Tengoku Daimakyou
Heavenly Delusion

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This manga starts with all the parts necessary for a good postapocalyptic thriller, but fails to develop them in time, while fanservice slowly piles up. The main secret stimulates curiosity though, and robust art makes reading pleasant.

Tengoku Daimakyou conceptually is a polyphonic narrative – each chapter is named after the leading character in it, but in practice there’re two main plotlines. The first is a “Yakusoku no Neverland”-like slow burn mystery inside a very special orphanage, where we follow a group of kids and try to understand what’s brewing. The other is “The Road”-like journey across a calamity-ravaged Japan, riddled with picturesque debris, suspicious ramshackle ... villages, bandits, and occasional monsters. These two parts are obviously connected, the hooks for their meeting are set, but it’s not clear how it will happen in the end – this is the main question of this work, the main attraction of its story.

The second strong point is the art, reminiscent of “Ibara no Ou” or “Apocalypse no Toride”. Tengoku Daimakyou has a similar attractive steady linework and very well-designed debris. It is even, maybe, more cinematographic. The composition of panels, the life-like designs of clothes, buildings and items, the many weathered faces and human types make this manga feel like a modern sci-fi TV movie – enriched with the imaginative freedom of a fully drawn medium and with a strong pedigree of Japanese quirky postapocalypse acutely felt.

The characters also begin in a very promising way. The kids in the shady facility are easily discernible, bright and sympathetic. The slow way in which we catch glimpses of the bigger picture in their simple lives feels natural. The pair of heroes on the road has good chemistry. The dynamic of an older more experienced but somewhat awkward bodyguard lady and a younger, active and capable, but not yet fully grown special boy feels fresh. The two share the childhood of being a post-calamity orphan, so they offer funny opinions on our civilization, now lost for their world.

So far so good, and indeed I couldn’t stop reading for the 10 (very substantial) first chapters or so, but then problems started to become visible. The cracks showed the most in the road story part, with exposition been delayed too much, which harmed characterization. Subsequently the author strained my sense of immersion by swapping genders of several characters in a convoluted way, seemingly largely for shock value and banter jokes. I can’t comment whether it may be interpreted as queer representation, maybe it can, but for me it seems to lack realism, attention, and gracefulness to be a good one or a plus in this story. The narrative is also very clearly male-centric. Only women are sexualized, sometimes in strange ways. The fanservice is light, but it’s all over the place thematically.

And after I had finally made peace with the new data and the new expectations from the characters, another issue arose – and that was the lack of engagement in the road part of the story. As far as post-calamity wastelands go, this one is fairly typical, I am afraid – the ravaged world here doesn’t whoa me by itself. The monsters are rare and there’s too little data on them, likely withheld for the final arc connecting the two plotlines. There’re too many red herrings and inconsequential events, places change way too fast to care, the danger for the main duo stops feeling real. While characters chat plenty, the author keeps readers at a distance from their thoughts and feelings – our connection with them is mostly voyeuristic. Clumsy attempts at unnecessary romance and convoluted sex jokes, increasing in volume with each new chapter, also don’t help.

So, gradually, I found myself not caring about the traveling pair of characters despite the richness of the events which happened to them. The kids’ side still interests me, even if it is oftentimes disturbing. (Speaking about the disturbing part, there’s human experimentation, several suicides, and a bit of body horror – all typical for these types of stories.) And what I am still genuinely curious about is how it all connects. I will definitely come back to Tengoku Daimakyou to check for it.

Overall my rating and personal opinion on Tengoku Daimakyou, based on subjective readability, is not terribly high. But I would recommend this work for its slow-building intrigue. I think it may suit people who like postapocalyptic stories in general. I can gladly advise it for its hearty brisk art. I even think that many others won’t share my problems with the story. However I can’t discard the overly slow exposition, sparse characterization and uncomfortable gender juggling, which disqualify Tengoku Daimakyou for character-focused readers. I have to warn about fanservice, which may put off some people. This is a manga definitely worth trying for yourself, but there’s a non negligible chance of disappointment.

Tengoku Daimakyou presents us with two sets of characters: a group of orphans in a sterile, mysterious academy (very à la Promised Neverland, as @deadoptimist mentions above), and a two voyagers making their way across post-apocalyptic Japan, searching for this same academy.

Art: Detailed backgrounds and a strong sense of spatiality allow for world building, while characters and action sequences are clean, crisp, and earnest.

Story: Unravels somewhat inconsistently, has a few exposition dump moments. But apart from them, the tension created from the spun web of alternating narratives drew me in.

Characters : what really drew me in, as all the characters feel ... memorable and fresh. Some characters are dumb, some are insecure, some are jealous, none are particularly cliché. Most importantly, the manga really highlights how duplicitous humans living in a post-apocalyptic world would really treat one another. Tons of tiny 'revelations' end up being dead ends or false starts instead of plot development because characters have been lied to or manipulated. It's great for character developments, as it allows (notably) our two voyagers to learn to navigate the world around them, but also avoids story beats from arriving too predictably in a satisfying way.

The side characters, as in both the staff of the orphanage and the settlement inhabitants / bandits / innkeepers the voyagers meet along the way are really stellar! They are also all visually interesting, and alongside the artist's detailed rendition of cool monsters and worn-down cities, really flesh out the world.

I guess I also need to address the 'gender swap' that occur not once but twice (!) in the first 27 chapters. Expected them to conveniently devolve into fanservice, but that hasn't featured too heavy-handedly yet. The fanservice is honestly super bearable (and I'd compare it to that of Chainsaw Man / Fire Punch fanservice, where one couuuld argue that it doubles as plot or char development). At the same time, the gender swaps don't seem to bring forth any trans identity narratives. The themes of gender will probably feature more prominently as the manga develops (voyagers about to enter a matriarchal village where men are treated like dogs), which will help us revisit these moments.

All in all, giving Tengoku a solid 7.5. While I wish the plot and characters were slightly more consistent, the worldbuilding and central mystery are intriguing and cool.

Art : 9
Story: 7
Characters: 6
Enjoyment: 8
Overall: 7.5

Once the pieces start merging it is really heart touching. You would expect great action from a manga like this and certainly it delivers, however the emotinos I have felt with this manga are really something. You become really attached to these characters over their individual stories and relations. That said, to be fully understood and for this manga to deliver that emotional punch it needs a reread or at least it needs you to take in consideration every detail and also every name (there are way too many characters names). The art is mesmerizing as it really stands out from the generic mangas, the ... designs are fantastic, the monsters really terryfying and creative, the relations between characters are beautiful and probably the strongest point of the manga.
Just to point out the negatives :
- Some images and crude situations are way too graphic as well as some really uncomfortable material taking in account character ages.
- There are really a lot of secondary characters with relevance to the plot and so, one must learn way too many names in order to realize many important events.

Unusual story

I love this manga story, seriously like this manga story are the most unusual post apocalypse for me. Most of the time post apocalypse story are always follow the same rule, post apocalypse -> fighting mosnter -> meet other people -> leadership or politics stuff -> fighting each others (human).

The most annoying for me about post apocalypse story are politics and when human nature always fighting each others just to make the story continue. But in this manga that things not really matter so much. I hope this manga story still continue to fighting monster instead going for politics or leadership stuff.

Since this is ... advanture manga, I really love how they meet with new people, new type enemy, using vehicle, management resource, and others.

This manga is not really incredible in term of art, but if you looking for new fresh air of post apocalypse manga story, I will definitely recommend this manga, it doesnt follow post apocalypse usual rule where there is politics and stuff or fighting with each others for most of the time.

Tengoku Daimakyou's story layering is very underrated. They throw clues at you at early chapters which naturally you'd ignore, only to go back to these early chapters after you read a bit further and realise what they were implying back then. The re-readability of this manga is insane.
The mystery aspect and the characterization is fantastic, however it doesn't just spoon-feed you the plot, you need to as i said before, use your head a bit.
I really enjoy both the world and the dynamic between the main 2 protagonists, getting very big Akira(manga) vibes.
The art is very nice, the backgrounds and the worlds especially are ... very well drawn and really drive into you the "dystopian/overgrown/abandoned" civilisation aspect.
Definitely recommended!

This is a super interesting way of story telling that I've never experienced before. It feels almost like a FromSoftware lore where you have to pick up the pieces as they give it to you and you have to pay attention to each and every characters name to understand the significance of each character you come across. I watched the first episode of the anime and I had to know what this was about and read ahead, and I thought it was a little odd that something that wasn't rated very highly or even all that popular was given such high production levels but after ... reading it, I understand now why because someone has a lot of confidence in the source material. I would like to specify that I am not a fan of "fan service" of potentially underaged characters and I hate that whenever something good comes out there's has to be some controversial element that could damage it's image, but I guess you have to take in the good with the bad... Anyways I have high hopes for the rest of this story however long it will take to finish.

An unique and unusual one in my book - and interesting to follow. Post-apocalyptic, well-drawn and very consistent. For every new chapter and pages I read, it never fails to be captivating. It can get dark at times but it balances out quite well between the violence, neutral and light hearted moments. Characters are well fleshed out and it's hard not to feel somewhat attached to the main characters.

It definitely deserves more attention as it feels like, if not the most underrated manga I've read and still reading. During the early-middle stages it might be a bit hard to follow what's happening as there's a ... fair amount to digest but its portrayal of its world is no less than brilliant combined with its distinct art and drawing quality.

9/10.