The Greatest manga you have never read – “Kokou no Hito/ The Climber” Review
“There is value in fighting with all your strength.
And being able to stand atop a mountain is just a by-product of that.”
When you ask people about what they think the Greatest manga is, the answers are usually along the lines of Berserk or One Piece or Vagabond or some other popular yet critical masterpiece.
However, what about the Greatest Manga you’ve never read? And don’t even know about?
I am talking about a surreal masterpiece, one that is criminally underrated, the manga called, “Kokou no Hito (The Climber)”.
It is a work that sort of embodies the whole “A Picture is worth a thousand words” narrative.
Both the subtlety of character depth and the plot are portrayed through minimal dialogue yet also with pure dreamlike artwork. The story essentially features a main character that is truly alone. Each time, someone else tries to barge into his life, he ends up suffering. A sad and depressing, but also a little inspiring story awaits you if you do decide to pick this up.
It has everything a legendary manga needs.
The Plot, the Artwork, the thematic value, and the ever-emanating theme of human nature. It excels at most everything it does. I’d say, if you enjoyed works like Vagabond and Oyasumi Punpun, you are going to have a genuine blast with this one.
All of this and more, we’ll talk about it in detail in this Spoiler free review.
The Plot and the Nature of the Story
The story follows a rather lifeless introvert named Mori Buntarou. He sees not much value in anything, and has put up a wall around himself, until the day, when he gets provoked into climbing the school building. It is during this climb that he learns of the joy and exhilaration one can experience while climbing.
From there on out, climbing becomes Mori Buntarou’s life. He lives and breathes it.
If he can experience that exhilarating feeling of reaching the top of a peak once again, nothing else in the world matters.
That’s the premise, but the reality of this hobby is dark, depressing and it’ll kill you inside. Mori, as well as other climbers have to go through the arduous and painful task of coming face to face with nature, and nature isn’t so forgiving as to let just anyone climb it without facing the consequences.
It is where humans can put up airs anymore. Their true nature surfaces… and that’s when things get dark.
As you may have already realized, this isn’t your usual Sports manga. The story does start off in a similar manner, but it always leans more on the side of being a psychological thriller than the Sports genre itself.
Regardless, that’s what makes it truly inspiring.
Through adversity, through heartbreaks - even when you lose the person you looked up to the most. When you still don’t lose sight of what you genuinely sought to do, there is an almost magical feeling in that realization.
To always seek to do that one thing you truly want to do regardless of what the world might try to through at you. To spend years in silence for the pursuit of that one goal. That’s what makes life worth living. And in Moris case, it is to climb the most dangerous mountain.
I’d say, the reason the story seems to follow the usual Sports cliches in the earlier few chapters. Initially, the author Sakamoto Shinichi was responsible for the artwork, while the writing was done by Yoshiro Nabeda, but due to untold circumstances, Yoshiro Nabeda separated himself from the project, and Sakamoto Shinichi became responsible for both the story and the artwork.
This ultimately worked for the greater good, as the story not only evolved, but it also managed to go into unchartered territories when it comes to the Sports genre of the manga medium.
The Phenomenal Artwork and Thematic Value
Stories such as Berserk and Vagabond have already shown us that Great Artwork when utilized fully can be synonymous with the series’ thematic value.
This is the greatest feat of this phenomenal manga.
The story has a lot of metaphorical imagery while not much may be going on in terms of dialogue, which is befitting considering how this story is sort of a coming-of-age story of a single individual.
Meaning that the side cast isn’t the main focus, it’s the psychological struggles of the main character portrayed through astonishingly well-done visuals that consistently add symbolic layers over the adversaries that the protagonist has to face over the course of his youth and beyond.
Many fans have said that the statement ’A picture paints a thousand words’ is truly exemplified in this manga.
It’s because the author knows what he is writing through and through that he can also utilize the potential of visual imagery.
The meaning of mountain and the rope, the impact of lust on one’s psyche, the desire to be alone, the harsh yet humbling ways of nature that make one feel utterly insignificant.
The way the rope personifies human connection, and how human trust is among the major themes of this story.
All of this are portrayed in an unusual but surreal manner, one that inflicts awe and fascination for the work, it makes you see the story as a form or art, and not just as entertainment.
Conclusion
This is essentially a story of a man who suffers his way through life until finally he does something that is inconceivable by those around him. I’d say, it is indeed a coming-of-age story, but it’s also difficult to put it into simple words unless you go and experience this unparalleled gem for yourself.
It may very well be the Greatest Manga you’ve never read.
The story is grounded in reality, so seeing the Protagonist seeing the worst of the world and yet still not breaking is genuinely inspirational.
This is not to say this manga doesn’t have any flaws, of course it does. Just that, what it brings to the table more than outweighs its minor flaws.
That’s all folks!
Make sure you give this manga a shot!
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