Kokou no Hito
The Climber

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

Kokou no Hito truly is a masterpiece of a manga. It’s about a boy (later man)who have devoted his life to mountains and rock climbing. The story takes you on a journey trough out his sorrow, hardships, and, most notably, the betrayal by those closest to him. Did he ever achieve happiness? That’s for you to find out.

For me personally, this manga gave me the motivation to keep climbing. Even though I was going through some hardships, this masterpiece reminded me that there are still mountains waiting for me to climb... and so I did.

Story 10
Art 10
Characters 9
Enjoyment 10000000000000

(THIS REVIEW COINTAINS SPOILERS)

I am gonna start with the positive cause I have a lot of bad to say, but I don't wanna paint the impression this manga is bad so:
The art is incredible, and undoubtedly the highlight of this manga. Sakamoto’s portrayal of climbing and mountain landscapes is breathtaking, capturing the raw, grueling essence of the sport. The visuals immerse you, making the physical and emotional challenges of the characters tangible. In that aspect, The Climber shines, offering a truly visceral experience of what it feels like to climb mountains.

Unfortunately, the writing doesn’t match the quality of the art. While the story centers on ... Mori Buntarou, it fails to develop the supporting events and characters adequately. Much of Mori's journey is presented as reactions to events that lack sufficient justification or background. This weak foundation creates a false impression of depth and mastery, but on closer inspection, the writing falters.

The most glaring issue is the treatment of the supporting characters, for example I am gonna take Yumi and Miyamoto:

Yumi, initially presented as a good kid with a normal personality (gambling aside haha), Yumi’s downfall feels absurd and unjustified. After losing her reputation due to speculative rumors, she becomes a prostitute. This turn is baffling. Why couldn’t she move elsewhere or rebuild her life rather than resorting to such an extreme decision? Her character shows no prior traits or inner struggles that would hint at such a trajectory. She doesn’t fight for her reputation or try other means to pay bills, which makes her transformation feel contrived and overly dramatic. And is not only prostitution is what she does to Mori.

Miyamoto’s arc is similarly frustrating. He starts as a somewhat overconfident, goal-driven climber—a “popular kid” archetype with a clear passion for climbing. Then, out of nowhere, he devolves into a self-destructive bum who wastes his money on partying, cheats in climbing, and abandons his aspirations. This dramatic shift feels hollow and unjustified. There’s no convincing reason provided for why he would spiral so far out of control. His downfall seems more like a convenient plot device to highlight Mori rather than a natural progression of his character. You can try to justify it with he was feeling inferior to Mori, or he felt he wasn't so talented idk, but I don't take this justifications as valid, cause he wasn't talentless, he was man who structured his entire life around the sport - skipping classes to train, working jobs to fund his passion, and diligently saving money - inexplicably transforms into someone who not only abandons his lifelong goal but actively deceives others in climbing-related matters.

These abrupt changes undermine the believability of the characters and feel like they were written to serve Mori’s story but fail to than stand on their own. The pattern of weakly justified events isn’t limited to Yumi and Miyamoto. Many situations occur without sufficient setup or payoff, giving the story a hollow feel. For example:

Mizuki: Introduced as though she would play an important role, Mizuki ultimately does nothing of significance and disappears, only to reappear like 100 chapters later with no real impact.
Ninomiya: Despite a grand introduction, this character contributes almost nothing to the story.
Kobeni and others, I could go on but I think i have made my point.

Some might argue that the shift in writers (with Sakamoto taking over after the climbing tournament) is to blame for these inconsistencies. However, as the final writer, Sakamoto bears responsibility for connecting the dots and justifying the events already set in motion. Instead, he fails to integrate these threads cohesively, leaving many parts of the story feeling poorly written. It's not to blame the other writer, cause also writing problems happen with situations the other autor didn't influence at all (As i previously said Ninomiya, Kobeni, etc).

Despite the flaws in writing, The Climber is an enjoyable manga. The art alone elevates it, and some of the moments, especially those that focus on the physical and emotional struggles of climbing, are genuinely powerful. These moments allow you to feel the raw difficulty of the sport, and they’re executed with stunning detail.
However, I feel the praise for The Climber as a masterpiece is overstated. Its inclusion among the top-tier mangas feels misplaced given its significant narrative shortcomings. While it’s a good manga, the weak character development and poorly justified plot points prevent it from reaching the level of greatness many attribute to it. And thats why I have mixed feelings, it's an enjoyable manga but I felt dissapointed, and I feel many others will feel too.

Yeah, it's sad. I found it to be really boring, i didn't managed to like one single character, i find all the choices the main character does stupid... it would be a 3/10 for me if it wasn't for the maestry of technical things Sakamoto - the mangaka, which i've read Innocent before, other of his works - did on Kokou no Hito. It is so beautiful, it has so many experimental things like characters getting crazy in the middle of the cold and their speech getting inverted in the speech balloons, the scene where Mori sees the dawn and there's an orchestra going on ... and the symbolism is really cool, the artwork is fantastic, that one chapter where he recommends us to read it while listening to Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry" its pretty cool too. His paneling work is amazing too. So for technical reasons i gave it a 7/10 on MyAnimeList, thought it would only be fair even if i didn't like the story or had any fun.

I think Sakamoto could do a big hit doing a collab with someone that can write better than him, and maybe a more lighthearted story. I mean, in the whole Kokou no Hito there's only one scene i've cracked a smile that is when Mori, our main character, gets out of the hospital and a little girl drops a flower and he gives back to her. This was literally the only scene where i felt empathy for Mori because he only do the worst possible decisions, it is astonishing even.

I'm well aware the work wasn't obligated to make me have fun, i watched Parasite (the korean movie that was the first foreigner movie to get Best Movie Of The Year by the Oscar Academy) and didn't have any fun, the atmosphere was heavy, it wasn't a movie made for you to have fun, and i get this. I think Kokou no Hit was probably made with the same intent. The problem is that in Parasite i could understand the characters, whereas the choices Mori did were simply forced so the story could end on a bad note because it is a seinen so it must end in a heavy way. Also Parasite was a movie, Kokou no Hito was a whole 100+ chapter manga. Mori does so many mistakes and simply doesn't learn with them. Also every single side character was forgettable and stereotypical seinen characters that do something bad and that's it, some even might try to redeem themselves but i really didn't liked it.

Sakamoto is probably one of the greatest mangakas we have as right now, he is amazing drawing, but a very uncompelling writer in my humble opinion. I hope he finds his way with a good writer someday.

That's just my opinion, i respect you if you think Kokou no Hito it's a 10/10 and think it is a masterpiece. It just didn't clicked with me and i don't recommend it to anyone besides those who want to see Sakamoto's amazing technical prowess at being a mangaka.