Reading Collective Reading of Kongou Banchou by SUZUKI Nakaba

[k-dom]

I think it depends if you take the manga seriously or not. Kangou Banchoh is more a parody of shounen. And if you take it like this way the reading is quite fun. Volume 7 with the sister idol and the death of the mother were typically so. But yeah I have some time read in transport and I don't watch anime.
Nanatsu is definitively better but I find it interesting to read this previous work as it show a side of the mangaka that we should not forget when reading his new one. Melodias cutting a mountain in half with a bit of wood comes in mind...

 

[ukimix]

Well, I am hopelessly behind Currently at chapter 21 and feeling pretty damn bored, so far the manga is way below the quality of NnT to me Not sure if I even feel like continuing, I don't have a big amount of time on my hands anyway, and I really lack the motivation to continue atm, because of the rather average quality. Any motivating words from the guys who read ahead? Does it get any better? Am I the only one who still feels/felt rather bored after the first 21 chapters?

I can tell you that if the whole comic would have been like the first 2 volumes, with the pattern ""powerful banchou appears - Akira wipes the floor with him", I think I would have dropped it in some moment. But with out bigger changes, the manga is not the same all the time, and manages to make that simple plot interesting enough to keep me reading the parodies, and to be curious enough about how it ends. I can tell I will end it.

The manga is pretty much the same up until the arc about little Kai Kongou and the apparition of Akira's first relatives, which is right where you are (chapters 20-23). I think that you should at least end that arc, since the plot gets a bit more complex with it. Next you will find some two chapters similar to the ones from the first two volumes with the arriving of some new enemies. In chapter 27 you will find an interesting twist that somehow breaks with the pattern "powerful banchou appears - Akira wipes the floor with him". There you will find another dynamic and, yes, another parody of some shounen cliche which takes the following volumes up to chapter 40. Chapter 41 is another interesting chapter on the main plot, and after that an arc about a robocot banchou who develops a nice relationship with Tsukimi, the little girl from the first chapter. This relationship makes the arc different than the previous ones, at to the point that there is no almost parody here, which is pretty much the main element in all the other arcs. Now I'm on the arc about de idol about which k-dom talks above (vol 7, 8). My favourite arc has been the robocot banchou', and I liked also some others nice duels some chapters ahead from where you are. (I would say if you are not sold in chapter 41, then you likely will not find interesting the chapters I have read).

You can see the most prominent feature of KB up to now is parody. Parody of shounen, of idols, of ancient and venerable swordsmen and traditions, of religion, of school of life, of powerful guys, of scale of powers. For instance, it's not rare to find complains about Suzuki's way to manage the scale of power in KB, and I have already found similar comments on NnT. But it's interesting to see that the author is not naive towards it, and simply doesn't care about it. Also, the readers who complain about it, and manage to end the story gives much more credit to the humour and the light and heavy action, so it's like that they could enjoy the humour enough to put aside the other 'negative' features. Hope it helps.

---------- Post added October 30, 2013 at 06:27 PM ---------- Previous post was October 29, 2013 at 03:07 PM ----------

My comments on Vol 7 and 8

• Iai’s eyes are fine… How is that even possible.... Guessing author's ansewr: "Like I care!"

• Oyanana’s trainig was so hilarious (and cruel). Specially the training of his guts pulling that little tricycle with 30 tires behind… Let's hope the training will be useful somehow in the future....

• In chapter 66 with the destruction of Tokyo tower we can see Takeshi’s anger in action. With out the flashback about his childhood and mom, surely it would pretty much the same than the previous bachous we saw hitting people and destroying buildings before. But the chapter was pretty good in creating a strong impression of his anger and pain, and of his search for revenge. Nice chapter and turn of events.

• Why did suddenly many new Banchou appear beyond the 23 of the District project? I know the answer from the plot, but I also had the thought that likely when Suzuki received all those nice drawings from the fans, he decided to cancel the District project and to begin the Damocles project so that each nice drawing could have some moment of shine… Naaa, but he's a serious guy.

 

[Demonspeed]

My impressions on the 4th volumes

First the fight against Kongou and Bakunetsu, it was not as great as the previous ones and I must say I am not surprised, it was mainly to show that these 2 are manly and we already know that Akira(and his family) are the epitome of manliness, I liked the joke with Bakunetsu burning out and the part where he caught the missile but compared to the others it was not very good, Akira's fights always follow the same pattern.
Ukimix I completely agree with you about Akira, I am OK with his magnetism but during Machine Banchou's arc it was too much! I couldn't take the aprt when they all shouted his name seriously: facepalm. It's my favorite arc so far, I guess it's because it was focused on MB's character development and because of Tsukimi. The plot moved with Gouriki's butler too. It was pretty obvious but it's clear now that Akira isn't human, and the others don't care I am almost sure Machine Banchou will come back somehow...
Soara wasn't Idol Banchou. A lot of comedy and drama in these 2 volumes. We are learning more about Kongou's family and that student council is cool(Kenpei Banchou, he killed a lot of cool looking characters though, I liked Ourou Banchou's desing) Nakaba has a lot of imagination(Hykyou's technique, Gisou's figtinh style etc), it's better when he isn't focused on Kongou's manliness and magnetism. Iai Banchou's eyes fine..., OK, maybe the injury wasn't deep. Iai is supposedly "killed" by Kenpei but with Sasori's reapparition I am more than pleased, I like her a lot. Nippon Banchou is bad because of the death of his mother(I really understand him, humans are really bad, I find his reason to fight completely understandable but he is doing too much), I hope he won't become an Akira fanboy at the end. It's Nenbutsu's time to shine now, his fight with Gisou Banchou is easily one of my favourite, I like Gisou's fighting style and character, that scene where he sacrificed himself is my favorite so far. The manga just became better with those 2 volumes IMO, interactions and comedy are great, the only thing weird is Sakura actually, her relation with Akira is forced to me.

 

[ukimix]

My impressions on the 4th volumes

First the fight against Kongou and Bakunetsu, it was not as great as the previous ones and I must say I am not surprised, it was mainly to show that these 2 are manly and we already know that Akira(and his family) are the epitome of manliness, I liked the joke with Bakunetsu burning out and the part where he caught the missile but compared to the others it was not very good, Akira's fights always follow the same pattern.
Ukimix I completely agree with you about Akira, I am OK with his magnetism but during Machine Banchou's arc it was too much! I couldn't take the aprt when they all shouted his name seriously: facepalm. It's my favorite arc so far, I guess it's because it was focused on MB's character development and because of Tsukimi. The plot moved with Gouriki's butler too. It was pretty obvious but it's clear now that Akira isn't human, and the others don't care I am almost sure Machine Banchou will come back somehow...
Soara wasn't Idol Banchou. A lot of comedy and drama in these 2 volumes. We are learning more about Kongou's family and that student council is cool(Kenpei Banchou, he killed a lot of cool looking characters though, I liked Ourou Banchou's desing) Nakaba has a lot of imagination(Hykyou's technique, Gisou's figtinh style etc), it's better when he isn't focused on Kongou's manliness and magnetism. Iai Banchou's eyes fine..., OK, maybe the injury wasn't deep. Iai is supposedly "killed" by Kenpei but with Sasori's reapparition I am more than pleased, I like her a lot. Nippon Banchou is bad because of the death of his mother(I really understand him, humans are really bad, I find his reason to fight completely understandable but he is doing too much), I hope he won't become an Akira fanboy at the end. It's Nenbutsu's time to shine now, his fight with Gisou Banchou is easily one of my favourite, I like Gisou's fighting style and character, that scene where he sacrificed himself is my favorite so far. The manga just became better with those 2 volumes IMO, interactions and comedy are great, the only thing weird is Sakura actually, her relation with Akira is forced to me.

To me, Takeshi (Nippon Banchou) is an interesting character. More complex than Akira. I'm intrigued to see their final fight, which, I guess, would be the end of the story. (Or their father vs Akira? ) I'm also pleased with Sasori's comeback. And the best to me has been Hikio. The whole scene in the bridge before the apparition of the Shark Banchou was really nice to see. I was very very pleased with the art in this page:

Spoiler

That old truck is lovely and there, the whole cast is entertaining, the shark banchou included. (That would be a better choice to the one page rec thread).

Sakura should be another parody of the girl in love of the protagonist in many shounen mangas. But sure there are more entertaining characters than her. And coming to think on Akira's manly presentation, sure his muscles are also a parody and exaggeration of many shounen mangas (Dragon Ball, Toriko). It's interesting the comparison with Meliodas, who is short, has no big muscles and seems to be a charming pervy child. Sure the author knows he's exaggerating with Akira...

---------- Post added November 04, 2013 at 08:41 PM ---------- Previous post was November 02, 2013 at 06:30 AM ----------

Thread opened for comments on Vol 9 and 10.​

My comment on vol 9 and 10:

Hakai banchou was completely unnecessary, and it’s kind of waste of panels to make the whole Mugejima arc end in a fight with him. Basically the manga got repetitive with that fight, and Hakai was maybe the most boring rival, much less interesting than all the previous ones. From the Mugegima arc I only save the literature Banchou (very creative character), the whole scene in the bridge which was lovely with the shark and all, and the few chapters in which we learnt more about the Kongous and about their past.

Also I didn’t enjoy particularly the arc about the return of Iai and that little girl banchou. I suppose a good joke that is repeated can lose its funny effect. Right now I’m just curious about how the main plot line ends.

---------- Post added November 13, 2013 at 09:15 PM ---------- Previous post was November 04, 2013 at 08:41 PM ----------

Thread opened for comments on Vol 11 and 12 and on the whole serie.​

A short comment on the whole manga:

In all honesty, I think half of all Banchous we saw would have been enough to tell the story in much better way. If I enjoyed some pages from the last 4 volumes, basically I think al the Banchous in white uniform didn't add much to the story, with the only exception of Literature Banchou.

The main plot of the manga, which is about Akira and his family, is developed in no more than 10 chapters. The volumes and chapters focused on the development of Akira's closer friends (Iai to Hikio) takes the first 4 volumes, which were great; being the main feature of them the parody and comedy side. Later the arc about Machine Banchou was good stuff. But after it, we only can see too many banchou characters barely developed, with repetitive and tiresome fights... blows come, blows go with out much plot development, and with not the great comedic effect accomplished in the first half (outstanding exception to Shark Banchou and the whole scene in the bridge in the way to the airport). Finally the 'like I care' explanation was good once, but I'm not sure it was working in the last half of the manga, and even less in the final apparition of Akira. Ok, he changed to 'I did the things properly', but I don't think is good at that point when you are a bit tired of seeing how Akira recovers miraculously too many times. With 60 chapters would have been enough.

 

[renders]

I've read this months ago,it was okay for your typical shounen.Better than the likes of fairy tail

 

[ukimix]

I've read this months ago,it was okay for your typical shounen.Better than the likes of fairy tail

Thanks for letting us your opinion. Also it's a good parody of Shounen. Akira can be seen as parody of Goku, his hair, his survival powers, his capability to destroy planets, the plain personality...

My impressions on the 4th volumes

I think it depends if you take the manga seriously or not. Kangou Banchoh is more a parody of shounen.

I'm curious, how did ended the reading for you guys?

k-dom: nice sig!

 

[Ninja_Pirate]

Sorry for leaving in between (was off for my wedding ) .. Though I did complete the series before in 2-3 weeks… It was definitely a nice read… Initial impression of the manga was that it was too simpleton but later on the addition of Banchou from other states of japan was a nice twist..… I loved the designs of different Banchou … not only that the whole story was full of surprises ... All characters were so well connected ...

The story really went well, and I specially liked the ending which justified all the characters … The best I liked was Iai Banchou and Hikyou Banchou … But later even Nenbatsu Banchou showed so much devotion… I was amazed with the character development of each and every Banchou… It looked quite difficult for developing each and every ally of Kongou Banchou so deeply .. But the job was well done…

Though I already like Nanitsu no Taizai… but after reading the previous work of the authors, I really have high hopes for the series now…

Thanks for introducing such awesome series.. It was good light read I had… Looking forward to more of collective readings in future…

 

[ukimix]

Sorry for leaving in between (was off for my wedding ) .. Though I did complete the series before in 2-3 weeks… It was definitely a nice read… Initial impression of the manga was that it was too simpleton but later on the addition of Banchou from other states of japan was a nice twist..… I loved the designs of different Banchou … not only that the whole story was full of surprises ... All characters were so well connected ...

The story really went well, and I specially liked the ending which justified all the characters … The best I liked was Iai Banchou and Hikyou Banchou … But later even Nenbatsu Banchou showed so much devotion… I was amazed with the character development of each and every Banchou… It looked quite difficult for developing each and every ally of Kongou Banchou so deeply .. But the job was well done…

Though I already like Nanitsu no Taizai… but after reading the previous work of the authors, I really have high hopes for the series now…

Thanks for introducing such awesome series.. It was good light read I had… Looking forward to more of collective readings in future…

Congrats for your wedding and be happy!!!! I'm glad that you liked Kongou Banchou. I also enjoyed in some parts, others not that much but it was a nice reading overall. To me, one can wait more than Nanatsu.

Right now there are two collective readings ongoing: Pluto, by the great mangaka Naoki Urasawa and the famous Osuma Tezuka (this one is one volume per week, the story has 8 volumes and we are now in the fifth volume), and Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer by the not inferior Satoshi Misukami (this one is also one volume per week, it has 10 volumes and we go in volume 3). I'm sure you would like either of them, and you are very very welcome!!

Again, be happy!!