Gamaran

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"It is said that the way of the warrior is the dual path of the pen and the sword, and that he must take both paths."

Nowadays, we can easily say that manga of the "tournament" type are widely in fashion with works like Kengan Ashura or Record of Ragnarok as spearhead. However, these mangas already existed long before and we can say that Gamaran is one of these works. It's a pity that we tend to forget it, because it's a manga with a lot of quality.

Gamaran is a really enjoyable manga to read with a pretty gripping story from start to finish. As in ... most tournament manga, the stakes are defined from the beginning and it's up to the reader to have the feeling to get hooked directly. With Gamaran, we go from surprise to surprise, so it's easy to get caught up in the game. I really enjoyed watching them evolve and progress through the battles in this very aggressive period setting.

It's a good story of samurai and martial arts, which can be interesting to read to complete one's knowledge or to open to this style. There are many different things to explore and check out.

Nevertheless ... it is not a faultless book. There are still a few glaring black spots in the reading. The story is a bit too linear and the narrative pattern repeats itself quite often when the author finds himself in a dead end. This generally works well, but it can be seen as a weakness and one can quickly find it boring. Also events move too fast because of the linear story pace, which makes things unsurprising. I would have liked to see the characters struggle a bit more during the fights, the development was sometimes too fast.
Finally a minor but certainly notable weakness: too many anecdotal characters, especially on the antagonist side. This is unfortunately a flaw in tournament manga, but in Gamaran it is too noticeable.
But the best ones are really up to the main characters, and that's really good.

I think that Gamaran is a catchy story, but not without flaws, in which you will spend a pleasant time reading if you manage to immerse yourself in it. We are lucky, there is a sequel to the story that develops quietly with another main character.

This manga turned out be a big disappointment even before I started to notice that.
So far the manga can be divided into 3 parts:

I. Chapters 1-43 (Four main battles): The story started off fast-paced, impressive and very promising with a cool lead character, who was reckless, decisive, and reliable in any situation. There were creative twists during the battles and many types of weapons were showcased.

II. Chapters 44-66 (Only one main battle): The pacing became slower, the chatting exhaustively longer, and the fights simpler, more predictable, effectively reduced to merely slashes and thrusts. Enemies died faster and in less splendid ways.

III. Chapters 67-last (Many ... mini-battles): By this point, the story became extremely slow. It's more talking and bragging than fighting. Characters' traits became inconsistent, and ultimately indistinguishable. Events became so absolutely mediocre that no one can expect to see anything new. In short, from this point the manga became even worse than that crappy Bleach.

I had read about 86 chapters before dropping it for no reason, but I had enjoyed it. So when I picked it back up more than a year later, I was surprised to find out I suddenly dislike it. The main cast is ready for death. It's do or die. There will be no mercy.

Around chapter 100 a guy shows up, takes pills to get stronger, and keeps yapping about being the strongest, the god of war, his strength is beyond humanity. He gets defeated on his knees. He keeps yapping, takes out another fucking pill and keeps yapping, then uses the pill. Main ... character in front of him with a sword only watches and say "I will deny your strength" (which he has been saying for the past chapters of this dragged out fight)

I give the fuck up.



It is as another review says - Chapters 67-last : "It's more talking and bragging than fighting"

Barely any plot, meh characters, meh interactions. Just hype and aura (from his mentor). But I don't feel it from the main character anymore this late in game. This is all cringe.