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.
