Ayashimon

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It's sad that this series has been cancelled. I thought that Yuji Kaku had a lot of potential built up in these few 25 chapters. Ayashimon was a series I really wanted to see succeed and I thought it would, but it seems JUMP doesn't want to let any series grow a develop into its own. Ayashimon had a very cool world built around the story. The power system was interesting to say so, but I think it was one part of why Ayashimon did not survive. The main character Maruo has a personality that I loved, and his power was kind of a mystery ... and I wish the series would have gone over why he is so strong, but it would have happened later in the series I bet. Yuji Kaku's art and paneling is amazing in this series, and I think was very eye catching.

In my opinion, the only reason why this manga has been canceled was the complete failure of the editorial department. And yes, Yuji Kaku did not create such a great manga as ‘Hell’s Paradise’, but to cancel this one over completely mainstream shounen manga, which even had worse sales than this, and that they ran this manga before the Anime of “Hell’s Paradise’ even started, showed me how incompetent the current JUMP editorials are –just look at ‘Red Hood’ or ‘Phantom Seer’–. But enough about JUMP, let’s talk about the manga and why the editors thought this won’t be such good work like his previous ... work.

Short version
- Overall (6/10):
‘Hell’s Paradise’ catched the reader immediately with great artwork, designs, mystery, mature action and as the most important, 2 extraordinarily interesting main characters. Meanwhile this manga failed in every aspect, compared to the other work. This does not mean that ‘Ayashimon’ is a bad manga, but it was definitely weaker than the author’s previous one. The artwork and designs were still good, but due to its own story limitations the action was way too one dimensional, the mystery aspect was slightly noticeable and we got a female protagonist which is just there to be protected, while the male protagonist is so plain, dumb and one-hit k.o. strong that it gets boring fast.
This sounds harsh, but don’t forget: COMPARED to ‘Hell’s Paradise’, so a lot of fans are surely disappointed. But on its own it is a solid action manga, which had a lot of potential if they would have given more time to extend. So let’s get into the details.

Long version
- Story (6/10):
The plot is a typical revenge story, but with so-called Ayashimon, which are demon/ghost like creatures. The ayashimon girl (Urara) wants to avenge her father and for that she wants to take over the yakuza like ayashimon syndicate. This is of course not all, because we also have a male human protagonist (Maruo), who is so strong that he lost his purpose in life. So a lucky accident brought them together, and Maruo gets the bodyguard of Urara. Together they literally punch through ayashimons over ayashimons to solve mysteries like ‘who was the traitor?’ or ‘how this weak and plain guy got the most badass antagonist ever?’, but the start was maybe too slow to catch every reader and at the same time the pacing was too fast (meeting the final boss within 5 chapters).
The other negative in the story was the ayashimon’s ritual fights, which were a 1-v-1. Because the male protagonist was too plain, dumb and strong at the same time, the fights get boring fast. This also improves later – at the end the amazingly choreographed mass fight in a hotel without catching the attention of the guests was definitely the highlight –, but again it was potentially too late. Also they tried maybe too hard to ride on the ‘Tokyo Revengers’ hype with such a darkish yakuza like revenge story, which did not fit very well with the Shounen JUMP’s demographics – which the editors should have known… –
So the story had potential, it just started to unfold the mysteries and the power levels, unfortunately it was too late and the limited 1-v-1 fights + the simple protagonists decreased its own chances to fully evolve.

- Art (7/10):
I gave ‘Hell’s Paradise’ a 9/10 for art, so how can this be just a 7? The artstyle of an author should’n get worse in such a short time and mostly it even improves further, so why? The answer is simple, I think Yuji Kaku is not so suited for a weekly series (‘Hell’s Paradise’ ran in Shounen JUMP plus, where he had every 3 weeks 1 week break). The designs of all the different ayashimons are great again, but they weren’t as much in focus as could be, and we mostly just saw the plain protagonist. On top of that, the whole style felt rushed. The lines were more shaky and here and there I missed 1-2 more panels to get a more smooth dynamic. And again the 1-v-1 fights took a lot out of the fights, especially if the protagonist’s full fighting repertoire is a strong punch… I mean, it works for ‘One-punch Man’, but that also gives you way more build-up and/or comedy. And of course it had the faults from the past of felt like missing backgrounds.
Here and there we get a glimpse of the author’s creativity, like the mentioned hotel fight, but probably after he got the OK to do what he wants due to the cancellation. Which again showed that the editors limited him.

- Characters (4/10):
Now we have arrived at the major weak point of this series. I’m sure you got the big picture already, the characters were way too simple and one dimensional. Female characters (not just Urara) whose only purpose is to be protected by others is way too outdated. Maruo’s dumb and plain character could be fun, but it is also often boring and repetitive. Most of the side characters and antagonists get almost zero screen time, so why would you care about them?
But again, after a certain point in the story we get a very interesting side-character – similar to Gabimaru of ‘Hell’s Paradise’ – and his backstory, as well as the main villain get a more proper introduction and our 2 protagonists evolve characteristically. So it is a pity it did not have enough time.

- Enjoyment (7/10):
To be honest, as a ‘Hell’s Paradise’ fan, I still enjoyed this manga even if it was not as good, but had maybe even more potential. Yeah, the characters and story could be way better, but I think with more time it would have worked. The art / designs were still outstanding and the creativeness of the author was really refreshing compared to the current running battle shounens. So give this mangaka as much freedom for its work as he wants and it will be as great or greater than ‘Hell’s Paradise’!
It is very sad that the editors at JUMP seem sometimes really off in their manga predictions and/or limit the author's potential. Giving other series enough time to unfold (like ‘Yozakura Family’), but axe very promising ones (this or ‘Red Hood’) immediately…

This was a WSJ manga series that I picked up cuz of a friend. I was really digging the yokai aesthetic so I went and gave it a shot. I thought it had potential. There's this One Punch Man-esque approach to the main character in terms of his skills and I think that plays well with the meta-commentary that's going on. The mc, Maruo, is a fan of shounen and the manga revels in acknowledging other popular titles to further solidify its own aesthetic while still playing by the rules.

However, I could only assume this same thing is what led to the series' eventual cancellation. ... Because of this same cancellation, it resulted in a story that was unfortunately half-baked. I felt that we never really got to know the other main character, Urara, as much as we did Maruo despite the setting playing exclusively on the former's home turf. The overarching villain was also left unimposing and I think it's a shame how there was literally no way for the author to cap this off in a satisfying way. I do think that the chapters prior to ones with obvious hints of cancellation were a bit underwhelming. By the time I expected for things to simmer, the manga was already brought to a close. I'll give this series a 6/10 because of its art and premise but due to the aforementioned situation, I cannot see myself recommending this to anyone.