Sidooh is a manga about two brothers and their lives as samurai during the chaos of the Bakumetsu period. The manga starts off with them as orphans simply trying to survive, with this ultimately leading them to join a cult. However, they end up betrayed by the cult and then go on a journey to get stronger in order to obtain revenge. Up to and at this point, the manga is pretty character focused. It focuses on each of their personalities, their bonds with each other, and their desire to survive and go stronger. The associated themes its trying to convey also come across prettywell.

However, their goal of obtaining revenge seems to go by the wayside and instead the brothers basically just become samurai serving the Tokugawa Shogunate. At this point it doesn’t really feel like it’s their story so much as the story of Japan with the two just being along for the ride. The two play key parts in conflicts, but beyond that there isn’t really anything special about them. They’re just following orders while fighting for their lord, the same as anyone else. The both still have side stories in a sense related to bonds between them and various others, such as both of them getting married eventually. However, these are pretty rushed and the key emotional beats aren’t very strong. The portrayal of Japanese history was also somewhat rushed, with it showing a lot of key events but not really providing all that much context. The narrative doesn’t flow well and is hard to follow unless you’re already familiar with the history surrounding the events that are taking place or perform research to become familiar. The ending to the manga is fitting but nothing too special. I wasn’t particularly satisfied or dissatisfied with it.

I didn’t like the art style much and found it far too rough. There is some good action and landscape focused art, but when focusing on characters emotions or them speaking it’s pretty mediocre. Still, even with that caveat, the fights are still pretty great due to being carried by great paneling and a good sense of flow.

tl;dr: A manga that’s pretty rough in terms of its characters, plot, and art, but that has great action.