I began reading this manga way back in high school, and although I adored it then, after years of holding it off, my opinion has changed.

I will admit that although I was a shounen-ai fangirl when I was a teenager, I have sense moved on. I still love the genre, but not as much as when I was in puberty. With that in mind, bear with me.

Characters: I begin with this because sadly this is what actually brought down the entire manga for me. The main character, Tsuzuki, is actually a huge issue for me. Although I do usually despise the "main character is a total idiot but within he is actually a powerful individual" troupe, this one took it to the max. Tsuzuki himself does not necessarily bother me, but his actions do. He has been dead for well over fifty years, but is haunted by his past. He is one of the most powerful characters of the cast with some of the most powerful allies at his beck and call, and yet needs to assistance of a recently deceased 17 year old (depending on the language you read) in order to prevent the sexual advances of another man (apparently he doesn't know what the word no means, or even to just move). It's not cute, it's frustrating. A character must evolve as the story progresses, and although we do see a conclusion to his story, most of the arcs concentrate on how haunted he is about his past life and how he can't seem to get a hold of himself (Muraki's constant advances, the possession arc).

Without giving away any spoilers, there is a lot of adult themes such as rape involved. Now I normally hate rape stories as they are a cheap gimmick in order for us to either feel for a character, or detest another. However, giving this manga credit, it actually does it well. The character in question is at war with himself and his attacker/killer for the assault, and this is brought up multiple times. However it's only glossed over. The main characters emotional trauma overtakes that of this horrific event that only occurred recently, placing this young character as the "adult" of the situation. There are even multiple occurrences where the victim is forced to meet with the attacked in order to "rescue" the main character from him, situations which could have easily been avoided if the main character just DID something instead of acting like a vulnerable child.

That all being said, most of the other characters I actually liked and would have loved to see more involving them. Watari, Tatsumi and some others. They were done quite well.

Art: I love the art of this manga. Even years later I still adore it, and actually adopted much of it into my own style when I was younger. It's crisp, detailed, and beautiful. You can understand everything that's occurring, even in the most chaotic of scenes. You can distinguish one character from another easily. Even the scenes of gore are done beautifully.

Story: I enjoyed the theme of the story, and even multiple arcs. I personally adore manga's and anime's involving such things as the supernatural, youkai, shikigami, horror and gore. And of course a cast of good looking guys thrown into the mix. I enjoyed the antagonist as I was supposed to hate him, and I did. He felt threatening, and the events leading up to him felt full and complete.

Final grade: B-

Pros: Beautiful art. Beautiful character designs. Good story concept.
Cons: The characters themselves can be frustrating in their cliche personalities. Don't think too hard when reading, or else most of it falls apart.