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Would you believe it if I told you that, in this one particular case, it is NOT the story that’s important as much as whether or not you played the game… well it’s the truth here, as you’re about to find out.

Sure, it’s one thing to be a “fan’ of fighting games per se, there’s quite abit to be a fan of both the still relevant and presently active (Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Tekken, Soul Calibur) and the many many would be franchises that have long since fallen to the wayside and become forgotten fighters (Primal Rage, Clay fighters —ahh—I was actually a bit fond of that game franchise for it’s innovation if not too pretty clay fighters) to be fans of to be sure.

But take it one step beyond and think of the stuff that can be tied into fighting games. Like movies… OK, let’s not think of that since for every original Mortal Kombat the Movie there’s a host of tardo movies like Street Fighter the Movie, DOA the Movie and so forth… or comics/manga/manhwa, which this falls into.

I won’t actually go into the story, as the story isn’t going to be making you buy this. It’s another tournament, there’s a large mixer filled with all the characters from the series with all their backstories from the game series along with good characters and bad characters and they’re all fighting and what not (when they’re not going through their long back stories and talking through long long dialogue sequences—a hallmark of manhwa I think, large fight sequences are large dialogue talking sequences that just seem to be a lot of wording to choke down). No, not going to cover that because that is not what you’re buying this for.

Shouldn’t be, if you were just buying this because it’s a manhwa action title and you want to see if you’d get into King of Fighters by getting into it’s manhwa you’re going the wrong route… rather expensive $70 brand new route come to think of it. Yeah. At that total you might as well pick up the latest King of Fighters game for game consoles and play that to see if you’ll love King of Fighters.

Why? Because with fighter games you have to be a total fan of the GAMES before you even think of dipping into your budget to get into the manga… or manhwa in this case… manhua? Is this Chinese or Korean? Anyway if you are not a fan of the game series and haven’t logged in hours plunking down with your favorite character(s) in story mode and whatever other modes are in the game then you won’t be spending like, what, $70 fricking dollars on a five volume set (not counting the additional Art Book which isn’t as special as it could have been) just to find out if you are a fan of King of Fighters or not.

Anyway going through this I did like it as a manhwa goes, it’s packed with action and is pretty good… wish it was more about my favorite female fighters of course, and if I ever see a King of Fighters One Shot with my faves as the lead then expect a self serving entirely biased 5 out of 5 from me of course… and overall it’s solidly done writing, artwork and so forth… it’s just that I’m not going to become a fan of this series from absorbing the manhwa… manhua… this comic.

If I have to say what it is about this that’s going to hook me? I’m going to have to say I’d rather play the games and get to know this franchise better that way.
Sure, maybe it’s the fact my first exposure to King of Fighters was the adult sex doujinshis that kinda made me not quickly buy into the manhwa at first shot… maybe it’s the fact the leads just ain’t all my favorites… or any of my favorites… from the game. Maybe it’s the fact I know zilch about the franchise other than there’s a few key couplings that fans like to see in sexual situations… and nuff said about that before I keep rambling on about that… but for my part I have to say this is a title you’re only going to be dropping down money for the long haul (a short long haul but a bit of a pricy one nevertheless) if you are a serious fan.

So for you fans of the series? This is a must have. 4 out of 5.
If you are not a fan? You better go get the game first and play King of Fighters 2003 before you even think of dropping serious money on a manhwa version.
Nuff said. 4 out of 5 for the die hard King of Fighters fans… (maybe unless you have the same tastes in characters I do, then maybe you won’t like this so much like me… do your homework before buying).

And that’s one for fighting gamers to grow on… maybe.

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