Kill Blue Chapter 1 Review – “Let’s Go To School”

Kuroko’s Basketball manga creator Tadatoshi Fujimaki is back with a brand-new series. Fujimaki appears to be going on a completely different direction from the sports-based Kuroko’s Basketball and Robot × LaserBeam with Kill Blue. This new series appears to be about a group of assassins from the teaser color cover. Going on a completely different direction does create a question of how Fujimaki will utilize the success he found in his previous series with a story that appears to be tonally different. How will this new Shonen Jump series start off? Find out with Kill Blue Chapter 1.

CREATIVE TEAM

Writer & Artist: Tadatoshi Fujimaki

SYNOPSIS

After a successful mission, legendary assassin Junzo Ogami, who works for ZOO Assassin Syndicate, is turned into a 12-year-old boy after being stung by a wasp that was genetically modified by the scientist. This is confirmed by Junzo’s ex-wife, and Head of the Science Department at the Syndicate.

Junzo’s boss decides to use Junzo current state to send him to infiltrate a private middle school to gain more information about it before he his daughter enters the school.

Entering as a new student Junzo’s looks don’t win him any favors with his class. As he gets used to being in school Junzo, who never went beyond elementary school in his previous life after being taken in by the Syndicate, finds himself enjoying his classes.

One day a streaker rushes into the school and threatens to blow it up. Acting quickly Junzo is able to save his classmates by using chalk powder to cloak himself and defeat the bomber.

After this Junzo wins the favor of two female classmates and gets his first experience of the overwhelming nature of group chats. End of chapter.

REVIEW

Right away the comparison Detective Conan come to mind when reading the first few pages of Kill Blue Chapter 1. While not exactly the same since our lead starts off as a grumpy old man who is a legendary assassin rather than a teenage detective prodigy. But the similarities come from the premise of someone becoming a kid again through some crazy in-universe science. That is not a bad thing whatsoever.

While Detective Conan does come to mind immediately Fujimaki just as quickly shows how he is setting Kill Blue apart. Spending the opening thirteen pages getting to know who Juzo Ogami is at this stage of his life working for ZOO Assassin Syndicate was a smart call. Having this type of opening makes you forget that the double-page color cover doesn’t feature Juzo as an old man. Specifically, with how our lead character is a veteran assassin who has had a whole adult life from being a divorcee who has an adult kid with his ex.

Throughout this opening you get a sense that Juzo is just living day by day at this point in his life. He’s live a life where he has experienced it all from being married to seeing his kid grow up to getting divorced. That’s along with reaching an legendary status as an assassin. Getting this investment made the turn with the genetically modified wasp turning Juzo into a twelve year old work as a surprise.

This all led in well into how Juzo’s new form opened things up to get a glimpse into more of ZOO Assassin Syndicate. Juzo’s ex, Eri Wanibuchi, also working for the Syndicate at a high level was a great development. Like Juzo, we see that Eri seems to have settled with her current life and that they have at least a solid working relationship. There are hints that not everything is settled between them with how closed off emotionally they are but what we see from Eri is enough to want to see more of her in this series.

Juzo’s boss using his top assassin’s status quo for his own benefit as an overprotective dad is a great set-up for the new setting. Fujimaki did a good job setting all of the groundwork of how much of a culture shock going to school would be for Juzo. Because in the opening we know that Juzo was plucked from elementary school and trained all his life by the Syndicate to be the ultimate assassin. That does mean he never experience what being a kid actually means. That is immediately apparent with how Juzo suddenly becomes amazed at the new world he has entered. It’s a twist on the way we see leads in Isekai stories as we do see Juzo seems to have gotten a second chance at life.

Because of the life Juzo live we see Fujimaki play up how he instantly becomes an awkward tween. Having no childhood experience to build off from Juzo has no comeback when he makes a bad first impression as his classmates expected him to be some teen idol joining the class. The disappointment in Juzo being so plain immediately ostracizes him from the class since he doesn’t know how to interact with kids as a kid himself.

This leads into how this story will involve how Juzo can use all the experience he has gained as a legendary assassin in his second childhood. We already see that in saving two classmates that he was able to get into the group chat for his class. Now the question is how he will be able to further integrate himself into the school as he is there for a mission given directly to him by his boss.

Which also brings to question if we will see the boss’ daughter appear soon. We do see a design for a girl in the double page color cover that appears to be the boss’ daughter. So that could add yet another element to this story as Junzo spy job could turn into him becoming a bodyguard. There are a lot of possibilities if that is the direction this series goes.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Kill Blue Chapter 1 does exactly everything you could want from a first chapter of a new manga series. We get to know our lead character and set-up the world they are in. Tadatoshi Fujimaki then uses that set-up to transition us into what the story of Kill Blue will be about. Definitely give Kill Blue Chapter 1 a shot as this has all the makings of a long-running Shonen Jump series.

Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10

Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10

Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10