Title: 13
Author & Artist: Hideaki Sorachi
Chapter: 1 (One-Shot)
Summary:
Young Mondo Fujieda is in love with his classmate Izayo Gorugo. But instead of getting close to her, he ends up humiliating her. To Mondo’s surprise, Izayo vows to kill him. And this is after Izayo’s bizarre presentation about her entire family being assassins. She moves away, but Mondo makes some changes out of preparation. Years later, he is the king of delinquents who goes by the name “Thirteen.” Izayo makes an appearance as a new transfer student to his school. She has come back to seek vengeance. Will Mondo be able to survive an assassin’s wrath?
The Good
Characters
The way the characters interact with each other is fun to watch. Watching Mondo become a big shot and Izayo using his status to get him in trouble is very entertaining. It helps that the characters are likable, especially Izayo. You want to see Izayo kick Mondo around, but you want Mondo to do something about it.
Artwork
The artwork is perfect for this type of manga. It’s a blend of cartoony fun and finely illustrated moments. You can see Mondo’s nervousness through his facial expressions. You can see Izayo’s perfect attacks through her graphic motions. Everything about the art is a perfect fit for the story.
Quite Funny
Action is always good with comedy, as long as it’s done right. Here, it’s done right. Izayo’s attacks create odd trouble for Mondo, which are too funny. Of course if you put yourself in his shoes, not so funny.
Nice Reference
It’s not exactly great, but there is a videogame metaphor used in the manga. I was surprised it worked well.
Short
It’s about 37 pages. Pretty short for all you lazies.
The Bad
No More?
Even though it’s a one-shot, it felt like it could continue. The relationship between the two main characters isn’t resolved, clearly, though that seemed to be the intention.
Change In Perspective
There are times in the manga that the character speaking changes. The problem with this was the confusion it created at times. It was puzzling to read about Izayo talk of her assassin family while thinking Mondo was the speaker. As minor as it was, it took me out for those moments.
Lots of Words
There are times when the word count on the pages look daunting. A lot of words on one page can keep someone from reading the manga. So if you don’t like to read, this isn’t for you (lazy ass!).
Overall
I liked 13 a lot. For a one-shot, it was very good even though I would have wished to see more. Grade wise, the good overweighed the bad (I was having a hard time finding something bad to say about the manga). And with that, I give 13 a 4 out of 5.
Rating:
