Viral Hit

What if a loser trained and turned his life around?

Well, How to Fight has the answer for that (or viral hit, whatever you're going to call it). Similar to Teppuu, a manga about female MMA, How to Fight is also a... martial arts story? Well, yeah!

Going into it, I was pretty skeptical. I love fighting stories, not only because of the action but also because of the intricacies that martial arts have. My problem is martial arts stories lack substance. They usually resolve around the fights and the story is there to keep the fights going. Viral hit isn't much different than those, but it's definetely not the most thought out series I've ever read.

The story starts with Ho-bin, your typical cliche high school loser who gets bullied because he can't defend himself.

The manhwa doesn't have your "power of friendship" BS. There is training, a lot of hard work, and in some cases, underhanded techniques. Nothing illegal, just a bit shady. I'm not a martial artist by any means, but I can tell that the author did his research and loves martial arts. That's very similar to Takehino Inoue (Vagabond's / Slam Dunk creator) who loves basketball.

The story explores many martial arts and even some you probably have never heard of. There's a lot of street fighting too so it's kinda interesting to see how a specific technique can be used in real life. But the main focus of the story is becoming viral. The author explores how streaming and making videos is a part of our culture and how someone's life can change if people make the right content.

Some random incident will make Ho-Bin (the MC) an internet sensation and take him on a path he never imagined. Well, not just that. The series also shows how bad the internet can be at times. Not everyone is out there trying to be helpful. Some of them are just a-holes. (:

The funny thing is that there are comments on the livestreams and are pretty realistic. Like, you would expect the live comments to focus on the main character winning or be relevant to the plot. Instead, they're out-of-pocket, completely irrelevant to what's happening on screen, or hilarious. You know, typical internet stuff.

Making it big on YouTube is the star of the show, or as the author likes to call it, "NewTube" (probably to avoid some copyright infringement, idk). Ho-Bin will go down a spiral of trying anything he can to make his subs go higher. I'd like to say more, but that would ruin the experience!

The main villian is well-written but isn't like the most unique bad guy you've ever seen. A criminal who uses power and influence to get what he wants while the MC is running around trying to stop him. The plot twists were kinda good till his reveal, but nothing too unpredictable.

Nevertheless, the story is pretty good. The pacing is nice and there are never dull moments. Some things do drag on a bit longer than they should, but other than that, I highly enjoyed the series. It doesn't have an "underlying" deep and meaningful message behind it. It's just pure fun and LOTS of hand-throwing.

If you're the type of person who loves action with a sprinkle of drama in it, then this is the read for you.

Of course, you can also wait for the anime release, airing on the 10th of April.