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

When I first read SDK, I thought 'Eeh? Am I reading RRK?'. But how wrong I was. Very wrong indeed. The main character, Kyo, kills.. oh he kills.. slash them, slice them, dice them, even punch them.

Im glad I read SDK and not watch it. The story of the anime is.. not so good unlike the manga.

*Too bad it's licensed. Less releases. T___T

It pretty good... at the beginning. But now it's just all Kyo (who i don't like) and almost nothing on the should be main character Kyoshiro (who i do like) SO i don't know what's up with that and I don't know if i'll finish this series. Mister Kyo is supposed to be the super "i'm gonna kick ur @$$" bad guy but it seems like he is a weakling I want Kyoshiro!
P.S: the art is good...

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

yup..kinda like kenshin..
its pretty good..but it would be great if they have fast releases....

Certainly not the best, but VERY GOOD. Does not deserve a 1!!! -_- Has similarities to Kenshin, but SDK is it's own flavor and the fact that it's so long running is proof of that.

sdk is rock, good story , great drawing, awesome fighting, perfect character

the scans are so offputting i genuinely cannot look past how bad they are and continue to read for another 300 chapters, especially when they only get worse. such a shame because the story did somewhat intrigue me.

Yeah it's kind of got the feeling of a generic shounen, but this manga was great. It starts out really slow and boring, but gets much much better. You could also say there's "too many characters" but unlike a lot of shounen, I felt like I could connect with each one. The story got really convoluted and all over the place towards the end but it fit together. Yeah, way too many asspulls, and most of the free scanalations were awful!! But honestly the character growth and story was amazing. I really think people don't give this one much of a chance. I didn't expect it to be good, but I couldn't help but binge read to finish and see all the mysteries unraveled.
Ending was good but
Good things about this manga
-Kyo/Kyoshiro duality
-demon eye Kyo!!!
-most of the characters
-the lore
-character growth and development
-nice artwork
-happy ending
-emotional as hell
-good mysteries
-back stories weren't too bad
-very valuable lessons to learn

Bad things
-some of the scans towards the end are awful and ruin the experience
-asspull after asspull
-constant "wAnNa Be StRoNgEr"
-slow begining
-a lot of fights dragged the hell out
-can be confusing at times
-everyone knows each other it's weird
-some unresolved backstories and other issues for some characters
Anyways end of my probably incoherent ranting, give SDK a chance.

... Last updated on July 26th, 2019, 1:49am

It was one of my fav shounens back in middle schools - possibly when I just started reading into shounen genre. So at the time it was so cool and new and good. But it didn't get a proper publication (not yet finished then). I let it die/cool down. Then finally, a few years ago, I saw completed scanlation. I looked into it for real this time. Holy SHI-ET.

1. The art is still really good. Compare to the blue flame thingy the mangaka did later. This one's art is pretty intact from start to finish, of good quality. All characters are well designed and sleek. And that is the ONLY positive thing I have.

2. The plot, development and characters are shit. They have no progress whatsoever! What bugs me the most: the battles. Like if it is a good characters (deemed by the mangaka), that person will WIN NO MATTER WHAT. There's no beat-down. There's no fail to gain and learn from lesson. Only MIRACULOUSLY gaining some Super Saiyan continuous level-up power (like untapped after untapped potentials - like unlimited cash cows) to turn the table, especially the protagonist Kyo, as they are about to be defeated by some extremely strong guys out of nowhere with just brief explanations/introductions (like the brief underwear, that's how slight and shallow their characterisations are). COME. ON.

I just can't with this manga. I used to be madly in love with Kyo. Now I drop him like he's hot: hot mess, a shitty mess no less.

... Last updated on February 20th, 2019, 9:16am