Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin

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Beautiful manga, even yet a masterpiece. Really one of the best mangas I've read in a long time. The story made me tear up so many times I've lost count, and the character development is so realistically on point that it made many of the other mangas I read that I thought had a good character development look bad. I can see why people complain about the manga's tone, but considering this was a not-so popular manga back in early 2000's I'd say the art makes up for it. This manga is one of the motivations for me to start boxing, and now in 2months ... of now I will be joining the amateur boxing league and go aim for the highest I can go. Overall a masterpiece that I longed for many years. RIP George Abe, may he have peace on the other life.

I honestly think this manga starts out great and then just gets increasingly worse. So much so to the point where I'm now dropping it at 116 chapters. I'm not having fun reading it anymore. Please keep in mind this review is only reflective of those chapters, I cannot speak for the second half of the series. I still wanted to write a review anyway, I wanted to finish the series before I wrote this but I just wasn't enjoying it anymore and still had a lot to say.

STORY - [6/10]
I think the story and manga in general start out really strong. It's really captivating ... and keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the entire first arc, I really loved it and would have rated it an 8/10 at that point. Unfortunately, this doesn't last forever. Without saying any spoilers, the story just doesn't know what to do with itself after the first arc. Once all is said and done I feel like the entire manga just morphs into something completely different, and not something I mostly liked. It was kind of just repeating small arcs of minor drama over and over again, and it came to a point where I just wasn't expecting anything anymore. Why was the drama minor? Because it never amounts to anything. It's almost like random shock value that resolves shortly after over and over again. While some of these small arcs are better than others, It's just zero progression and tiring to read after a certain point. It got to the point where I just didn't care anymore and dropped the manga.

ART - [7/10]
I don't really have much to say about the art besides that its good. Nothing crazy. but nothing bad. It also fits the tone of the series pretty well.

CHARACTERS [7.5/10]
Without a doubt the best part of the manga. The manga puts a big emphasis on friendship and as a result puts a lot of its resources into developing characters. It does this pretty well and the dynamic between all the characters is enjoyable. I do have one complaint though. Sakuragi's influence later in the series is just kind of annoying and illogical. When in conflict, characters will be all like "damn what would Sakuragi do right now!" since they all look up to him and view him as a role model. I don't think the relationship between Sakuragi and the rest of the cast was nearly developed enough for this kind of attitude to be embraced in the characters though. The idolization of Sakuragi seems unnatural to me. A lot more could have been done to reinforce this kind of thinking within the cast.

OVERALL ENJOYMENT - [6/10]
Despite some of the negative things I've said about this manga, I think I can still recommend it unlike other series I give a 6/10. The first arc is great and worth experiencing. So if you are interested in this series, I recommend reading up to the second arc. If you like what the second arc had to offer, then knock yourself out because it follows the same formulaic sequence in different skins (at least up to 116). I didn't like the change, but you might.

a group of young men that continue to fight for their place in the world despite all the pushback and the continuous stream of problems they face. rainbow manages to take a simple and timeless premise and make it utterly unrecognisable.

the title's biggest downfall is sacrificing good, simple storytelling for moments of spectacle. everything has to be an event and our heroes have to fight against oppression and horrid villains all the time. to put it simply, it suffers from delusions of grandeur. it assigns nonsensical character motivations at every turn and all of this makes for a horrible reading experience.

if you look past all ... that you might find a heartwarming, inspiring tale about a couple of boys seemingly brought together by fate, striving to follow their dreams. unfortunately, it's very difficult to look past all of it's drawbacks and downright infuriating. you could chalk up my horrible experience to reading scanlations, though.