Customer Reviews

Descendants of Darkness: Yami no Matsuei, Vol. 1

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

for we are all descendants of darkness! this line, quoth the beautifully evil Dr.Muraki, is the title of one of the most potentially fascinating manga I have ever read. A plethora of detailed artwork and ridiculous, easy-to-realte-to (I think) characters are what make this could be cliche manga a diamond in the ruff. Long dead Tsuzuki is the desert obsessed (and totally gorgeous)agent of the Ministry of hades, where very attractive men (with the exception of chief Konoe) keep the troublesome spirits of the dead in line. Even though the mebers of Hades would drop Tsuzuki like a plate of hotcakes if they could(he's kind of annoying, but liakeable, unlike a certain cliche manga female character I could mention coughUsagicough), they won't because, despite his looks, he's one of the most powerful agents of death that they've got. After losing yet another partner, Tsuzuki ends up with Hisoka, a babyfaced, bigeyed (and dead) sixteen year old as his second in commmand. Hisoka dislikes Tsuzuki (he kind of dislikes everybody, but his cold and unfeeling nature is just a cover for a heart tha, deep down, wants to know why he died. The two main characters are soon matched against the evil, sadistic, possibly psychotic "Doctor" muraki, whose strange attraction (is it really so strange?) to Tsuzuki and possible connection to Hisoka's past lead to them meeting him many more times.... and so goes the pretense of DoD. To contradict anything you may have heard, DoD is not a yaoi series. It is a higly complex and intricate shojo story, and reading the first volume immediately causes you ot beg for more. ^^

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 other reviews have said it quite beautifully. Decendants of Darkness is a great series that sadly never ends. The series does end at vol 11 and the story is incomplete. That said, if the thought of an incomplete series drives you completely mad stop buying the series after vol 8. Vol 9 contains the beginnings of the incomplete story arc. All other story arcs are completed. Vol 9 does contain some one-shot stories that are serious funny, however.

Also, all of the story lines beginning in this vol are complex and interesting with the exception of some funny story lines thrown in. The main character is goofy and obsessed with sweets and has a grumpy sidekick. The supporting cast ranges from a penny-pinching secretary to a mad scientist bent on creating a sex-change potion to two girls who want to dress the grumpy sidekick in female clothing. I forgot the rivalry between the main character and another supporting character that tends to destroy large buildings in massive explosions. Descendants is crazy at times and other times you nearly want to cry.

Additionally, if you are drawn in by amazing and beautiful art look no further. Each and every vol contains beautiful drawings of the characters and background scenery.

(Also this review should be dated March 29, 2007, I don't know why Amazon thinks it is May 19, 2005. Weird.)

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.

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?

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.