All-Rounder Meguru, Volume 1 by Hiroki Endo Review

All-Rounder Meguru is so very middle-of-the-road for me - it’s all-round mediocre! - that I find it hard to even muster up the energy to review it as I didn’t feel strongly about it either way. Eh, let’s give it a shot anyway - I like a challenge!

Part of the problem is that there isn’t really a story. Meguru is an amateur fighter getting into MMA, doing the training, having his first matches; Takashi is Meguru’s childhood friend who’s doing the same but is also out to avenge his yakuza father who was murdered. It doesn’t have a driving plot or much of anything. They train, they fight, and not much of the thin story advances - Takashi’s vengeance subplot is anticlimactically dealt with.

Nor does it help that neither character is especially compelling or unique. Meguru is kinda bland but vaguely likeable in his guilelessness; Takashi is stoic. Wow, so impressive! I also didn’t find the actual fights themselves all that interesting.

I didn’t dislike the book though. The training was weirdly fun to read despite being straightforward and the brief glimpses into Meguru and Takashi’s lives were kinda engaging - Meguru is unwittingly used by a girl he likes to make her boyfriend jealous while Takashi has a complex relationship with a mysterious ex. And, while Meguru might not be the most enthralling protagonist, he is endearing enough that I ended up wanting him to succeed. I like underdogs who follow their dreams and dare to take the road less travelled rather than settle for dull jobs and lives, as much of a cliche as that is.

The art is generic manga-style but not unappealing for that. The character designs are a bit too similar though so the fights were hard to follow at times - who’s winning/who’re we meant to be rooting for? And Hiroki Endo has this odd shading technique where, from side angles, character’s eyes on the far side are shaded out so it looks like they’re missing an eye!

I can’t say I was that bored reading this but neither was I that interested and I’m not sure I’ll even continue with the series as I’m hardly champing at the bit to find out what happens next - or maybe I will, who knows? Am I damning this with faint praise? I definitely am, but that’s how it is sometimes! It should be called “All-Rounder Meh-guru” - wakka wakka!