Crying Freeman is the code name for the best assassin in the Chinese Mafia, otherwise known as the 108 Dragons.  Originally a genius potter, Yō Hinomura got involved with the 108 Dragons during an exhibition of his work. The organization noticed his talents and bent him to their will.

As an assassin, Hinomura dons the alias of Freeman; however, he hates killing.  After every kill he sheds tears, thus earning him the name of Crying Freeman.  He is the perfect assassin and successor to the leadership of the 108 Dragons.

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First things first, I need to warn potential readers that there is a large amount of both gore and sex.  I highly recommend reading this series but please keep this in mind when deciding to read the work or not.

The first chapter does a perfect job of introducing the flow of the story and giving background information.  What I love is that background information is presented through conversation. You can tell immediately that the series of killings that will follow in the manga will be swift acrobatic feats.  Movements are unnaturally swift and precise but that is the magic of Crying Freeman—he is the best at killing even though he is forced to against his will.

My understanding of the plot is a mess as the manga I was reading was out of order.  If it seems like a chapter was skipped, you are probably right, so be careful of that.  Even though the chapter order was slightly out of whack I still enjoyed the plot greatly.

Characters don’t feel alive, per se, they display emotion but it often comes off as corny and the reader feels none of it.  The only emotion I felt was the thrill from the action, which was plenty.  Besides, the characters were still very interesting and memorable without being relatable.

I feel that my problem with the characters stems from the art.  The art does many things well, but displaying emotion is not one of them nor is displaying a person standing still.  Challenges artists usually have displaying movement and action is non-existent here.

The bottom line is that this manga exceeds displaying and relaying the thrill of action, but tries and fails to display other emotions.  If all you want to do is read action manga, this is a perfect choice.

GO Rating: 3.5/5

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