By Shoko Fukaki
CMX, 162 pp.
Rating: Teen Plus (16+)

We all have good days and bad days. Take my friend, Emily, for example. Her new car just lost its very expensive muffler yesterday, leaving me to help her out and pick her up. Jinnosuke Tajima, however, he has guaranteed good days. Once a month, Jin gains almost superhuman physical abilities and is able to leap from buildings without any harm done to his body. He can’t explain why this happens but his cautious father and worrisome sister seem to know why and plan on hiding him from his older brother, Soichiro, who is hell bent on finding Jin.

The writing for The Battle of Genryu: Origin is hit or miss. The main plot of the series is built up very well; there’s a lot of mystery and it gets one thinking about where Jin’s abilities may stem from. The dialogue in certain altercations, however, takes away from that. In one scene, Jin’s sisters, Toko and Soichiro, argue in a café about Jin’s future. There are no subtle breaks between the classically awkward lines, like “I’m not interested in a man I broke up with” and “You’re as fine as ever.” The whole thing feels very forced and I think the book could really benefit from dragging out some of these conversations. I also feel the same way about the characters; they just aren’t fleshed out enough. The side characters, Jin’s friends, are fairly one-sided, not very complex. His family and brother, though, seem to have a rich and deep history, but the writing only hints at that, never really dwelling on it.

Artistically, it’s also hit or miss. On a surface level, the art is very good, incredibly detailed and very visually appealing. Shoko Fukaki certainly knows how to draw people in a realistic fashion. The artwork carries the tone of the book well in terms of seriousness; it can be dark and edgy when it needs to be. In terms of comedy, though, the book misses badly; the art never makes the switch. It’s harder than you would think to laugh at incredible muscular people.

All in all, you could like this book or hate it. I was sort of let down by it. It gets much better toward the end, as the fighting escalates and the drama pumps up, but that was only a third of the book. That’s kind of a qualm I have with the CMX books, that the actual themselves books have significantly less content than say a VIZ or TOKYOPOP book; you don’t really get the most out of the ten dollars you shelled out.

Volume one of The Battle of Genryu: Origin is available now.