I didn't want to make a review, but here's an idiotic comment up here that really hit my nerves, so now I will. The whole manga looks a lot like classic western comics and the characters' behaviours feel mostly inspired from mafia movies, with some coming straight out of western in the latter half (Indians and Ned felt straight out of Tex). Some elements of the art do draw from other manga culture, but this really is, by all means, a western comic written by Japanese author.
What really got me furious was this: "Second, the revolver gunblade. Please don't bring Final Fantasy weapons into a 'historical' setting". This moron has no knowledge of historical weapons and thinks he can cast aside things as fantasy just because he knows nothing. Gunblades are a thing, they developed in various ways from the late XVI century to this day and they had a moment of great variety and experimentation in XIX century USA, though the largest use was probably seen when Polish cavalry adopted gun axes as ordinance weapons between the XVI and XVIII centuries, for 200 years. But no, for this guy it's just final fantasy. The specific gunblade design used by the main character Brad, to be exact, is the .54 caliber Elgin pistol, equipped with an 11.5 inch bowie knife blade, adopted by the US navy in 1938 and used in some instances during the US Civil War, so it is the absolutely perfect weapon for this setting.
Third: gang tattoos. If anyone thinks gang members don't use specific gang tattoos in a variety of areas of the world, means they never bothered learning the first thing about neither tattoos or gang culture.
To add something more to the historical validity of this comic, most major events clearly draw inspiration by real world history, changing the characters and maybe raising the death toll a little. Clearest example is the direct reference to 1857 Dead Rabbits riot, which I suggest you don't read about if you don't want to spoil the story.

Other than that, the manga is very good, compact, fast paced, with a good play on tension, keeping the reader on edge for the possible twists and turns of the story, that often caught me by surprise. The art is extremely detailed and probably the strongest point of the manga. It's technically perfect, but lacks that special something for me to give it a 9.

P.S. My criticism also applies to @residentgrigo who also came bitching about historical accuracy without even doing a basic research on the topic. Literally just look up the Five Points on Wikipedia ffs

... Last updated on January 18th, 2024, 1:38pm

Once their journey really began after things were settled in the town, I think that's when this manga really took off. Before that the art was awesome but the story was kinda boring. Now there are possibilities, but the storytelling is still not improving as much as I had hoped. And the actual events are kinda boring. I have a feeling they'd be chasing the father for a long time, with whole arcs dedicated to them dealing with his minions, one by one. Sounds boring, no?

Kakizaki can certainly draw but his writing skills area joke. Even his biggest work Rainbow, which wasn´t authored by him, fell into total mediocrity after the first 1/4 due to there reliance on moralistic over the top drama.
Green Blood though managed to bore me from the get go and ultimately feels like a 80s SJ action series with a bit of blood and titZ mixed in. The unengaging cliche characters include a protagonist who wields a Gunblade in a historical setting (i was a soldier and guns and blades don´t mix), a whore with a heart of gold as his girlfriend (no more of these please!) and the Dudley do-right younger brother who represents the innocent side of our oh so conflicted main character. Why would i want to read about those people after binging all of HBO´s Deadwood last month? None of them behave "American" and the protagonist is the worst in that regard. Very little realism is to be had as a gangster murders a naked prostitute on the open street with zero repercussion form the police. Another instance of utter idiocy is a scene in which Brad shoot his girlfriend just to proof her "innocent heart". He actual hits her body and i had to drop the series after that stunt. The series further got a premature cancellation so i certainly have a point as Deadwood or Unforgiven this was not. Even the disappointing Gangs of New York is better.
Proper researched historical manga are the reviewed Billy Bat (10/10), Cestus (9/10) or Vinland Saga (10/10) and even the supernatural Steel Ball Run (8,5/10) turned out to be a more believable Western than Green Blood so go for those or read a historical Bande dessinée by Alejandro Jodorowsky´s instead.

... Last updated on December 20th, 2015, 6:02am

god I hate having to do this but I have to strongly disagree with GoldenKaos over the vinland saga comparison, I know exactly what you mean when you talk about the japanese personality all over the western setting and I agree a lot of manga have this, and I feel the same but vinland saga is so not one of them. it reminds me of historie and cesare, I felt it was dramatized but I didn't feel the mangaka stamped it with japanese traits, it was not uncomfortable and I did get into the story naturally without the jarring reminders you talked about so he clearly did a lot of research, so I assume you were looking with biased mindset and found what you were looking for.
As for green blood I agree with you but there are times when things are so ridiculous that I stop and times when I overlook it and soldier on, but I haven't made up my mind about this yet.

So far this manga is good. Every time a new chapter is out I race to read it as fast as possible. I just can't wait to find out what happens next. It's violent, gritty, endearing, intriguing, and suspenseful. No, it's not historically accurate, but that's okay. Anytime you read a story by an author who isn't from the area/time period the story takes place in it's just best to read it with the mind frame that the place is fictional and just enjoy the ride. Of course a manga written for Japanese and Asian audiences isn't going to be full of American truths and ideals; odds are it wouldn't be as well received. Quit quit nitpicking and griping. Read it for the story it is and ignore the fact that it is supposed to take place in America if historical inaccuracy bothers you.

overall its still a good story but every single thing gripe said is the same problem I have with this manga just plain unrealistic aside from the forcing immigrants into prostitution a gang dispute in the 5 points and the police corruption

And the gunblade. And the gang tatoos.
First point is that they insert Japanese people, with their Japanese outlooks and views and mannerisms and so on, into a Western skin. For the home audience, it works because they can't really see anything wrong or really see the difference. For the Western audience, it's a little cringeworthy to see someone say something that a Japanese person would say, but a Western person from that period would never, ever say. I first came across this in Vinland Saga where it isn't so obvious, but it's worse in this one.
Second, the revolver gunblade. Please don't bring Final Fantasy weapons into a 'historical' setting.
Third, gang members would never have such a blatant sign of their gang affiliation *tatooed* onto them.
This essentially some kind of ronin 'I have to do unpleasant things to fulfil my loved one's dream' but in a badly-done historical setting. I'll keep an eye out, but so far, meh.

P.S. I wish I could overlook the glaring historical inaccuracies. I really wish I could. But when your first four non-colour pages is basically a historical documentary setting up the stage, it breeds some expectations of adhering to that history further down the line. Not to mention that you could just have easily have created a fictional immigrant port-town to be in America or even created a different world altogether with perfectly similar New World/immigrants with big dreams themes running through it. But it's based in Five Points, Manhattan, New York, as real a place as you can get, and they bring out revolver gunblades? Really? It plain doesn't work.
Add that to the fact that the Irish Catholic immigrant (little brother) is speaking like a dutiful/polite Japanese man and not at all like any European ever, (that goes for every character to some degree, but he's a stand-out) and I can't take this manga seriously at all, which is bad since it tries very hard to be serious.

P.P.S. Response to zin-chan: It's *very* sparse in Vinland Saga, almost non-existent, like a line here or there that is obviously Japanese mentality and not Western. It's not very noticable at all and I'd say 98% of it is actually fine, it's just the only thing I could think of as a comparison at the time.

... Last updated on March 14th, 2013, 7:21am

I wonder why this wasn't picked up by a scanlation group yet. The art is absolutely gorgeous, the dark atmosphere is accurately set, the protagonist is charismatic, the rough-shape of plot is very promising.
So, I'm hoping I'll be able to read more in the future!