Customer Reviews

The Devil Does Exist

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

 

 

OK I admit it; I picked this title up and started reading it without looking at the synopsis. The name `The Devil Does Exist' drew me to the series, and the art on the front cover was enough to make me buy it and read it. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting but what I got was a story that was entirely different than anything I have read before. Mitsuba Takanashi has woven a beautiful tale of forbidden love and the trials that one must go through.

Second year student, Kayano is a sweet, shy girl with a crush on the captain of the basketball team, Yuichi. After laboring over a love letter, and gathering all the courage she could, she pops out of an alleyway and confesses her love. Unfortunately, it seems that Kayano has terrible luck and instead of offering her love letter to Yuichi, she offers it to the principal's son, Takeru. Even though Takeru is only a first year student he has garnered a considerable amount of attention, for being the school bully and for being extremely attractive. Kayano is mortified, and rightfully so since she worked so hard to gather the courage to confess her love and she already lacks self-confidence. Of course, if Takeru was a nice person he would have let it go, he would have given her back her letter, turned around and just let it slide but, there wouldn't be much of a plot if that happened.

The story moves quickly after this, Takeru obviously does not give Kayano back her letter and all sorts of hell breaks loose. It seems Takeru is a sadist and Kayano is such an easy target because she is so sensitive and easily bothered. Kayano is drawn to Takeru's good looks and air of mystery and Takeru, though hard to read, seems to like Kayano in his own way. Takeru joins the school's basketball team and appoints Kayano the team manager; this makes things incredibly awkward for her because she has to deal with her lingering feelings for Yuichi and her budding feelings for Takeru at the same time.

Then when Kayano finally figures out her feelings, and admits them, her mother announces that she is engaged to be married to the principal of her school and Takeru, the same boy that has been causing her all kinds of emotional turmoil, is going to be her step brother. Talk about drama! I have already read up to volume 7 and I must say that the series keeps you on your toes, while you have a small level of predictability (anyone who reads shoujo understands this), The Devil Does Exist, is vastly different then anything else that you would pick up at the store.

Kayano could use a bit more backbone, but with all that she's going through, I really don't blame her. I am a true romantic at heart and reading about these star-crossed lovers definitely made me feel their pain and smile at their triumphs. Not much of a comedy in my opinion, though there are some humorous parts. I feel like this is a more of a serious romance read.

The Verdict:
If you have been looking for love in all the right places and still wound up falling for the wrong person, read this. B+

I am a big fan of Mitsuba Takanashi. I got into her Crimson Hero manga and have read everything they've released in Japan so far. I decided to check out her earlier work because of that. While her art style has definately grown, her characters are great and; being the sappy romantic that I am, I love her stories. When you've got a character who gets hounded by a guy younger than her and yet turns it all around, you gotta love it. Sorry, no spoilers here. Buy the manga and check it out for yourself.

I really enjoyed this manga due to the intersting story plot and out of the box characters. Though there is a good guy and a sweet crybaby girl they also have human traits of mistakes and anger. I loved the sort of punked feeling and rebellion through out the manga. Also one of the main characters actually has a different look each day which is a new concept for manga!
So the story starts off with a girl trying to confess her love to the the sweet boy she been eyeing but instead confess's it to the the wild and seductive new principals son. From there it gets crazy.

I have actually read this before, rereading it as part of my endeavor to review manga series here on my blog. When I first read it, I quite liked it, got swept up in the drama. On a reread, now that I have a wider knowledge of manga, I am much less impressed by it.

For one thing, the super melodramatic shoujo series are not generally my favorites, because they're so over the top; I like the humor ones. Also, I cannot stand the forbidden love of siblings plot line that is all too popular in Japan. These two aren't even related, and in a lot of cases they're not, and yet they make a huge freaking deal about it. And it's not even like they were raised as siblings (like the kids in Cherry Juice) or suspect they may be siblings, a realization that came quite a ways into the relationship as their parents may have been, in effect, swingers (like in Marmalade Boy...which I hated by the way. I have two words for those melodramatic, whiny, maybe siblings: BLOOD TEST). So yeah, Kayano and Takeru would have to explain at various points why they have the same last name, but so what?

This series is also guilty of the unrealistic, perfect relationship. The only problem internal to their relationship is that neither of them can believe that they could be so lucky as to have the other one really want to be with them forever, so they constantly have to reaffirm this after suffering fits of no self-confidence. Mostly though, they just deal with external conflicts, which try to break apart their paradise. There's the siblings issue, the creepy guy who tries to bribe Kayano into going out with him, various folks with crushes on either Kayano or Takeru, a matchmaking grandmother and a separation needed because of external issues.

The thing that really got to me, though, was that the first five volumes, or something ridiculous like that, were chock full of Kayano's whining thoughts about how it's a sin, but she can't stop her love for Takeru. Oh my god. Stop it with the sinning stuff. Either do it and own it or stop. Please. Kayano also spends a LOT of time crying. Be strong, woman!

Recommended to people who enjoy stories of forbidden love that can stand up to any challenge. Oh, and, for those who are planning to try it, be advised that the art does improve as the series goes on. Or, check out Takanashi's other series licensed in English, Crimson Hero, which is one of my favorites.

I must say I really didn't know what I was getting into when I got this book. I was actually looking at some sales online and was getting some anime DVDs when I saw this title also listed. I picked it on a whim because it looked like it would be a laugh, and it was cheap so if I didn't like it, I wouldn't be losing out.

Little did I know that not only was it funny, it was sweet and I became completely absorbed into the story. It's so engaging that I can't wait to read the rest of the books. I like the old art, but especially the different ways Takeru is portrayed (and it doesn't hurt that he's modeled after one of my fav Japanese singers Hyde!).

If you're into love, friendships and a story that's more than you would expect, I definitely recommend this.