I know most people hate the cliche hero story but Shooto is a genuinely nice guy with his own faults so he's both likable and the reader can relate to him. The art isn't the greatest in the world but it's decent in its own sort of charm. The characters are all pretty cool and Ratman is such a badass looking kamen rider inspired anti hero that you just can't hate him, kinda reminds me of a cross between Venom, Batman, and Kamen Rider.

Wow, I read chapter 1 just now, and it seems QUITE GOOD! I don't really like the "superhero/supervillian" kind of mangas, unless the story is actually DEEP. This one isn't deep to me, but I really wanted to read it since this manga made the hero the villian! That's what hooked me in!

... Last updated on August 23rd, 2011, 10:21pm

Just read the first volume of, starts off with your typical shonen want to be awesome fare. But the inclusion of superheroes/corporate spokesman makes this seem more like an American comic book rather than a Japanese manga. Enjoyed the twist of how he gets his powers. I'm willing to give this one a chance seems like it has a good future.

its called 'superhero' manga but really it is no different than any other mecha/fighting/superpower manga, just with a different term. its a shounen with weak lead that somehow gain incredible power and have pure heart, nuff said. as generic as it is,it is very enjoyable, the comedy get me in stiches at times, especially the jackys actions. i love straightforward shounen like this, with clean art, cute characters, nice fight and a dose of comedy

ok give a good guy a super suit..... then tell him he (by contract) is a villian.... i just got to laugh at the sad turnout for our little illfated "hero"... then you throw in the escapades of the mime-like jackies and its perfect.... i mean those dudes just know how to be in the worst place at the worst time.... then when you think they are completely useless they do something right, and to be honest in my opinion i mostly kept reading to see what the heck they will pull off next.... the jackies are just awesome

... Last updated on July 27th, 2012, 1:21am

so far I like it pretty much, this is not your average shounen, the characters are definitely not single dimension, the main character started as weak person, but he has strong belief and very good personality, even so what I like that he always questioned every action he made, not really simple minded like in majority of shounen char, and even the seems to be a bad guy has another side.

the art is pretty clean and well drawn, definitely a good read

Its all come down to what do u want in a manga. This manga is typically a happy manga with light drama that really wont bring u to tear. However, it have some decent comedies with the jackies in the early chapters. Not only that, decent art too. If u want a fun and relaxing thing to read, this is for you. If you r looking for some grand advanture, this isnt the right one.

The best way to read this series:
Read chapters 1-19. Then quit.

Ratman is a hilarious series that was ahead of both Tiger and Bunny and MHA in depicting superheroes in a non-traditional fashion. The premise is a hero nerd is tricked into being a villain, and while he is on the other side of his heroes, he discovers that the superheroes aren't as virtuous as he thought they were. Add to the fact that his evil organization is utterly hilarious, and that he has to hide his villain identity from one of his closest female friends, this series ends up being a lot of fun.

The series at the beginning excelled with both comedy and with building an interesting world. Chapters 18 and 19 are the best of this series, and deal with personal growth, which you don't often see in a shonen manga.

I'm not really sure what happened to the series after that, it almost seems different writing altogether. The series became bogged down with endless filler chapters, and the chapters that did pertain to the plot were just pointless action sequences. I'm currently at chapter 40, and struggling. I'm not sure I can or will finish the series.

Chapter 24, Shiki's intro, was the last good chapter of the series, but it's kind of out of order so I wouldn't recommend reading it unless you want to. I was just amazed by how they took a great character introduction and just threw away all the info they gave us.. but that became the standard for all following chapters.

If you're looking for a fun and creative superhero series, I would definitely recommend the first 19 chapters. But please, save yourself the struggle and quit there, you won't regret it.

... Last updated on January 6th, 2021, 4:23pm

Whahaha, its been a while since i had such a good read, to bad that there are only 17 chapters released... i want MOARRR (more), and the jackies are really good, i wonder how they are under their masks

At the beginning, this looked like a fun deconstruction of the genre of American superhero comics. But while it was usually fun chapter for chapter, it eventually lost the plot: many details of the initial setup (mentioned in the blurb) - that the protagonist is tricked into joining a villain organisation, or that he hides this secret identity - are, sooner or later, unceremoniously dropped. At which point the story becomes less of a deconstruction of the genre, and instead something of a rehash of its tropes instead. The sorry excuse of a resolution to Crea's revenge plot merits special mention.

The story also seemed to have had a somewhat troubled serialisation: chapters 20 and 34-36 were utterly pointless filler, with no connection to the main story whatsoever. The manga even briefly ventured into similarly pointless ecchi mode (a quote from chapter 23: "what you and this manga lack is 'sexiness'").

All that said, the manga's ultimate resolution was still pretty satisfying, and as I mentioned, it was pretty fun chapter for chapter. But there are better, more well-rounded manga about genuine heroes out there. I'll recommend my favorite here: Hoshi no Samidare

... Last updated on September 30th, 2015, 12:03am