I've read the whole 38 volumes and while I thought it was quite promising in the beginning, every time I read a new volume after volume 10 or something I kept asking myself why oh why am I keep on reading this manga. Perhaps it's because those water-fire brothers were cute! They indeed were. Nice artwork, some cute characters, it's just the story and especially the turns of events... Ah well, as a whole I couldn't and can't appreciate this manga highly.

I hasn't read the whole manga yet but I am really attached to it! I really love the story and the fights are great but sometimes its a bit too much talk in between them and Kamijyo seems to be dragging out the story way too much...

But one thing that REALLY bugs me(and by the comments, others too) is that my favorite character, Kyoshiro, barely gets to be in the manga :/ I mean Kyo was really intresting at first but lately he's becoming more and more predictable as you get to know him... Kyoshiro on the other hand is a real mystery...
I liked it more when Kyo and Kyoshiro shared the manga more and Kyo brought most of the action while Kyoshiro brought the humor and got the story to move forward...
I think Kyoshiro is really cool but I won't tell why because that would be a huge spoiler...

I give it a 9 because that Kyoshiro got too little room.. >.<

... Last updated on June 7th, 2008, 3:59pm

Recommended for people who enjoy big, loud, stupid stories.

Even within the very tired genre of one-upsmanship combat series, I don't think I've read another piece that is as stunningly dense, repetitive and obnoxious. It has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer and the dialogue is so monotonous and silly that it goes well beyond the realm of simply "bad" and borders on "elaborate joke." The usual genre cliches of observer commentating and heavy-handed, unnecessary narration ("He blocked the attack?!" "Is he stronger?!" "Is this the true power of blabla?!") are followed so enthusiastically that it stops being "helpful," stop beings even "annoying," and just goes straight to "unintentionally funny."

After the absolutely dreadful dialogue, there are some positive features. The art is detailed and rich, and the characterizations are varied and sometimes amusing. There's even at attempt at a very convoluted and confusing story somewhere amidst the mess, but when you're not marveling at the complexity of what Kamijyo is trying to execute, you're scratching your head wondering why he chose to make it so improbably bizarre and nonsensical. Chances are, the only people still reading by the end don't care about or understand the story (unless they've got Asperger's and LIKE sorting through mounds of useless information), they're just there to see some scowling bravado and explosions (and don't forget fanservice), in which case: this Bud's for you!

Having read it till the end all I can say is that the manga started out decent and then turned it into a huge crapfest comparable to its anime. So don't bother reading this one if you aren't out of titles to read cause it'll disappoint you to no end and leave you with a headache.

Don't even want to list all the reasons why it turned out so bad cause well simply, I don't want to waste a half hour on typing and this manga is simply not worth more time than I already spend on it.

... Last updated on May 24th, 2012, 6:24am

hmm...Ksd is a pretty good one especialy the art...better than i'll ever draw anyways..the story is kinda touching, for me...and kyo is actually a really really nice guy...n i like him...yup~! =3

Kyoshiro is boring. When you meet Kyo is when things start to get really good. Read up to the second encounter before you judge this series.

I really enjoy anime/manga in the fighting genre and after reading Rurouni Kenshin, I looked around for another great samurai based manga and found SDK but its a little bit too DBZ-ish. The fighting scenes at the beginning was pretty good, but later on I just found it uncool that kyo starts to shoot phoenix and tigers etc out of his sword =O

As for the characters, the only one I found interesting is the main 2 characters themselves: Kyo and kyoshiro. Kyo's attitude is absolutely badass and Kyoshiro is absolutely hilarious in the beggining =D Other than that I didnt really like the other characters much, some of the villains appears to be meaningless =(

As for the storyline, I wont post any spoilers, but the storyline itself is quiet interesting at the beginning. As I read on, I found it to be a bit of a drag unfortunately =(
Overall, it wasnt as good and as deep as Kenshin and I began to skip text after text just to see the fighting scenes. I am currently on the last Arc (I think) and the storyline begins to grow more interesting again as the final villain drew close watching kyo fights a battle that Ive been eager to see from the earlier volumes.

I have not finished reading the whole thing but I found that this series is still an above average series though it is still very inferior to RK. Sure the SDK fighters are "stronger" than RK fighters by being DBZ-ish, but that doesn't make it a better series at all. Anyway, if you enjoy a fighting anime/manga, give this series a shot. You might lose interest with the plot halfway but just read on anyway since the final battles would be pretty good =]

ps: forgot to add score lol

... Last updated on November 12th, 2007, 5:50pm

hmm, how should i explain this... this manga is very good in earlier chapter, but become boring in lat chapter. too many repeated action and the storyline are quite monotome. however, i still read it to the end . at least the ending are fine, you must read it.
it catchy in first and you want to read it to the end, but you'll also not very satisfied with it.

SDK has an interesting idea, and I really enjoyed reading it at first. However, since Kyosuke's disappearance, things have... well, changed. There are a few characters that I like, such as Benitora, but most of the cast just bores me or, on occasion, makes me wish they died. Yuya had the potential to be one of the rare strong heroines in shounen manga, yet she was reduced to being even more helpless than someone who couldn't fight at all. Most of the other characters aren't even really that interesting. It has kept me reading, but it just doesn't have the effect that other shounen manga do of keeping the reader's attention completely captured and awed.

As a quick request: CAN PEOPLE PLEASE STOP COMMENTING ABOUT HOW MUCH BETTER SDK IS FROM KENSHIN OR VICE-VERSA? If you feel so strongly about it, start a forum topic. If you argue about it here, you'll most likely just annoy people looking for good reviews of the series by taking up space, and it's very likely that it'll just evolve into a flame war. (It's fine to just compare their similarities and differences, though, but only to portray SDK, NOT to write a persuasive essay on how one is better than the other.) Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this. (Aaaaaaaaaand onto the actual review.)

SDK is an enjoyable series if you like swordfighting and the like, but it's still pretty far from perfect. As has been said, the character improvement in techniques and the opponents gained in later volumes begin to get to the DBZ point, in which there is no end in sight of how powerful a character can get. But this is still a manga worth your time.

ART: SDK boasts a unique art style that contains features portrayed in a more realistic light. This isn't to say that eyes are realistically sized or that hair isn't gravity-defying, but noses and lips (noses in particular) are drawn in a way that is more detailed and "realistic" than the check-mark style that many other series contain. Action scenes are also clean and easy to read, unlike the messier/sketchier styles that are sometimes implemented in shounen manga (beginning of Naruto and Trigun, for example).

CHARACTERS: If you're a fan of characterisation (and I'm assuming that everyone is), you'll enjoy the characters of SDK. Almost every character has his/her own past elaborated (except for very minor characters), which helps give them depth. Personality types are also not over-used, allowing for the cast of characters to be extremely unique. Flashbacks are not overwhelming, but they are utilised in a few cases for either foreshadowing or character development. A few villains also get this treatment, which really helps the reader understand why he/she might be acting the way he/she is.

(Warning: Very slight spoilers ahead, but they are only for people who have not gotten very far in the manga.)
PLOT: Here's where SDK doesn't particularly shine. In the beginning, there is no plot. A plot does eventually emerge, but it's somewhat similar to the plot of Inuyasha: try to get an object (in this case, Kyo's original body) that is kept by a very powerful person/group. Luckily this object isn't just for strength (it's to separate Kyoshiro and Kyo), so the urgency of getting it is increased. The similarity to Inuyasha is reduced in its focus by character development, and this helps the plot become more intriguing.

FIGHTING STYLES: Weapon-wise, SDK is FULL of interesting and varied weapons. This also helps increase the number of possible styles of fighting. However, since Kyo uses a sword, most of his opponents use katanas and the like. This might not be able to sustain most series to the length of SDK, but supernatural powers are introduced to the swordplay. These powers normally are loosely based in the elements, but there are a few that cannot be attributed as such. The use of these techniques make fight scenes more exciting, and each fight seems new depending on the enemy's style of fighting and level of skill. But, while there are a few moments in the manga where Kyo does have to train to learn more and certain techniques can hurt the user, Kyo himself does not seem to have a limit to his power. Even in the later manga, he just keeps growing, and this borderlines "ridiculous" when it's mentioned that this power is only a FRACTION of his true strength. In this respect, SDK is very much like DBZ. Luckily, this is only true for Kyo, for the most part.

For people who aren't particularly sensitive to unlimited power, this is a great swordfighting manga with characters that shine. However, if you avoid scenarios in which a character is "the best" and keeps getting better to keep up with advancing enemies, I don't think this is for you (even though this dislike destroys much of the shounen genre).

... Last updated on July 22nd, 2007, 3:30pm