Review : Monster Hunter Orage.

Shiki is a newly trained monster hunter, out to prove himself. But he's a bit over energetic and people tend to avoid him, making it rather hard to join a group.

Lucky for Shiki he bumps into a snotty girl named Irie at the local monster hunters guild. Overhearing that she's not in a group, he just doesn't want to take no for an answer and follows her out on a mission, which she isn't too happy about.

Unfortunately though, the monster they're hunting turns out to be something a little bigger than they had planned, but when they're in danger, Shiki really comes through for Ire, not only carrying her out of harms way when she hurts her ankle, but also proving that he has some serious strength and skills. Skills which seem vaguely familiar to Ire for some reason.

Based on the popular video game series of Monster Hunter and made by Hiro Mashima, a well known mangaka. Monster Hunter Orage has some serious weight behind it. It's done in Mashima's usual style, which is much akin to Oda's One Piece. Shiki seems a little bit on the generic shonen hero side, nearly a clone of Luffy (One Piece's main character). Gore isn't really apparent and there doesn't seem to be any moments where their weapons visibly slice through any of the monster's they're killing, which is a disappointment as in the Monster Hunter games the blood just comes fountaining out. But obviously that wouldn't work with the shonen reader demographic though.

For a title based on a game, it's actually pretty good. It's a pity the author is busy working on other manga and only brings out chapters when he can. If your a fan of monster hunter you'll love this, if your not, then you'll still enjoy it none the less.