RED HOOD

DESCRIPTION

CAST

CHAPTERS

ONE SHOT ActionRed Hood
ONE SHOT ActionYadokari no Kuni
ONE SHOT ComedyMyakunashi
ONE SHOT ActionRed Hood

REVIEWS

• 

  AnotherBadger

  33/100
  A Straw House With Strong Foundations Will Still Fall Over When A Werewolf Comes Knocking

  “Werewolves are the same as humans. They must eat, or they will starve and die. There’s nothing 'good' or 'evil' about it.”

  • Grimm, Chapter 1

  Red Hood is an interesting case of a manga that had a strong core but quickly lost sight of what it was trying to say. This led to an unfocused and chaotic series that ended up privileging style over story and suffering for it. If it had a more developed concept it could have gone far but it, unfortunately, fell at the first hurdle.

  The plot of Red Hood is easily its weakest and its most under-utilised element. Its initial premise of a young boy training to be a hunter is very reminiscent of other Shōnen titles and so it can feel like a very over-used plot starter and struggles to make Red Hood stand out amongst other publishing titles. It would have been more successful if it included a clearer focus point for the readers to work towards. For example, the Mayor could have been utilised more in the first chapter; creating a mystery that the reader could latch onto and try to uncover as the narrative progressed. Instead, there is a large break between his appearances which makes his reappearance feel more like an attempt to drive up readership. The lack of clarity also leads to Red Hood quickly becoming riddled with contradictions. No moment is more obvious than in Grimm’s early speech about werewolves being neither good nor bad, instead simply fighting to survive. By creating the implication that werewolves aren’t evil, Red Hood could have explored this aspect more; presenting the werewolves as morally ambiguous or verging on sympathetic characters. Instead, this statement is immediately contradicted as the only werewolves we see are portrayed as being stereotypically evil. This inability to commit to ideas is repeated throughout Red Hood and the contradictions only become more apparent.

  Perhaps Red Hood needed a stronger editorial presence to help guide it down a more certain path as it could have covered some really interesting ground. Even within the short length, we see a dense plot that has a lot happening in it. Obviously, due to the series being cancelled, the main plot points are condensed and are very fast-paced as Kawaguchi attempted to demonstrate his vision all at once. If the series had been longer, it could have developed a very interesting tale to watch unfold; especially if the character development was slower and given the time to grow naturally. This would have been bolstered by how well Red Hood plays into its fairytale setting. It strikes up a rather interesting relationship with pre-existing fables which could have been explored more. Unfortunately, these moments become buried under the sheer volume of different ideas that are being pushed onto the reader; noticeable in the rather abrupt narrative changes which take place.

  It is the characters who suffer most from the inconsistent tone and pacing. The two main characters are almost polar opposites of each other in terms of how they are presented but they both suffer from serious problems. Grimm, the experienced hunter, has a hex placed on her so she can only access her true strength for a couple of hours at a time. Velou is a young boy who wants to become a hunter and goes through an exam to become one, he also suddenly develops an incredible power. This could feel similar to the early plot of My Hero Academia, which Kawaguchi worked on as an assistant. While it isn’t rare for previous work to influence newer stories, it can often feel like Red Hood lacks its own distinct voice. Only during the final few chapters do we see these two develop in a way that could have been really interesting. Unfortunately, as it was all crammed into the final few chapters, the character development feels more like a personality transplant.

  The rest of the cast is also awkwardly handled, with most of them being introduced at the same time. This makes it difficult to remember who each character is and what their skills and abilities are. There is also a reliance on backstories to build certain characters in the latter half of the manga which means readers aren’t given time to form their own opinions before being told whether we should feel sorry for a character or not. Characters who aren’t given any semblance of a backstory tend to be quite forgettable.

  The art style, while reminiscent again of My Hero Academia, is striking and perfectly fits the rustic fairytale setting of Red Hood. This is especially true for the settings and character designs; in particular, the werewolves are both grotesque and interesting, offering a unique interpretation of the creatures. The other non-human designs also reflect a strong aesthetic vision that struggles to balance out the noticeable problems with Red Hood’s plot. The fights are fairly engaging and easy to read although there is little experimentation with panelling; especially when recalling previous scenes where a whole page is copied into the background with the text removed. This makes it difficult to pick out any moments of significance and comes across as a little bit lazy. There is also a reliance on the art to carry the exposition-heavy moments; usually leaning into a more comedic approach. It often creates a jarring tone that could have been handled better by committing to the more serious nature of Red Hood’s story. Much like the rest of this manga, it boils down to style over function and that can quickly alienate the reader.

  Overall, Red Hood is a series that suffers from a lack of consistency and has no clear direction beyond a very overused plot structure. During its later chapters, it tried to make a statement about storytelling but ended up falling into too many pitfalls itself. I wish Kawaguchi all the best for the future as he has a really interesting artistic vision, all that’s needed is a plot that can match it.

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• 

  SpikeWasAlreadyTaken

  82/100
  A strong premise held back by amateur mistakes, with an incredibly fun train wreck of an ending

  This review contains spoilers.
  I will start by saying that Red Hood probably doesn't deserve as high of a score as I have it at. The series is very clearly created by a newbie mangaka, and being Kawaguchi's first series, has a bunch of flaws that he hopefully learned from and won't have in his next series. However, the series is just plain fun for me. Mileage may vary.

  Red Hood is set in a high fantasy world, where werewolves, giants, and all those fun denizens of folklore and mythology exist. Velou is a kid living in a small hamlet plagued by werewolf attacks, until the mayor of the hamlet hires a member of the Hunter's guild, Grimm, to exterminate the werewolf. Velou winds up fighting the werewolf alongside her and is recruited into the Hunter's guild. Some pretty standard shonen stuff, but with a somewhat unique Western fairytail premise and potential for a darker story.
  The big selling point of the first couple chapters is just how well they manage to be plain unsettling. I'm not saying Red Hood is a true horror manga, but the contrast between Yuki Kawaguchi's sketchy, almost cartoonish art and the bleak world he creates already has a creepy feeling before the werewolf even shows up. The way Kawaguchi draws the werewolves is even more unsettling, as they're a strange mix of creepy and hilariously cartoonish that makes them more weirdly scary than the majority of monster designs in Jump. I'm also a fan of the absolute chaos that is the fighting, and the way it's used to showcase both the amount of options in the Hunters' toolkits and the sheer power of the werewolves. All in all, the exposition chapters worldbuild just by atmosphere, and I'm a big fan of that.
  On the other hand, the first few chapters have a couple flaws. For example, Velou initially refuses Grimm's offer, and the way the author solves that is by simply burning the hamlet Velou loves so much to the ground. I don't think there was a point to Velou refusing, honestly, as he refuses because he loves the hamlet and, well, there's no real solution to that aside from the completely over the top destruction. Something as simple as Velou killing the werewolf that was plaguing the hamlet and then going off to try and help others like his townspeople, safe in the knowledge that they'll be okay for now, would have worked just fine and not been such an awkward flip-flop. The first couple chapters don't have big issues in my opinion, it's just that they feel a little indecisive.

  The manga then transitions to the part that probably caused it to drop in public opinion enough for a quick axe, and that's an exam arc. The arc doesn't start super bad- there's some worldbuilding, we're introduced to some characters (could have done with less characters, honestly- the first big amateur mistake Kawaguchi makes), and we also meet another active Hunter, Debonair, who's a muscle girl waifu bait character that also has been cursed to perpetually be blazing hot, to the point where I'm somewhat surprised none of the other characters try cooking an egg on her for a quick gag. Unfortunately, after explaining how the exam period works each year and introducing characters, the series presents the exam itself: a game of cops and robbers, with the examinees versus Grimm and Debonair.
  Yeah. In a series about hunting monsters, the exam to be a monster hunter has nothing to do with hunting monsters.
  In my opinion, the game of cops and robbers is an interesting and creative exam arc that could work in a different shonen series more along the lines of My Hero Academia or any other series that, y'know, involves people fighting people. The thing is, it has absolutely no place in Red Hood. The exam could have been tracking down a werewolf, or something like Demon Slayer's surviving a bunch of monsters for a few days, literally anything that fit the series. Heck, the story even could have just said that since Velou was scouted by Grimm, he doesn't have to pass the exam, introduce the characters who did pass the exam, and then have the training trip on the boat used to introduce a couple of those particularly talented individuals. It would have been less bloated, not had the forgettable side characters, and also have made more sense. On top of all that, it would have given Red Hood time to get into a new arc that could have been interesting enough for the series to not be immediately axed. Aside from just being a dumb decision, the arc is chock full of trying to give side characters (some of which are admittedly interesting, such as one who uses fungi to fight, which would have been really fun to see throughout the series) backstories and personalities, and it's definitely not needed. Particularly when we already know that the guild is perfectly okay with sending out one Hunter for an incident and not several on the same mission, so why do we need a bunch of side characters all at once?
  All in all, the arc is full of amateur mistakes, and it isn't too surprising that Red Hood enters a rushed ending arc immediately afterwards.

  The ending arc, oh man. it's an absolute train wreck and I love it. There's a bunch of "surprise!" info dumping and plot twists, but Kawaguchi is clearly not too happy with the series getting axed (can't blame him) and he uses the final arc as a meta exposition, makes fun of the series not getting readers to like it, sneaks in what seems to be a same-sex kiss in Jump (off panel, cause unless you're Ayakashi Triangle Jump doesn't like same sex kisses- i tell c did the same thing) followed by a character saying "I did something I knew you'd absolutely hate", talks about plot falling apart, and just overall is an extremely fun, meta closing that cements the series as my favorite member of the U19 club.

  As far as art goes, Red Hood has some really unique, sketchy art. The characters are cartoonish and the monsters have great designs that are a mix of creepy and cartoony that works really well. Overall, it's not amazing art in the typical sense, but it's really interesting and unique and it works really well with the story.

  The characters themselves, well, most of them don't get enough screen time to have a personality. Velou, Grimm, and a beefcake named Bonkers (why not) are the ones who get real character development, which is frankly shoddy. The characters do their jobs, but Velou isn't a super compelling protagonist and the rest don't really have time to shine. As a strong mentor/call to adventure, Grimm is probably the best character, but she is by no means well written. Yuki Kawaguchi is currently an assistant for Yusei Matsui, so he should hopefully learn how to develop interesting characters and write a better story.

  Overall, Red Hood is a story with a strong premise, mediocre execution that's compounded by an awfully crafted arc, and a super fun meta ending. Though not a particularly well done manga, I enjoyed it quite a bit for what it was, and I'm extremely excited to see what Kawaguchi can create with a year or two more of study under his belt. As for your enjoyment of the series? Mileage will definitely vary, but I recommend you read it anyways.

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• 

  jahver

  30/100
  The makings of a hit were there, but the author lacked experience and couldn't execute the series properly

  The Hunters Guild: Red Hood is a haphazardly written, agonizing lesson in why people shouldn’t call a manga “the next Demon Slayer” a week after it begins serialization. I understand fans were getting tired of waiting for another massive franchise to get invested in, but the public consensus was made too quickly and far too many people set themselves up for disappointment. The week-by-week read became agonizing within three chapters and it became apparent that former My Hero Academia assistant Yuuki Kawaguchi cannot structure a story or write compelling characters to save his life. You’d think it would be impossible to fuck up such a simple concept that badly, but time and time again Red Hood managed to blow my expectations out of the water by being even more of a boring, fruitless experience with each successive chapter.

  Red Hood’s most glaring flaw becomes immediately apparent within the introductory arc. Characters dump paragraphs of exposition in some of the most shameless and unsubtle ways possible. There’s manga where the slightest bit of exposition would drastically improve the story, and then there’s manga like Red Hood, which make the average HxH chapter look like a picture book. The amount of times the dialogue takes up around two thirds of the page is astounding. Even in the first chapter there’s at least eight to ten speech bubbles on most pages, I’m not fucking kidding. All of this text just accentuates how cluttered and disorganized the art is. You’d think Kawaguchi was trying to rush through all the necessary lore at the start so he could get into the action, but no: all eighteen fucking chapters are like this to some degree. There’s nothing to even guide the viewer’s eyes across the pages, it’s completely counter-intuitive and amorphous. I put together a small compilation to show you how bad it looks: (https://imgur.com/gallery/CF60TgJ)

  There’s too much going on in any single page, none of the characters feel like they’re in focus unless the perspective is a close-up of their faces. The art itself isn’t bad, but when Kawaguchi is this bad at setting up the pages he has hardly any chances to really show it off. The pacing of the story as well as the paneling and art drastically suffer when a character has to sit down and explain the entire setting as well as the major factions, characters, and what hackneyed shit like “wolfonium” does. I seriously can’t get over wolfonium, it’s too goddamn stupid even for a series like this.

  The MC is the least interesting part of his own story. There’s not much of note about Velou/Vero since he’s just another Deku, Tanjiro or Asta clone. I can appreciate how grounded and quick-witted he is at least, but he’s nothing groundbreaking. Velou gets overshadowed by his huge-tits female mentor, the one who got all the fanart and probably the only reason a lot of people wanted this series to succeed. The villains somehow have more personality than the two leads, the werewolves aren’t mindless monsters either which is pretty refreshing, plus they’re amazingly grotesque and inhuman in design while still retaining the fairy-tale aesthetic which makes them a delight to look at. Red Hood’s designs are probably the best part of the manga. There’s so many inventive aspects to the world that tragically get glossed over in the endless spew of text and dull action sequences.

  This interesting fantasy world full of werewolves and other fairy tale monsters, the main reason most fans got invested in the story, hardly gets explored at all; the first five chapters are spent meandering through some town explaining rather than exploring. Everything has to be conveyed through dialogue rather than simply shown to the reader. Every potentially cool moment is ruined by there being ten or more speech bubbles inserted over everything in case you didn’t what incredibly obvious things are occurring. Characters spout their entire motivations for three pages on some occasions and even then they feel hollow and unrelatable.

  The series showed some promise when the premise shifted to actually travelling to the Hunter’s Guild, but right after we were stuck with a training arc which shifted into a generic exams arc that turned into a game of cops and robbers with no tension or stakes. Around this time it was confirmed the manga was going to be canceled, so Kawaguchi quickly turned the story into a metanarrative about how destroying stories means destroying a universe to spite WSJ; while I can appreciate the motivation behind this plot development, it comes completely out of left field and makes for an unsatisfying open ending to an already fragmentary manga.

  If Red Hood was in the hands of a more competent writer and artist it could’ve had the potential to be a groundbreaking series, but for a manga based around fictional tales it was frustratingly unimaginative. Regardless, I look forward to Kawaguchi’s next work, and I hope he’s managed to better hone his skills to avoid making a mistake of this level when the time comes again. If he can make it into Shonen Jump once, he might be able to manage it a second time.

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