Naoto is a rising boxer determined to defeat his father, who abandons his family years earlier to become a boxer himself. He journeys to Tokyo, and begins the hard road of training for victory and success. This is a dry preview that you would get from me, otherwise I’ll spoil the reading experience.
Wolf has been a part of Gen Manga, since its first issue, so the story has finally concluded and gotten the same experience Kamen and VS Alien has enjoyed, all 10 chapters and a special epilogue bound into one convenient one volume read. This is either going to be in a pdf or a print format, a reader’s preference. Personally I have read both versions, and can say which version is better. The end questions is, whether or not a person wants the extra weight in their bag vs. losing a file if an e-accident happens.
At first glance or a flip through the pages, anyone can surmise that this is a sports manga with a human interest aspect. I am not into reading many team sports manga, but since this is a story on guts and glory.. (not mentioning the sweat).. then it should bring in some readers who would appreciate seeing an underdog rise, and a variety beyond other existing seinen titles in English.
In the world of manga, any subject can be represented. Wolf as a story is not as original, the ending is pretty predictable, with some surprises as to how certain situations played out. It joins other known manga boxing titles that anime and manga fans have already known about. Titles like Hajime no Ippo, One Pound Gospel, Ashita no Joe. Those all cover multiple volumes, but if you want a short read then Wolf at one volume is a good choice.
What stood out for me about Wolf was two things, hope in the fact that things would change with hard work (cues Rocky music) and the mention of a minor character who is a training sumo wrestler that Naoto met at the very beginning. There hasn’t been any sumo manga that has been translated into English, so on the rare occasions I get to see the mention of another type of sport, my interest perks up. I happened to read this book in one subway read, so then how fast would you read this book in order to know what happens?