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

I really dont like to tell people that their perspective is wrong, but in this case is hard not to, I've seen on different sites people saying that Fire Punch is just edgy nonsense filled with violence. Yet in multiple occasions, big fights are completely skipped over something that would never happen if this was simply action porn, if you really pay attention most of if not all of the fights that we get to see are from other peoples perspectives, because the fights are so amazing and out of this world that of course everyone would think that Agni is God after witnessing them, and that's the point, to push peoples perspectives on Agni.

Fire punch is a character exploration of someone completely vulnerable, that never gets to decide what to do with his own life, someone who tries to live up to everyone's expectations while never expecting anything of himself and I think thats rather beautiful, your feelings towards this manga may vary depending on your taste in protagonist, if you really really dont like reactive protagonists then this manga may not be for you.

Is not a 10/10 because I think that Fujimoto is still yet to reach his maximum potential, but whenever that happens I will be here for it.

As my fellow commenter bellow said this series first chapter will come at you full throttle at you and you won't expect it so...

DON'T SAY ANYTHING WHEN RECOMMENDING THIS SERIES AND IF YOU'RE PLANNING TO READ IT DON'T CONTINUE READING DESCRIPTIONS!

If not, then the impact of the prologue won't be the same. I feel like this series needs to be taken as is and let it brew inside our minds. If, by any chance, this series goes downhill I feel like it would be a waste for my fellow manga readers to not feel what this series managed to deliver just on the prologue alone.

The manga is set in a post apocalyptic world where the world has been turned into an ice age. In this world there are people who have quir- Special powers and are called Blessed. One blessed created the ice age that they all live in. The male lead alongside his little sister is also blessed. They can regenerate any part of there body. So when the brother and sister where dying to the intense cold, a small village found them and decided to use whatever precious resource they have to save the kids. Agni (male lead) and Luna (little sister) decide to repay the village as well as live there by cutting off parts of there own body and using that to feed the villages. When a government guy shows up and realizes this is a cannibal village he decides to burn it using his quirk. However it will keep burning until the fuel it uses is completely burned up. So Agni crawls to his sister whilst regenerating and burning up only to find her taking her last breath. Unlike Agni his little sister powers are much weaker and cannot keep up with the eternal fire that has engulfed her. Unable to handle the Pain Agni finds solace in dying with her sister. However her sister tells him to live with her final breath. Slowly but surely Agni gets up. With 1 thought in his mind. To seek vengeance.

The manga was a lot more gruesome than I expected. Not just in grotesque detail but rather the entire depressing journey of Agni. This guy goes through too much shit... Like it was genuinely exhausting to read about this guy. His entire journey is just pain and more pain. If its not physical, its psychological. It's always one or the other and most of the times its both. It's like the author read Berserk and thought that Miura didn't try hard enough to break Guts' spirit. The amount of torture Agni goes throughout the series actually hurts me.

The constant back and forth of his mental health is exciting and fun to see. His growth of his character is incredible. Him understanding his role in life, giving up, getting back up again. His inconsistencies and pure indestructible will gives me shivers every time.

I think the side characters were alright. Like they existed to push up the main character. None of them really stole the show (besides maybe one....) but regardless they were in the background most of the time. Even when they had more of a presence I wasn't really into them all that much. Agni being a monster on fire really just kinda stole the show.

The action and hype and this series is great. The author makes sure you never forget this is a man constantly on fire. His entrances are always legendary. Where it just takes your breath away. The action in itself was great most of the time. The art is a bit rough around the edges and it especially shows during the fight scenes making it kinda hard to understand whats going on. But overall I think it does a solid job. There is another issue in which we don't see the fight at all. Because the author decides to do it off screen. This is quite disappointing as it happens twice. It definitely looked like big shit went down so why didn't we get to see any of it.

The ending to Fire punch was also quite alright. I won't say it was foreshadowed or it makes perfect sense. But there is solace in it and I was happy with it. After everything that went down this may not be the perfect ending but it was a satisfying one.

The strongest part about this series is probably the Heart. The fact that Agni desperately tries to clutch to his humanity. The fist bump, The heart of this series is extraordinary. I almost got quite emotional.

TLDR: Arguably one of the best series I've read this year. 8/10

... Last updated on October 16th, 2021, 5:16am

I enjoyed the story, but I thought it was very odd and felt kind of rushed in general. Especially the middle part of the story and the very very end. It's especially hard to understand as the main character is perpetually 15 years old in terms of mental and emotional development. However, it's short enough to read and it kind of feels exactly like chainsaw man. It's not the best, but there's a lot worse out there

Fire Punch is a hard work to grasp as first or by considering everything directly as it is given.
However, this manga comes into its own for the reader when they focus on how the writer explores the interaction between the role people adopt in outer society and their inner identity.
In this way the writer shows that they put a great amount of thought into the work and how these systems of identity work with and against each other.

Beyond this, there is some really good artwork showcased here and the individual characters can be very fun.
There are some stumbling blocks in this, with for example certain characters getting killed off well before the readers can grow to care about them, despite their impact on the protagonist.
But in the whole its a great read that hits the reader hard and quickly with some genuinely breathtaking moments.

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 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!

I saw this and noticed it had the same humor and art style as "Chainsaw man" so i searched it up and surprisingly it was from the same mangaka. So i decided to Continue it.

As for now, this is different from what i usually read and i really need these kinds of mind boggling manga that is Good and satisfying to read but at the same time trashy.

I recommend giving it a try because it can make you chuckle and brain fuck you at the same time.

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