I'll give it 8.5 because the last chapter did put a smile on my face, but the main "villain" and things leading up to the last fight (including the conclusion) were less realistic and mature than other parts of the manga. It's like they dragged him directly from a shounen, which is a big step away from the rest of the manga. There were some other elements that were a bit shouneny and iffy at best, but having the major plot point lead up and resolve in such a way is a bit meh.

I could've had given it a 7 and it would be okay and reflective of a true score, but since scores are subjective and I binged through the stuff I opted out for a 8.5 as I still rather liked it. If I was reading it as it was serialized, 6.5-7 sounds more like it.

I have only just started but I am absolutely loving this story. As the subject says, the main character feels like he is in the same mindset (and hairstyle) as the protagonist from Space Brothers while the story develops such that you feel the emotions that Usagi Drop (Part 1) presented. And what is most incredible is so far how well these completely different drives are balanced such that they are highly complementary (Pursuit of Passion/A Desire & the Unexpected Onset of Fatherhood).

Additional Notes:
- The protagonist is not the intelligent character from Space Brothers, but more of the version where he never went to college.
- There is a sufficient amount of adult content (aka boobs) that is present here that is not in the stories referenced.
- The story does not involve space.

I will definitely return when I finish the series to update this review, but so far at only a fraction of the way thru I am highly recommending this story to all those who are fans of both Space Brothers and Usagi Drop.

... Last updated on April 8th, 2016, 3:02pm

I was skeptical about reading it N went in without any expectations, But I'm glad I did!
The story's good
The ending's fine too
And its about boxing
though I have read better ones like Holyland etc, this ones pretty good too...

Great mixture of sports and drama with an enjoyably adult protagonist. While I wouldnt suggest peoples reasons for disliking it are invalid, they are entitled to their opinion. They are in some cases factually wrong, the majority of the story arc was seeded early - specifically the entire revenge arc, it didnt come out of left field and if you felt it did you simply werent paying attention. Other complaints - ranging from the odd (complaining about hearts been used to indicate light hearted jokes) to the misguided (as othes have noted - this really isnt shonen at all) seem overly pedantic at best.

This is a solid piece of storytelling and you could do worse than give it a go.

You have to love a manga that doesn't take it self as seriously as the others (Bleach, Naruto I'm looking at you.) You have a solid story line that makes the character at first out to be a complete dimwit then you watch him develop. Slowly at first then at an extremely rushed pace because the author found the series was being canned. However what you also find is a hero that you root for. Not because he is the hero mind you but because he can't afford to lose (Cliche yes but it gets better.) Now aside from obvious throw away characters you find that Ricky has a genuine appeal. You have to like that the manga feels complete (Let's be honest when most manga's get the axe you feel as if something was missing example: MX0.) RRR Is good in all honesty and it's not a manga that drags on, makes the hero superman and goes about it's way. If anything this manga is underrated.

The beginning was OK, then it pretty much goes down hill. This manga feels like a shounen manga with a fair amount of nudity added in the mix. I really hate the fact that the mangaka demonizes every opponent their boxing club faces. Very disappointed with the direction this manga went.

I'm up to volume 9 and can't say that I agree with the last reviewer. It was good enough for me to follow as each chapter was scanlated one by one, when there were so many I dumped mid-way, and that speaks for itself.

It's not your typical shounen boxing manga. That's why it's called "seinen". If you have more mature tastes then this kind of boxing manga is a pleasant read. If you want flashy, constant action, then go read some mainstream shounen or something.

I'm rating it 9/10 since it's a lot better than average. It's obviously got an ending coming up incredibly fast, however, so I might have to come back to dock a point or two based on how well the author concluded the story...

As others might have said, this really did have an interesting start. Not the best, not the worst, but something that could have played out well. Unfortunately that feeling doesn't last for long. The characters get overly sappy and unbelievably cheesy with old men ending their creepy sentences with hearts. Save yourself the trouble and find something better.

Edit: I finished the last of this series in hopes of finding the redeeming bit that I obviously missed. It actually got worse which is rather annoying since I can't give this a 0. I'm still stunned how anyone could give this a 10 star rating despite such a horrible ending.

The Villain


The Ending (A.K.A. last 2 chapters)


... Last updated on August 13th, 2020, 8:21pm

I held off on writing a review for this for a while so as to see how things would develop after the initial sequence of events. Now I can safely say that this is a simply wonderful manga. It shows a wealth of emotion and really endeavours to develop the backstories and motivations of the characters involved. I'm sure that this manga will continue to give us even more awesome shounen-moments and I just can't wait to see Rock 'n' Roll Ricky become the boxer and indeed the man he was always capable of being. One of the best boxing and, indeed, sports manga out there, most definitely.

... Last updated on April 3rd, 2013, 8:48am

The manga starts off well. However, once the "TV show" is done with, it gets a little silly and cheesy as of v5. The "kid" character is pretty trying and feels too 70s-ish and goody goody. I can understand right now why the series was junked after "only" 10 volumes.

All that said, it's still worth the read, especially if you haven't read Hajime no Ippo.

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Edit: After completing the manga, I can say that it's still worth the read. The story moves amateurishly in the middle, then after a ridiculous plot twist (presumably, when the editor informed the mangaka to wrap things up), it actually gets a li'l exciting and finishes up quite well.

... Last updated on March 19th, 2012, 7:27am