This is without a doubt a masterpiece because this manga have everything. It is a perfect and very original drama art is great and this manga is also very informative about climbing . I really was stunned by how interesting manga about mountain climbers can be . I think the reason why it is so good because the story is very deep its not just about climbing its also about how some people are just not meant to live in modern society how they cant find happiness in daily life no meter what they do . I like everything about this manga and i have never seen a protagonist of a manga like him before he is very unique . Oh and i gave 9.5 just because i never give 10 before manga is finished . Oh and yes i agree with yuno19 the begining was lil slow and not all that special but later on it just keeps on getting better

... Last updated on July 27th, 2010, 2:21am

This manga is really on his own world, I think.
The art, no doubt really a great one.
The story, it's not so focused yet so blur, and it is really walk on his own path. When I think the story go to make the main character keep walking straight the light and struggling all of the obstacles. But he instead went back to darkness. And the darkness that needed by the light, maybe. The biggest minus point I think is, it is kind of hard to differ which one is hallucination and which one is the realita. So I am a kind of missing some story of what is going on.

But the art is really good

This manga is truly a masterpiece due to the detail artwork plus a rather unique and quite strange protagonist. The protagonist, unlike other shounen or seinen manga's protagonists, has no purpose or aim in life. He just wants to be alone without any one to bother him. He is what we called "social outcast" yet because of that, this manga is quite different than other regular manga out there.

in term of art, yeah, no doubt this work is a masterpiece, it puts my feeling on fire, its great art manages to convey all the feeling of the hero deep down to the reader's mind
the story begins quite typical like every other sport manga, as someone below comments that it's not special. But at least keep reading about 30 chapter when the hero makes a great turn in his life, you won't be able to drop it down anymore
And the breathtaking art scenes begins popping out more from chapter 33

... Last updated on September 5th, 2010, 6:35am

i gotta agree with haruhi_han. the beginning is kinda shounenish, but around ch 30 there's a time skip and i gets far more intense. it reminds me a lot of shamo with all those broken side characters and the main character having some serious issues. quite dark but keeps you turning the pages

... Last updated on November 9th, 2010, 11:05am

Unlike most of the tripe that comes out these days, it's at least really trying to say something. But I didn't feel it.

or don't, it takes chapters before he starts to improve, which is a while.

that said, while i did dislike the protagonist for much of the work, i could not stop reading this incredibly compelling work. my other critique is that at times i found the author's view on humanity to be a bit too cynical. however, despite these two flaws, this is a masterful work with stunning art and an ultimately satisfying character arc.

At 10 volumes the art is still the best thing about this series. However, as the main focus switches from how messed up Mori is to how cool mountain climbing is, the story is getting better. And allowing Mori to grow up is a great idea. There are way too many mangas about teeanged alienation and angst. Moving my rating up to a full 10, because this is finally making me wonder what it would be like to climb a mountain.

... Last updated on January 13th, 2011, 12:20am

This is a solid manga. My main criticisms are:
1) main character was hard to relate to, so you don't feel like you have a connection to him. However, I think that was the goal.
2) Weird abstractions. There was a lot of symbolism in some parts of the manga, but at times, I found it confusing. Like the main character was like.. a miniature-sized godzilla, and I couldn't understand why.

It really makes you appreciate mountaineering though. Very interesting manga. Especially since I had a friend who recently went to Patagonia for a mountaineering trip. =)

All sports are self-oriented, dumbass. Thus, they are not useful except to oneself. It's a mere self-accomplishment. Someone who finds it useful by seeing other doing it is just self-explanatory. Anyway, the artist had lived some stupid life there and expressed it in the story. Perhaps, he's trying to teach something implicitly.

update: style has changed in recent chapters; at first, it was great, but now all that symbols are keep popping up here and there. Pace has slowed down to the extreme. I had to deduct 1 point from my previous rating.

update2: seems like the trail of symbolism has ended. The author has abandoned manga-like fictional flavor to complete realistic-looking story. I don't know how many phases this manga is undergoing, but now the story seems to be, surprisingly, already almost at the end phase.

... Last updated on April 3rd, 2011, 10:01pm