Ice-Head Gill

In the land of ashen snow known as Great Ice, a young man named Gill Sol has been chased from the capital for some reason. On northern Urchin island, Gill uses his axe skills to work for the lord Mela, but someone has come looking for him... Use your axe to defy destiny! The adventure of the ice boy now begins!

(Source: MANGA Plus)

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Ice-Head Gill was published digitally as an English simulpub through MANGA Plus. The volumes were published digitally by VIZ Media under the Shonen Jump imprint on February 25, 2025.

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Sana

Main

Sol, Gill

Main

Greatest

Supporting

Sliz

Supporting

Ond

Supporting

Sol, Dreki

Supporting

Reviews

Nov 12, 2023

bossunhimeswitch

Mixed Feelings

On this round of Jump manga with untapped potential, we have a little Norse boy with an axe fighting lichts. I rated this a 6 but I think a 5.5 is more apt. It really straddled the line between I'm having fun reading this and I'm waiting for it to grow into itself. The characters and concept were solid. The artwork was charming. However, it lacked the spark a lot of manga have that manage to return for more than a couple of volumes worth of chapters. Everything felt a little flatter than it should and after a few weeks, it continued to feel flat ...

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Dec 12, 2023

RedTopHat

Not Recommended

Ice-Head Gil Freezes Up Before It Can Get Going

The problems with Ice-Head Gil are many and consistent. Like all struggling and short-lived manga, it has flaws that push away any interest, and those problems are many.

Gil, the protagonist, feels too much of an archetype than a character, with the naivety of other Shonen protagonists, but none of their charm. This design choice makes it hard to connect with Gil and his actions. The benefit of this style of naive protagonists is usually that their purity cuts through complex immoral worlds and allows for their moral righteousness to win the day. Gil’s world, however, feels ... cut and dry, especially when it comes to the Liches. It also doesn’t help that Gil constant shouts “No one can beat me when it comes to axes,” in a horrible attempt at a catch phrase, that only induces cringe.

Next, while the art, at points is quite nice at some points, especially shots of cities or detailed backgrounds, some shots are awkward. The first pages of the first chapter is a great example of this contrast: from a beautiful gorgeous city shot to an awkward shot of Gil running on a roof, positioned as if he was added as an after fact. Also, while some of the fighting artwork is really nice, during a few fights, it can be easy to lose track of how the fight is going or why the attacks work as such, especially as abilities are thrown out and introduced and used.

Plot-wise, it’s hard to give a fair shake to most Weekly Shonen Jump titles under 25 chapters, but Ice-Head Gil attempts to rush through its story at breakneck pace and wrap everything up, which is an author choice. However, it makes the pacing confusing. Also, if the pacing was an issue only during the later chapters, that would be a different response. Here, the pacing seems confused pretty early on as it introduces characters, attempts to find a way to stay around, flounders, and dies.

Finally, Ice-Head Gil shows a lot of love to some Shonen series before it, but it doesn’t understand the gravity of the choices those series made artistically. For example, the idea of leaving the island home for adventure, which calls to Hunter x Hunter, sets up Ice-Head Gil’s first chapter effectively. This series wants to leave the mother figure behind and explore the world. However, because the world lacks that same gravitas as the world of Hunter x Hunter, it’s hard to feel the same magnificence in it.

What Ice-Head Gil needed was some more fine tuning to really find what could make it click, but nothing ends up firing off. Instead, it freezes up and leaves a mess of a completed and rushed story with
no reason to return.

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Aug 23, 2023

pennycryman

Not Recommended

Well-written

Preliminary (8/20 eps)

Ice Head Gill certainly exists. Having followed it since Day 1, when it first debuted, I could already smell the axe-bait. Its first chapter had a solid Viking aesthetic, however, its conclusion suggested an adventure type story. Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with that. Some of the best shonen ever are adventures. However, as Red Hood certainly showed, adventure series usually have a hard time in Jump nowadays. And while Gill did have a decent first chapter, it went downhill from there.

Plot: 3
Gill's first chapter was actually sort of decent, leaving me with some hope for it. However, it also didn't have much originality, aside ...

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Poll: Ice-Head Gill Chapter 20 Discussion Red_Ranger_Wien - Nov 12, 2023	12 replies	by Rainasu18 »» Mar 5, 2024 6:19 AM
Poll: Ice-Head Gill Chapter 19 Discussion Red_Ranger_Wien - Nov 5, 2023	4 replies	by Zizike »» Nov 6, 2023 6:53 PM
Poll: Ice-Head Gill Chapter 18 Discussion pennycryman - Oct 29, 2023	6 replies	by Rcygojo9z »» Nov 2, 2023 9:14 AM
Poll: Ice-Head Gill Chapter 17 Discussion Red_Ranger_Wien - Oct 22, 2023	1 replies	by bossunhimeswitch »» Oct 22, 2023 11:01 AM
Poll: Ice-Head Gill Chapter 16 Discussion Red_Ranger_Wien - Oct 15, 2023	2 replies	by Shigeopsy »» Oct 16, 2023 8:00 AM

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