Reviews

Color of Rage by Kazuo Koike, Seisaku Kano

literadreams's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

iliapop's review

1.0

This was a rather tedious Koike yarn – a picaresque tale like Lone Wolf & Cub but the individual episodes lack the drama and tension of his best work. The idea should be interesting – two escaped slaves dole out justice in Edo-era Japan. The black character's experience of racism at the hands of Japanese society is treated with sympathy, although the depiction of the rage this induces is a little crass. The artwork uninspiring and frequently too unclear to make out what was going on. Koike's work with Ikegami and Kojima is just so much better than this.

duplica123's review

3.0

two former slaves, one Japanese and one Black, wash up on the shores of Edo Japan. Together they search for a place they can be accepted, where people treat each other decently. There's not a lot of that in Edo Japan.
Pretty battle-intense. Lots of blood. Not much sex. Interesting artwork, but not my favorite style.

rovertoak's review

4.0

Outstanding historical manga - two honorable yakuza, one an escaped African slave, the other an enslaved Japanese man, travel Japan to reach the man's hometown. The pairing draws much unwanted attention, and many unfortunate conflicts arise. Koike brings much of the brutality and corruption of feudal Japan to the surface in his manga and juxtaposes this with emotionally engaging anti-heroes.

An aside: The only manga series that ever made me tear up was during the final few pages of Lone Wolf and Cub. I never knew until the end how invested I was in the books' characters, and the ending was truly heartbreaking. After that, I had to read anything I could get my hands on by Koike.

jameseckman's review

2.0

Bizarre yakuza story reminding me of cheesy 70's martial art films, not surprising since his manga were adapted for the screen.