Rising Sun R

The sequel to Rising Sun. The series continues to follow Ikki Kai in the Japanese Self Defense Force as he enters training for Ranger courses.

Since I enjoyed Rising Sun I was looking forward to checking out this sequel. Unfortunately this manga seems to be copying the original series focus on Ikki training. The only change is that he’s no longer a fresh new recruit but a now a new recruit for the Rangers.

The original Rising Sun covered some interesting aspects from the training of these Japanese soldiers, specifically the unique manner their shooting training was handled. Since creator Satoshi Fujiwara himself went through the JSDF boot camp, there was a nice bit of realism to the training. I’m unsure if Fujiwara did Ranger training but I didn’t get the same feeling here. That and the story centered around Ikki training again, I wasn’t as engaged with this book. I’ll pass on continuing to read it.

~dakazu