thor123

Bokko is a manga about war, and strategies in war.

Story 6.5/10: Bokko tells the story of Kakuri, a man of the Bokk-clan. This is a clan of people who despise war, and they have been trained as both martial artists and strategists in war. When a city is in danger, they request the help of the people of Bokk to protect their city. This is also where the manga starts: Kakuri goes to the city of Ryo to help protect it.

What follows is about 4 volumes in which we are introduced to the principles of the Bokk-clan, and we are shown how good Kakuri is as both a strategist/leader and a soldier. We are also shown that there is a reason as to why only Kakuri came to Ryo: one of the leaders of the Bokk-clan has been influencing the other clanmembers, and has changed them into a more warlike clan!

After the first arc, we thus get the only logical development: Kakuri will have to fight his own clan if he wants it to change back, and put the principles he was learned there back into place. 

Overall, I found the story to often be more simplistic than I expected. 

The pace is quite fast, without feeling overly rushed. The fact that there are often long sequences with barely any text in it also makes it a faster read.

 
Art 7/10: The art takes a bit of getting used to at first (and sometimes characters just look ugly), but the fights are portrayed very well imo: they aren't overly gorey, but there also isn't any censorship. It gives a "realistic" feel, and the artwork just fits the atmosphere.

Characters 5/10: Most characters aren't very well fleshed out, but the few important characters that matter are likeable and memorable. The villains, however, are mostly one-dimensional "bad guys" without anything more to it. It's a shame, but it's dragging down my overall rating :/

Overall 6.5/10: Despite a relatively simplistic story and often superficial characters, this was quite enjoyable. The execution was good, and the strategies were interesting to see.