First of all, I think it is a shame to see how many people look at Samurai Deeper Kyo and refer to the anime first hand. The anime adaptation only follows a mere shell of the manga's story and a lot of the original characters from the manga are absent. The animation quality is below average in most scenes and to be honest, could arguably be one of the reasons why Samurai Deeper Kyo is so underrated because most people prefer to watch the anime instead of reading the manga. If I had watched the anime first, I probably wouldn't even have given the manga a chance, because while anime usually doesn't exceed their respective manga, it is very rare that the anime takes such a different path from the manga like in Samurai Deeper Kyo. I know some people like the anime, but the only reason I'm bashing on it so much is because of how it pales in comparison to the manga and how it truly fails to live up to expectations, especially from people like myself who finished the manga first and was excited to watch its animated adaptation, only to be left disappointed as the anime kind of went way off track already during the first episode.

Now that was a handful, the only point of this was only because I want people to look at Samurai Deeper Kyo and see its true narrative, which is the manga.

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Now that I have got the more subjective views out the way, let's dive into the manga itself. I will keep this as spoiler free as possible.

Story: 8
The story of Samurai Deeper Kyo starts out simple but becomes rather complex later on. Every character has his or her own goals, and it takes a while for all of them to be explained, some even change throughout the series which may keep things complicated. I found myself backtracking a few times when I had forgotten a few details or felt confused. Besides from that, the story itself is rather enjoyable and becomes surprisingly convincing once you get into it. There also tends to be a lot of hints at certain things that remains unexplained for some time, or not even explained at all when you realize that they do not make much sense.

Art: 10
The quality of the manga is truly outstanding and stayed consistent throughout the whole series, which is a good thing because it was a 10 from start to finish. There is so much attention to details which is baffling considering the low amount of time and deadlines that the likes of Kamijyo has.

Characters: 10
There are a lot of characters in Samurai Deeper Kyo, and many of them are very fleshed out with their own backstories which explains why they act like they do and how they ended up where they are. Even smaller side characters had their own past that explained their relations with other characters and whatnot. It really made you care about the characters, even the villains when you understood the context of their behavior which showed that no character was 100% evil nor 100% good.

The characters's backstories is not the only thing that makes them feel unique. While some characters and personalities may fall under stereotypes, such as the constantly worrying girl who acts tough outside the dangerous situations. It is forgivable however, since there are not two characters who share the exact same traits. For example, there are two smaller side characters who look and act identically to one another, but underneath their "masks" they have very different appearances, one being really cute and the other one looking very manly. Another character acts like an animal while unconscious, and it is the small charms like that that help create such a diverse cast of characters.

They also look very different and the age between them varies a lot too whether they are middle aged men or small boys.

Enjoyment: 9
The overall enjoyment of reading Samurai Deeper Kyo was high. It had humor, action, tension, sadness and a lot of suspense which made you want to read more. The fact that it looked amazing while doing all that, helps a lot. Again, small tidbits may cause confusion for some readers who like to look into details. While they don't really affect the plot at all, they can still leave you wondering why someone said a certain thing only to say something completely different later on, such as when they talk about Kyo's "full power" during battles for example.

While some fights may seem dragged on for quite a while, they are often really filled with action during the entirety of the fight, and since many characters fight differently, much variance is provided.

As a whole, I had a blast reading Samurai Deeper Kyo and it is truly one of the best yet underrated mangas I have ever read. That I am sure of after the emptiness I felt when finishing the series. The bonus chapter that plays out after the whole thing just adds to the feels.




Now, if only Studio Madhouse would just make a reboot of the anime...