A few months ago, I found new manga Psyren and then it was over too soon. Well, after a few week not reading anything, I found another one, Beelzebub. Actually, "found" is a bit overstating it, it happens to listed no.2 at manga fox next to Psyren. It's good, funny and a fresh air from your usual heavily dramatic ones.
My drawing first http://vividobscura.deviantart.com/
I want your opinion on something simple:
The first thing you need to know about Beelzebub is this is not some devil manga, well it is, but it doesn't take itself seriously, rather it makes fun of many manga cliches and still has some novelties about it. Think of it like School Rumble + Tenjou Tenge + Gintama and you are halfway there. It's a mix of bordering on nonsensical and completely absurd.
The story is a delinquent, Oga, found a baby on the side of the river who turns out to be the child of demon king. The baby needs strong bad-ass caretaker to become an appropriate demon. He then forced to be the child's caretaker until he grow up and destroy human kind. A wet nurse, big boobs Saber (Fate Stay Night) rip-off, Hilda, stays to help Oga raise the child. That's the gist of it, I already said it'd be silly.
And so Oga's odyssey to become stronger begins as typical shonen manga and he faces many less serious opponents. The good thing about it is, even though is has overused format, it doesn't bore you. in fact it delivers many witty, sometimes over-the-top scenes and dialogues which many other mangas afraid to even include in their manga. One time, a new character appears and spends three pages for his entrance and Oga blabbers, "That was a waste of three pages!" There are many references to pop culture that keeps it fresh.
On the other hand, the art is serviceable but never come across as well defined or artistic apart in some, admittedly quiet rare moments. It serves the tone for the manga correctly, it will be awkward to see this type of fighting manga has pretty art like Vampire Knight, but it left something to be desire, I don't want it to be Bleach, but some of the arts are a bit lacking especially for the male part. I'll show you.
See the differences? No??
There is something on how the mangaka drew the girls' eyes that is intriguing. it is still simple, not the same level of Air Gear or such, yet quiet beautiful. Sadly aside from those two main female characters, the others are not that important, it has several other chicks but on this focused-on-fighting manga, testosterone fueled dudes are arguably more important. The story is there, but it is just a reason to get on with another battle. A bit of romance, even bromance and silly demon master are welcomed but you know it's not the manga strong suit.
There are even times when the story take dive into demon world, the baby becomes ultraman or into a volley ball match abruptly, with just minor explanation.
There is even a mock up court scene after Oga lost. It's a nice change of pace from the usual emo state the heroes gone through. Naruto cried to his mama, Ichigo cried to his papa, but Oga takes a different approach.
So that's how they litigate on Japan.. hmmm.. Lastly, kudos to the mangaka for Kunieda Aoi, a slender girl char whose boobs are just in the right human proportion. She is the usual stern girl on outside, soft on inside type, friend/rival of the big boobs. It's amazing how he created a much needed (almost) normal plausible girl character amidst all this absurdities.
For making me lol, fresh ideas and new take on shonen manga, it deserves 8.5.
On more important note, it seems that Santa has granted my wish, it's the only explanation for me having to wait til almost Christmas for it. And no it's not a girl who openly wears only bandage to cover her breasts, although I wouldn't mind that. That's long. I'm out.
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