Descendants of Darkness: Yami no Matsuei, Vol. 1

There were few surprises because I had already seen the anime; but the manga is presented in a very different tone using quite adult humor. This involves sexual harassment of many types but mostly male on male, and even goes so far as to include rape. So keep that in mind when the youngsters get curious. It starts rather unevenly as the author changed her mind about the lead characters several times, changing names and personalities and even promoting a sidekick character (Tsusuki) into the pivotal lead.The basic plot surrounds "shinigami", also known as gods of death, who must go around the country to find and retrieve lost souls who were misplaced after death or who should have died, but didn't. These last cases are not directly mentioned, but do figure into the character development of the leads. Most of the cases in the manga revolve around murders, the "undead" and even feature an energy vampire/sorcerer. Character development for Tsusuki (for example) involves him considered a semi-competent slacker who also happens to be the most powerful shinigami in the Summons section of the afterlife. He is the lowest paid and much of the humor goes to his insatiable sweet tooth and often fawning nature. He is literally a character who wears his emotions on his sleeve, all the time. Surrounding him is a partner who is not only grumpy, but also an empath, which leads to a lot of situations where Tsusuki's emotions literally cripple him, and lots of other friendly and antagonistic characters who are sometimes, nay often, undisguised perverts.Much of the tension and drama involves a violent, insane doctor who pursues Tsusuki relentlessly and specializes in psychological torture that is particularly effective on our hero. The unevenness in the story comes from a dichotomy between the sentiments expressed by the characters in thought and verbally and they way they are drawn while expressing them. That has lead to accusations that this book should be placed with "Yaoi" (or Boy's Love) manga. However, many of the attitudes are written as merely familial or comradely, which denies that charge, even though the artwork is decidedly otherwise. Go figure.In the end, though, the characters are engaging enough that one can become immersed in the book. All the stories in this first book are complete, although there will be cases in the future where stories extend across more than one volume.

Love this story

I recently ordered the full series, and while I haven't read them yet, I've seen the anime a few times and loved it each time, so I can't wait to see what else happens with these characters. They definitely could have done a better job at either cutting the pages or doing the layouts for them, because you practically have to tear the book down the middle in order to read the text near the binding, it is that close to the center fold.

This story is my personal favorite. I waited for the manga to come out for a long time, and now that it finally has, I am very glad. The anime is very beautiful to watch, but the books are more entertaining because they go in much more detail.The story is mainly about Tsuzuki, god of death, and his hot partner, Hisoka, and their adventures as they try to fix the beauro's problems. The manga is really funny, with Tsuzuki slacking off all the time and eating apple pie whenever he can, and Hisoka mainly grumbling and sneering at everyone, which doesn't make him any less cute.Muraki is the sadistic villan of the story, and though he does very mean things to Hisoka, which I highly do not approve of, he is still very interesting character and gives the story more feel.I can't wait for volume #2.

The main characters in this manga are utterly hilarious...in a good way. This is way an intro to the characters, so we don't know too much about them yet. But what you do find out is sweet, and romantic, and funny. I can't wait to read the next book.

Or at least the English version was... I read book one and hated it so much that I brought it back to the store. I'm not even kidding. And I'd never done that with any other manga.I guess my main problem was that it took a potentially dark, heavy story, added ever-changing characters who are fluffy and rather stupid and made this dark idea into a inconsistant attempt at humor. I'm rather furious that this manga is always being suggested for readers of Angel Sanctuary because that is a full, beautifully thought-out manga when this makes little sense and has characters that you can't really connect with nor even like.I don't know. Maybe I wasn't really getting much by just reading the first one but I don't think I could've stood to read the second. It was just so stupid. The author completely butchered the potential for a very good story. It's somewhat typical of japanese mangas to be a little inconsistant, weird, and have some stuff that doesn't make sense but it just really didn't work in this dark theme of people who work as grim reapers. This story just cried for consistancy, fuller characters, and a better balance between the darkness and the humor that didn't make it seem quite so much that nobody cared about anything. (Although, admittedly, the art was pretty good).I really suggest not getting this manga. If you're looking for something dark with a GOOD story plot and beautiful artwork, get Angel Sanctuary. Don't waste your hard-earned money on this.

On a whim I picked up this manga. How very glad I am that I did. I am planning on getting the entire set so it really must be good ni?