is a Japanese fighting

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

written and illustrated by Tetsuhiro Hirakawa. The series was serialized in ''

Weekly Shōnen Champion is a Japanese ''shōnen'' manga magazine published by Akita Shoten. History ''Shōnen Champion'' was first published on July 15, 1969. It has had numerous popular series by manga artists such as Osamu Tezuka, Go Nagai, Shinji Mizushima, Masami ...

'' from April 2007 to October 2015; its individual chapters were collected into 43 volumes. A television drama adaptation aired on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certified b ...

from April to June 2012.

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Tetsuhiro Hirakawa, the manga began serialization in ''

'' on April 19, 2007. The series completed serialization on October 15, 2015. The series' individual chapters were collected into 43 ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' volumes. In France, the manga is licensed by

12 bis 12 bis was a French publisher active from 27 June 2007 to 1 August 2017, which has since been absorbed by Glénat. The company published predominantly ''bande dessinée'' comic books and manga in France. It was founded by Dominique Burdot, for ...

TV drama

A television drama adaptation was announced in January 2012. It was directed by

Yu Irie is a Japanese film director / screenwriter who was born in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, and grew up in Fukaya, Saitama Prefecture. After a number of short films, including ''Obsession'' and ''Seven Drives'' which were screened at the Yubari I ...

, with scripts written by Naomi Murakami and Junpei Yamaoka.

Kento Kaku is a Japanese actor born in Tokyo. He has appeared in a number of feature films, television series, and stage productions. He is represented by Amuse, Inc. His wife is actress Nana Eikura. Biography He made his acting debut in films in 2007. In ...

performed the lead role. It was broadcast on

from April 13 to June 29, 2012, for a total of twelve episodes.

Reception

Faustine Lillaz from Planete BD praised the artwork, characters, and plot. The reviewer for Manga Sanctuary had similar opinions, praising the plot and characters, as well as favorably comparing the artwork to that of

Yellow Tanabe is a Japanese manga artist. She was an assistant for Mitsuru Adachi and Makoto Raiku and made her debut in 2002 with the short story ''Lost Princess''. She is best known for the manga series '' Kekkaishi'', which has been adapted as an anime t ...

. The reviewer for Manga News largely shared the opinions of previous critics, praising the artwork and nothing that while the story is nothing new, it was still solid. As of February 2012, the series has over 4.5 million copies in circulation.

References

External links

* {{Weekly Shōnen Champion 2012 Japanese television series debuts Akita Shoten manga Japanese television dramas based on manga Shōnen manga TV Tokyo original programming Yankī anime and manga