Sun-Ken Rock
Sun-Ken Rock is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Boichi. It was serialized in Shōnen Gahosha's manga magazine Young King from April 2006 to February 2016, with its chapters collected in 25 volumes. The manga has been digitally available in English by JManga, Crunchyroll, BookWalker, and Manga Planet. Kodama Tales has licensed the manga for print publication in English, with the first volume set to be released in 2026.
The series follows Ken, a high school delinquent turned down by the girl he loved, Yumin, who promptly left Japan to become a police officer in Korea. Yearning to see the girl he loved, Ken dropped out of high school to travel to Korea and become an officer just like Yumin. Though Ken managed to travel to Korea, he found himself unable to become an officer and instead became a poor shut-in with no money or job. After saving an old man from being abused by a group gang members, he was scouted by the head of a local gang led by Tae-Soo Park, who made him the new boss.
Plot
The story revolves around Ken Kitano, a man from an upper-class family that was orphaned young due to his family's involvement with the ; he became a highschool delinquent known for fighting. The only thing that motivates him to take action is through his romantic affections for a classmate, Yumin. After learning she decided to move to Korea to become a police officer, Ken left his life in Japan behind and tried to follow in Yumin's footsteps; due to unforeseen circumstances, he incidentally becomes the head of a local gang and tries to hide it from Yumin. As the leader, the gang is renamed the "Sun-Ken Rock Group". At first, the gang only consisted of few members and did not even have a base.As the story progresses, the Sun-Ken Rock Group becomes bigger as they recruited new members and take over other gangs' territories and investments. The Sun-Ken Rock Group acquires an MMORPG company, a large casino, one of the biggest television media companies in Korea, as well as garnering political favors. However, throughout all of this, Ken has done his best to evade revealing himself to Yumin as a gang leader as she despises gangs. Ironically, Yumin was groomed to become an advanced plant in Korea to help her group lay the foundations to expand their hold into South Korea; due to Yumin's refusal to join the "family business", their plans were stalled as various members either tried to take her back to Japan or try to get her back into control.
In between Ken's rise, he and Yumin got closer and Yumin started to have feelings for Ken. However, things were always complicated by the interference of either Ken's gang activities and/or Yumin's connections. The turning point in the story is when Yumin is kidnapped by her own group and Ken is exposed as a gang leader in his attempts to rescue her from his greatest rival, Kim Ban Phuong.
Characters
; Ken Kitano; Yumi "Yumin" Yoshizawa
;Tae-Soo Park
;San-Dae "Pickaxe" Yang
;Do-Heun Chang
;San-Ki "Marin" Lee
;Kae-Lyn Kim
;Ji-Hae "Miss Yoo" Yoo
;Oh Dal-Soo
;Rei Huzimi
;Kim Ban-Phuong
;Bae-Dal
;Benito Armani
;Sun
;Don Prego
;Han
;Kim Yang-bae
;Ryu Yoshizawa
;Muftal Batil
;Kim Gae-ha
;Director Yan Tae-shin
;Jang Ah-jung
;Minhiro
;Na Yun-jeong
;Jang Yunchang
;Ju-Mon
;Hui-Rin
;Cherry twins
;Moon Ji-Ae
;Oh Man-Won
;Lee Man-gu
;Nami
;Goshi-Wan
Publication
Written and illustrated by Boichi, Sun-Ken Rock was serialized in Shōnen Gahosha's manga magazine Young King from April 24, 2006, to February 22, 2016. Shōnen Gahosha collected its chapters in 25 volumes, released from September 27, 2006, to April 25, 2016.The manga was first published digitally in English JManga on July 26, 2012; the site ended its service on May 30, 2013. The series was licensed by Crunchyroll for a simultaneous release, as the chapters were published in Japan, in February 2014. BookWalker added the series to its digital service in November 2015. Manga Planet added the series to its digital service on May 21, 2020. In October 2025, Kodama Tales announced that it had licensed the manga for an English-language print release in North America, with the first volume set to be released in 2026.
A spin-off, titled, was released in one volume on November 26, 2012.