The community for this manga isn't very active on here so I thought I'd do my bit and promote this manga by writing the first review.

The story itself isn't novel, it starts off normally in a cliché manner with two war orphans who dream of becoming the greatest generals in all of China. The appeal of this series isn't due to originality but more to do with the investment you feel with the characters.

There are a number of characters that have been introduced so far and had their pasts explained in some detail. This is definitely a series where a lot of focus has been placed on character development and this aids immensely with the story telling. Each arc that goes by sees not only the main character mature and develop but it also provides an opportunity for other characters to be put under scrutiny and more information about them to be brought to the fore.

This is a manga about a kid who wants to become the greatest general in all of China and so as you would expect the theme of battle is heavily prevalent throughout. These battles are fascinating to read about and there is a large amount of strategy involved which always keeps you on your toes regarding the outcome and the direction the story will turn. This isn't just a case of one overpowered enemy beating another and through some magic the character suddenly powers up like a typical Shounen title but the characters have to earn their stripes. The battles are where the personalities of each character really shine.

Of course one has to suspend a certain amount of belief when reading any such title as you would constantly think that how would such and such survive in this situation but then by the same token reality is often stranger than fiction and I would say one of the reasons I really like this manga is that it is a lot more realistic and believable although exaggerated at times.

The pacing of the story is done well and each chapter so far has been good value. This series is extremely solid in that the story told might not be original but the way is fantastic for the genre.

The story and characters can only be put to life through the artwork, and I have to say that the artwork for this is very very good. Everything is drawn extremely well and cleanly, battles (which a lot of the manga is focused around) are extremely enjoyable to read and there is absolutely no issue understanding what is going on from panel to panel. This is the highest compliment I can pay to any series as this is my biggest problem with a lot of other manga with difficult if not impossible to follow battle scenes which really detract from the overall experience.

I really quite like the art style of the author with realistic character drawings, really cool drawings of large battles and a good range of characters with variations.

I'm really excited about this series going forward as the character development, the potential direction the story is going to go in and the upcoming battles all leave me on the edge of my seat waiting for the next chapter in anticipation.

This reminds me heavily of Feng Shen Ji although that is more the fantasy route but I became addicted as soon after a few chapters in and this has become one of my favourite series which I am always checking on updates for.

This is definitely one of those series that just needs a bit more publicity and thoroughly deserves it's high rating on here.