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25
3
Finished
Nov 15, 2021 to May 30, 2022
6.5/10
Average Review Score
53%
Recommend It
15
Reviews Worldwide
In my opinion, the only reason why this manga has been canceled was the complete failure of the editorial department. And yes, Yuji Kaku did not create such a great manga as âHellâs Paradiseâ, but to cancel this one over completely mainstream shounen manga, which even had worse sales than this, and that they ran this manga before the Anime of âHellâs Paradiseâ even started, showed me how incompetent the current JUMP editorials are âjust look at âRed Hoodâ or âPhantom Seerââ. But enough about JUMP, letâs talk about the manga and why the editors thought this wonât be such good work like his previouswork. Short version - Overall (6/10): âHellâs Paradiseâ catched the reader immediately with great artwork, designs, mystery, mature action and as the most important, 2 extraordinarily interesting main characters. Meanwhile this manga failed in every aspect, compared to the other work. This does not mean that âAyashimonâ is a bad manga, but it was definitely weaker than the authorâs previous one. The artwork and designs were still good, but due to its own story limitations the action was way too one dimensional, the mystery aspect was slightly noticeable and we got a female protagonist which is just there to be protected, while the male protagonist is so plain, dumb and one-hit k.o. strong that it gets boring fast. This sounds harsh, but donât forget: COMPARED to âHellâs Paradiseâ, so a lot of fans are surely disappointed. But on its own it is a solid action manga, which had a lot of potential if they would have given more time to extend. So letâs get into the details. Long version - Story (6/10): The plot is a typical revenge story, but with so-called Ayashimon, which are demon/ghost like creatures. The ayashimon girl (Urara) wants to avenge her father and for that she wants to take over the yakuza like ayashimon syndicate. This is of course not all, because we also have a male human protagonist (Maruo), who is so strong that he lost his purpose in life. So a lucky accident brought them together, and Maruo gets the bodyguard of Urara. Together they literally punch through ayashimons over ayashimons to solve mysteries like âwho was the traitor?â or âhow this weak and plain guy got the most badass antagonist ever?â, but the start was maybe too slow to catch every reader and at the same time the pacing was too fast (meeting the final boss within 5 chapters). The other negative in the story was the ayashimonâs ritual fights, which were a 1-v-1. Because the male protagonist was too plain, dumb and strong at the same time, the fights get boring fast. This also improves later â at the end the amazingly choreographed mass fight in a hotel without catching the attention of the guests was definitely the highlight â, but again it was potentially too late. Also they tried maybe too hard to ride on the âTokyo Revengersâ hype with such a darkish yakuza like revenge story, which did not fit very well with the Shounen JUMPâs demographics â which the editors should have known⌠â So the story had potential, it just started to unfold the mysteries and the power levels, unfortunately it was too late and the limited 1-v-1 fights + the simple protagonists decreased its own chances to fully evolve. - Art (7/10): I gave âHellâs Paradiseâ a 9/10 for art, so how can this be just a 7? The artstyle of an author shouldân get worse in such a short time and mostly it even improves further, so why? The answer is simple, I think Yuji Kaku is not so suited for a weekly series (âHellâs Paradiseâ ran in Shounen JUMP plus, where he had every 3 weeks 1 week break). The designs of all the different ayashimons are great again, but they werenât as much in focus as could be, and we mostly just saw the plain protagonist. On top of that, the whole style felt rushed. The lines were more shaky and here and there I missed 1-2 more panels to get a more smooth dynamic. And again the 1-v-1 fights took a lot out of the fights, especially if the protagonistâs full fighting repertoire is a strong punch⌠I mean, it works for âOne-punch Manâ, but that also gives you way more build-up and/or comedy. And of course it had the faults from the past of felt like missing backgrounds. Here and there we get a glimpse of the authorâs creativity, like the mentioned hotel fight, but probably after he got the OK to do what he wants due to the cancellation. Which again showed that the editors limited him. - Characters (4/10): Now we have arrived at the major weak point of this series. Iâm sure you got the big picture already, the characters were way too simple and one dimensional. Female characters (not just Urara) whose only purpose is to be protected by others is way too outdated. Maruoâs dumb and plain character could be fun, but it is also often boring and repetitive. Most of the side characters and antagonists get almost zero screen time, so why would you care about them? But again, after a certain point in the story we get a very interesting side-character â similar to Gabimaru of âHellâs Paradiseâ â and his backstory, as well as the main villain get a more proper introduction and our 2 protagonists evolve characteristically. So it is a pity it did not have enough time. - Enjoyment (7/10): To be honest, as a âHellâs Paradiseâ fan, I still enjoyed this manga even if it was not as good, but had maybe even more potential. Yeah, the characters and story could be way better, but I think with more time it would have worked. The art / designs were still outstanding and the creativeness of the author was really refreshing compared to the current running battle shounens. So give this mangaka as much freedom for its work as he wants and it will be as great or greater than âHellâs Paradiseâ! It is very sad that the editors at JUMP seem sometimes really off in their manga predictions and/or limit the author's potential. Giving other series enough time to unfold (like âYozakura Familyâ), but axe very promising ones (this or âRed Hoodâ) immediatelyâŚ
Years ago, the death of the infamous Enma Syndicate's chairman, who united all those below him, led to numerous individual yakuza groups being created. These groups are filled with "ayashimon"âsupernatural creatures possessing various powersâwho now lurk in the shadows of modern-day Japan. Maruo Kaidou, inspired by his favorite manga heroes, has spent the majority of his life ruthlessly training. He has become so strong that no business will hire him and no martial arts organization will accept him. But just as Maruo reaches his wit's end, he encounters a young girl named Urara, a yakuza head fleeing from an enemy group. Though Urara tries to chase him away because of his status as a regular human being, Maruo jumps at the thought of an exciting fight. Now in the midst of a new world filled with individuals wielding powerful abilities, Maruo feels that he cannot return to his old, boring life. Thus, he decides to join Urara's yakuza groupâbecoming its very first member. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
It's sad that this series has been cancelled. I thought that Yuji Kaku had a lot of potential built up in these few 25 chapters. Ayashimon was a series I really wanted to see succeed and I thought it would, but it seems JUMP doesn't want to let any series grow a develop into its own. Ayashimon had a very cool world built around the story. The power system was interesting to say so, but I think it was one part of why Ayashimon did not survive. The main character Maruo has a personality that I loved, and his power was kind of a mysteryand I wish the series would have gone over why he is so strong, but it would have happened later in the series I bet. Yuji Kaku's art and paneling is amazing in this series, and I think was very eye catching.
Ayashimon, penned by Yuji Kaku, the mangaka behind Hellâs Paradise: Jigokuraku, is a Weekly Shonen Jump series that follows a manga obsessed beat emâ up protagonist and the yakuza boss yokai girly he chooses to serve under as they try to climb their ranks through the criminal underworld. However as you may have noticed, and like many works that canât hit a certain arbitrary number of sales, it was canned before its time, capping off at a sad 25 chapters. Now before we get into it a discussion about the work itself, I have to lay some thoughts out about Kaku's last work. While manyseem to laud Hell's Paradise, I honestly didnât care for it. I thought the work was sloppy and uninteresting, and the one element that was worth caring about (the protagonistâs relationship to his wife) was not enough to carry it out of mediocrity. Similarly, Ayashimon is generic from top to bottom. A short lived, shonen-to-the-core three volume blunder that I felt had marginally less potential than other canceled works of this ilk. Thereâs a mild metatextual nature to the manga in the form of a protagonist thatâs obsessed with Jump, but otherwise itâs got nothing more, no legs to stand on. Like anything else, Jump goes through phases, and for the last few years a lot of its titles have been into the yakuza, mafia, spy/assassin/demon/underworld schtick and I am SICK of it. Tacking on the yokai element does not do Ayashimon any favors because the setup is already relying on genre conventions that are overdone in many of its contemporaries. But is the presentation at least interesting, or unique? Iâd have to say no. At times, the manga can get really bogged down by a heavy amount of dialogue, wherein the characters are ultimately just saying a whole lot of nothing; I didnât feel drawn in by the setting whatsoever simply due to a bad balance between expository worldbuilding and mediocre action scenes. Thatâs another thing: Kaku is, sadly, not a very good artist. His style is rough and sloppy, and not in an endearing way like that of Chainsaw Manâs Tatsuki Fujimoto (whom he served under as an assistant), but in a way that sort of gives me the impression it was done hastily, and in ballpoint pen. His panels arenât framed well, he canât engineer very visceral fight scenes, and overall I just think itâs somewhat ugly. It skirts the edge of being serviceable simply due to competence in perspective and style, at least, but that's being kind. So whatâs left? Despite all these notes of complaint, I canât sit here and say Ayashimon is some horrible piece of trash, because it isn't â itâs just⌠a manga. A short, unoriginal manga thatâs got basically nothing for me, but has enough hallmarks of the shonen demographic to where Iâm sure itâll easily appeal to others. In my Red Hood review (another WSJ work canned at three volumes) I lamented the lost potential, but here I don't know if there was much to begin with. I donât recommend it, but other than being uninspired and boring it doesnât have glaring narrative faults that actively make it âbad,â leaving it right in the middle as plain olâ âaverage,â as the majority of manga made are probably this level of amateur. I know very well that these traits win it popularity in some circles, and Iâm fine with that, but I myself couldnât willingly pass it on it to someone. There are better shonen with generic traits that have gotten, and still get, to exist as longer publications, building on their stories.
It was a shame to see this series end in only 25 chapters, but so is the nature of weekly SJ releases and their cut throat serialization standards. So while only 25 chapters may feel like not enough for an honestly decent and fun series, it wasn't really able to capture me in any particular way across these last 6 months. Unlike some of the more popular SJ releases I felt that this title was somewhat lacking of a voice and personality of its own, which sometimes made it hard to come back to week after week. The general premise wasfun, but I believe it's main compromising factor was the general lack of characters to really get invested into. The main cast of characters wasn't necessarily bad in the time I spent with them, but they didn't really capture me in the same sort of way the Jujutsu Kaisen cast did, and I believe that it is that lack of overflowing personality is what really hinders the overall enjoyment to be had from Ayashimon. I could definitely taste the potential, but unfortunately it couldn't quite get those sparks to fly before its time was up. And without having a meaningful ending it's kind of hard to recommend this work in its current unfinished state. However, I see a lot of promise in this author and I look forward to seeing what they come up with next!
âWhat I want isnât the truth. I want revenge.â - Urara, Chapter 2 Ayashimon, like a number of ShĹnen series that found themselves being ended before their time, was a manga that struggled to form a coherent identity for itself. At times it felt like a rehash of currently popular themes stuffed into a battle mangaâs coat; quickly becoming trapped by this identity and unable to find its own voice. This meant that the potential established in the earlier chapters was quickly lost as it began to feel like a collection of repeated clichĂŠs. By establishing a clear goal in its opening chapter, Ayashimon wasgiven a strong start; offering a plot that tackled the inherently interesting topics of fighting and revenge. These gave the reader something to latch onto, helping them to get invested in the superficial narrative. Unfortunately, there was nothing else offered by the narrative as it struggled to balance the battle genre with a more emotional side that allowed the reader to care about what was happening. This doesnât mean that there wasnât a potentially darker side to the narrative, but Ayashimon struggled to commit to these elements. It felt like there was a failure to trust that the readers would remain engaged in the story if there wasnât the promise of an imminent fight. This reliance on fighting to maintain attention led to a number of other problems; such as the lack of emotional investment. There was also a reliance on exposition in order to tell the reader what was happening and why characters were acting in certain ways. It created a distance between the reader and characters because we never got to see the world from any particular perspective. It was as if the author didnât have confidence in their premise, haphazardly telling the reader what they should find interesting rather than letting that interest grow naturally. The reliance on exposition also reduced some of the potentially interesting conflicts into feeling one-dimensional. With having a large number of fights in such a short run, it is easy to feel like they arenât fully developed and so exposition took the place of drama. I do think that the ending does a good job of representing the general tone that Ayashimon sets up. While it could have been paced a little more fluidly, the open-ended approach avoided any hasty attempt to resolve numerous plot lines. However, this might be frustrating for some as a large number of questions that the series established were never answered. This lack of conclusive ending works well because, for the most part, Ayashimon was treated as a rather one-dimensional series; limiting itself almost immediately by a superficial attachment to a 1v1 fight style. There seemed to be a pattern of the author establishing the potential scope of the story and then almost immediately limiting it. This led to a number of conflicts being unable to reach any meaningful depth as they became too reliant on the main character. This created a problem when the protagonist is treated as a meathead who is obsessed with manga. While proudly displaying inspirations on their sleeve is nothing new for manga series, Ayashimonâs over-reliance on its odd brand of forced meta-comedy felt out of place. Having the main character be obsessed with wanting to be the main character wasnât a bad choice, but there would usually be some sort of internal challenge to this type of dream. For Marou, however, there was no sense of internal complexity. He was simply someone who wants to be cool and this made him feel flat. Outside of his manga obsession, Marou was established as a conventional protagonist, being someone who pushed through conflicts no matter what was in his way. While this can be a solid foundation for a character, the reader was not given any sign of internal growth, making it difficult to form an emotional connection with him. This led to the author telling the reader things about Marou rather than letting the readers understand who he was through the story's progression. He ended up feeling more like a plot device than a character which made him a little grating after a while. His relationship with Urara was also seemingly trapped in stasis, struggling to develop any meaning to it. This was a huge missed opportunity as their personalities should complement each other well. One of the main reasons this ended up failing was that Urara was mostly there for her backstory; rarely showing any aspects of her present personality outside of the opening chapters. This was a shame because she seemed to be an intriguing character with a lot to offer. Instead, rather than building up her character, Ayashimon ended up focusing more on the character of Ten, someone who didnât offer all that much to the early story. While a main trio is often a staple of ShĹnen, especially in action-based series, his introduction caused a loss of balance between the characters. There was a wider problem in how characters were handled; the reader didnât see them having active roles. Both Ten and Uraraâs roles are centred around Marou which meant that we didnât see them act of their own accord. It would have been nice to see them show some form of development or importance to the story outside of the main character, especially as Urara should functionally be the most important character. The inability to balance characters was something that affected a number of the side characters as they struggled to land any impact or leave an impression. They felt more like two-dimensional tropes as opposed to developed characters. Readers werenât given any reason to connect to them, meaning that some potentially interesting plot points lacked an emotional weight to them. There were, however, a couple of characters who stood out; retaining a layer of mystery that made the reader want to know more. Unfortunately, due to the series ending, these mysteries could end feeling more frustrating than exciting but it showed that there was potential for Ayashimon. The character designs were also quite interesting, especially those who werenât part of the main cast. This was especially true for those used as a part of the environmental storytelling. They formed an interesting world that could have been better explored. It's a shame that there wasn't more faith placed on Kakuâs ability to visually tell a story. This would have alleviated the reliance on exposition and allowed the art some room to shine as it was often the quiet moments of Ayashimon that stood out the most; developing the characters in more meaningful ways. There was also an inconsistency in the tone of this series; especially with the darker elements that were demonstrated in the world-building of the opening chapter. Unfortunately, the story immediately limited itself to the yakuza groups and while it could have expanded out later in its run, it ended up feeling like wasted potential. I should add that a couple of stylistic choices ended up feeling out of place; especially in regards to battle choreography considering this was Ayashimonâs main focus. If the series was going to take the meat-head fighter approach, then it would have been cool to see a little more variation in the earlier fights to show that the fights weren't going to be the same fight, with the same plot beats but with a different opponent. Overall, it was the self-imposed limitations that end up causing the most problems for Ayashimon, taking a strong idea and turning it into an identity crisis. This is often rooted in a lack of confidence in both the story and the reader which can be very difficult to overcome. While there were definitely faults in Ayashimon, I believe that it was ultimately a combination of reader expectations and lack of strong characterisation that led to this series meeting a premature end.