Spoilers ahead for the entire series: Noboru Rokuda has decided to write about a racer in one of the biggest most remembered era in singleseater motorsports the late 80s to early 90s yet Alain Prost is promptly dropped in favour of Jesus Christ yeah and Senna himself is apparently only capable of saying he communicates with God regularly. The entire series revolve around Gunma and whoever the author has decided to introduce every other driver being limited to being a car on the track that may or may not be faster. There are no interactions no rivalries dont come here expecting Gunma Akagi to butt heads with the legends of F1 the only people that matter are the Japanese guys and Jesus Christ. This is a massive chance wasted considering this manga was being written at the time when legendary battles were fought on and off the track it is one of the most political eras in F1 history yet everyone seems to be just an NPC that might or might not be faster than Gunmas car. It really is a shame because there is almost nothing compelling about Fs driving unless you are expecting someone to crash burn and die in that order. The racing is mostly limited to talking about racing techniques over still images and people overtaking each other in the back straight. The focus on actual racing expertise is almost nonexistent. As I mentioned Fs appeal doesnt reside on Akagi interacting with the legends of the time or a profound look at F1 dogfights. So what about the characters? Part of the appeal of this series will be you hating them and wishing for them to eventually meet their deserved often terrible fates but even here F will leave you bitter and disappointed. Shoma gets practically scot free of being an absolutely terrible excuse of a human being. Soichiro has an excuse since hes a war veteran and he does have some compelling moments in his fall from glory but Shoma literally gets away with terrible things and all the redemption he gets is wow gunma i dont hate you anymore you are my brother fr lets go racing. Another part is the wellwritten characters that will support the story and make it interesting namely Tamotsu Toyota Yuma Soichiro and Kasai. Hijiri fades out way too soon and feels like a cheap imitation of Rikishi Tooru. Otoya ranges from interesting rival to nonsensical cartoon villain. Yukis story is extremely cheap from start to finish. Everyone else is simply not worth mentioning they exist but dont make a compelling case for the series quality. This series idea of dealing with adult mature themes is throwing the word rape or kill every 3 chapters sometimes showing it in a PG13 kind of way. The themes about death the worthiness of life and how people surpass their limits are so repetitive and overdrawn that you wont care about them by the time the climax is being reached. All in all an enjoyable read yet a disappointing one for F1 diehards such as myself. It doesnt really leave you satisfied in any front.
67 /100
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