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Fire Punch

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Fire Punch
First tankōbon volume cover, featuring Agni
ファイアパンチ
(Faia Panchi)
Genre
Manga
Written byTatsuki Fujimoto
Published byShueisha
English publisher
ImprintJump Comics+
MagazineShōnen Jump+
DemographicShōnen
Original runApril 18, 2016 – January 1, 2018
Volumes8

Fire Punch (Japanese: ファイアパンチ, Hepburn: Faia Panchi) is a Japanese web manga series written and illustrated by Tatsuki Fujimoto. It was serialized through Shueisha's Shōnen Jump+ website from April 2016 to January 2018, with its chapters collected in eight tankōbon volumes. In North America, Viz Media licensed the manga for English release.

Fire Punch takes place on an Earth that has become frozen over and barren. The series follows Agni, a young man who is able to regenerate his body. After his village succumbs to inextinguishable flames he is left constantly on fire, leaving him in anguish and vowing to get revenge.

Plot

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The series takes place in a future, frozen Earth, barren purportedly by the Ice Witch, who is among a few who possess special abilities known as "Blessings". A teenage boy named Agni has the Blessing of regeneration, along with his sister Luna. The siblings help the few elders in their village subsist on the meat of Agni's severed arms. One day, the village is visited by a Blessed named Doma, who offers to take Agni to his city of Behemdorg; however, disgusted after learning that the inhabitants eat human flesh, destroys the village with its inhabitants, including Luna, whose regeneration is slower than Agni's, but not before imploring Agni to "live", remaining as the sole survivor. Constantly on fire, Agni's body breaks down and regenerates. Over eight years, he regains strength, vowing to get revenge on Doma.

Agni comes across a convoy of slaves to Behemdorg and kills the soldiers, saving a Blessed boy named Sun from execution. Sun believes Agni is a god and follows him. Agni meets a Blessed soldier named Judah, who resembles Luna. Judah beheads Agni to incapacitate him, and decides to take his head to Behemdorg. Sun is captured and made to generate power for the city using his electricity Blessing. A repentant and changed Doma meets with Agni and begs for forgiveness, but refuses death as an option to obtain it. Riding on a train, Judah attempts to kill Agni by throwing his severed head into the ocean. On the train is Togata, another regenerative Blessed and twisted cinephile, who aims to make Agni the subject of a film. Togata kills all the Behemdorg soldiers on the train, saving a girl named Neneto, and decides to use her as a camerawoman. Agni agrees to be Togata's protagonist in exchange for training, arranging his showdown with Doma and Behemdorg's most dangerous Blessed.

At Behemdorg, Agni decides to free the slaves. While fighting the Blessed, Agni's flames burn the city down, killing the residents. The slaves are transported by an ally, who also views Agni as a god, becoming known as "Fire Punch". No longer needing to maintain a facade, Judah sets herself on fire using Agni's flames, but is stopped by the Ice Witch, who beheads her and disappears with her head. The freed slaves arrive at an abandoned village, soon joined by Togata and Agni. Togata helps direct Agni in leading the village, as they worship him as a god and savior. Agni offers the unburnt side of his head as meat for their continued survival. One of Agni's disciples informs him that Behemdorg soldiers are nearby, and that Doma is among them; he also reveals that Togata is transmasculine.

The Ice Witch nurses Judah back through her regeneration and places Judah under her control. The Ice Witch, Surya, reveals that they are both "Envolved"—members of an advanced form of humanity who share a genetically-identical appearance and possess the abilities of the Blessed. Surya says that the rest of the Evolved migrated away from Earth during the Ice Age, and she intends to warm the planet again by transforming Judah into a "World Tree", which will absorb the life energy of every living thing, thereby starting a new epoch and ending the Ice Age. Surya previously attempted to become a World Tree herself, leaving her disfigured, but she resolves to use Judah in her place.

Togata abandons the village, but Agni follows in an effort to convince Togata to return. The two eventually reconcile when Agni, struggling to understand Togata's transgender identity, reveals he thinks of Togata as an older sibling. Though pained by it, Togata accepts her female identity and tells Agni she is his older sister. Agni decides to face Doma for the last time, going together with Togata. They find Doma, now caring for a number of children whom he raises to value education, compassion, and pacifism. Doma, however, justifies having destroyed Agni's village, explaining that cannibalism leads a person to lose their humanity. Agni, swayed by their conversation, resolves not to kill Doma and leaves. However, overcome by his memories of Luna's death, in a fugue state, he ends up murdering Doma and many of the children. Upon awakening, Agni tries to kill himself by walking into a lake. Togata drags him out, but catches on fire in the process and dies, telling Agni to live as Luna had.

Agni returns to the village and discovers a large tree; Judah, transformed, has sprouted and sucked the life out of "Agnists" (Agni's followers). Agni hears Judah inside the tree imploring him to kill her to free her from the tree and Surya's control. Agni attempts to kill her, but in the process, Judah's powers extinguish Agni's flames and halt his regeneration. Judah regenerates, but loses her memory. Agni gives her the name Luna, telling her that he is her older brother. They find shelter in an abandoned salt mine. The pair are apprehended by a small group of survivors from Doma's group, unaware of Agni's identity as Fire Punch. Agni and Luna stay there for a decade, while Agni steadily recovers his regenerative abilities. He occasionally enters fugue states where he sees his younger self. Luna eventually realizes Agni is not her brother, and they begin a sexual relationship.

Sun has risen to a messianic position amongst the Agnists. He is aware of Agni's incognito existence at the salt mine, but chooses to leave him be as Agni's happiness means the most to him. Sun is eventually persuaded by Surya that Judah must be brought to justice to warm the world; however, Sun instead declares his intent to burn her alive and executes her. Agni, reignited by Doma's granddaughter, surrenders to his single-minded Fire Punch alter ego and pursues the Agnists to rescue Judah/Luna. Sun is elated to see Agni, but Agni does not recognize him at all. The two fight one another, resulting in Sun burning to death. Judah destroys half of Agni's brain, allowing him to regenerate with no memories. She entrusts the care of the amnesiac Agni to Neneto, before, allowing herself to complete the tree ritual to thaw the planet.

After eighty years pass, a small community lives in warm, fertile land around the base of Judah's tree. Agni—now renamed Sun—passes time in an empty cinema, though there are no films to show. He is summoned to Neneto's bedside as she dies. One of her subordinates give Agni a pill which will allow him to die without regenerating, and urges him to use it as the surviving people have discovered weapons capable of killing all remaining life. The subordinate also pass on Togata's camera, though due to file corruption the footage recorded on it has no sound and is entirely in black and white. Sun watches the footage of his life as Agni, not recognizing the people or events.

Hundreds of years later, Judah remains in the tree; millennia pass, and she wonders to herself if she will be trapped there forever. She watches Earth below her destroyed by an asteroid. Millions of years later, when the universe is now dead, Agni joins her there, and although they do not remember each other, they embrace and fall asleep. Two people resembling Agni and Luna are shown leaving an empty cinema.

Publication

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Written and illustrated by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Fire Punch was published on Shueisha's Shōnen Jump+ website from April 18, 2016,[3] to January 1, 2018.[4][5] Shueisha collected its chapters in eight tankōbon volumes, released from July 4, 2016, to February 2, 2018.[6][1]

In North America, the manga has been licensed for English release by Viz Media.[2] The eight volumes were published under the Viz Signature imprint from January 16, 2018, to October 15, 2019.[7][8]

Volumes

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No. Original release date Original ISBN English release date English ISBN
1 July 4, 2016[9]978-4-08-880731-7January 16, 2018[7]978-1-4215-9717-1
2 October 4, 2016[10]978-4-08-880797-3April 17, 2018[11]978-1-4215-9718-8
3 December 2, 2016[12]978-4-08-880873-4July 17, 2018[13]978-1-4215-9719-5
4 March 3, 2017[14]978-4-08-881014-0October 16, 2018[15]978-1-4215-9808-6
5 June 2, 2017[16]978-4-08-881061-4January 15, 2019[17]978-1-4215-9944-1
6 August 4, 2017[18]978-4-08-881147-5April 16, 2019[19]978-1-9747-0039-4
7 November 2, 2017[20]978-4-08-881170-3July 16, 2019[21]978-1-9747-0451-4
8 February 2, 2018[22]978-4-08-881327-1October 15, 2019[8]978-1-9747-0452-1

Reception

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In 2017, Fire Punch was nominated for the 10th Manga Taishō.[23] The series ranked 15th on the "Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics of 2017" poll by Honya Club online bookstore.[24] It also ranked third on Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! list of best manga of 2017 for male readers.[25]

References

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  1. ^ a b 「ファイアパンチ」最終8巻発売、炎を纏いし男のダークファンタジー. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. February 2, 2018. Archived from the original on May 15, 2019. Retrieved September 14, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c "VIZ Media Announces the New Manga Series Fire Punch" (Press release). Viz Media. January 15, 2018. Archived from the original on May 13, 2019. Retrieved September 14, 2019 – via Anime News Network.
  3. ^ 飢餓に悩む世界で少年が取った行動は…ジャンプ＋新連載「ファイアパンチ」. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. April 18, 2016. Archived from the original on May 18, 2019. Retrieved September 14, 2019.
  4. ^ [83話]ファイアパンチ. Shōnen Jump+. Shueisha. January 1, 2018. Archived from the original on December 31, 2017. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  5. ^ Ressler, Karen (November 25, 2018). "Shonen Jump Magazine Launches 3 New Manga in December". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on May 3, 2021. Retrieved September 14, 2019. Fujimoto launched Fire Punch on Shueisha's Shonen Jump+ website and app in April 2016, and ended it on January 1.
  6. ^ 燃え続ける男のダークファンタジー「ファイアパンチ」1巻、PVやTシャツも. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. July 4, 2016. Archived from the original on November 28, 2022. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
  7. ^ a b "Fire Punch, Vol. 1". Viz Media. Archived from the original on November 18, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
  8. ^ a b "Fire Punch, Vol. 8". Viz Media. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
  9. ^ ファイアパンチ 1 (in Japanese). Shueisha. Archived from the original on December 23, 2019. Retrieved September 14, 2019.
  10. ^ ファイアパンチ 2 (in Japanese). Shueisha. Archived from the original on May 22, 2019. Retrieved September 14, 2019.
  11. ^ "Fire Punch, Vol. 2". Viz Media. Archived from the original on November 18, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
  12. ^ ファイアパンチ 3 (in Japanese). Shueisha. Archived from the original on June 2, 2019. Retrieved September 14, 2019.
  13. ^ "Fire Punch, Vol. 3". Viz Media. Archived from the original on November 18, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
  14. ^ ファイアパンチ 4 (in Japanese). Shueisha. Archived from the original on May 25, 2019. Retrieved September 14, 2019.
  15. ^ "Fire Punch, Vol. 4". Viz Media. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
  16. ^ ファイアパンチ 5 (in Japanese). Shueisha. Archived from the original on May 29, 2019. Retrieved September 14, 2019.
  17. ^ "Fire Punch, Vol. 5". Viz Media. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
  18. ^ ファイアパンチ 6 (in Japanese). Shueisha. Archived from the original on May 24, 2019. Retrieved September 14, 2019.
  19. ^ "Fire Punch, Vol. 6". Viz Media. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
  20. ^ ファイアパンチ 7 (in Japanese). Shueisha. Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved September 14, 2019.
  21. ^ "Fire Punch, Vol. 7". Viz Media. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
  22. ^ ファイアパンチ 8 (in Japanese). Shueisha. Archived from the original on May 10, 2019. Retrieved September 14, 2019.
  23. ^ Hodgkins, Crystalyn (January 23, 2017). "10th Manga Taisho Awards Nominates 13 Titles". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved September 14, 2019.
  24. ^ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (February 2, 2017). "Japanese Bookstores Recommend 15 Top Manga for 2017". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on March 21, 2019. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
  25. ^ Ressler, Karen (December 9, 2016). "Kono Manga ga Sugoi! Reveals 2017's Series Ranking for Male Readers". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on June 7, 2019. Retrieved September 14, 2019.

Further reading

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