It's fairly common for the Shinsengumi to be "prettied up" in manga, but this manga seems to have gone to the extreme. Burai is filled more with large panels of flowing hair and deep, penetrating stares than with actual plot. At times I felt I was reading about foppy, flashy thief Eroica than the Shinsengumi (yes, some characters' hairstyles looked just that big and poofy). The author also tries to put a supernatural spin on the Shinsengumi fights, but ends up neither fully developing swordsmanship and political history nor the supernatural elements. Most of the chapters have such slow build up, then conclude in about 2 pages of "Saitou draws his sword, facing the enemy, enemyisdefeatedandtherewehavetheendisn'thesopretty". Reading this, I felt like I was watching Johnnys playact Shinsengumi rather than an actual story.

That being said, it's not a bad manga. It's mediocre and boring, but not pull your teeth out kind of bad.

Fans of other historical action manga should avoid this one. Fans of romance and pretty boys might (and I emphasize might) like it. Might.

... Last updated on April 23rd, 2009, 11:44am

Only one chapter out so far so not sure how the story will evolve but so far it's been pretty cool... Lots of bishies in it