Fire Punch

First things first this manga is definitely not for everybody as my enjoyment mainly came out of very specific personal taste.

The premise is very interesting however it is not the best thing about the manga, nor is it the main focus.
The art is also very sketchy (a personal favourite style of mine) and has nearly no refinement so first impressions of the art will most likely tell you whether you enjoy the style or not.

The point I want to focus on though is the character study aspect of the story as it is both the main focus of this manga (especially the further in you get) as well as the most interesting. Agni is a character for better or for worse is incredibly hard to get a lock on and attempting to patch together the story since it is told from his (not so reliable) point of view is the almost like a puzzle. His motives are always simple, too simple some might argue however are not predictable, as he himself is not quite sure what he wants.

Overall I like this manga a fair bit and if you are looking for something different from a typical battle shounen or fantasy manga to read this is not a bad choice.

Objectively, this is inconsistent as hell. The plot bounces back and forth so much, changing focus and characters on a dime. It feels like the mangaka was doing whatever he felt like on a whim. However, despite this messiness, I really found it to be an enjoyable read. I gave this an 8, and I'm not sure if that's the right ranking, or if it's too high, given the incoherent plot. I can't even describe it well without spoiling. If you're looking for a ride for the hell of it, and can enjoy or stomach edgy and gory content, then go with this ride, and see if you enjoy it at the end. As of right now, this is the strangest manga I've read, but in a good way? I don't know. Just get past the overt edginess of the first 13 chapters and strap in for what's to come.

*Disclaimer*
Just personal scratch.
Advised, possible spoilers.
Opinion & Informal

Art: 7/10
The art overall was good but the backgrounds were sometimes lacking in tones or things to fill the space. The anatomy and proportions of the characters checked out. There were a few noticeably nice-looking environmental and panoramic shots; there were a good amount of spreads showcasing artistic skill or things about their world which I appreciated. The impact shots looked good and there was a good use of nature shots that added a bit more depth to their world. Although a bit short, The heavy action sequences looked pretty good. Overall, while I thought there could have been a bit more background in a few of the slower panels, the art was good. When there were backgrounds, they looked good. When there were impact shots, they left an impact and when emotions needed to be expressed I felt a bit of it.

Panel Progression: 6/10
The flow of the panel progression felt jumpy sometimes but overall it felt alright. There wasn't too much flair in the form of panel cutting or interesting layouts. Much of the panels and dialogue were pretty confined but that wasn't a bad thing. There were some nice mix-ups in panel layout in a few chapters such as the sequence where Togata was driving the truck and getting shot over and over. Like I mentioned earlier, there was some nice use of tones but I feel there could have been more supporting backgrounds and tones for more than a few places; but then again a large majority of the settings take place in snow/snowstorms.

Characters/Plot/Development: 6/10
I mostly disliked the characters? Agni was a bit one-dimensional for a bit of the first half and that was fine, but I sort of disliked how wishy-washy his resolve ended up being at certain parts of the story. Togata had an interesting backstory and personality. Togata was probably my favorite character. Sun/San was lame. He stayed static all the way through his introduction, capture, and rescue. Then Sun/San boringly followed suit with the atmosphere of the manga and went down the darker road: developing into a crazy worshiper of Agni. I really wanted something to develop with Sun and Agni's relationship, but that was dropped in such a lazy way. Sun/San was pretty much forgotten about for maybe half the manga despite the interesting setup he initially received at the time of his first-meeting with Agni. Furthermore, I was disappointed in how easily the Agni-Doma-revenge plot was dropped maybe 10 chapters in, picked up multiple chapters later, and then brushed over briefly in the span of maybe a chapter or two. It's annoying because that plot point is what I picked this manga up for in the first place. While I understand there was some resolution to their revenge scenario later on during the orphan-cottage bit and while I did see a point in Doma's words during his speech, I felt like the whole resolution to their relationship was stupid. Agni finally showed some growth as a character, forgoing his path to revenge to become a better person; a person, a hero, a god that would exist on a spectrum opposite that was the norm of the harsh and cold world that the story takes place in. NOPE, Agni goes back to kill Doma and all the kids. The pacing and development were a mess in my opinion. Agni mostly never grew, Doma maybe had 20 pages to himself during the whole manga, and the overall situation regarding the world-ice-age was handled in an awkward and convoluted way. Togata was the only redeeming character who had good development in this manga. I appreciate the sorts of topics that Togata's character touched upon in the story. Overall, I was unimpressed with the needless dark fantasy this manga went over: The bestiality, the cannibalism, and retro-gradation of modern ideologies such as the role of women, religion and morality.

Conclusion: 5/10
The conclusion to the story was stupid and honestly seemed half-assed to me. It was abrupt, it felt weak, and it most certainly was way too out of left-field for me to accept.

Overall: 6/10
The initial 10 or so chapters where the initial plot setup were interesting to me, but the plot got progressively more complex or forgotten from that point on. The best parts about this manga were when Togata was taking the lead or pretty much whenever Togata was involved. The answers to a lot of the plot points in this manga felt really weak and uninspiring. Warming up the earrth with a big tree that can reach to other planets? Dumb. The good things about this manga in my opinion were the art, the setting, and Togata. I didn't like pretty much everything else.

NO SPOILER

Would have given it a higher rating but the story and character development deteriorated soon after volume 4.
Togata was funny and had some depth. Agnis was not the brightest (combat wise, cool). Others that seemed interesting were not developed further. The ending felt rushed.
Hence a 6/10 for story and characters.

The art is amazing. The sketchy/messy style fits the world/genre. And although we have seen elemental powers before, the use of those powers was unique and the fighting was well choreographed and creative. I found myself eager for a fight scene and those did not disappoint. Fujimoto Tatsuki san did not slack in that bit.

An overall 7/10.

SPOILERS AHEAD AFTER FIRST PARAGRAPH
FIRST MANGA REVIEW








Read this manga. Its pretty fucking crazy. A lot of mindfucking and plot twists will leave you confused (well it left me confused and many others seemed confused too). If you want to see something badass this has it. Sometimes i don't know what to feel whiole reading the story but overall its sad and the ending left me empty but with some insight and strangely some peacefulness and happiness. It really shows us the power of religion and how easily we can be controlled by it. Out of fear, humans need to believe in something greater than themselves in order to live as comfortably as possible. Especially when living in such a metaphorically and literally cold world full of despair and hopelessness, believing in something like a god gives one hope and reason to live. This manga shows how meaning can be given to something meaningless.


OVERALL ENJOYMENT: 7.8
ENJOYMENT: 7.5
CHARACTER: 7
STORY:7.5
This is a mind fuck for me at least. A lot of plot twists left and right. It is a pretty awesome read though. I recommend anyone to read it. I wished that agni didn't lose himself and pretend to be someone else after losing his memories of original self. I liked the split personality he has throughout the series but after losing his orignial memories I didn't really enjoy it so much. It sucked to lose the main character i was rooting for at the beginning. I was hoping some miracle would happen and he would die and see his family and loved ones in heaven but instead years pass by and he lost everything even himself except for the make-believe sister Judah who became his lover. Even Judah forgot about herself. In the end the only part of Agni that remained in him, was his love for his sister. That love he had for his sister was incredibly powerful. And Judah never forgot her love to Agni even after forgetting everything else which is fucking crazy and heartwarming too.

ART: 6

Art was hard to follow during many battle scenes and people's faces were hard to distinguish which confused me.

The characters are really well made and the art is very well suited to the manga .
The MC does things for revenge and once he thought he achieved it he realises that it doesn't bring back his sister. And once he realises the person he was seeking revenge on was alive he didn't just kill him on the spot but thought about it. and the realise the only reason he was so hellbent on seeking revenge was because he wanted a reason to go on. And he ended up kill him anyways without realising it. and he also accidentally killed his friend
After all that happened he got his sister back and he was finally happy but he ended up having to face the pass.
From this the MC learns that you don't choose who you are the world does.

I started reading Fire Punch after binge-reading Chainsaw Man, and deciding, "I wanna read more manga like this!". Well if you wanna read a manga like chainsaw man don't come here go read some light-hearted stuff cuz this ain't it. Fire punch turned me off by the second chapter because of how brutally disturbing the story is. In the span of the first two chapters (spoilers ahead) The main character gets his arm chopped off at least 10 times (because he has the power to regenerate), his sister wants to have an incestual relationship with her brother, a man pees in a cup and tries to force a little kid to drink it, and a dude sues a little girls arms as firewood (which was only because she had regenerative powers and the main character graphically breaks his own arm trying to stop the guy from doing it. It was the most disturbing manga I've ever read. Now I'm sure the story is cool, and heck the concept was pretty cool, and the dude that set the village on fire was dope but it was disturbing. I give the manga a 1/10 because if you give a show a 1 out of 10 on my anime list it lists it as appalling, and the manga really was appalling it was disgusting in every way. If you like appalling stuff then read this manga, I'm sure it will make you think about how messed up you are for reading it. If you want something good by the author just read Chainsaw Man instead, its 1000x better

Its always hard to try and form an objective opinion on something that has a lot of sentimental value to you, and this is definitely one of those cases. So i'm just gonna talk about why you should read it.

Note: I wont have ANY spoilers in this, so read away.

Fire Punch is an absurd manga, everything about it is ridiculous. To simplify it, Fire Punch is about people struggling in a post apocalyptic world. But not in the same way something like Fallout is post apocalyptic, the world of Fire Punch has completely gone to shit. We are told very early that humanity doesn't have long left, and anyone who is pretending to "rebuild humanity" is kidding themselves and because of this there are essentially no rules. The world is dark and gritty, yet also humorous and quirky. The manga isn't for everyone, but if you do end up checking it out PLEASE don't take it to seriously, its only 8 volumes so just sit back with a coffee and enjoy the ride.

Story: The story is sometimes disjointed and to be honest completely nonsensical at times, yet theres something interesting about how things end up. It starts of as a relatively normal revenge story but goes in a completely different direction when a certain character starts "trying to make a movie". Theres lots of bloodshed, pain, struggling and obscure movie references.

Art: To be frank, the art isn't amazing and doesn't improve much before the end. However the art style is interesting and the characters are unique so it isn't "bad" i guess. You'll never be bored by the art thats for sure.

Characters: The characters in Fire Punch are a mixed bad, sometimes they are cookie cutter tropes and sometimes they are the single greatest thing i've ever seen. But i feel like that is done intentionally, a lot of the characters in Fire Punch seem like they are trying as hard as they can to be "normal" and cling to what they remember of normal society.

Enjoyment: This is where the series really shines. I assure you, you'll never be bored reading this manga. It's completely unpredictable and takes random turns in the story all the time. One minute you'll be reading a revenge story and within the next 20 pages the story is now about actual lunatics making a movie oh look now they're in space okay. Its horrifically dark at points and hilariously light at others.

Flaws: The characters are pretty simple, much like the art. The contestant mood and theme changes may get annoying for some people. The story isn't the strongest.

Overall: Fire Punch is an amazing ride and i hope as any people as possible read it. Its not often we get stories like this so we need it appreciate it when we do. To summarise its a crazy journey of a man on fire and his weird film addicted friend.

Fire Punch. Predecessor of the beloved Chainsaw Man and Fujimoto’s boldest, most disturbing, depressing, nihilistic and controversial work ever.

Currently the community is divided on whether to love it or hate it and it seems like the vast majority of readers seem to dislike it, dismissing it as utter nonsense and confusing, cheap edgy, and directionless writing. I too was once in their shoes, feeling absolutely lost and conflicted about whether I loved it or hated it when I flipped the final pages…

But upon several re-reads, I’ve come to the conclusion that Fire Punch is a prime example of a masterpiece, the greatest a manga can be, as a medium of art, entertainment, and storytelling. And I shall expand on why I think so.

To address criticisms about its lack of direction/narrative whiplash, Fire Punch has a direction. It was written with an end in mind after all. In various interviews, Fujimoto has mentioned that he enjoys works that “take the audience to a place they’ve never seen before” and wanted to create works that evoke the sort of feeling “where readers wonder what would happen next” (As a cinephile, he quoted the Korean flick “the chaser” where what was supposed to be the conclusion happens in 30 mins) And I’d say he certainly achieved it with Fire Punch, and later on, Chainsaw Man.

Fire Punch might read like a fast-paced, incomprehensibly crappy B movie upon first glance but when we look closely, you’ll start to see that it is surprisingly complex, thoughtful, and philosophical as it tries to subtly and delicately convey the themes Fujimoto wished to tell in this story.

“LIVE”... Existentialism and Nihilism are themes that permeate this work deeply as Characters ponder, struggle, and search for a “fuel” that keeps them going. “What is left once you’ve finally achieved the goal you dedicated your life for?” Fire Punch doesn’t force the answers down your throat with long expositions or dreary monologues, but merely shows you the varying motivations characters decide to pursue and live for…

Heavy themes like depression and suicide aside, It isn’t complete misery though as with Fujimoto’s questionable and quirky sense of humor, we get to experience some really messed up, dark jokes and banter sometimes, that reliefs all the existential dread and lightens things up, for a short while. It’s philosophical theme about “acting” and depiction of characters “performing” various “roles” in their lives was also insightful and eye-opening. But more importantly, Fujimoto’s skillful ability to weave the theme of love so naturally in the story into a satisfying, poetic, and coherent conclusion, despite the sheer chaos that preceded it, really speaks volumes about his ability as a storyteller.

Something to bear in mind is that at its core, Fire Punch is an extremely morally gray and nuanced work that continuously questions our pre-existing beliefs of what’s right or wrong? In their frozen apocalypse of a world, morals are called into question and the barbaric, primal side of human nature shows. Many messed up things happen in Fire Punch that can certainly be called edgy. However, unlike other works that are pointlessly edgy, Fire Punch presents a rather cynical but grounded and realistic interpretation of what would happen if humanity spiralled downwards. Survival of the fittest or most advantaged (the blessed) reigns supreme…

Although Fire Punch was undoubtedly a painful, depressing experience full of suffering, It’s something I thoroughly enjoyed and holds a special place in my heart as it got me through some difficult times where i struggled to find meaning, just like Agni

Overall, Fire Punch is a work that shows us the worst in humanity, yet at the very same time it's a hopeful one that encourages us to live as it puts forth the message that even if the world has gone to shit and life is inherently pointless, you can still create meaning for yourself or find a reason to live, just as the characters in the story had different reasons they chose to live for. Give it a shot, and experience true, unbridled, unadulterated Kino (or peak fiction in layman’s terms)

This is a roller coaster of a manga, it takes you through a lot of plot and character development, although absurd at times, overall it makes u curious enough about what will happen next so u keep reading it till the end.

Story: 8/10
The story starts out very interesting and logical, and the development feels somewhat slow at times since the author dedicate a lot of time to describe the characters' mental. It is interesting to read since you never know what will happen next. Throughout the manga, the story feels like a roller coaster ride, the story happens in a really unpredictable way that makes me feel confused at times, but overall is good.

Art: 7/10
The art is good, although it feels like a draft version sometimes rather than a fully completed version, but if u read other works from this author, you will realize its just his art style.

Characters: 8/10
Characters are described in a very detailed way, all the main characters all are developed distinctly and understandably. The only down side is that a lot of the characters in the story have some crazy in them, but it's completely tolerable since the story is set in a post apocalyptic world where people don't get to grow up normally in a peaceful and educated environment.

Enjoyment: 7/10
I enjoyed this manga a lot, the story is interesting enough to keep me clicking next chapter until the end, although the story is a little bit disorganized in the few last parts of the manga.

Overall: 7/10
A good manga with interesting plot, likeable characters that we can empathize with, and a somewhat sloppy but nice style of art.

Fire Punch is set in a world covered in Ice and snow. Survival in such environment is....harsh. And whenever you find a civilization they likely have someone among them with superpowers. Our MC, Agni is one of those . He has regeneration so extreme he is basically immortal. His village survives off that ability. Since regenerating a limb or two doesn't exhaust him or seem to consume any energy (k den), he just chops it off constantly to feed the others. Oh yeah, he got a sister. That wants to fuck him. Yep, incest bait. Suddenly some mofo shows up and kills everyone. The said mofo has a superpower too. A flame that doesn't extinguish till it burns anything it touches to ashes. Everyone dies, agni is pissed and swears revenge. Remeber that immotal part? Yeah? Well, he catches on fire, the fire that never goes out, to be more specific. Time skip 8 years into the future and he's trying to hunt down the psycho that ruined his life.

That's basically the prologue.

If you're still not sure lemme give you more info

-The superhumans are often treated as livestock.
-The story shits itself at about chapters 30-40 in or so and decides it wants to be something else
-The MC, Agni is as talkative as an average corpse.
-There is a lot of religious fanaticism, bordering on the occult.
-The ending is so cryptic, it feels like it was supposed be the Neon genesis Evangelion compressed into one short chapter, that got drunk, fell over, got a concussion and thought it was supposed to be a happy end AND got axed in the middle of it.


As you can tell, i enjoyed the first half of the manga. But oh boy did i hate the rest. Especially since i found the cast to be boring and the story somewhat mediocre. The sole reason i gave 5 in the character category was Togata, a....girl that appears later in the story. Whenever there is Togata, there is gonna be some pscho or hilarious shit happening. Sometimes both.
And oh god the movies references. Anyway, rant over. Back to more comprehensive stuff.

-STORY is mediocre, held up by it's setting. At first, an average, although
interesting revenge plot. In the latter chapters it decides it want's to do
something else. And it sucks at it. It wanted to be intelligent and/or
philosophical and usually failed at it or made it somewhat edgy.
The ending was what i would describe as an anticlimactic failure
My score(5)


-ART on the other hand.....I feel like it's a downgraded version of Tokyo
Ghoul's art. Which might actually be a good thing since this world, is a
desolate one. No idea why i like it so much, it just fits the setting.
My score (8)

-CHARACTERS category, was at least for me, carried by Togata, god i love
that nerd. The rest? eh.
Also, it feels like the sole drive behind Agni (MC) isn't the death of the
village, or his suffering but the death of his sister, which cockblocked his
incest urges.
Like, "Oh yeah, all the people i knew are dead and you made me into a
human torch, that's cool bruh. But you killed my sister! And she wanted to
bang! Now that's too far!"
My score (5)

Personal enjoyement? 5, carried by a single character, setting, and the first half of the (mediocre) story.

There are more interesting shows, manga VN, LN and books out there and UNLESS you are either running out of options, or are specifically looking for depressed x-men in an icy wasteland you're not gonna like this.
Outside of these cases, i can't recommend this show.
Seriously though, wtf was that ending.

What can be said about Fire Punch that couldn't be said about a natural disaster? In truth, that is the essence of Fire Punch: Unending suffering, loss, and the struggle to hold onto a light that burns ever dimmer day by day.
In some ways Fire Punch is sloppy: the art is stylized to the extent that it is difficult to parse, the story jumps and skips and runs back enough to be occasionally jarring, and the characters have more holes in their personality and motives than a block of Swiss cheese.
But in this madness, this turmoil, thus there is beauty - a cacophony of violence and despair and fingertips reaching toward hope that can never quite be grasped. Over and over again.
Fire Punch is just that: A flaming punch to the face, repeatedly, until you, the reader, are left dumbfounded and astonished at the sheer beauty of violence and hope bred from cold despair of the world created in the story. Fire Punch is a fight for survival in manga form, so esoteric and outlandish that it becomes hard to describe in its descent into madness.
And just like any descent into madness, chances are: You'll come back for more.

Tatsuki Fujimoto is one of the most prominent and prolific writers out of Shonen Jump in recent memory, and it takes nothing to understand why considering how his writing stands out as being considerably more adult - both in theme handling and presentation - than the comparatively more basic presentation exemplified by many of the other series in the magazine. Before Chainsaw Man gave Fujimoto his infamy and notoriety, Fire Punch was an exceptionally overhyped series among various groups of readers for standing out and telling a more gloomy, dark story about a man who seemingly desires revenge over the woman who murdered his sister. And yet, to sum up Fire Punch as just another revenge story is to do a great disservice to what this series explores over its runtime.

An immediate impression one can get out of Fire Punch - as is the case with Fujimoto's works as a whole - is the way the narrative is presented. Exposition is kept to a minimum, events unfold with often no foreshadowing and there's an often surreal, dark atmosphere surrounding characters and their actions. Where Fire Punch falters a fair bit, however, is that while thematically interesting, characters are often irredeemable with no genuinely likable traits to drag in an audience, the story moves at breakneck speed too quickly for its own liking at times - with entire time periods crucial to the narrative being skipped over, leading to many characters feeling like they only exist to fulfill a particular role as a tool in the narrative rather than have any agency of their own. While this is thematically relevant, it does not change the fact that while stakes in Fire Punch are high, the constant tonal shifts and timeskipping often undermine what could have been moments that could've given more likability and layers to an otherwise straightforward story told in an unnecessarily complicated way. And that, in my eyes, sums up Fire Punch's biggest flaw; its presentation clashes badly (or perhaps this was done with the intent to contrast, but even that is hard to tell) with the kind of story it wants to tell, a story that's more about people frozen in time physically and even emotionally in some respects, who desperately seek out any kind of connection in a world that has none.

Thematically, Fire Punch explores this through various means - characters often come to a realization over an event or another that should overturn any desire they have, only to decide in the heat of the moment that they've spent way too much time on their desire to change it. In a sense, these characters lack free will over their actions because they've spent so long living their lives for a single purpose that it becomes impossible to turn them away from it. In a similar sense, finding self worth is also thematically relevant to what Fire Punch wants to achieve, with characters often referring to their roles in the work and world by extension, except this meta element is used more about how even something as basic as escapism (in this case symbolized by Togata's love for movies) can give life meaning to people, and how in this barren world where everyone is waiting to die and has no purpose that is desperately needed. Relevant to Togata, a theme involving fatalism insofar as these characters roles in the narrative is frequently discussed and addressed, with characters often talking about how their roles in the greater story are fixed and especially considering their desire to break out of that role, tying into the imagery involving characters being in a cinema over the course of the story - in Togata's case, it's taken in a more bittersweet light, where his perception of who he is clashes greatly with how Agni perceives him. This repeats itself in a later dynamic involving Agni and Judah, where Judah fills out a particular role as a replacement for another character, and more fittingly tied in the last time we see the cinema motif be used.

Fire Punch's story is told minimalistically but suffers from tonal whiplash at points where there should otherwise be a more concise tone - various times over the course of the manga the series takes itself in way too dark of a tone to the point where that becomes comedic, and the series often engages in rather unfunny comedic humor for no reason other than to offer a change of tone, which at times undermines the series. There's very little explanation over events going on and while that's more than fine, near the end the manga rushes towards a conclusion rather than proceed there naturally. Character-driven moments and dynamics - aside from the Agni and Togata dynamic at the heart of this entire manga - aren't given much room to breathe and as such relationships and dynamics between the cast are forced. The artwork, while solid and tonally consistent most of the time, is also at times at odds with the tone of the manga, to say nothing of its quality which often fluctuates over the course of the series, with it often looking great one page before flipping and looking poor the next.

Ultimately, Fire Punch is a flawed yet enjoyable series that one could definitely enjoy for what it is but tolerate its numerous and very noticeable flaws. There's a lot to like here but the series both requires some degree of patience as well as a solid understanding of what it's thematically aiming for - while most of the cast isn't noteworthy or likable, and the series often jumps at an incredibly fast pace, there's a fair bit to give thought to, and if for nothing else anyone fond of how distinct Fujimoto's works can be among Shonen Jump's lineup would be well inclined to enjoy this.

Thank you very much for reading, any and all feedback would be appreciated.

At first glance, Fire Punch seems aggressively mediocre, a standard, hyper-violent revenge plot set in a dystopic world. Yet as the manga progressed I began to notice something: I didn't want Agni to fight. Rather than reveling in its own extreme brutality, the manga forces you to sit and watch people kill one another in order to show you its true purpose. Agni isn't really searching for revenge, but rather for happiness. That journey is harrowing, horrifying, beautiful, tragic, heartwarming, and so many other things. It is a story that truly explores how difficult it can be to live with oneself and others yet ultimately, no matter what horrors and guilt may lie in the past, attempting to forgive and live is a far more difficult, and far more worthwhile goal.

If this review seemed a bit mushy I apologize, but Fire Punch is, at its core, an emotional experience and one that can not really be captured in a simple review. I highly recommend that you read it if you are willing to give it the respect and time that it truly deserves. It is one of the saddest artistic experiences I have read, but it is also strangely uplifting. Ultimately whether you consider it happy or sad, it was, to me, fulfilling. I hope you will find it to be the same.

The colours were in monochrome and there was no sound.
I have no idea what it was about, or why it was made.
But there was one thing I did understand.
A man burning with flames seemed to be the main character.
The manga was focused on him alone.
Every once in a while, he would fight someone, kill, be killed himself, and then repeat the process.
It was all so extreme, and I didnt understand any of it, but...
The man continued to burn throughout the entire manga.
And before I knew it...
I found myself with a clenched fist.

Very good manga
If you like Deep Dark plot , and tragedy with superheroes this is defintelly for you .
The whole plot is that in the world there are superpowers that some people born with , and as always a bad guy called Ice Witch , froze everything , and people dont have food , water . they stragle to live . then the army find a village that our main character is , and burn it all . then our main character Agni , becomes a living fire-man with a very painfull and mercyless process and thats Fire Punch . A REVENGE STORY ! but its not like the common stories . it has a lot of interesting characters , some are crazy , other perverted , other cute . I defintelly recommend this manga ! ITS AWESOME , and it has a lot of plot-twists

Fire Punch is, at least the first half a story you might think you know where is going to go. But, surprisingly, it actually got me hooked, at least the last 30 chapters, where the characters you thought you knew show themselves and sometimes feel unrecognizable.

Even though the art is not the best I've seen, it matches incredibly good with the story's recurrent themes, sadness and despair. Maybe it's hard to understand what is happening, but it transmits the force of the scenes incredibly good.

This story felt unique, but it probably does because I have no knowledge of a story like this besides this one. It took the idea of a "super-power" based world to a different level, not showing the good part, but everything you don't want to look at when thinking about these kind of universes.

It's pretty edgy and I personally like these themes. I had low expectations about this but it ended up being much better than I expected, very enjoyable.

Now that Far Cry 5 is out, I’ve been looking up cutscenes of the hot-bod priest sama and his demented congregation. There is considerable visual tension between the pastorly calm of his spectacles and his Russian-mobster chest, enough to play with ideas of that old stereotype about grannies saying he was “too genteel to do this or that shit” – the unnervingly calm villain – even when he is raving about some Book of Revelations type spiel. I like it. Very cool, and (more importantly) marketably cool. Menacing enough of a charismatic villain for people who do not know how villainy or charisma manifests itself in the real world – and he has enough poses for action figures.

The protagonist of Fire Punch starts out as an incest-mongering siscon wrapped in the flames of God’s eternal curse, and the suffering of the world. I think he’d make a good action figure, but no marketing team will ever take him into consideration because they do not want sister-fuckers on the shelves. Backstory aside, he has a kinda bland personality. Then, he is joined by your lovable meta-commentative immortal psychopath – a wannabe film director and film buff who wants to make the best B-movie revenge plot out of siscon Human Torch, and maims and destroys as many tropes as bad guys. The world around them is sketched in loving detail by mangaka Fujimoto Tatsuki. This is his personal vision and he gives no fucks about linearity, but rather intends to throw in as many subversions, dour social commentary, and cool action scenes as possible in the span of 80 chapters. Fire Punch is – as a result – what I would label ‘unmarketably cool’. While Far Cry 5 idealizes a real world premise to turn it comic-book – Fire Punch starts from the perspective of comic book, and then slowly inserts humanity in, until you realize that mankind is violent slapstick and nobody is laughing in the end. The latter approach, I feel, has more balls because it shows all the cards, the artifice, and then fucks you later with the shiv hidden under the table. Of course, the result is you have most readers crying about the ‘train-wreck’ that the manga is in the forums. Once again, proof that no action-figures will be made of siscon Human Torch.

Although, ultimately, Fire Punch edgecore maximus that pales in comparison to a lot of other stuff (wait for Dan Schneider’s corpus for how to do truly mature edge and grit) – I do enjoy it because it has the special kind of edge that feels earnest, and when it goes all the way, it goes all the way. No half-measures here. None of the silly pretense. Crazy entertainment might as well be this crazy.

I stumbled upon this manga at my local B&N upon opening it I immediately saw someone cutting off their own arm and feeding it to people. I grabbed the Vol 1 & 2 and went straight to the counter to buy them.

I'm not gonna bore you and write out the summary of the manga. It has some very gritty and dark themes in it, if you liked Ajin you'll love this. I felt the story was very well written and shows us the agony of losing the ones you love through showing us Agni's mental struggles and denial of the fact he lost his sister (Not a spoiler just main plot development that happens in the first Chapters). It shows us the aspects of fear and how people will tell themselves anything that makes them feel safe. We see this in how the villagers fear him to the point where they name him a god. We also get to see the savagery of lawlessness with a almost Mad Max kind of vibe to it.

As for characters I feel that Agni and Togata are the most developed backstory wise although Sun and Judah are also well developed near the end. Agni has lost his sanity by living in the constant pain of being endlessly burned alive which allows him to have a sort of mindless rage and cluelessness to him at times. Togata is by far the best character in the story she adds a lot of comic relief to the cruelness of the manga. I didn't like Judah until the end of the manga and Sun is kind of just a dumb little kid.

I really enjoyed this and hands down one of the best manga's I've read and cannot recommend it enough. I also strongly suggest you purchase the physical copies because you will want to read it again and again. Don't forget to check out the authors current manga Chainsaw Man!

**Spoiler Free Review**
Also, there isn't any explicit incest, don't worry.

Fire Punch is probably one of if not the most unique shounen manga I've read. While the premise of the manga initially seems rather cliche, the tone and characters in the story sets Fire Punch from the rest.

The tone is probably one of the largest highlights of the manga. Mixing together a dystopian setting with somewhat comical characters and dialogue contextualize Fire Punch of being campy as much as it is self-aware. As a result, the character banter is enjoyable and weird in the right ways that give character to the otherwise bleak world the story takes place in.

The phrase self-aware implies that the story itself isn't to be taken seriously, and in some ways it isn't. That being said, while dystopias are obviously nothing new to fiction as a whole, Fire Punch does a great job of building a captivating world with seemingly little to work with. The theme that characters are connected by a shared sense of insanity gives the world of Fire Punch a living and breathing feel that seems to connect with its anti-climactic tone very well.

To touch back on the idea of cliches, another large reason why I think Fire Punch sets it self apart from it's shounen counterparts is how it treats its characters. Shounen characters are generally driven by usually fairly shallow motivations (which isn't always a bad thing if executed correctly). By contrast, the motivations and what inherently drives Fire Punch's plot and characters forward are unclear. Normally this leads to a very mislead story, but in Fire Punch's case it still manages to connect these characters and ideas with a touch of cohesiveness, and the unstableness in my opinion adds to the characterizations to every facet of the story more than it takes away from it.

I don't mean to say that Fire Punch is the most flawless manga in existence nor would I say it comes close to being one of my top favorites, but I can't stress enough that this is the kind of title I'd like to see more of in Shounen magazines. It really gives an attempt at something new, which in turn carries its own value that makes me want to recommend this title to others.

Like I said, I think even typical shounen manga like Fire Brigade of Flames and Nanatsu no Taizai have value, but I think it would be an incredible shame if Fire Punch got axed because it didn't conform to the same norms as its competitors did.

Oh and the art is fantastic if any of that wasn't enough to convince you to give the manga a shot.