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Description
From Anime News Network Yo Hinomura was an ordinary Japanese potter when a run-in with a Chinese mafia changed his life forever. Now an assassin for the 108 Dragons, Yo is the perfect killing machine. As a sign for remorse over his victims, he sheds tears after eliminating his targets. Because of this, he is infamously known by the Dragons and every other crime gang as "Crying Freeman".
Koike Kazuo can come up with a great story. Just read Kozure Ookami or Kubikiri Asa... But don't try to read Crying Freeman, you may be disappointed... at least I was.
Crying Freeman is widely acknowledged as "great manga for adults" and so I expected some... Great manga for adults. But no, Crying Freeman is full of action, brutality, "drama scenes" and nudity... You may thinks that this isn't a bad combination. It isn't, but in this piece it's combined so horribly I was really surprised. Simply put, there is too much of action, brutality, "drama" and nudity. These aspect are poorly balanced. There is action just for the sake of nudity, and nudity is there just for the sake of brutality. Nothing has a deeper meaning, it just happens so reader could enjoy blood and naked women.
The story is bland and so straightforward it's almost pain to read. Drawings by Ikegami Ryoichi on the other hand are really nice. To be fair, first volume was fine, it contained some interesting thoughts about freedom of humans and if one can show his resistance to society but the rest was not only boring but seriously bad. Nothing more than some low fun for adults good for one read.
Slightly original though the characters are not very realistic. The story is pretty simple. See bad guy, beat bad guy. Expected a lot more with the plot, but was sorely disappointed.
I didn't mind the story since it contained everything I like in a mature series, action, sex, blood, guns, knives, swords, and death. A bit too much nudity. Now, I love breasts like every other straight man, but the women are fighting nude all the time. They take off their clothes in one unnecessary dramatic scene, showing off their full body tatoo. <claps> Wonderful, like the artwork, but you could have killed 'em with your clothes on too. Shameless fan service.
Romance was unrealistic, even Bond wasn't able to have sex with every single woman in the movie. Not so with Freeman. I really didn't like the granddaughter of the former leader of the 108 Dragons. Lard Ho'. The second ugliest character after the creature in Girls Saurus.
Action was well done. Easy to follow, but dispensed a rinse and repeat routine (the knife with the feet, got a bit repetitive). It was cool the first time, after the fifth or sixth time, meh.
Characters were bland and one-dimensional. There's no character development; everyone is static. The dialogue is contrived, though it may be because of a poor translation, but I seriously doubt it.
Good manga, but could have been great. This is not one of those series, where you can't wait to the finish. This is only to kill time, which it did with outstanding ability.
You know the storytelling is boring when you want the villains to succeed just so it's a step away from the established norm. The protagonist never faces a situation he did not plan for or a woman he cannot seduce. It's sickening to read the same thing over and over again. Some organization attempts to kill him, he seduces some woman, the villain gets a knife to the head or joins his harem. Repeat. I just saved you hours.
sure you can criticize it today, after you've watched manga and anime evolve for TWENTY YEARS. this is fucking amazing, and most manga readers today would rather read one piece. crying freeman was awesome then and its awesome now.
I agree with the previous poster that it was kinda weak. There was a good deal of action with a tinge of violence(tame compared to a lot of other series) and the story was fairly awesome when it started but it soon got out of hand as the manga succumbs to the shounen syndrome: overpowered protagonists who never get hurt much emotionally, physically or otherwise, no matter what you do to them. Basically, Rambo or Schwarzenegger.
There isn't much characterisation and the story is fairly simple and repetitive: have Crying Freeman face off against various opponents, most of whom share similar goals. The characters are mostly similar too, albeit with very slight variations and while it was fun watching the opponents getting shot down like flies, it got tiring considering the length of this series. The worst thing is that the series tends to "power up" or strike off some of the characters to fit the circumstances and plot and there actually isn't much explanation for it.
The good thing, though, is that the action scenes are many and rather varied. So, if you really enjoy naked boobs, good art and many fighting scenes replete with various stances and schools of fighting and different types of guns to boot, this might be your choice of the day.
Yet, if you crave for something different where both man and woman are of equal footing due to their own strengths(and not just for fanservice) with plot and characterisation, the newer types of manga like Black Lagoon or even Xblade might suit your taste. Or even if you don't care for gender equality but crave for hard-packed action, maybe even Change Guy or Shamo or something newer would be a suitable choice instead, considering how popular some of these newer series are. (Not that I really read most of them though but eh... )
Well, its got good violent scenes, and a decent plot, but it really isn't that believable. I mean some of the stuff that happens is kinda weak (wont say to much so I dont give away story) . . and atleast 5 times a volume you think to yourself "Are all these people strippers?!" cause they seem to strip naked very very VERY frequently.
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The second ugliest character after the creature in Girls Saurus.
. BTW, crying freeman is subbed up to volume 5
