Kurogane

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Japanese: クロガネ

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 8

Chapters: 70

Status: Finished

Published: Sep 5, 2011 to Jan 28, 2013

Genres: Action, Supernatural

Themes: Martial Arts, School

Demographic: Shounen

Serialization: Shounen Jump (Weekly)

Authors: Ikezawa, Haruto (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 7.42¹ (scored by 7,772 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #3634²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1340

Members: 15,555

Favorites: 100

Resources

Wikipedia

7.42

Ranked #3634Popularity #1340Members 15,555

MangaShounen Jump (Weekly)Ikezawa, Haruto (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /8

Chapters: /70

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Synopsis

Kurogane Hiroto is in high school, where he is academically the top of his class but literally the worst in physical activity. Born with a weak body, he has no endurance, speed nor strength and Hiroto wants nothing more than to be a hero. Fate teases him by giving him phenomenal eye sight, which allows him to see well beyond anyone else in sports, but his body is not able to react to any of it.

He learns from his friend Shiratori, who wants to recruit him for the Kendo team, about a rumor about a ghost named Tojo Sayuri, who wields a katana and haunts an ally in the city. Half curious, Hiroto goes there only to find that the ghost is real and that Tojo Sayuri has been looking for a successor to her Sakura sword style for 150 years. Sayuri chooses him as the successor after being able to dodge her attack and forces him to learn the Sakura style. Even with the help of the ancient swordsman ghost, Hiroto has to overcome his poor motor skills in order to be the hero he always wanted to be.

(Source: MU)

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Characters

Kurogane, Hiroto

Main

Shiratori, Tsubame

Main

Toujou, Sayuri

Main

Ebana, Aoharu

Main

Hazakura, Shidou

Main

Otonashi, Kanade

Supporting

Ooki, Subaru

Supporting

Oogami, Sora

Supporting

Reviews

Jun 18, 2013

Eddjeld

Recommended

Hi, this is a awesome manga and a really simple yet enjoyable one, the story is great and it appears that is still ongoin, i've just read chapter 49, i really hope this manga will continue for a long time

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Jan 28, 2013

Ragix

Recommended

What comes down to a lot of manga being successful in the long run is if whether it is popular or not. In Kurogane's case it unfortunately missed the mark and was axed, but this doesn't reduce its value any less.

Kurogane is a sports shounen manga based around the sport kendo in a high school setting. However, the author puts a small supernatural twist on it to try to make it 'fresh'. Unfortunately, since it was axed we never get to see Kurogane's full potential as it sets itself up for something that could have been great, but never could show it.

Story: 7/10

The story ... revolves around high school freshmen Hirito Kurogane, a weak-frail boy who only cared about getting good grades in class and wouldn't dare do anything involving physical activity. He somehow gets involved with a spirit who wants him to succeed her Kendo style and one thing leads to another he joins the Kendo club. The story basically follows a traditional sports shounen route where our fellow MC slowly works his way up through training and determination to become a great Kendoist. Along the way of course making friends and rivals which truly test his ability not only physically but also mentally slowly shaping our MC to become a better self.

Art: 8/10

The art is nice and modern. It's not amazing, but it's nice to look at and it looks visually well when it comes to the Kendo matches.

Character: 7/10

If I were to say the characters were original that would be a far cry from the the truth. Saying that though, each character is given their own unique twist or difference that makes them a bit original in their own way, but it's easy to see that a lot of the characters are similar to most shounen characters. You have the weak MC who becomes strong, the snotty, aggressive show-offy friend and the friend who is always serious when it comes to what he loves to do.(Then of course these two friends always fight, but truly value each other's friendship) Then of course others like the typical romantic interest, the super over-powered nice guy and even the villians who look so overly the top evil it's actually kind of humorous.

That aside though, the character development is there and so are the friendships and rivalries that arise with each encounter making the characters pleasant, but once again since it was axed we can never truly the true potential.

Enjoyment: 8/10

A very enjoyable read to anyone that may be looking for a shounen manga. My thought going into this was not to expect much, but in the end I ended up being one of those guys that cannot wait for it to be updated. While it does have it flaws, luckily it's enjoyable enough to not get too caught up in those.

Overall: 7/10

I sound like a broken record player, but this is a manga that had the potential to be something great, but never could. Although it did manage to show a little of that potential off which is why I give it a 7/10. It's enjoyable, has good characters, revolves around Kendo which may be refreshing to some and has a decent story to go with it. If you're looking for a sports manga and perhaps liked other manga or anime like Baby Steps, Bamboo Blade, etc. I recommend this. Just because Kurogane got cut short doesn't mean it's bad or lower its worth; I think you'll be in for a nice surprise once you get started reading it. Just try it out yourself and be your own judge of that.

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Feb 20, 2025

hexashadow13

Not Recommended

This manga is essentially a kendo version of Hikaru no Go. The protagonist, Kurogane, is chosen by a ghost named Sayuri to serve as her pupil and become the greatest swordsman in Japan. This is despite Kurogane knowing nothing about kendo and being incredibly weak physically. However, as is pretty standard for sports manga, he is strong willed and hardworking so he's able to grow really fast. He also has supernaturally great vision, which is enough on its own to make him strong enough to become a regular for the kendo club. As things progress, his amazing vision becomes less important, but it does pop ... up from time to time as his key to victory.

This manga is grounded but I wouldn't exactly call it realistic, even ignoring the ghost stuff. In terms of kendo, it greatly simplifies some things. For example, only after about 2/3s of the manga and a lot of actual victories does Kurogane learn that he's supposed to be predicting his opponents' actions. Other things are clearly exaggerated, such as some moves that basically involve creating optical illusions or jumping over the opponent's guard. Overall, I guess this keeps things interesting, but at the same time it feels kind of bizarre.

In terms of characters, the manga wasn't that great. Kurogane has a decent enough character arc in terms of growing into the type of person he admires. His clubmates, Ebana and Hazakura, had a fun dynamic, but were shallow as characters. Sayuri is amusing, though the deeper parts of her story weren't written very well. Everyone else was pretty half assed and just in general felt really haphazard. For example, about halfway through the manga the mangaka seems to have decided that there weren't enough girls in the manga so he introduces a girl's section to the kendo team. However, they never actually do any kendo. They just kind of hang around without any sort of plot significance whatsoever.

The ending to the manga is incomplete in typical axed manga fashion. The final match works really well thematically, but plot wise the manga ends in the middle of a tournament. After that there is a flashback that explains everything regarding Sayuri, and then a two-year time skip into an epilogue where everything is resolved perfectly. Well not everything. The romance subplot for some reason it seems to bring up just to emphasize that it hasn't reached a resolution. That felt pretty dumb, in that if it was just suddenly pushing things into an ending, it might as well have forced progress on that in as well.

The art in the manga isn't all that unique or especially high quality but it works well for a kendo manga. The designs similarly are really basic, but it's a grounded manga set in modern Japan so it is what it is.

tl;dr: An axed kendo manga that even before that was nothing special.

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