WHY DO I LOVE FLAME OF RECCA?

When it Started

Flame of Recca is my biggest manga obsession, as well as one of the longest. It all started at Club Otaku, a small anime club that met at the library one Saturday each month. During one of the boring anime they were showing I decided to read the VIZ Manga catalog (February - June 2005) about newest releases and I read what each manga was about. I then read the summary for Flame of Recca volumes 11 and 12. As soon as I saw the words "dragon" and "ninja," I wanted to check it out.

This is what the magazine said:

Becoming a ninja is just a childhood dream for sixteen-year-old Recca, until a fateful encounter reveals he has inherited ninja powers, including the ability to wield fire! As Recca learns to master the ancient ways of his ancestors, he swears to protect a mysterious girl named Yanagi from forces bent on possessing her extraordinary healing powers...

Having reached the semifinals, Recca's Team Hokage must find a way to defeat "The Invincible One," a wily opponent who has trapped Fuko in another dimension and conjured up an illusion to battle the unsuspecting Domon! Meanwhile, the stakes grow higher with the return of an arch-nemesis and a supreme sacrifice made by a trusted friend!

-- about vol 12:
The final round of the assassins' tournament has begun! With opponents like a warrior impervious to pain and a hooded swordsman with a fearsome slice, Recca's Team Hokage has its hands full--especially Recca, who is forced to fight his own dragons!

I started getting the manga from the library and was hooked after volume 6. I got fed up with the waiting list and loved it so much I started collecting them. It's amazing that I caught up when there were 12 volumes out at the time!

The Series

Flame of Recca's storyline is really interesting and I love each and everyone of the characters. Above all others though is Fuuko. The bad guys are also great and some of them are also favorites, like Kurei (although you may not be so quick to really call him a bad guy the more you read). There are a lot of things it has in common with Naruto, so if you like Naruto you REALLY need to check out Flame of Recca (though remember that FoR came FIRST). Flame of Recca is actually the main reason that I'm currently a fan of Naruto, but one thing is for sure, Naruto can never beat out this series as my #1 favorite.