
Links go to search results. Availability varies by region.
HEARTLESS
6
1
Finished
Oct 28, 2016 to May 31, 2018
7.0/10
Average Review Score
67%
Recommend It
3
Reviews Worldwide
A surprisingly complex and intense story with both an interesting cast of characters and premise. I had a hard time putting this down because of how the story kept subverting my expectations. Some may be put off by the sexual nature of some of the scenes, but don't mistake this as a run-of-the-mill hentai. The intertwining of sex and violence is important and is used to flesh out both the world and its characters. This is not a porn and is about the taboo relationship of a presumably mute man and a incubus, the struggles of living on the run, as well as the psychic sonof a leader of monster hunters. I don't want to say too much because it's a relatively short manga, and I think it's best going in practically blind. However, I will say that it's definitely among my top favorite representations of a sex demon (with Tomoe by Junji Ito having one of the best succubi, and this having one of the best incubi, and both stories managing to put a spin on demons that actually feels "demonic" instead of cutesy)
A beautiful "incubus" luring humans with his looks and eating them lives in the present age. With him lives his "lover," a man called Manuel. Before the two living quietly in the woods, appears a self-entitled heresy hunting cult... (Source: Akaneshinsha, translated)
A quick rundown at the start: 1) Will you enjoy this if you like BL? Most likely, unless you can't stand graphic violence. 2) Can you enjoy this if you don't like BL? Certainly a possibility, if you can get over some gay sex scenes. 3) How much of a porn is this? When present, the sex scenes are very explicit, as much as hentai would be. But main focus of this work is story and majority of the pages are non-porn.What made me pick up this manga was the cover picture. Immediatelly I noticed high quality art, something with has noticeable contrast to the usual illustration quality of average yaoi. Now of course, this could have been a clickbait and the actual art of the manga could have been shit, but the drawing is indeed great. So much that I wish the author would work on some regular manga too. I also find it interesting how the author is able to portray both beauty and a gore - even as a straight guy I have to admit that the two protagonists are handsome - tastefully so, not just the typical exaggerated bishounen features. The combination of beautiful and repulsive is also the main theme of the work, both visually and metaphorically, as as the story offers a different point of view at a more playful/helpful side of a demon generally considered evil, while the exorcists that present themselves as morally superior have their own inner demons (*ba dum tss*). Admittedly, portraying devils as protagonists and the church as the bad guys by itself isn't anything new, but this manga has a knack for creating interesting characters that help reinforce the themes. That said, I could very much do without the clichΓ© scene of "the villains are also gay so we can have rape fanservice", but other than that part it manages to dodge the usual cringy bad yaoi tropes (or as you could call it, yaoi in general tropes). It's unfortunate that the author's previous work depend too much on shock value instead creating more interesting stories as she is obviously capable, proved by this manga.
A whimsical story of the yaoi genre but with the appeal of a detective novel. Although the Incubus character is quite interesting and I guess the author wants the viewer to understand how savage this character is and actually he is a good person and protects Manuel because he wants him to "go to heaven". However, this transformation is not convincing especially when in Manuel's hospital flashback, where we see an Incubus named Naruko, who is very good with children, the complete opposite of this character in the first chapters. Not to mention the character Osmond thought was very important, but ended up being lackluster.The fact that Manuel could magically speak naturally didn't convince me either. This story is quite difficult to read so the relationship of Incubus and Manuel did not give me much emotion. I'm not a fan of the yaoi genre so if this was Succubus it would be easier for me to read. Sensitive scenes are really hard to watch for me. But anyway the plot of this story is quite attractive and can be made into a movie. Actually that is the talent of Nishin Masumi when he knows how to create dramatic and sensational situations in the twists at the end of the chapter or the end of the story, the way the characters clash and the conflicts happen right away instantly and what follows are both engaging and entertaining, if you don't believe me you can watch "Feeding Lamb", of course if you're into yaoi and guro genres it's perfect.