Mangaphilia discussion

Name
베리타스
Veritas

Written by
Yoon Joon-sik

Demographic
Shonen

Total Volumes (10)

Original run
2005 - 2010

Is there an anime version?
No

Gangryong Ma was the boss of his middle school, getting in fistfights almost every day. He thought that winning those fistfights was what it meant to be strong. That all ended when he met Lightning Tiger, a man whose power dwarfed that of any man Gangryong had ever met before. After arguing, begging, and jumping through hoops for a year to prove his loyalty, Gangryong convinced Lightning Tiger to be his master.

Months later, Gangryong was approached by an ominous group of men. He was presented with a box, and was told that it contained the arm of Lightning Tiger, whom they had supposedly killed. These men were from Reunion, a multinational organization whose main goals were the collection, evolution and eventual perfection of traditional martial arts and the creation of artificial ki, or natural energy, which could be used to make people more powerful. They forced Gangryong to enter a special school designed to train suitable fighters in the fighting styles that had been collected and created by Reunion.

Now, within Reunion, Gangryong finds himself a flash-point for controversy. As student of a sworn enemy of Reunion, there are many who want him dead. As the sole practitioner of EOTL, there are many who desire to see his success, so that they may use his techniques. All the while, Gangryong must work to uncover the secrets in the training he was given, so that he may achieve the power he seeks, and finally avenge the presumed deceased Lightning Tiger.

Overall Rating: 7/10

I have read this series 3 times. A story centering the student of a God like individual and a school dedicated to martial arts ready to break him for not being worthy of the Lightning God,s teachings. Oh was it great. This was during the time I had finished reading a similar manhwa The Breaker and needed to quench my thirst for Korean martial arts series.

I had had a hard time reading mangas/ manhwa that were primarily only inside a school environment but Veritas had managed to keep me interested and yearning to know more. Although the story itself is not groundbreaking like The Breaker, it has a multitude of fighting scenes (very anatomical drawing compared to other series) depicting many of its cast showing their strategies, their strengths and weaknesses, the psychological mindset of the fighters and those watchful eyes. Sadly, among the dozens of characters introduced, only a handful develop while the rest remind pretty much the same.

And while the series lasted ten long volumes, I feel like the ending was a little bit rush in the last two or three chapters were you finally see the true motives of certain cast. Sadly, with a cliffhanger and the promise of a sequel that never came to fruition, Veritas will never receive the ending it truly deserves. Sadly enough for me, the ending is when the series truly took off...

Do I recommend it:

Depends if you're looking for a disappointment in endings.