Angel Densetsu – A very good comedy manga

Angel densetsu

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Rating: 9/10

Synopsis: Whispering the name Seiichirou Kitano is enough to send shivers down the spine of any student at Hekikuu High. His fearsome looks make even the toughest of men scream, and if his appearance isn’t off-putting enough, he is also known to be extremely brutal in fights. In a single day, he took out the school’s top thug and became the new guardian. Now, the entire school is at his mercy, and anyone who dares to challenge him better be ready to meet their maker… or so the stories go.

The truth is that all of the terrible rumors surrounding Seiichirou are misunderstandings, many assuming the worst about him because of his demon-like features. In reality, he is a kindhearted boy who goes out of his way to help others, but his attempts to do good deeds always get hilariously skewed and miscommunicated—which was the case when he became the new guardian.

Time and time again, Seiichirou tries and fails to prove that he is not the demon that rumors make him out to be. He hopes to one day be able to have friends who look beyond his scary disposition and see him for what he truly is—an angel.

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Angel densetsu. A manga by Norihiro Yagi who is also the creator of Claymore. One of the best comedy mangas I’ve read along with Kyou kara ore wa and Arakawa under the bridge. “Never judge a book by it’s cover”, that’s the meaning the manga sends to it’s reader. This is a story about a high school student Kitano Seiichirou with a demonic face but a angelic heart and the misfit adventures with his friends.

Despite being this obvious, the theme is never too overdone and creates a perfect balance between the serious and comedic moments. The misunderstandings do get a little frustrating over time but the author does well to pull it back in quick. Overall a really fun read.

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Spoilers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Story & Art

The story is simple and pretty straight-forward. It doesn’t seem very interesting at first, but it makes up for its lack of complexity with enjoyability and sense of humor. Most of the chapters focus on Kitano getting into some kind of trouble because of his looks. Even when he meets a new character for the first time, it just turns into a series of big misunderstandings which also sometimes leads to fights.

The comedy is everything. It had me laughing every single chapter, even though it’s mainly only because of the misunderstandings, it never gets old. Each new character Kitano meets judge him too quickly which just ends up in another hilarious misunderstanding, sometimes after a while the misunderstandings just get frustrating because we start to understand Kitano better and it just hurts to see how insensitive people can be to others, so it just makes me hate the other characters.

I’ll be honest, the art is pretty bad(really bad), for most manga readers this would be a big turnoff for them but like I told before the art doesn’t necessarily matter to me as long as the story and the characters are good. I’ve seen many people say in the comments “if only the art was better, then this would be a good manga to read”, it is true that for a good manga good art is necessary but I loved it nevertheless.

If you make it through to the end you’ll see how much the author has grown even as an artist. At the beginning his characters were poorly drawn and it was kinda hard to identify them apart but as you go along you’ll find that characters are more easier to distinguish as he becomes more comfortable with them.

“If everyone looked the way their personality was then life would be a lot easier”. A line from the manga that tells us how our society actually perceives us just from our looks. We all look different and that’s one of the best things about unique from each other. Simple personality always outshines looks, so never judge a book by it’s cover.

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Characters

Go gang!!

The characters are one of the most important aspects of telling an interesting story and this is a manga which delivers that wonderfully. A set of unique and amazing characters which are incredibly well written. All the other side characters are fun, interesting, or a treat when they’re on panel.

Seiichirou Kitano

The main protagonist, a boy whose face inspires terror and despair in other people’s hearts. His true nature is that of a kind-hearted boy, and his gentle and caring actions mostly frighten those around him. He is used to getting hit for no apparent reason at all, so he develops speed and reflexes which allow him to absorb the power of the blows.

Okay, maybe not the best best pic to introduce a character but seriously this is how it looks like in the manga. At first impression it Kitano looks like a scary guy who just wants to be alone but that’s not the case, he wants to be friends with everyone and just wants to be normal. I love how Kitano matures over the chapters and not many authors can pull this off so it was nice to see how that was going.

Ryoko Koiso

The daughter of the Koiso-style kobujutsu karate master, initially set on fighting each and every high school delinquent, and convinced that Kitano is evil and very strong. After fighting him, however, she discovers his true nature, and little by little she becomes more or less his girlfriend. 

Love her character. She’s really sweet sometimes but also turns into a absolute fighter sometimes. And the perfect FP for our MP, you have heard me talk about how the female protagonists are pretty much useless in most manga but Ryoko is the MVP, she really shows what all female protagonists should be like.

Yuji Takehisa

The strongest delinquent of Hekikuu high, previously expelled for beating up one of the teachers: after being defeated by Kitano, he proclaims himself his “little brother”. He sports spiked bleached hair and has no eyebrows. After claiming loyalty to Kitano, he becomes less delinquent-like.

Absolutely love him, he looks like the more serious version of Takashi Mitsuhashi from Kyou kara ore wa. Yuji loves fighting and pretty much does that every time but after his encounter with Kitano, he doesn’t get into a lot fights(he became a good guy). And he’s the best Wingman.

Ikuno Shirataki

Daughter of one of the special guidance counselor, her mission was to beat up Kitano, but after being defeated by Koiso she becomes their friend. It’s the very first time for her to be able to talk to people normally without anyone fearing her, even after on her first day of school she knocked out a lot of people, so behind her cold appearances she cares for everyone. That doesn’t mean she isn’t ready to fight everyone at any time.

I’ll say the truth, she was very annoying at the beginning, I mean beating everyone up for no reason whatsoever but likeability did increase during her second fight with Kitano. Her take on friendship was heartwarming indeed.

Seikichi Kuroda

The former “guardian” of Hekikuu high. He’s been a slave to the previous guardian for most of his high school life, and he thought he could enjoy being the guardian in his last year of school, but he is forced to resign soon after meeting Kitano. He’s the most delinquent-like of the group, skipping lessons to smoke and provoking fights.

The idiot character of course with his two lackeys, there could not be a better funny supporting character. Him just getting beaten up by everyone is the funniest thing you’ll see, his character really shows what type of manga this really is, a hilarious masterpiece.

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Ending

One of the best endings. This is an example of what I mean is a perfect ending, all the characters(including the villians) get a proper send off and nothing is left unresolved. It did feel like the story was getting dragged on but at the same time it felt like it ended soon.

The ending was amazing, it did tell us everything but at the same time kept our curiosity maintained as to what would happen in their futures. Angel Densetsu is an incredibly fun read that presents an interesting viewpoint, despite being quite light-hearted. A definite recommend to anyone who like comedy.

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I know, that’s the fourth continuous review I’ve wrote, I’m sorry but all these mangas were really good so I had to write about them. Don’t worry I’ll write something other than reviews in the future posts and I’m sorry for the stupid title, I’m really bad at coming up with them. Also “Never gonna give you up” reached a billion views, that’s a billion rickrolls. I’m literally crying right now.

1 Billion!! yesssssss!!

Thank you for reading.