Review : Buso Renkin.

Homunculus walk amongst us. Vile half human, half machine beasts who feed on living humans. Luckily alchemist warriors wielding powerful weapons known as Buso Renkins, work behind the scenes, protecting the unaware populace from their threat and culling their numbers.

After selflessly protecting someone who didn't really need saving from a homunculus, Kazuki, a male high school student is granted a replacement heart in the form of a spare Buso Renkin from alchemist warrior Tokiko, a serious girl with a mysterious scar across her face. Tokiko originally tries to keep Kazuki away from the world of alchemy, but his total disregard for his own safety whilst others are in trouble slowly drags him in.

Despite the serious plot, Buso Renkin is packed full of comedic moments, some in the right places, some not so much. For instance the primary antagonist has a very fruity wardrobe, which kind of undermines the serious plot earlier on. Nobuhiro is a seasoned manga veteran known mostly for his internationally successful series Rurouni Kenshin. His art is clean, vibrant and full of action. His character designs are alright, some are great, but as mentioned before some are also a little strange or questionable.

Tokiko's Buso Renkin named the Valkyrie Skirt is on the better side. The weapon starts as large metal rings around her thighs, when deployed 4 huge blades on the end of long maneuverable poles lash out, kind of like spider legs. It looks very cool and must have been insanely hard to plan or draw. There is a lot of violence and a tiny bit of gore, it is a battle manga, but it's all against monsters that barely resemble anything human at all.

Buso Renkin is an enjoyable and unique story, Kazuki's and Tokiko's relationship is a lot more in depth than your average shonen battle manga. The art is near perfect, the comedic elements and jokes are great, even the stranger characters end up growing on you later on in the series. Not a bad manga at all.