Hoshin Engi

A manga adaptation of the famous Chinese novel Investiture of the Gods.

A decent shonen battle manga. When I first started reading it I was really taken with Ryu Fujisaki‘s unique character designs and the blackhearted protagonist Taikobo. He really feels like a prototype of Senku from Dr. STONE the way he constantly bluffs and plays mind games to outwit his stronger opponents.

I think this series really benefited from the fact that Investiture of the Gods is the least known of the 3 great Chinese novels. Journey to the West inspired Dragon Ball and Suikoden became a popular role playing game series. Fujisaki was able to really shape the story and characters as he sought fit to make an engaging tale about powerful Sennin battling over the fate of 2 kingdoms.

It’s available to read from VIZ.

Side note- I still think it’s crazy that they decided to reboot the anime with Hakyu Hoshin Engi just so they could cover the story arc they never got to in the original.

~dakazu