New Flavors: Spray King

Spray King
by Mikuni Shin
In the city named Kotobuki, there are rumors of a man who defeats bad people, leaving only giant, beautiful graffiti at the scene. Since no one has ever seen that man in person, they called him "Spray King." Kuroda Miu, a photography student in an art academy and part-time photographer for a weekly magazine, wants to catch Spray King on film in order to create a good scoop for the magazine. One day, she met with Tanaka Torateru, a boy who just entered the academy, but who wasn't that good in art. How could the meeting of the two lead to the "truth" about the city they live in and about the hero in the shadows named Spray King? (Ju-da-su via Baka-Updates)

Graffiti Superhero? Got my attention at once! I haven't read a manga nor seen an anime that deals with that. I thought it would be interesting. I don't care if it seemed to be the typical shounen hero manga. I like the idea of using a pretty unique type of superhero.

Now that I've read it . . . it's not really bad but I don't think I could continue reading it. Main reason is because it's EXTREMELY typical and predictable. It's the usual loser-leading-guy-secretly-acting-weak-but-becomes-some-superhero-with-amazing-powers-by-night-and-he-will-always-save-the-day-especially-if-people-around-him-are-involved. That's just too overused and I'm sick of it. And there's no story or character background even, like why the Spray King started saving people or how the main character got such power. Well, I know it's just the first few chapters but, still, don't be too random. Hint the readers somehow or something. This is the typical superhero shounen after all, so at least clear up some stuff from the beginning.

As for the characters, none of them had been likable for me (well, except Spray King himself I guess. Because of what he does after his err . . . fights), or at least have an interesting trait. Villains are so-so. They are either so evil yet so extra so they're meant to lose, or actually pretty powerful but you only get to see them till next time.

So okay, what's good about this series then? For me, it may be your typical shounen series storywise, but it's actually pretty unique in a way. For one is the weapon used by the hero: Spray Can. And it's no ordinary spray can. Before I started reading this, I thought the hero just sprays on his enemies to fight them. Haha! But there's actually somethign supernatural on how the hero of this series fights. You see, the spray cans that the hero uses aren't ordinary. They suck up the greed or rather the evil aura of the people he's fighting against. Sort of like how Neuro of Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro does it. Then the evilness of those people are now gathered inside these cans and have changed into colors. These are the colors being used when the Spray King does his graffiti. The graffiti in this series isn't just for the Spray King to show hsi talent, but it's somewhat like his signature after his accomplished err . . missions (it's not exaclty a "mission" but I can't think of a better term at the moment) and it's sort of a way to make a good use out fo the evil auras he has collected, and that is by creating art.

Speaking of the art, I don't really see the actual art style in this series as anything spectacular (I mean the artwork on the characters, etc.) but the graffitis were seriously AMAZING! Check 'em out:

So awesome, aren't they? They are so freakin' amazing! Moreover, these beasts are actually based on actual fantasy or mythological creatures! The mangaka sure did such great research or is pretty knowledgeable upon such interesting creatures. And each creature being drawn in the graffiti actually have some connection to what just happened in the episode. That's really terrific!

However, if the graffiti is the only thing that I admire in this series, then I don't think I would follow it. Maybe I'll just download the chapters and just get the graffiti page spreads if I have a lot of time to waste.

But it's not really that bad, so I still encourage superhero shounen lovers to give it a try. It has been pretty unique, despite the cliches and stereotypes.

Sapphire Pyro	READ: oneshot + 2 chapters (out of 1 scanlated oneshot and 2 scanlated chapters released so far of a 2 volume ongoing manga) VERDICT: Dropped but it wasn't really bad
It's your typical superhero shounen series, but choice of weapon is pretty unique and the graffitis are so incredible! However, it's not the type that I would want to follow. I'm not very impressed storywise, and none of the characters have appealed to me much either (except for Spray King, when he does his stuff). It wasn't really that bad though. It's just not the type I'll get hooked to ^^;