Warning! This volume contains mild nudity and explicit language!
It contains ~115 or so pages of actual content. The remaining ~50 pages was a story that happens in the same universe but outside the main story; a side story if you will. There's not much material to work on but I'll make it... somehow.
Battle Vixens Volume 1: (by Yuji Shiozaki) The story is about Hakufu Sonsaku, a girl who loves to fight but is denied to do so by her mother. She is destined to be a powerful fighter like her mother once was. One day, a mysterious guy lead Hakufu in a place where they can fight. Hakufu defeats this mysterious guy and her mother gives her her Magetama gem. Hakufu's mother instructed her to go to Tokyo and fight her way as an honorable Toushi.
Does that even makes sense? Basically, her fight with that guy started her journey in becoming the Ikkitousen. I'm confused too. Seriously.
Art: This is for the char. design: head, pass; torso, fail; legs, pass; arms, pass. The overall design? Hmmm, a very battle manga feel with a cartoon-y delivery. You can take this title seriously for it's history and fight scenes but as far as the bulk of the volume, I think you'll find it average at best. I'm not saying it's ugly, what I'm saying is that it could be better if not for the target audience (high school students who want to see the female anatomy in a somewhat realistic form but with cartoon-y busts.
Pointy. That hair is pointy.
Panel Pacing: The pacing skips time awfully. For a battle manga to be successful, it needs a lot of panels that illustrates movement. This fails to express movement and we're just supposed to see a cause and effect, nothing in the middle. If it took the battle manga genre seriously, it would've been a faster read. Sadly, it didn't. I like to see a kick that flows like this: initial action, movement, contact, impact. I'll give it a good anyway.
Was that too fast for you? Yup, instant movement.
There is a lot of potential for this series that is wasted on fan service. Lightening up the mood is not about fan service and perverted comments. Go pull some jokes on the dialogue, sure. Just don't go and be all perverted on me to make me feel that this is a shounen manga. Like I said, it could express intense movements, intense action if not for the fan service. Really? A kick from a girl and you still highlight her panties? Grow up.
Of course you're gonna stare. It's part of the PLOT.
Story: The story is not so original as there are a lot of martial arts stories that revolve around ki, gems, balls, crystals and what not as a plot device or as a means to get stronger. This is the usual battle manga and the only difference it makes is the frequency of fan-service. It's a little confusing to follow because they throw out words that a reader might not understand. The first half of the volume was messy and they didn't even include a footnote of what the hell those new words mean. I don't know anything about the Chinese-Japanese history (some of the history of Japan is linked to the Chinese history like myths, legends and other historical literature) so I'm lost most of the time. The target audience seem to be those who are interested in history or someone who is studying history (high school students). The flow of the story is decent but I feel like they just dropped you in the middle of something and you're supposed to find your way out. I'm sure this will get better but I'm hoping that my purchase wasn't for nothing.
I blurred the unnecessary parts just to emphasize the scene.
Characters: Well, as the story is not original, the characters are the same. We have a busty girls who attract all the pervs in their way and pervs that are really into it (they play the role of a rapist really well.) There isn't much development either as this is a battle manga. With this short of a volume 1, I doubt that reader's would expect some growth out of a character.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot... the characters here are actually perverts without a doubt. You're supposed to take them as people who know a lot about sex education and are vulgar about their genitals. Sorry.
Bottomline: Give it a try. You might like it, you might not. It doesn't make sense at all BUT I am looking forward for volume 2 because I have hopes that it will get better. It's not as addicting as, like for say... Dogs! but it's definitely an odd one that catches my eye. Anyway, I hope you liked this review and I hope to see you on the next volume if you ever decide on picking this up! Arigato!
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