What is going on? Nobody knows but it's awesome

At the risk of sounding pretentious I'll try to break down what I loved about the series. Note: Heavy spoilers ahead.

I get the impression that people go into this expecting it to be the next "great" battle manga when they really should look at it for what it is: a black comedy. Fire Punch (FP) consistently undermines its central conceit but its never above itself to relish in it. You've got a post-apocalyptic dystopian world where superpowers exist and there is a clear divide between human's and non-human's among people. You've got your main character (named Agni) who's main power is almost instantaneous regeneration who is subsequently condemned to burn with a never-ending flame by a guy that slaughters his village and sister. You've got the main ingredients to make a killer revenge story and yet FP never truly follows up on that premise instead opting a more comical route to explore a rather more interesting idea: how we view others, how others view ourselves, and how we view ourselves. (Or how we use narratives to view ourselves and others.)

The major complaint I read is that there's no real "plot" but the lack of it doesn't mean there's a lack of a story. It's true that a lot of the development never leads to any narrative goal(s) but FP early on excludes this from ever being otherwise and to assume that it does is setting yourself up for disappointment. I mean get this: With a single character re-introduction, the premise is thrown out. What then?

Now here is where FP really gets going. It starts referencing films and dramatic theory as a way of understanding the protagonist. It starts introducing irrelevant side characters for the sole purpose of taking the main "baddie's" position as the target of revenge. And then it fails. It falls flat on its face because

People latch onto the protagonist because he's so absurd and because he's so absurd people create narratives about him to try to understand him. Narratives like him being a god, a film lead, an avenger, a lover, a brother, etc. Yet the protagonist consistently undermines all of them. He's not an avenger. He's not a savior, a god, a messiah, he is not an actor, he is an actor, he is not a brother but he kind of is. At points you feel as confused as Agni because he himself has no clue who he truly is; you think he's mad and so does he. He's forced to play so many roles that they all seem real and true but therein lies FP's main idea. All those roles are him. If people are defined by their actions then Agni is all of the things he did. He is a murder, an avenger, a god, a savior. As Judah says, "Anyone can be anything for anyone" and nowhere is this more true in Agni, Doma's and Judah's case.

As a side note there's a great visual cue that lends to this idea of building narratives to understand others and yourself. In the second half of the story when There's another scene where The idea that we're somehow acting out for others based on our appearances is referenced in passing yet is crucial to understand Togata's character and his infatuation with films as well as Agni's own actions and introspection.

I'm really leaving a lot out but this sums up my first reading of FP. Overall I really enjoyed the series and thought it great fun. Don't go into it expecting it to be "epic" fights instead of a black comedy and you'll find yourself enjoying it.

... Last updated on June 30th, 2018, 5:34pm

In the first 30 or so chapters, the story jumped through lots of genres; it felt like an original, albeit erratic, take on subverting tropes. But eventually, it felt like the story was erratic just because, and by the end of it I didn't care anymore, at all. It felt like nothing mattered throughout, that each new plot development was discarded within the next ten chapters, that it was all pointless.

Ultimately, I may have misunderstood what the story was about (if it was about anything in the first place), but in any case, in retrospect I stopped enjoying it even before the halfway point.

... Last updated on January 8th, 2018, 8:33am

Reading a lot of the other reviews, I get the impression that people come to this manga with the wrong expectations. Yes, there's a lot of violence, but at its heart, it's not an action series. If you expect fights with feel-good payoff, you're going to be disappointed.

Rather, it's a very character-focused story. I would look at this series as an exploration of one core question: "When there's no hope left, what do you live for?" The protagonist's quest for revenge is one answer. Other characters each find their own as well (including, yes, finding hope). It's then the clash of different aspirations, and the protagonist's search for purpose that makes the story interesting (as incredibly cliché as that analysis sounds).

This is a 9 instead of a 10 for me because the plot does drag a bit at some points, and the (very weird) explanation for some of the big mysteries was not well foreshadowed. The reason these issues don't have a bigger impact on the score for me, on the other hand, is that they are not the focus of the work.

(Finished reading chapter 68.)

... Last updated on September 15th, 2017, 8:18pm

First off, I have a lot of issues in describing and expressing my thoughts about this series. It might feel like there really isn't a plot to this at first, but I would say...it's actually progressive (slowly). I mean there were some moments where I felt like dropping this but in the end I just couldn't but now, I don't have to, because it's pretty decent.

It just loops quite a bit with our MC, Agni/Fire Punch who's always struggling with his identity though. But the actions and the dark ambience is pretty sweet. Now, I kind of look forward to MC's and his thoughts of what actions to take because it's always conflicting and sometimes, it can even flip everything over. Also, all his actions basically also bring up some consequences regardless of what he chose to do so it's fascinating because I feel like this is where the story kicks in.

His relationships with his sister from the introduction is basically his core foundation for the entire series so far even up to where the current chapter is (ch.67) and not something to be underestimated (I guess). I'm still actually looking forward to this series despite the slow progress and I was surprised to hear Viz picking this up but then again after the latest chapters, I feel like it's actually reasonable.

Now tldr: this series is a hit or miss, even if it's a hit, it won't exactly be like an instant, but it'll slowly reel you in. One thing though, you REALLY need a good patience for this series either way. Or you can feel like this is just a cheap mess of action and dark ambience instead.

... Last updated on September 7th, 2017, 9:54am

Reading up to ch46, the series is definitely non-typical. As others say, the setting impactfully smacks you right into the dystopian world. There are a lot of thought-provoking ethical elements; definitely makes you wonder what you'd do in the MC's shoes.

It's actually quite refreshing, with a meandering plot that is quite unpredictable with interesting developments coming out of nowhere. It's definitely a nice change from your usual shounen straight-laced good-guy vs bad-guy plot. Simply put, the main character himself is still trying to figure out what's going on. It was nice when he finally decided to take action and kick ass; even more so I greatly appreciated how the author tackled the fact that MC killed tons of innocents in the process. Or how there is no actual 'bad guy' because everyone has reasons for doing what they do.

After some plot wandering, the story and its characters are starting to take shape. Keen to see how they fare!

After 44 chapters read, I had to drop this dumb series. It is seriously a waste of time. The characters are dumb and the plot is dumb. Every character's motivations in this post-apocalyptic world seem to revolve around 'movies' or 'Star Wars'. What?? Is the mangaka a cinephile or something?. In a recent chapter there is an entire page of two characters calling each other 'dumbass' over 50 times. Characters call each other 'penises' as an insult. It's just stupid. I can never tell apart two of the female characters frame to frame. They both have shoulder-length black hair and both look nearly the exact same. That's just poor character design. The only thing this series has going for it is decent action sequences, but it doesn't make up for the stupidity sprinkled throughout and there are other series that do violence and action sequences better.

Luckily I read most of it on a plane flight so it helped quell my boredom at that time. I would never read it if I had anything better to do.

... Last updated on March 18th, 2017, 2:58pm

I literally have no idea what was going on the entire time. But I was captivated...by the erraticism of the story, the capriciousness of the characters and the emotions...so I kept on reading with a huge scowl.
The story is dark. Very much. Depressing...controversial themes...wonderful art.
If you plan on reading it, do so but don't think. Just flip through the pages with a shut-off brain.

This is basically a mix of any kind of violence the author could think of and nothing much apart from that. I'll admit that the plot seemed really nice at first, and the idea of a cold snowy world, with some mysteries like the witch behind it, is interesting, but the mangaka seems incapable of making it good.

The pacing is really bad and the art style, although good looking, lacks substance. Characters barely have any if no expressions at all and the drawings don't leave any impact either. The first chapter, which is probably supposed to shock the reader, left me with no intention whatsoever to continue reading this, and I only did so I would be able to get a proper opinion. The following chapters are, however, just as bad, with people showing out of nowhere and doing things which don't make much sense. The reader is just lost among story elements he was never even introduced to and could probably care less about.

I can understand why people would compare this to Shingeki no Kyojin since the protagonist is a monster and becomes a captive of people he would rather not hang with, but this is just a bland story following the adventures of people you aren't even introduced to, with goals you don't care about and no emotions. Read Freesia instead if you wish to see apathetic humans and what a manga with such characters should look like, for Fire Punch's world's lack of humanity doesn't excuse how savorless and vapid this manga is.

... Last updated on August 30th, 2016, 10:25pm