Kill Blue Volumes 3-5 Manga Review

This trio of manga volumes rises and falls on its sportsy aesthetic. It's here where you can really, really tell Kill Blue was penned by the same mangaka who did Kuroko's Basketball (Tadatoshi Fujimaki), and he's definitely not gunshy about showing off his roots. He's got characters duking it out in giant sports arenas. Not only do they have gunfights like they're at the O.K. Corral, but they also partake in explosive golf matches that make the U.S. Open look like nothing. There's also an all-star athlete aiming to be the ultimate triple threat in soccer, baseball, and (of course) basketball. Fujimaki even throws a surfing competition into the mix, because, hey, why the Hell not? This sportsiness yields a bit of a mixed bag, although even as a non-sports fan, I have to admit it mostly works here.

The stadium fight features some of the best action in this portion of Kill Blue. Ogami squaring off against another hitman leads to a shootout between the two of them. Guns ablazing might make some of the panels look a bit too busy and a bit much at times, although there is no denying their ability to keep things tense and badass. The triple-threat athlete Tenma has to dodge another assassin's explosive golf balls, all while using some devastating soccer moves to counter everything. It's absurd, sure, but it succeeds in delivering the hyperbolic intensity that sports and shonen have to offer, with each attack and strike fluidly connecting from panel to panel. It's a shame this golf-and-soccer fight is given less focus than the gun fight, because it's way more fun.

The surfing competition, though? It has its thrills, although it doesn't quite hit the same highs as the stadium fight does. It's more on the emotional end of things, too, with a quasi-love triangle (polygon?) forming between Ogami, his classmates Noren and Shin, and the newly introduced, Jekyll-and-HYDE character of Otohime. It's a breezy read packed with the usual sportsy melodrama of characters preparing for flawless victory or utter defeat. It's the arc's biggest strength, as well as its fatal flaw. It feels like Fujimaki gets so lost in the thickets over his love of sports that he forgets what this manga really should be. Instead of being “what if Conan was a hitman” (which admittedly wasn't that novel of a concept to begin with), the surfing competition transforms things into yet another sports story.

When he's not fighting or at the beach, Ogami revels in the fact that he can enjoy a normal student life. As such, the manga spends a lot of time focusing on some home ec activities at Ogami's new school. A ramen cookoff occurs (Fujimaki can't get enough of these competitions, can he?), and it's some nice slice of life that succeeded in making me so hungry that I spent the next ten minutes watching food porn on YouTube. Really. Some of the chapters have segments that have a weird feel to them, though. A mini-arc where Noren is hypnotized into being madly in love with Osagi rears its head for a few chapters before disappearing without a trace. It's something that could have been thrown out altogether without making a difference in the plot. Mildly unrelated, but speaking of things that could have been removed without making a difference, Ogami reverts to being an adult for a few moments before turning back into a middle-schooler. It's interesting to see, but the way it's executed makes me feel like its main purpose was just to provide a cliffhanger at the end of one of the manga's chapters.

The humor is very hit or miss. Many of the jokes are devoted to how Ogami still thinks and talks like a middle-aged man despite his youthful appearance. They prove to be redundant and a huge groaner. But when the humor works, it works. One gag rips apart the classic animanga trope of suddenly having a new transfer student coming in today. “Today?” someone asks. “Isn't that, like, everyday?” Another joke has Shin demand that someone read him a picture book upon winning the ramen cook-off. Because, get it, Shin has a pacifier in his mouth, so he's obviously a baby who needs a bedtime story! It's dumb, but I'll admit, I giggled. It's one of those things that are so stupid and obvious that they somehow circle and become funny for whatever reason to me.

The fifth volume brings in the start of a new arc that is very straightforward and so far feels at home here. The special forces agent Shido Jumonji is introduced, and packed with an absolutist sense of morality, comes in to sleuth out Ogami. His design isn't the most original. He looks a bit like Galo from Promare with the haircut, but I still like his drip; wearing a long-sleeved jacket like a cape will not be cool to me, and I apologize for nothing.

Since the start of this arc comes off the heels of the surf competition, the manga feels a bit more at home here. It's a battle of wits and secret identities that has some Death Note vibes I can get behind, and has a cliffhanger at the end that decently concludes this trilogy of manga. So far, there's not much breathtaking or original about Kill Blue; however, as flawed as it is, it's still proven to be an enjoyable read.