Book Review: Wolf (Manga)

Book: Wolf by Shige Nakamura

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review

Publication: Available now

Description:

Naoto heads for the city to find the father who abandoned him as a child, determined to get vengeance!

But he finds out it won't be that easy: Dad is a champion boxer!

Now, Naoto must train to face his own father for the Japan feather weight title.


Rating: 5 stars

Review:

I'm not really a boxing fan but you don't need to be to read this story. It follows Naoto Okami a young man on his quest for revenge against his father boxing champ Kengo Kurozaki for leaving him and his mother Yuki over 12 years ago.

On his way to Tokyo, Naoto met a new friend Shota who was training to become a sumo wrestler.

Naoto eventually found his way to the training gym where his father was coach and immediately attacked him but despite not fighting for nearly six years Kengo could easily defend himself. After the fight, Kengo set it up where Naoto could live and train at the gym in exchange for him doing some maintenance work.

After a training match with Naoto, Kengo was ready to return to the professional ring as well as the father and son plan to fight at a later time. Naoto got help with his training from Mayumi (nutrition), Ginji (coach) and Boku (creates training schedule) who soon became his friends but it wasn't until a former boxing champ became his primary coach that he really started to improve and not just stick to one specific punch.

His father wasn't his only rival, fighter Ryuji Morimoto was one of the toughest fighters in his weight class and he wanted to fight him again since Ryuji bested him during a practice fight.

Amazing story, it kept my attention all the way through. There was a lot of drama and emotions as father and son meet up after so many years apart. You see how driven Naoto is to avenge him and his mother but you also see how everything effects both his mother and father. There was a tense moment when Naoto's mother Yuki was injured in an accident and neither father or son knew about it as they were about have their most anticipated fight.

There's also a bonus story at the end that focused on Naoto's mother while she's in the hospital, this was a great way to show readers how the family was coping and trying to renew their bond.

This was very good, Naoto started out as this angry young man who felt abandoned by his father who ended up finding out something important about himself. You also see how the father Kengo went from being a uncaring person (as he perhaps pretended to be) into seeing that being the champ wasn't as important as he thought it was. Meanwhile, Yuki may have had more heart and faith than both of them.

I wonder if the author is going to continue with this series, I would be interested in reading more from it.