Hyoko-Hime-Sama1

*This review might contain some spoilers for those that aren't caught up to the manga and/or are watching the anime*
*TL;DR at the bottom alongside an author's note*

I remember seeing the announcement for the anime of this... I would never have thought that this would become one of my favorite manga of all time, rivaling my love for Jojo, Berserk, and Oyasumi Punpun on their own. Also inspiring me to change my profile picture to that of Riko eating an onigiri.

It's a story filled with just raw emotion which pops out thanks to the incredible art, especially in the most recent chapters that have been released in English and/or Spanish (since I also speak that language).
There's also this best dad guy. The things he does are so utterly lovable, it made me love a fictional character to the point I wanted to just shout compliments to him and his motives... It might just be me though.

Another thing this manga does really well is the feeling of dread the abyss creates just with its presence. The reasons why? The "curse of the abyss", the creatures, the people residing in it (like the one mentioned before), and just the abyss itself with its layers of mystery, making you guess what might be at the bottom, what other creatures inhabit it, and just who could be the next person our protagonists might encounter.

And then there's the characters: I've never rooted for a bunch of kids to succeed to this level in a long while. Every time they are in peril or in a tough situation I just find myself sweating and my heart beating fast.
The villains and the not-so villains are also really great.
There are only a few characters I found myself not really hooked with as much, and they are the other kids at the orphanage (except for the toddler whose name I forgot). They aren't as developed, but I still like them.

I really couldn't stop reading this manga as soon as I started, too. That feeling of just "one more chapter" is fantastic, and the anime managed that wonderfully too.
One last thing though: I really can't recommend it to everyone, due to all the dark and gory moments. Also the fact it has nudity. Read it with caution.

TL;DR: Made in Abyss is a manga filled with emotion, great characters, a mysterious world, and you might just won't stop reading it. Only read it if you aren't so bothered by gore, kids suffering, and child nudity, to the point where you might just drop it.

Author's note: This was my first review. Been almost three years on this site, and finally decided to make a review. That should probably tell you how much I love this manga.

Wow. Just Wow.

I usually don't write reviews. But for this novel, I even made this account just for the purpose of making this review. Why ? The reason is simple, it's because this is the best story I have ever read / known in my life.

Let's start with art. Art is not needed in this novel, because the novel is relying on obscuring the facts, especially in volume 1 and 7 , so I rate the art 7/10.

The story , character, and enjoyment from volume 1-6 are really great, The story is really good with plot twist you would not see coming but makes perfect sense, Characters is really engaging , I really enjoyed my time with it and overall for volume 1-6 I would personally rate it 9/10. Volume 1-6 IMO is one of the best stories out there.

BUT, then volume 7 came out. Volume 7 is the thing that made this novel the best story I have ever known in my life. It's so good that volume 1-6 felt like a long prologue to this volume. The author really knows how to push a story and its character to the limit. I have never seen any story being pushed that crazy before. Most other stories will just stop and "twist" itself to a happy ending after vol 7 chapter 1. This one makes the tragedy even worse. I bet you will remember this story for a long long time, because how impactful and traumatizing this is. For me, Volume 7 deserve way more than 10/10.

So yeah, if you haven't read this novel, READ IT NOW! Volume 1-6 is still a great story, but please, read until volume 7 for the part that makes this novel a true masterpiece.

From what has been published in the US, it is hard to get a grasp on the Japanese art comic scene due to the very small amount. Hell, it so small that I’m not even sure whether there is anyone else beside Yuichi Yokoyama in it. There probably are more people in it, but its just that he raises the bar so high that the others are often not associated with him because their work is inferior.

For those that do not know what art comics are, the name is mostly self-explanatory. The focus of them is mainly on the art style or the usage of that style in the radical/experimental storytelling/literary techniques in comics. So much is one or two aspects emphasized that the other neglected parts are completely negligible and almost never even surface in the reader’s mind. For those looking for a great story or characters, then don’t even bother with this genre because those are the two most neglected parts.

Unlike New Engineering, Travel is one “story”—if it even really has one. There is no real plot to it. Just three guys getting on train and taking a journey somewhere, where they get off. Practically once when they get off, it goes for 5 more pages and then stops. The plot is one of the negligible aspects of the book since it doesn’t matter where they are going or even why. The reader’s view of the characters never change throughout the entire story and it completely lacks character development—another aspect that doesn’t matter. For the majority of the story, all they do is sit and look out the window or smoke. Probably one of the main reasons why the characters don’t matter is the utter lack of words and, unlike Eisner, the alienating character designs (which is basically a black and white version of the faces on the cover seen above). All of the faces have the same look on them, with the variation kept to the external appearances such as hair, clothes, glasses, you get the idea.

Despite the lack of the story elements mentioned above, Travel is still a highly enjoyable read. What makes it so fun is how highly unique the art is. Dan Nadel, one of the editors are PictureBox Inc. (the North American publisher), describes his style much better then I ever could:

“Yuichi Yokoyama is a designer and cartoonist whose style and concerns represent a break with tradition in his emphasis on geometrical forms and immersive, fantastical geographies and characters [concerning their design rather then their personalities]. His two favorite artists are William Blake and Sol LeWitt.” (Dan Nadel, The Ganzfeld 5: Japanada! pg. 86)

On of the most notable things that must be mentioned is the lack of subjection motion (blurring of the background so the reader can focus on the character/object and create an speed up the illusion of time by breaking off a point of reference). Instead Travel takes up the American technique of motion lines that streak across the page. What is most impressive is that it is still able to maintain the fast pacing of the manga that uses subjective motion while able to keep the background static. There still are streaks across the pages that cover up some of the landscape, it reverses what moves and accurately depicts what it feels like to be in a train. You don’t move, the scenery does. Being a fan of art comics, I still haven’t come across anything this radical in motion. Though what is also very interesting is the depiction of time during the first part when the three guys are trying to find seats. In order to keep the same fast pace throughout the entire book, practically every couple of steps they take is shown, as is everything they see. Of what they see, close ups of people they pass are used to cover up the inconsistencies of time (that means the speed of which the guys are moving at (in the reader’s perspective) is inconsistent with the position they are at when they are in focus again, hope that is a good explanation).

I don’t know where to start for the art. As Dan Nadel said, it concentrates on geometric forms rather then photo-realistic details. One of the most enjoyable things is looking at the patterns in the landscapes. I don’t really know how to describe the feeling and the subtly of the patterns. They are patterns, but not in the sense that immediately come to mind. Its not like Fibanocci’s sequence where things it is set, rather these “patterns” are the repetition of the same thing over and over in a linear manner; they do not add one by one to become something different but rather are many small parts exactly the same that only change as a collective whole (yeah I know that was confusing, but the technique is so subtle that it is almost indescribable). Due to the usage of geometry, it is a very cerebral read.

My only complaint would be the lack of any literary depth. Besides the techniques used, there is no depth at all to it. How his patterns work is proof that there is potential as are the character designs. Of the designs in particular, since all of them have a similar feel, all of them seem equal and there is no one that draws more attention then the others (compare them to the character designs of, lets say Death Note, where every one is unique and thus practically compete for the reader’s attention visually). When the designs are put into the patterns (using the city scens are the example), it can emphasize how insignificant a person is. But Yuichi Yokoyama doesn’t take this route, but there is potential to. Since I haven’t read New Engineering, I wouldn’t know if he ever attempts this or any other themes. Though if he does, it would be in a very unique way though the actual message would not be very original. But as Travel says, it isn’t about the destination but the journey.

Availability: It is highly doubtable that there are any scans accessible to non-Japanese speakers due to its extreme obscurity. There might be some on Japanese websites, but getting there is the problem. PictureBox Inc. published it recently, but they only printed so many in order to break even. Amazon is running low on copies, so now would be the best time to buy it. If you are checking bookstores, completely ignore the manga/graphic novel section and go straight to the art and/or design section(s). It is still doubtable that it would be there. Plus, the cover of the book below the slipcover is one of his drawings colored. Which to say is visually staggering, bold, and worth the money. You could stare at it all day and still be impressed.

On a completely different note, I actually had the chance to meet him in person, but due to the lack of a translator we couldn’t communicate very well. Like He signed my book by sketching a symbol. What surprised me most was how old he was since he had a son about my age.

Short List:
+: Groundbreaking techniques, highly abstract and unique art style; it isn’t about the destination, but the journey
— : Lack of a proper story and characters is a major turnoff for many, as are the alienating character designs and very cerebral art style

-Pierre Bezukhov
P.S.: Feedback is encouraged. This is only my third review and I am still trying to figure out how the reviews should be formatted and the relationship between enjoyment and art. Specifically if I’m going to analyze it as art, I’m still not sure whether I should score on an arithmetic way using predetermined aspects (such as art, story, characters, etc), concentrate on the aspects that actually matter, or focus on how it fulfills its potential.

Before I say anything, let me make it clear that this manga series started about two years before the anime came out. The last volume has comments/interviews from both Katsu Aki and the creators, Hajime Yatate and Shoji Kawamori of Studio Nue, which of course proves the creators were involved with this, and talked to Katsu often. It is also confirmed from the beginning of each volume that the manga is based off of the original concept of Escaflowne, which is why it is vastly different from the anime series. So yes, this is a different Escaflowne, and you are prompted to leave the anime's world at the door and look at the manga's world for a different perspective.

And that's not bad. Was the manga used to promote the series' coming? Perhaps. Did it work? Apparently the anime bombed in Japan, so it's hard to say for sure. It obviously ended two years after the series ended in Japan, so perhaps it was still popular enough to continue going—or money was put into it to keep it going. Again, hard to say, but this version may be more well-known compared to the two-volume manga adaptation, which apparently was never released State-side.

I was thirteen before I ever heard of Escaflowne. On my thirteenth birthday, my late-grandfather gave me the Escaflowne movie, and I fell in love with it. I never knew a series existed until friends brought it up years later. It wasn't until rather recently that I got to watch it and compare it to the movie. Now, roughly about two to three years ago, I was at a Half-Price Books for the first time with my father. I was wandering around when I found the manga section. I looked at the titles for a little bit until the title of “Escaflowne” caught my eye, and it happened to be the first volume. It said it was Escaflowne, but I noticed Hitomi didn't look like she did in the movie. I was still interested, however, and bought it.

I was blown away at how different it was from the movie (which is odd of me to say that, but remember, I didn't see the TV series until just about a month ago as of this writing).

Now what's the story? A sixteen-year-old girl named Hitomi Hoshino has dreams of a world of a glittering energist and can hear music from far away. She is at school telling a fortune to her friends Yukiko and Amano when suddenly she is called away in a quake, and is transported to Gaea through an Energist crystal, where she meets the prince in her dreams, Prince Van Slanzar de Fanelia. Much to her disbelief, he is a jerk and hot-blooded. Before long, Fanelia is attacked by Zaibach, led by Dilandau who has kidnapped Van's mother in the commotion, and slaughters Van's people. Hitomi is led to the control room of Escaflowne where when she touches the control panel, she suddenly changes appearances and channels the Energist inside her. Along the way, they meet many enemies and allies as they discover the mysteries of Gaea, Escaflowne, and the Energist sleeping inside Hitomi.

Needless to say, while the anime and manga are rather somewhat similar at first, as time goes on, it quickly becomes apparent this is a different retelling, or at least a different universe—similar to how the movie was. A bit of a problem is that... like the anime, it's complex. You have to be paying attention while reading it to understand what's going on. You will get lost if you overlook details (this includes skimming) or skip volumes. And they typically don't talk about what happened except briefly every once in a while, which I guess was a way to show it treats its audience with maturity, but it wouldn't have hurt to have a small callback here and there without pointing out the obvious. Still, the series has a nice book ends (in Trope terms) which does leave a small fuzzy feeling inside.

ART – Katsu Aki has a distinct art style, I could see it from a mile away (Hitomi actually looks like Yura from Futari Ecchi a little, even though he didn't start that series for a few years). But his attention to detail is about half of the art. Backgrounds are vast and full of atmospheric depth, characters have distinct appearances to tell them apart, the visuals flow nicely, and there is usage of emotions through lighting/shading. There were some genuinely creepy moments that made me cringe because of how he portrayed them in shadows or detail. There is also art evolution and the art looks clean by the end.

However, I had a hard time telling Guymelefs apart at times, they all looked alike to me. Of course, looking at them closely, they are distinctly different from each other, but when they're in the middle of a fight scene (and there are a lot of them, it's a shounen after all), they tended to blend in together. Dialogue bubbles were the only way for me to determine who was who about half of the time.

CHARACTER – It's apparent there is character development, as Van becomes less of a hot-blooded jerk (though he still swears up a storm), and Hitomi becomes less whiny, frightened, and becomes more accepting of Gaea, and able to come to terms with her powers; she does grow up. However, because they're the main characters, they and a couple of other characters of plot-importance get the most development. That doesn't mean each character doesn't have a distinct personality, most of them notably had thought put into them, however, they start to fall a little flat once they reach a certain level where they just are suddenly stuck on, and stay like that up until the climax—and some of them still don't get any improvement. There were too many characters to introduce (yes, there are manga-exclusive characters and some characters don't exist in this world), and they get too little or even too much screen time. Zongi, much like in the anime, is still fairly memorable (considering his name's brought up here and there), but he's vastly different in the manga and perhaps slightly more sympathetic. Though to be fair, some characters have moments of sympathy courtesy of Hitomi's visions.

ENJOYMENT – Call me crazy, but I actually found enjoyment in how vastly different the story is compared to its (admittedly more superior) anime counterpart. Yes, it's very shounen. Yes, Hitomi is curvacious has moments of nudity (but not too detailed, and it's not exactly for titillation). Yes, characters have been drawn differently, and even changed drastically. But that still didn't take away from the fact a story was being told. And as long as you keep that in mind, it works, and I enjoyed exploring the world and these characters. I enjoyed the different ideology and how much the series evolved overtime. I personally rated it a “9” (I tend to like a lot of the manga I read anyway, so...), but overall, it's a “7” because the flaws are easy to see, and then there are the nitpicks individuals will have. But it's still a pretty good story for what it is.

I can't say the same for everyone, though, so it mostly just depends on how open-minded you are to alternative universes, adaptations, or whatever you want to call this. I don't regret picking up the series, I'm happy to have gotten an expansion on the Escaflowne universe and how it works. I had fun pointing out the differences and similarities, and I'm sure that list will continue to grow. So I suggest trying it out if you're at least a bit interested in how it differs from the anime. It was released here in the States by Tokyopop in 2003, but it's pretty much out-of-print and hasn't been rescued by any other distributor. So copies are a bit difficult to come by, but you can easily find used ones online, if not scans itself. Do try it for yourself and get your own opinion. Love it or hate it, only way to know is to read it for yourself.

Minor spoilers!


So all I can say is... This is fck up like the story and the way it ends
Like I personally love older woman romance with a young man like it's my thing so I enjoy it first expecting something like that then it just get worst..

The thing I enjoy here is the art it looks good and I don't hate smuts but I don't like it either (I personally would prefer reading a hentai doujin than read a smut)

I put a lot of uncenssary thing in this review but to make it short

Read it if you don't care about the plot and your just horni other than that this is really bad, like if you hate rape and hate fck up ending I don't recommend this

Like in the last chapter they show panels where they got married and it turns out it's just the imagination of the girl and the mc really hate her, then after that we go 1 week later the girl kidnapped the Mc and raping him then after that the devil guy gets out but they show a panel of police in the front of the apartment so I'm sure she got arrested or she killed the Mc and killed herself

"Aishiteru", Uso dakedo. was honestly very disturbing. The plot wasn't that great in fact not great at all, And the characters were sort of disturbing I did understand the main girl a little bit but the guy was just completely twisted and it made my stomach hurt like the amount of toxicity in that relationship is not something i even want to imagine irl, He was treating her like a object in his possession and it was just very twisted, If you're looking for a love story that's cute and heart warming this ain't it chief. It was very cute in the beginning for a bit, Cool guy falls for the "plain" girl but it just turned really dark and just stopped being my cup of tea.
I'd rate it 3/10 tbh


"Majou wa Geboku ni Koi wo Suru" was honestly pretty cute~ Overall i enjoyed reading it so 9/10. A 100% my cup of tea~ It was just very sweet and lovely.

("Aishiteru", Uso dakedo. is also the review rating)

My rating for both in all categories since i can't rate them separately
"Aishiteru", Uso dakedo.
Story: 2/10
Art: 7/10 I liked it tbh very cute~
Characters: 1/10 Nothing special really and honestly just very despicable imo
Enjoyment: 2/10 I enjoyed the start but then it just went downhill
Overall: 3/10

"Majou wa Geboku ni Koi wo Suru"
Story: 7/10 nothing super special but it was cute~
Art: 8/10 I really enjoyed the art
Characters: 7/10 they weren't super unique but i liked them~
Enjoyment: 9/10
Overall: 9/10

Honestly the title of this should be renamed to Ryo and Akira's Excellent Adventure. In contrast to the unapologetic nature and social-commentary of Devilman. This was one was pretty tame with the exception of the final chapter and I won't lie when I say the final pages had me melancholy if this sequel focused on that.

It's not a bad story by any means as it's your simple run of the mill time travel shenanigans. Sometimes I interpret this as some kind of buddy cop comedy adventure about two dudes fucking up time and killing demons. It didn't ruin the experience for me as I was fairly entertained I mean chapter 3 was a blast to read.

If you're looking for some more Devilman content this one is pretty passable by all means and very short it's only 5 chapters long. If you really loved Devilman then you'll be pretty disappointed with this one.

Mousugu Shinu Hito (English: Seeking for Death) is a very harsh deconstruction of the harem genre.

It asks the question of why would all of these women want such a passive an indecisive man's affection in the first place, and answers it with pure cynicism.

Like most harems, where females vie for the MC's affection because "He was kind to me", the women end up flocking to Riku Kominato for the same reasons, but this is where the similarity ends.

Due to the "Die Anyday" video, any woman in Riku's "harem" will eventually die if they are not chosen by Riku. This is where the main conflict occurs, as characters encounter mental strain from their impending deaths while they try desperately to have Riku fall in love with them, even as they encounter harassment from the student body. After all, they'll die soon.

Characters: The characters in Mousugu Shinu Hito really shine in how they develop. In most harems, character development usually ends with them falling in love and being added to the harem. In Mousugu Shinu Hito, character development starts after being added to the harem.

Haju grows more obessive as her best friend tries to take her crush away from her by abusing the fact he likes her. Riko becomes entirely motivated by not dying. Aoi becomes heavily invested in finding the culprit for the "Die Anyday" website. Mikoto is angry at having her and Aoi involved in Riku's "harem".

Overall, enjoyable.

Sachiusu is a fairly simple manga, but it is amusing and cute. The humor parts of it aren't laugh out loud funny, but they have their moments. The main gags, that Mukai is unlucky yet cheerful and her classmate Misako is lucky but weird, comprise most of the panels and the humor. They don't really have much to them beyond those simple character traits and they don't really develop much, but for a single volume 4-koma, I don't really consider that to be a major problem. If the manga continued beyond a single volume, the simplicity of the characters and the singular focus on the reoccurring gags would probably lose their charm.

The art isn't anything spectacular, but neither is it overly problematic. It's probably on the level of your average 4-koma. A minor spoiler, the story (to the extent there is one) doesn't have any real resolution, and if you were hoping for any kind of explanation as to why the MC is unlucky, you won't find one.

As it is, as long as you're not expecting anything grandiose from it, Sachiusu is a kind of cute, kind of funny story that's not a bad way to kill some time with.

Route 20 is a manga about one kid who's in a biker gang, and the trouble he gets into along the way. The story is told in a somewhat haphazard way, with things changing left and right, but I feel like that works in it's favor, making the pacing of the manga feel similar to the life of chaos that the main character has chosen. It helps set the tone of the manga well. Each scene is also very nicely done, with interesting, cinematic-like storytelling.

The art is pretty nice, with lots of interesting character designs that are expressive and iconic. There are also some cool looking robot and futuristic car designs which help flesh out the world, and some backgrounds which are fairly nice looking, but perhaps a bit minimalist.
The art is detailed overall, but I also can't help but think it's a bit lacking in spots. Still, it looks good.

The characters end up becoming interesting and by the end, I felt like I wanted to see more of all of them. However, that's where we begin to get to the problems.
Despite liking the manga, by the end, I was left wanting more. Each chapter is very short, being only 8-15 pages long. In total, the manga is only about 60 pages long.
I think a short one-shot like this can be interesting when done right, but in this case the reader only begins to get introduced to the characters and the story, and despite very strong introductions to all of them, all of the sudden it's over, and you desperately just want to continue reading... but you can't.

Ultimately, this manga is a super quick romp through a very dense and interesting world, with nice looking art and interesting characters. However, it also doesn't go anywhere, and just kind of ends without much of a conclusion. Being as short as it is, it ends up feeling more like the first two episodes of a longer series, except there was never a continuation afterwards, making all of it's good parts seem disappointing, because they end up being wasted.