Comics / Manga

Monster Hunter: Flash Hunter Volume 4 manga review

By Leroy Douresseaux
October 12, 2016 - 19:46

Monster Hunter: Flash Hunter Volume 4 cover image

Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”

Monster Hunter: Flash Hunter is an action-fantasy manga written by Keiichi Hikami and drawn by Shin Yamamoto.  Monster Hunter: Flash Hunter is based on Capcom's Monster Hunter video game series that was initially developed for the PlayStation 2.

Monster Hunter: Flash Hunter is set in an age when monsters rule the world:  soaring through the sky, treading the earth, and filling the seas.  These monsters have forced humanity to survive on the fringes, so people rely on a special kind of hero to defend them from danger – the Monster Hunters.  Fledgling hunter, Raiga; veteran hunter, Keres; and hunter-scholar, Torche pledge to protect humanity from these monsters with all their might.

Monster Hunter: Flash Hunter, Vol. 4 (Chapters 24 to 31) finds Raiga, Keres, and Torche hunting a kind of “Bird Wyvern,” known as a “Tigerx.”  However, this creature proves to be formidable and seemingly impossible to defeat.  Meanwhile, reluctant hunter, Brad, finds himself forced to go after Iley, after she decides to take on two Blangonga monsters that are headed to Pokke Village.  Actually, neither Iley nor Brad are ready to face these creatures, and while help is on the way, it may not come in time.

[This volume includes the bonus chapter “Another Hunter,” Story 6]

THE LOWDOWN:  The Monster Hunter: Flash Hunter manga did not make much of an impression on me after I read it for the first time with Vol. 2.  I did think it had some potential.

Monster Hunter: Flash Hunter Volume 4 shocked me.  I enjoyed this manga better the second time around.  [I did not read Vol. 3].  For whatever reason, I found the characters, setting, and plot clearer in Vol. 4 than I did in Vol. 2.  I can say that Monster Hunter: Flash Hunter is a fun action-fantasy, battle manga and monster comic.  I won't say that it is great, but it still has potential.  However, I think that the storytelling via the art needs to be clearer.  There is not enough toning, and what is there is superficial and redundant.  Toning could make the line work seem less jumbled.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Fans of the Monster Hunter video game franchise will want to try Monster Hunter: Flash Hunter.

B

Rating: B /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12