Portrait of a Killer: Crying Freeman

Rating:
Summary: great art, great story, great manga!!!
Review: "Portrait of a Killer" is the first of the Crying Freeman books. This manga (japanese comic) is fast paced, violent, and sexy. You tend to root for the hero, as well as feel sorry for him. He executes his enemies with brutality, yet he sheds tears. It has great art that shows realism. For those manga fans out there, this is a must-buy. Others I would recommend are works from: Masamune Shirow (ghost in the shell) Yukito Kishiro (Battle Angel) Kenichi Sonada (gunsmith cats) Osamu Tezuka (Black Jack, Astro Boy) Ryoichi Ikegami (Crying Freeman, Sanctuary)

Rating:
Summary: Wow.
Review: It's really amazing how close to the comic book the Crying Freeman movie was -- and the book is pretty incredible. Sex, violence, and a stunning storyline. Why haven't Americans made this a national bestseller?

Rating:
Summary: Portrait of a Killer: Crying Freeman
Review: Most excellent book. Every page is a must to turn, you are held captive by the story. This is a great book.

Rating:
Summary: Portrait of a Killer: Crying Freeman
Review: Most excellent book. Every page is a must to turn, you are held captive by the story. This is a great book.

Rating:
Summary: Star-crossed Lovers?
Review: Portrait of a Killer, the first in a five part series is the hook that will draw you into this story of organised crime.

A beautiful young artist named Emu Hino introduces us to this world by telling us via a diary she is writing, how she witnessed a brutal gang killing.

What makes her account special is that upon seeing the face of the killer, she notices that this beautiful young man, seemingly distraught by his own actions, cried after carying out this multiple execution. She obsesses about him. Knowing full well that because she is a witness to this crime, she will be his next victim. After all, that is the code. So she waits for him.

We agonise with Emu because, she is being torn by the knowledge that she will die soon by his hand and she doesn't want to die a virgin, a fact that she puts in her diary. So in the depths of her desperation and loneliness she hatches a plan. She will ask her killer to take her virginity before he takes her life. This he agrees to do after reading her diary, but in so doing, Emu's simple request touches him in an unexpected way. Their burgeoning love for each other puts him in deep water with not only the rival gang who want him dead, the police who want him captured, but also with his own crime syndicate whose rules he has broken.

We learn through Emu's eyes who Crying Freeman is and how he became the head hatchet man for the 108 Dragons, and by the end of the tale, you end up empathising with this Assassin's plight, for although his name is Freeman, he is not really free.

Portrait of a Killer in my mind is the best of the Crying Freeman series and is at its heart an unusual love story. As is the case with most manga, you will find it is packed solid with extreme violence, sex and very beautifully drawn characters. Ryoichi Ikegami's illustrations' makes this one of the most visually gripping series around and Kazuo Koike's story will keep you glued to the pages to the very end. A definite buy for all who want something more from manga than just pretty pictures.

Rating:
Summary: Good artwork, shoddy storyline
Review: The artwork, done by veteran Ryoichi Ikegami, is beautiful. Nearly realistic while being stylized, it gives the manga its own unique look.

Sadly, the story part doesn't do so well.

So the concept is good: a man is brainwashed by Chinese mafia to do their dirty work but is always conscious of what he's doing...hence "crying freeman." But its not really portrayed well here. He has to go kill a woman, and she says, "Wait before you kill me I don't want to die a virgin!"

Yeah...right. I smell and excuse for sex. And you get it.

As it boils down to flashbacks, what do we get? More sex. I'm not kidding. Every other page has a woman either receiving it or getting raped. Its just...stupid. I began to wonder if I was reading actual manga or a hentai title.

You could call it "adult." I call it "dumb."

Rating:
Summary: The Portrait of a Killer
Review: The Crying Freeman is an assassin. The best ever. But, that wasn't the way it used to be.

He was once called Yo Hinomura, a well-established, peace loving Japanese potter with a reputation known the world over. That is until one fateful day when a marked-for-death photographer, who is a material witness to a gangland murder unintentionally dumps a film evidence into one of Mr. Yo's pots during an exhibition in New York. When Yo stumbles upon the film, he becomes the next target of the 108 Dragons--A Chinese Mafia known throughout the free world as the top dealer in narcotics. From that fateful day onwards, Yo's freedom was turned into myth as the Chinese Mafia threatened to kill him if he revealed the contents of the film to the police. When Yo was abducted, instead of being killed, the 108 Dragons transformed--hypnotized--him into the Crying Freeman, a dragon tattooed assassin who weeps each time he kills.

This book is the first volume of the Crying Freeman series wherein readers are introduced to the world of Chinese and Japanese organized crime, its deadliness as well as its small glories. In this first huge installment, we see the portrait of an assassin who weeps each time he takes away a life. But does his being a killer make him evil? That is the question that dominates the entirety of the book as the Freeman falls helplessly in love with a Japanese woman named Emu Hino, who is both fascinated and mesmerized with the character of Yo. And from that fateful encounter, the book muddles the thin line between good and evil as we see the plight of Yo/Freeman as he tries to protect the woman he loves dearly and serve the "family" that demands nothing but utmost loyalty from their best hitman, disregarding everything else including his right to love.

Written by Kazuo Koike (Lone Wolf and Cub) and pencilled by Ryoichi Ikegami (Sanctuary), this book is the result of their well-founded collaboration on Japanese manga crime stories that blows the mind away. Wherever they may be, kudos to both of them.

So if you're looking for a great adult manga crime yarn that tops all else, look no further than the Crying Freeman. It has all the elements of action and drama that would make you want for more. The book contains mind-crushing violence, three-dimensional characters, and steamy love making scenes that would just make your jaw drop in their stark and complex beauty.

Finally, does the portrait of a killer reveal what evil is like? I think it all depends on the one who looks at what's inside...

Rating:
Summary: If only Amazom.com allowed 10 stars
Review: This book is a very touching and gripping story about death, loyalty, and the invulnerable tie of love between two people. Kazuo Koike's takes you into the world of not just the average street punk crime syndicate, but of one which exemplifies of the bond of family. That's not the say this book is all about family get together with an occasional killing between meals, oh no, this book with satisfy every craving you have. The violence in this book is masterful. It's not all about shoot 'em up and bang, bang, but goes deeper into what makes a person kill, and how far would they go to put their lives down for the sake of others. The book begins with the hero doing what he does best, killing. But what Kazuo Koike tried to amplify with Freeman was to put a human touch to his character. The fact that he sheds tears every every time he kills, hence the title, allows more sympathy in his agony than hate for the fact that he's a killer. The book also introduces the strength of love, and how it can brake all barriers, forcing a man who's killed without remorse many times, to be conflicted not to do so by the mere meeting of eyes of a woman he's hired to kill.

The structure of the 108 dragon syndicate was well written. These aren't Mafia men who put money before friends and meet loyalty with the end of a barrel. The 108 dragons is more of a family than a crime organization. Each member looks to the other as a brother or sister and put their lives in the face of a cocked gun barrel to spare the life of the other (one scene in the book shows this best, you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it). The writing of the book is more serious than comical. Calling this a comic book is more of an insult really. Once you've read past the first few pages, you'll soon know what I mean.

The characters in this book are also legendary. If you take the time to really feel the dialogue shared by Freeman and his enemies, you'll find that nothing ever written can compare to this. They don't fight for money, or just cause their hired too. Freeman is more like a challenge to these men and women who dare to come and face him. From the African woman who fell in love with him just for the way he fought, to the syndicate vileness woman who's taste for blood first submerged by watching one of Freeman's assassinations.

And lastly, the master of graphic novel illustration, Ryoichi Ikegami. There really are no words to compare Ikegami's art but to see it for your own eyes. Every detail form the human form to the facial expressions and very (and i mean very) detailed love scenes in the book are just jaw dropping. It's very, very sad that the anime version of this book is out of production because they really stayed true to what crying freeman was all about. Buy it, read it, and fall in love with this book. You owe it to yourself.

Rating:
Summary: If only Amazom.com allowed 10 stars
Review: This book is a very touching and gripping story about death, loyalty, and the invulnerable tie of love between two people. Kazuo Koike's takes you into the world of not just the average street punk crime syndicate, but of one which exemplifies of the bond of family. That's not the say this book is all about family get together with an occasional killing between meals, oh no, this book with satisfy every craving you have. The violence in this book is masterful. It's not all about shoot 'em up and bang, bang, but goes deeper into what makes a person kill, and how far would they go to put their lives down for the sake of others. The book begins with the hero doing what he does best, killing. But what Kazuo Koike tried to amplify with Freeman was to put a human touch to his character. The fact that he sheds tears every every time he kills, hence the title, allows more sympathy in his agony than hate for the fact that he's a killer. The book also introduces the strength of love, and how it can brake all barriers, forcing a man who's killed without remorse many times, to be conflicted not to do so by the mere meeting of eyes of a woman he's hired to kill.

The structure of the 108 dragon syndicate was well written. These aren't Mafia men who put money before friends and meet loyalty with the end of a barrel. The 108 dragons is more of a family than a crime organization. Each member looks to the other as a brother or sister and put their lives in the face of a cocked gun barrel to spare the life of the other (one scene in the book shows this best, you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it). The writing of the book is more serious than comical. Calling this a comic book is more of an insult really. Once you've read past the first few pages, you'll soon know what I mean.

The characters in this book are also legendary. If you take the time to really feel the dialogue shared by Freeman and his enemies, you'll find that nothing ever written can compare to this. They don't fight for money, or just cause their hired too. Freeman is more like a challenge to these men and women who dare to come and face him. From the African woman who fell in love with him just for the way he fought, to the syndicate vileness woman who's taste for blood first submerged by watching one of Freeman's assassinations.

And lastly, the master of graphic novel illustration, Ryoichi Ikegami. There really are no words to compare Ikegami's art but to see it for your own eyes. Every detail form the human form to the facial expressions and very (and i mean very) detailed love scenes in the book are just jaw dropping. It's very, very sad that the anime version of this book is out of production because they really stayed true to what crying freeman was all about. Buy it, read it, and fall in love with this book. You owe it to yourself.