User blog:Highestbounty123/F.L.A.T - Feng Shen Ji

Hello, and welcome my dear fans(?)! To another segment of....F.L.A.T!

"But, HB-san-chan-sama-senpai-kun, what's that?"

Well, imaginary, torturous voice in my head of a dismembered girl/boy, F.L.A.T stands for First Look At Things (Genius, ain't it?). Basically, a first impression blog! Like the one I did for Blue Mistral! (Or, Wendy Finding Yuri Love).

So, I am going to read the first chapter of a manga today! And despite your many WONDERFUL recommendations (That I have either read, watched, or know, thus, eliminating the purpose of a first impression), I have decided to do today manga, Feng Shen Ji!

Recommended by the Ashy boy himself.

Mainly because he keeps teeling me it is awesome incarnate, and that I should read it. And I know nada about the plot, so may as well give it a whirl, eh?

It's apparantly authored by Zheng Jian He (Longwei?!) and artist is Tang Chi Fai. So it's not japanese, but we could already tell by the title being chinese. The author has apparantly done another manga called "Wolf & Mary", so I guess he has experience. But, moving on.

Now, the summary is:

''The Great Shang dynasty has been in power for many years but the Gods' find fault with the new emperor. Instead of submit to their will at the expense of his people, the Emperor resolves to throw off the Gods' yolk and free humanity. However, not only the Gods but a rival, the young Zhou who submits to the Gods' will for his own purposes will face him! The fate of the dynasty, nay, the fate of all humanity will be determined by this great battle between the forces of Heaven and Earth!''

....Well, fuck me sideways, that sounds epic as shit. Let's dig in right away, shall we?


So, we begin wit-....



''    "I, who is about to awaken, am the Red Dragon Emperor who holds the truth of the king up high. Holding the infinite hopes and unbreakable dreams and walking the path of righteousness. I will become an Emperor of Crimson Dragon and I will lead you to the Path of Heaven, glowing in deep crimson light!" ''

Holy shit, we're just in the cover and already we have Mr. Awesome #1. Lovely! So, we open up with a vulture, and a grey, decrepit old man, smiling like he just creamed himself ate ice cream. While others look at him with terror. Why, a little girl is even shutten up when she says it stinks. Lovely jubbly!

So, we find out the guy is a messenger, who has walked 30 days, no rest, just to give a message to the Emperor of Shang, who is sitting bawsly at his throne.

Apparantly, the Gods, the motherfuckin' Gods of above, from Tian (Tien?) are displeased, because the ruler has become shortsighed, and thus, must serve remedy in order to gain their forgiveness (Or stuff).

But, every year, ten thousand of men are invested in order to carry out the Gods' will, and yet, this time, they do not have the neccesary power to waste this time, so, old creepy McCreepFest (or DEATH) basically says, "Y'know yer neighbors? The ones who did nothing wrong? Yeah, go ahead and use them for your own gain. They ain't shit compared to ye, amirite?".

By doing so, the Emperor shall become so powerful, the Tian will be incredibly pleased, and he will have dominance over the land, and found a new Imperial Dynasty.

Yeah, King ain't havin' none of that.

He quite literally, laughs at that, questioning the Gods, saying their greed has become corrupted with madness, what reason to they have for this? The messenger says people naturally fear Gods, and have no need for a reason, and when he questions if the Emperor will go against his ancestors' legacy, he declares "My ancestors fail to provide me with a good model. I will not follow them".

But wait, there's more!

He burns a...scroll, saying "I will create new rules!" And thus we get this epic piece:



"Screw the Gods, I am awesome!"

So, to sum up. Emperor gets told what to do by the Gods, and after thirty(?) generations, says "Fuck you" to the Gods, and openly declares WAR ON GODS.

Kratos, go eat your heart out.

Later, we cut to the Emperor's supposen son (or girl?), and he speaks with someone, of course, wondering "Why did Daddy go against the Gods? Is he drunk again?" Then we find out a LOVELY exposition that he once fought a slave, made him lose an eye, and his father delightfuly hung him and whipped his back in public.

....Suddenly, I do not root for this guy as much.

Understandbly, son of the Emperor, hasn't spoken to him since, but apparantly, this guy sees slaves as worth nothing, which...actually makes an interesting conflict. He probably tried to teach his son a lesson, that slaves should not be treated in such a way despite their status, and that even his own son would be punished for such behaviour.

Cruel, but I suppose, effective.

Still, DAMN, man.

So, Zhou soldiers are attacking, people are now running, shit's gettin' real! Son's about to leave, tells whoever his talking to, that he shouldn't resist, if the soldiers were to come in, and is off to find his mother at a place called Zhaixing Lou.

We cut to a woman, watching the attack unfold, while a white haired stranger, name Zi Yu, an old friend of hers, apparantly, has come. The two have a neat chat, Zi Yu saying he is but a "homeless scavenger", but the woman, apparantly the Emperor's wife, from what I can decypher, says Zi Yu is the most skilled swordsman under Heaven.

They talk about the current situation, saying the soldiers cannot resist the Gods' attack, and Zi Yu offers to take the lady away, while putting a...unsettling smile.

She, of course, rejects the offer, saying it is her decision, the moment she decided to be with the Emperor, and if he dies, she will too. She appreciates his kindness, and Zi Yu, frowning, walks away, saying he envies the emperor. (Bet he was a third wheel). He says he will do his best to help the Emperor, but he makes no promises there will be no casualties, to which she thanks him, regardless.

We then cut t-....



"My eyebrows demand more power."

My God, this guy has epic eyebrows. Seriously. I think only Gai can rival those.

Anywho, this fella, Emperor Wu, is the guy who the Gods sent to attack and defeat Emperor of Shang (Or is Shang his name?), and as a result, will be granted the title "Tian Zi", literally meaning "Son of Heaven" (Oooh, I'mma use that. DIBS!). Yet, from his words, I feel as though even such a grandeous title as that isn't much. Saying he's only replacing the Emperor as the Gods' new servant.

Oh god, here comes the complexity.

Wu here, doesn't wish for any titles, only for the Gods to keep their promises. That's all that matters to him. Nothing else. And the messenger assures him by saying:

"The Gods never lie."



Anywho, moving on.

We get an epic view of the Zhou soldiers in their armors of black, commanded by Wu himself. He gives them the speech, telling them why they came, millions of miles from home, to Zhao Ge, the richest land. They came for the gold, the women, everything! They came here, TO TAKE IT ALL!!!

And thus, Wu declares, that tonight, everything belonging to the people of Shang, shall be theirs.

So, now we get a lovely history lesson of how it all went out. Wu, being the badass, epic eyebrows man that he is, has gathered clans in order to claim everything from Emperor Zhou of Shang (Oh, so, that's his name), and they fought all the way to the capital!

And sadly, the people are displeased. They fear they're in danger. Thus, they come to a conclusion.

It's all the Emperor's fault.

And this...indeed is true. He kinda is the guy who went to war against GODS, as epic as that was, it was supposed to not end well.

So, his son also agrees with them, pretty much saying it is his fault, and he shouldn't have went all Kratos by speech.

Unfortunately, someone recognizes the Emperor's son, and of course, that can't go well.

They corner the Emperor's son, and when he tries to fight back, they BONK 'em on the head, and they all fight on who gets to hand him over to the Zhou soldiers, in order to keep their belongings.

Buuuuut...



"Touch my son, guess what you lose? Hint; it's a pair inbetween your legs."

Yeah, he pretty much makes 'em shit their pants by being epic on an epic horse.

Who'd a thunk it?

So, he asks his son, Wu Geng, why is he here, and not with his mother? To which his son says that he is a part of the Shang, and he refuses to wait his death, and can still fight.

Yeah, daddy ain't takin' that after a bunch of villagers ganged up on you.

So, he tells 'em to get lost (literally), and a leginimately nice guy soldier tells him he should go back, and that his mother will be worried. So, he gives him his sword, and lets him return home. (Please don't die...).

So, we then bump into Zi Yu again! Openly saying the Emperor isn't a good father, and perhaps, not a good King either (SHOTS FIRED!...Probably.) And we get some info on 'em.

He is the Emperor's younger brother. He left eight years ago, giving up the throne to his brother, and became a world-renowed swordsman.

And legend says he killed a God.

Knew he'd be an epic bastard. Look at dem muscles and that hair! Booyah!

Zi Yu and his bro have a chit chat, with the Emperor being sure Zi Yu's here to fight by his side, but Zi Yu says that perhaps he's here to end the war by presenting his head to the Gods.

Because even though these brothers both hate the Gods.

The people of Shang matter more to Zi Yu, and before he left, he asked his brother one promise.

Protect the people of Shang.



Bet ya regret trusting yer lil' bro now, don'tcha? I know I always do...

But, regardless, the Emperor declares that, living such a life, has no meaning. Even if for a hundred more years they would exist, it'd be under the Gods' repression. That Shang may as well perish if that is the case. His ancestors dared not resist, but he does. He cannot endure living as a slave.

Pretending to be blissfully ignorant.

If Zi Yu insists that the people of Shang should remain slaves.

Then he's welcomed to kill him.

...Fuckin' hell, I don't know if I like or hate you, goddammit. Stop with the conflicting feelings, you awesome bastard!

Zi Yu takes a moment of silence, before saying his brother hasn't changed, and adding that he should know that he will die tonight.

But, regardless of that, his brother, the Emperor, proudly declares that the cowards have left, and his soldiers say that they shall fight to the death! Because they do not fear death! That they shall win!

Oh my god, how many pages are we win?! 39?! And yet so much epic!

So, according to scouts, victory is assured, Wu stands, as he knows. Even if Zhou, the Emperor, has the courage of a thousand men, or even one that surpasses the Gods, it means nothing.

He has nothing he can do.

Pfft...! Hahaha....! Sorry, sorry. I just...ahaha...I'm just waiting for the epic. Gettin' all giddy!

There is an interesting exchange between the messenger and Wu. Apparantly, if things were to get dire, the Gods will come to his aide, as they have prior to the Shang, saving them when they would have otherwise lost.

Well, shit.

Okay, so, then w-...



"Out of my way! Awesome on a horse, coming through at full force of a thousand fucking soldiers, here to crush the Gods' will!"

Holy Mother Teresa on a Mercedeze (Mercedes?) Benz! That is fuckin' epic!

So, quite literally, Emperor Zhou went up and curbstomped soldiers like flies, alone. And the soldiers charge through! Epicness is unfolding!

And we even see Zi Yu be epic.

By just standing and decapitating without being noticed.

Like Sir Zi Yu Motherfucker.

Emperor Zhou charges towards Wu, whom we discover his birthname was Ji Fa, taunting him by calling him the Gods' new "pet".

And they are literally have a conversation, with Wu being calm as fuck, while Zhou is just MOWING DOWN like a hundred soldiers on his horse.

And right before the two finally clash...!



"Guess who?"

This guy just up and appeared infront of Zhou, who was on his horse, mowing down soldiers.

Hatty here has some serious adamantium balls.

And apparantly that is the "Gods' decree", which...means this guy is probably a God...shit.

Worse yet, that's where we end the chapter!

Now, onto final thoughts!

Final Thoughts
Well, that was epic.

No, really.

I have not seen such epic in a while.

Best yet, this has over 100 chapters, meaning alot more epic, and characters.

I'll go buy the good.

Settings GORGEOUS, artstyle makes me think of Fist of the North, in a way. And the characters are...surprisingly...deep. And they just got introduced. Different ideals, and goals, and all because of the Gods' rule.

I am going to read and enjoy this manhua. Alot.

And so should you. So, in one final note.

<p style="text-align: center;">Read it, mortals.

10/10!

100/100!

Best start!

This has been HB, with a new FLAT (IS JUSTICE!), feel free to recommend a manga or anime to do a first impression on next (preferably manga), as long as I did not hear, know, or see it prior.

Thank you, and have a nice day.