Batuque

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Reading this Manga feels very exotic, it's something unique in japanese manga. Batuque is covering multiple topics, starting from family problems to brazilian mafia issues and the main part - Capoeira, a brazilian martial art.
The art is magnificent and fighting panels never feel too chaotic.
The Mangaka, Toshio Sako, decided to dive into the world of martial arts and even started training Capoeira for this story. You can really tell that he has knowledge on the History of Capoeira and it's different uses!

All in all, please give this manga a try and form your own opinion! Imo every martial arts fan should give this a ... read!

STORY: 5

Meet Sanjou Ichiri, a young girl with a lot of questions about her past and the meaning of freedom. Her ordinary existence is suddenly gone as she encounters Capoeira at the local public park, the martial art from the far away Brazil!
Growth, self identity and realistic fights? Not really and not only!
Once you realize that the author is the man behind the hysterical (but not great) manga Usogui, you can imagine Batuque is not going to be just martial arts and you are right. Colorful (or just psychotic) extra characters, ridiculous brawls (sometimes so dumb it's funny) and wtf developments ... are here to spice things up, and Sanjou never gets bored during her rather traumatic youth. Things run over 18 volumes, which is a bit long, but most of you should be able to go through the crazy story that is offered.


ART: 6

The art has a lot of personality, especially during the bits of comedy, but fights can be confusing and faces and haircuts have a weird perspective sometimes. Nevertheless, the quirkiness of some panels makes up for the not so great anatomy in others.


POLITICAL POTENTIAL: 5

A lot of mafia and some reflection on violence not being an end-goal in itself but not much more. It is also nice to see the importance of the other characters surrounding Sanjou, the hero. Whereas a typical manga hero solves his problems alone (through violence) with some help here and there, the 'friends' (many of them who should be in prison or in an asylum) of Sanjou are an integral part of her development and progress. Of course, you could wonder if the fact that Sanjou is a woman has influenced the author when providing that much support from secondary characters..


FEMINISM: 6

Reading that after the author's previous work, the testosterone-loving manga Usogui, I was expecting the worst. But, there is some effort, and the strong female protagonists stay strong all through the manga instead of becoming damsel in distress halfway through like it happens too often, which is a nice surprise. Good job for someone who started his career drawing a one-shot for the masculinist title Baki!


CONCLUSION: 6

A bit too long, a bit all over the place, but not bad. Batuque still has some boldness and it is obviously a must if you like capoeira. It is also better on most aspects (save crazy enigma) when compared to the more famous title Usogui from the same author, so maybe give it a try?

Loved this at first but I'm totally bored of it now. I no longer know or care who is fighting who or why and it's all about fighting!

He should have stuck to the initial premise and added foes with less gay abandon. The continual bad guy one-upmanship has left me with little interest in who fights next. Even the "let's explain a different martial art" palls after a while as does the you can make Capoeira unbeatable. There's a reason why only a couple of Capoeira kicks show up in MMA.

I like the art style for it's originality but the fights are awful to follow, ... I lose track of what's happening all the time. The characters can merge as well unless they are the completely over the top ones and even then if it's just face shots..

Worth a look at but loses its way.