. In North America, the manga was licensed for English language release by
Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...
.


Plot

Jiro Azuma is a teenage punk, trained in the art of the ninja, who has the incredible ability to talk to animals. Despite this, he was constantly bullied as a child for talking to animals; he could only find solace with other animals, such as his dog Nachi. One day, Jiro is led into the woods by some birds and encounters a gravely injured cat. He nurses the cat back to health, who is shocked to find out that Jiro can understand him. The cat reveals himself as Rago of the Black Star of Doom, an immortal ''
mononoke ''Mononoke'' (物の怪) are vengeful spirits (onryō), dead spirits ( shiryō), live spirits ( ikiryō), or spirits in Japanese classical literature and folk religion that were said to do things like possess individuals and make them suffer, cau ...
,'' or evil spirit. He reveals that he was attacked by other ''mononoke'' for refusing to help them. Later that night, Rago attempts to escape from Jiro's house, but they are attacked by one of the ''mononoke'' Rago encountered earlier. This ''mononoke'' kills Jiro by stabbing him through the chest with his immense claws. Feeling pity and indebted to Jiro for saving him earlier, Rago fuses with Jiro to give him a second chance at life. With their combined power, they kill the ''mononok''e, but are then taken into custody by the Bureau of Espionage. The two later join the Bureau in order to stop more ''mononoke'' in the future.


Publication

''Black Torch'' is written and illustrated by Tsuyoshi Takaki. It was serialized in
Shueisha (lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The foll ...
's monthly ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''
Jump Square , also written as , is a Japanese monthly '' shōnen'' manga magazine. Published by Shueisha, the magazine premiered on November 2, 2007 as a replacement for ''Monthly Shōnen Jump'', another manga anthology that Shueisha discontinued in June of t ...
'' from December 31, 2016 to March 2, 2018. It was then transferred to Shueisha's ''
Shōnen Jump+ is a Japanese online magazine for manga created by Shueisha, spin-off from its '' Jump'' line of magazines. Launched on September 22, 2014, the magazine operates as a free mobile app and website. The magazine serializes original titles and titl ...
'' online platform, being serialized for three consecutive issues from April 11 to July 11, 2018. Shueisha published its 19 individual chapters in five ''
tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...
'' volumes, released from April 4, 2017 to August 3, 2018. In North America,
Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...
announced the English language release of the manga in July 2017. The title has been available on its ''Shonen Jump'' digital platform since December 2018. The five volumes were released from August 7, 2018 to August 6, 2019.


Volume list


Reception

In 2019, ''Black Torch'' was one of manga titles that ranked on the "Top 10 Graphic Novels for Teens" by the
Young Adult Library Services Association The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), established in 1957, is a division of the American Library Association. YALSA is a national association of librarians, library workers and advocates whose mission is to expand the capacity of l ...
(YALSA) of the
American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members ...
. Rebecca Silverman of '' Anime News Network'' ranked the first volume as a B. Silverman commended the characters' dynamic and its story devices; however, she criticized it for "doing a lot right off the bat" and for the lack of character development. Silverman found Takaki's art style similar to
Tite Kubo , known professionally as , is a Japanese manga artist and character designer. He is best known for his manga series '' Bleach'' (2001–2016), which had over 130 million copies in circulation as of 2022. Biography Kubo was born on June 26, 197 ...
's, of '' Bleach'' fame, and to other '' Shōnen Jump'' authors, but she said that it does not feel like an imitation of any of them. Silverman concluded: "If you're in the mood for a new shounen action series, this is one worth checking out, because once it works out its issues, it could definitely go places".


See also

* ''
Heart Gear ''Heart Gear'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tsuyoshi Takaki. The series began serialization on Shueisha's ''Shōnen Jump+'' manga website in April 2019. As of August 2022, the series' individual c ...
''—Another manga series by the same author


References


Further reading

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External links

* * * * {{Shōnen Jump Plus Action anime and manga Ninja in anime and manga Science fiction anime and manga Shōnen manga Shueisha manga Supernatural anime and manga Viz Media manga