Batuque

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Ok, look, I'll be honest. As a brazillian myself, my judgement may be biased, but I sincerely loved the way brazillian culture is fused in the story.
And, that's my first spoiler-free review. And I'm not fluent in english, so sorry for any bad writting.

I never understood capoeira or had interest in researching the martial art, but this manga single-handed brought all my love from my country and it's dorment culture, and I'm not kidding. In the days of today, when our president is someone who doesn't care about our culture himself, it's kinda hard to look up to Brazil. But then I started reading Batuque, ... as sort of a way to use a medium that I like (manga) to find the dorment love that I have for my country. And it worked.

Ok, now with that out of the way, let's rate the four principal aspects of a manga: Story, Characters, Art and Universe.

The first thing you see in ANY manga is the art, therefore, I'll start with it.

Art: 9,5/10
Toshio Sako have a problem with drawing children, and you can see it in the first chapters of Batuque. A lot of people are drawn away because of how odd the main character (Sanjou Ichiri) looks like as a kid. And I don't blame them. I was drawn away and only came back a year later.
But, giving it time, I got used to it. And then started to love his drawings.
The semirealistic style fits like a glove with the kinda gory aspect of the current arc, and feels perfect. Every single character feels proportional and real, I simply love this. And then the other thing that I don't really like but I love at the same time: the fighting sequences. All of then are beautifully drawn, but some of them are a little confusing because of the way the author decided to draw them: sequencial drawings. And I don't maen like One Punch Man manga, where if you put some panels in powerpoint and press right it feels like an animation, I mean superpositioning drawings to give the idea of movement. It gets confusing sometimes, but it's gorgeous when it hits the perfect spot.

Then, after you have appreciated the art,you get to know the characters.

Characters: 10/10
There isn't a SINGLE character that I don't like the way the author uses it.
Ichiri feels like an organic person, with feelings that she express and says, her friends are like this too, every action feels organic, not like they needed to do this for writing sake. The various antagonists ALWAYS have interesting quirks and fighting styles. I find myself amused with how the fights go and feel. I simply adore the characters and don't hate anyone of them. Besides, of course, the main villain. This dude I simply love. His dumb eyes and ominous presence always gives me goosebumps when he is in the page.

The setting, that is, the universe, of the manga, is the thing that gets you hooked.

Universe/Setting: 10/10
It's simply Japan. There is nothing more to it. And I love it. Toshio-sensei uses this ordinary setting to create a feeling of "hey, this could be happenning right now, you know?" and it works. The illegal fighting club is the only place that doesn't feel like normal world, even the absurd fighting are explained by extensive training and specific characteristics of the martial art itself. It's beautiful what you can do with a normal world and a bit os creativity.

And the story is what gets you out of the water.

Story: 8/10
It's simple, direct and uses some of brazillian history with bits of original story as the background, applies the brazillian gangs in it too and brilliantly makes use of the capoeira songs. It's nothing out of the ordinary, like Hunter X Hunter Story, but I like it a lot.

Overall, it's a pretty good manga with some great characters in the perfect setting for them to glow. It's a shame that it doesn't get the recognition that it deserves here. I hope this story continues to grow like always.

STORY: 5

Meet Sanjou Ichiri, a young girl with a lot of questions about her past and the meaning of freedom. Her ordinary existence is suddenly gone as she encounters Capoeira at the local public park, the martial art from the far away Brazil!
Growth, self identity and realistic fights? Not really and not only!
Once you realize that the author is the man behind the hysterical (but not great) manga Usogui, you can imagine Batuque is not going to be just martial arts and you are right. Colorful (or just psychotic) extra characters, ridiculous brawls (sometimes so dumb it's funny) and wtf developments ... are here to spice things up, and Sanjou never gets bored during her rather traumatic youth. Things run over 18 volumes, which is a bit long, but most of you should be able to go through the crazy story that is offered.


ART: 6

The art has a lot of personality, especially during the bits of comedy, but fights can be confusing and faces and haircuts have a weird perspective sometimes. Nevertheless, the quirkiness of some panels makes up for the not so great anatomy in others.


POLITICAL POTENTIAL: 5

A lot of mafia and some reflection on violence not being an end-goal in itself but not much more. It is also nice to see the importance of the other characters surrounding Sanjou, the hero. Whereas a typical manga hero solves his problems alone (through violence) with some help here and there, the 'friends' (many of them who should be in prison or in an asylum) of Sanjou are an integral part of her development and progress. Of course, you could wonder if the fact that Sanjou is a woman has influenced the author when providing that much support from secondary characters..


FEMINISM: 6

Reading that after the author's previous work, the testosterone-loving manga Usogui, I was expecting the worst. But, there is some effort, and the strong female protagonists stay strong all through the manga instead of becoming damsel in distress halfway through like it happens too often, which is a nice surprise. Good job for someone who started his career drawing a one-shot for the masculinist title Baki!


CONCLUSION: 6

A bit too long, a bit all over the place, but not bad. Batuque still has some boldness and it is obviously a must if you like capoeira. It is also better on most aspects (save crazy enigma) when compared to the more famous title Usogui from the same author, so maybe give it a try?

Loved this at first but I'm totally bored of it now. I no longer know or care who is fighting who or why and it's all about fighting!

He should have stuck to the initial premise and added foes with less gay abandon. The continual bad guy one-upmanship has left me with little interest in who fights next. Even the "let's explain a different martial art" palls after a while as does the you can make Capoeira unbeatable. There's a reason why only a couple of Capoeira kicks show up in MMA.

I like the art style for it's originality but the fights are awful to follow, ... I lose track of what's happening all the time. The characters can merge as well unless they are the completely over the top ones and even then if it's just face shots..

Worth a look at but loses its way.