No Team No Way!

Genre: Science Fiction

Written By: Krist Anthony Almario

Illustration By: Krist Anthony Almario

Volumes: One-Shot

Today, I bring you guys something a little different than my normal reviews. For the first time, we’re going to be looking at an independent manga released by Krist Anthony Almario. When I was approached to review this one shot, I was thrilled! I’ve been in a bit of a manga slump lately, usually being too busy to have the time to sit down and read so this was a welcome change of pace. Since it is only a one-shot and much shorter than your standard manga, I was able to get through it in a day and it helped me out of my slump too.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with the term, a one-shot manga is a standalone manga usually no more than about 60 pages. It can be one chapter or several chapters in one book.

This will be my first indie review so I’m very excited!

No Team No Way! is a Science Fiction one-shot manga that tells the story of Anix Wingward. He’s an inventor’s assistant by day and a superhero by night! (sometimes day too) against the Vile Five and their boss; Vile. Some of the themes we run into are determination, as Anix wants so desperately to find others with his dream of bringing peace as well as a path to redemption for some of the villains. In our short amount of time with our characters, we get to see them in their highs and lows and Anthony did a great job at bringing out the different personalities of everyone.

Next, we’ll talk about some of the characters that make an appearance!

Characters

Alex Wingward – Red Hunter

He is our MC and has all the qualities a typical shonen mc has. He’s honest, good, and a bit goofy, but he means well. We meet him as he’s literally in the midst of a battle against the Vile Five and we get a little bit of background on why he is a hero and what his goals are, which are to assemble a team of others like him to keep the peace and do away with evil doers.

Professor One Fifty – Hunter Tech Inventor

What good would our hero be without the brains behind his technology? Like the previous inventors before him, he’s the Anix’s backbone and gives him all the cool gadgets and power-ups. He reminded me a lot of Dr. Agasa from Case Closed with his whimsical manner and eagerness for Anix to try his latest inventions.

Vinch Hellios – Vile One

One of the main antagonists of the story, Vinch is a member of the Vile Five and bears a grudge against Red Hunter. What’s more, he has his own demons to handle which end up explaining a lot about his personality and actions towards the end of the story. He is considered to be the most powerful of the group and is also the brother of Erna Hellios, another member of the Vile Five.

Erna Hellios – Vile Four

She is another antagonist for our MC and the sister of the Vile Five member, Vinch. The same as Vinch, we learn about her backstory and what caused them to join the Vile Five in the first place. She has a burn scar on her neck that’s usually covered by her necklace but I won’t get into how that was given, you’ll just have to read 😉

Highlights

Easy to follow the storyline, nothing overly complicated
Won’t take long to complete
Includes some fun trivia at the end
Easily accessible
Neat drawing and fight scenes

Final Thoughts

What I enjoyed the most about this story was that it was entertaining. So it doesn’t have a complex story with deep characters but it did make me laugh and smile as I read along. I also appreciated the illustrations which you can really see the potential. My hope is that there is a continuation of the story somehow because I became invested. I want to see what happens with Anix and his goal of creating a team of heroes and I also want to know more about the other villains that we didn’t get to see as much.

With all these things in mind, I decided to give this a rating of;

🍙🍙🍙🍙

I’ve linked below where you can purchase your very own copy of No Team No Way! in either eBook or paperback form. I have also included his social media accounts so you can follow him. Make sure you guys go buy it, give it a read, and show Anthony lots of love for his hard work!