Veritas (2005)

And you thought Crows was BADASS!!

Set in a near future in Seoul, Korea, Veritas is centered on a delinquent named Ma Gangryong. One day when Gangryong let's his mouth and bad attitude get the better of him, he finds himself facing down a gang and a serious beating. Just when things look hopeless a mysterious man known only as Lightning Tiger shows up and defeats the gang in seconds. Gangryong learns that Lightning Tiger practices an ancient art known as Enlightenment of Thunder and Lightning (EOTL). Having witnessed these incredible feats, Gangryong jumps at the opportunity to learn such a powerful art and after much convincing, eventually persuades Lightning Tiger to take him on as his apprentice.

Badass Bookworm? Close enough.

After training for some months and becoming a proficient EOTL user himself, Gangryong is entering a high school called Reunion which is named after the mega conglomerate which owns the school and pretty much everything else in Seoul. However, before Gangryong can even pass the front gate, suits from Reunion approach Gangryong and delivers to him the charred arm of his master and inform him that Lightning Tiger is dead. Who could have killed one of the most powerful martial arts masters in the world? Is Reunion connected? And why is Reunion using a high school to gather the most skilled martial artists of this generation? Gangryong enters the school with the resolve the beat the answers out of everyone he comes across.

The gauntlet is thrown!

Veritas is set in a world of badasses where the rule of cool is definitely on display. On its own, this approach isn't all that unique but Veritas is able to shine because it constantly defies conventions when it comes to dialogue, narrative, fight scenes, and even character development. When reading the manhwa the first thing one notices about Gangryong is how dissimilar he is to shonen heroes. He has a bad attitude, he's unapologetic, he's not altruistic, and he is more of a anti-hero than anything else. Another aspect of Gangryong I found interesting is either in whole or in part, often times his character traits play on conventional virtues. For example, Gangryong believes men and women are equal  and because they're equal he's fully justified in fighting a woman with the same ferocity and ruthlessness with which he'd fight a man. While this might offend some people I found it a very interesting character trait and I thought it was very creative how these traits carried over in the story and fight scenes.

Think Gangryong won't hit a girl? I'm afraid I've got some bad news.

One of the best fight scenes in the manhwa takes places between Ma Gangryong and Eunhwa Lee and without spoiling anything it is a fierce battle to behold with Lee not trying to play on her gender and Gangryong really not caring either way. It's quite telling because not only are both fighters highly skilled, but Gangryong shows another aspect of his character through his commitment to being the Dirtiest Player in the Game. If he had powder in his track pants you can rest assured he would have used it.

When Vera ties her hair back people die.

It's a good thing our protagonist isn't afraid to Ric Flair it up if it gets him the victory because he has to contend with a student body composed of fighters just as good if not better than himself. One student in particular, Vera Linus not only stands at the apex but also serves as our primary antagonist.

Told you.

In addition to serving as the student council president, Vera is also the leader of Reunion - the group responsible for the death of Gangryong's master. Vera is quite the chessmaster, she has influence inside and outside Reunion, and is always calm in the most cold, almost mechanical fashion I've seen from an antagonist in quite some-time. Not only that but in a school full of martial arts masters from around the world no one has even attempted to challenge her supremacy in years. Yes. She is That. Damn. Bad. However, she isn't evil in a traditional sense so much as she is Machiavellian and I felt that this was a unique way to characterize Vera in lieu of making her a megalomaniac or "the victim" as we've seen in far too many titles already. It's scenarios like this and many others where Veritas makes the reader think it's going to stick to convention and then makes a left turn.

Boy meets girl? Not quite.

There is a refreshing sense of unpredictability here because there's less of a reliance on tropes and more of an emphasis on organic story telling where the narrative is driven by believable characters. Further still, it challenges our views on these characters as well. Not every pretty face is a good girl and a few of the females in this manga are outright monsters. Likewise, not everyone who looks like a bully or a jock actually is one. "Don't judge a book by its cover", while not a blatant theme in this manhwa, definitely comes across because the characters are so different from what you might expect especially if you aim to compare Veritas with other comics out there.

Boy meets drunk girl? Not on Gangryong's watch!

Because Veritas doesn't stick to convention there is a lot of suspense in many of the scenes - more so than many titles in the marital arts genre where tension is usually only present in fight scenes. Sometimes two characters might share verbal jabs and things erupt into a violent fist fight. Other times characters who have had as much as they can stand of each other just come to blows and level the parking lot. Then there are those times where characters only exchange thinly veiled threats and you just know things are going to get dire in the very near future.

That one-time the call should've gone to voicemail.

Veritas's commitment to defying convention also comes across in its intense martial arts battles. This isn't one of those comics where the main character is always going to win because he's the MC. Veritas is a little more complicated than that partially because while many of the martial feats in the manhwa are outlandish there is some believable logic behind the ebb and flow of many battles. Ma Gangryong picks up on techniques quickly, he's a combat genius, and he's a really dirty fighter, but a guy who just started practicing martial arts a short time ago isn't going to best fighters who have been training since they were children simply because he's the protagonist.

Fire Dragon vs Ma Gangryong! Hypefest 2005!

Unlike other titles, winners and losers aren't a foregone conclusion in Veritas and that is what makes the fights intensely satisfying no matter who wins or loses because you simply don't know. Maybe Gangryong enters a battle with a clear cut advantage and takes an L out of nowhere. Maybe he goes up against someone who completely outclasses him and pulls out a win. You never know until the battle is over and that is what's so refreshing about the fights in this manhwa. Other pros of these battles is that while Gangryong is the main character he's not the only student who has a bone to pick with Reunion.

Stand Alone Complex pose.

Other characters have their own issues with Reunion, Vera, the other students on the council, or the school system as a whole. I won't go into everyone's back story but for some the reasons involve bringing down the entire conglomerate while for others revenge is motivation enough. And then there are those characters who keep their cards to the chest and no one knows what their true motives are. Just as these characters have their own motivations for entering Reunion, and fighting against Reunion, they also have their own fighting styles to boot. Sure you have your fragile speedsters, your powerhouses, and so on but there are also fighters who use techniques you wouldn't expect judging from their appearance. The outcome of many battles in Veritas are decided based on factors such as experience, real-time strategy, and unpredictability, and rarely does one move guarantee a victory.

"Let's watch this city burn, from the skylines on top of the world".

For the negative aspects of the manga, some demographics might be put-off by some of the suggestive themes. Fanservice consists of some female characters wearing really short skirts or shirts with low necklines which for me wasn't a big deal as there are many shonen titles which show off a lot more skin than you see in Veritas, but I felt I should mention it for certain audiences.

"We'll show those punks from Cromartie what happens when you mess with Bass High".

Veritas is a martial arts manhwa filled to the brim with BADASSITUDE. From the fight scenes, to the dialogue, and character interaction it's a title overflowing with style but it also has a great deal of substance too. The plot gets deeper and deeper as the chapter progresses but it never crosses that line where a comic can go from believable to absurd. It has a large cast of characters and while not everyone gets as much development as Gangryong, you do learn a lot about them. The art style is very eye-catching, the battles are surprising and even unconventional at times, and while the manga is fairly serious there's some comedy involved too - usually when Gangryong is doing what he does best. This is definitely one of the best martial arts comics I've ever read and it was Veritas that got me into The Breaker. This manhwa gets a very high recommendation. Fun stuff.