Mangaka; Nobuyuki Anzai

Plot/Story

The main character of Flame of Recca is a young boy named Recca. He lives with his father, his mother having died when he was very young. He attends school where he spends most of his time fighting.

Recca is a child obsessed with the Ninja and his friends constantly challenge him to fights where Recca displays his awesome ninja skills.

One day Recca meets a young girl and he pledges to be her ninja. From then on he refers to the girl as "hime" (10 points to those who know enough Japanese to translate that).

Characters

Hanabishi Recca; Main character, ninja, flame master. Recca's a nice guy who doesn’t think a whole lot. If he decides to do something then he will do it no matter what obstacles may stand in his way. He's fiercely overprotective of Yanagi (hime) but he earns the respect of all who know him.

Ishida Domon; I know this guy shouldn’t be listed second; but he’s my favourite character so here he is. Domon is the big man of the series (tho; he always ends up fighting people bigger than himself.) He is also the dumbest out of the entire group. He proves himself someone to be relied upon and in the second half of the manga he just steals the show (as far as Im concerned). He ends up using a lot of powerful weapons to help him. But his physical strength is already well above average.

Kirisawa Fuuko; Also a ninja, Fuuko grew up alongside Recca and so she also picked up his hobby. She's an agile girl and she relies on her speed and technique. In the first volume she gains a weapon that enables her to control wind. She’s the only female member of Recca's fighting force; but she's very strong and is loath to let herself lose.

Koganai Kaoru; He's a little puzzle maniac boy. And while that sounds lame; its actually not. His puzzle is a weapon called the Kougan Anki. A weapon with 5 different forms. Kaoru relies on this weapon and his ability to plan to get him through his fights. He's a cool kid and manages to pull off some pretty impressive victories.

Tokiya Mikagami; Mikagami is the pretty-boy genius fighter. He uses a style called Hyoumon Ken and a sword with a water blade called the Ensui. He doesn’t smile much but his fights are pretty cool.

Drawing Style

I like it; The characters seem a little thin at times, and the mangaka really dsoen't draw well defined muscle. But I suppose that’s just part of the style. If there is one thing you gotta praise the guy on its just how cool all his characters seem.

Domon spends the majority of the manga fighting in just plain t-shirts but he makes it look cool. Kurei's presence tones the manga up a hell of a lot. He's the definition of badass... definatley not a guy you want to mess with. Recca's dragons look awesome when they come out and do stuff.

The art really works for the kind of story the mangaka wanted to tell.

Enjoyment

Flame of Recca is great. It’s a pure shounen manga. Fighting, fighting, a little bit of story here and there, more fighting and some comedy elements throughout.

Flame of Recca has the "laugh out loud" aspect going for it as well as the "OMG that was cool" aspect.

Overall

Recca is worth your time. Its cool, its funny, its got powerful characters and it uses them well.

It’s a ninja story with a modern story... and it works. It’s a great trip from beginning to end.

Read it; you shouldn't regret it.