Ayashimon

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Initial Thoughts (after the first 6 chapters that have been published):
- feels too early to say, but this is great!!

- feels heavily-inspired by Chainsaw Man (or more-widely Fujimoto - edit: he was his former assistant)!!

- great character designs and interesting threads so far!!

- another cool take on parodying the shonen genre!!

- give it a read and show some love to a new Jump series!!
...
TL;DR:
- cool mix of yakuza (like Tokyo Revengers or even 'delinquent' manga like Cromartie) and yokai/demons (like Chainsaw Man, Jujutsu Kaisen or Tokyo Ghoul)

- very promising new Jump title

- show some love as it can be hard for some titles to remain in publication in a competitive digital market!

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…

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.

Review based on (Chapter 6) as of writing.

If you like OP MC helping loli then you will like this one, as it is kinda like One Punch meets JJK.

Story : So far there is nothing that stands out about this series in terms of story. The MC motivation is bland, his personality is forgettable at this point. The best example would be if chainsaw man MC was boring and OP.

Art : Art is beautiful! It's well designed and wonderful to look at. Expressions are clear with a powerful angles. Character designs are fun and interesting.

Action : This has to be one of the ... weakest areas for me. The fights are SUPER quick, since you know this MC basically 1 to 3 hits everything, so alot of the action shots don't flow well or have little impact. BUT there are some shots that are ABSOLUTELY amazing. I find it weird case the creator is able to consistently have BEAUTIFUL framed shots when not in combat.

Overall : It HAS potintal and I'll keep my eye on it, but there are much better new series similar to this at the moment. So I hope this series gets a chance to grow and develop, but right now it's meh at best.

TDLR : A JJK X CSM with a less interesting and forgettable OP MC

(I was the first one to ever write a review for this manga so when this series explodes remember me!!!!!!!)


I can not really write a review for this since its only 5 chapters in lol but I'm just gonna put this in here, PLEASE read it, I'm 5 chapters in and I'm that confident in saying this is already a 9, maybe I am overhyping it but I don't know I am seeing such immense potential with this, it could be the next chainsaw man, just give it a try you will not regret it. This is my first review on this site even over ... one piece (my all-time favorite fiction) but man this is something truly special that is all I'm gonna say, check it out I implore you!

this is a copy and paste since this review got removed for not being a proper "review" but here is my try at a "real review" lol


The story is interesting as it has a bit of everything, gangs monsters, government, and so on, the way the story is shaping up is definitely a 9 worthy, since 5 chapters in and it has already established all of these things in such a short amount of time. while not feeling rushed of course-


The art... there is nothing else to say here but it's gorgeous to look at, so it's automatically a 10/10 for me, again this art is like chainsaw man with a bit of jujutsu kaisen flare to add some extra flavor for the eyes with the whole vibes of the yokai looking fantastic because of this art style, the perfect blend of all worlds is what I'm trying to say in an easy way to describe.

Our main characters (Maruo and Urara) are already very fleshed out in only 5 chapters, we get what kind of goal they have in life, Marou wants to fight strong people and be a manga protagonist, and while that might sound simple (which it is) but I can almost guarantee that's not all there is going to be concerning Marous character. Then we have the mysterious Urara (already shaping up to be the best girl) with her mysterious ambitions of wanting to take control over things, She has set up a goal but it seems like she hiding her other ambitions which is going to be interesting to learn about as the story goes on.

as for my enjoyment, this is a 10/10 for me as I am really enjoying reading this manga week to week from now on, because of the mysterious characters and the crazy world they live in, I am especially enjoying this the most out of any manga I'm currently reading, that includes One piece but that series is still my all-time favorite. I am pointing out the One-piece thing because of the fact that it's already incredible I am comparing a 5 chapter manga to a 1030+ one that should tell you how much I am enjoying Ayashimon.


Overall I am going to give Ayashimon a 9/10, This is only because I would have a bad feeling giving this manga a 10/10 while its only 5 chapters in, meanwhile my all-time favorite peace of fiction (One piece) has a 10/10 while being 1035 chapters long so I have to show my favorite manga some respect and not give everything I see a 10.

All in all this manga is absolutely incredible and fun to read, the comedy is also great I forgot to mention that hehe, so that's another point for the series. Go read it right now! hop on and be an OG for this series when it explodes and eventually becomes the next jujutsu kaisen, (dare I say a better version? pls don't kill me), and as soon as the anime comes out u can feel proud that u gave this series life before every other uncultured sheep out there hops on the bandwagon lol,

this was my first review ever so I hope it's fine to read but I just had to do it since I really want this series to explode in popularity one day and be able to be called an OG supporter and stan
(btw tried to avoid spoilers as much as possible, or at least only gave the smallest of spoilers, but considering its only 6 chapters in as of me rewriting this review, can it really be considered spoilers?:)
GO READ AYASHIMON RIGHT NOW!!!!

This is from the same author who made Hell's Paradise, so expect the same vibe with this manga series. It's still in it's early stages but if you read Jujutsu Kaisen, Tokyo Revengers, Parasyte, Chainsaw Man or anything with that kind of action/horror/yakuza genre and you're looking for something with the same kind of feel then this might be a really good recommendations since Hell's Paradise was really good and it feels like even in its first few chapters it's building up to be just as great also.

Story - 9:

I can't give it a 10 yet since it's still too early to tell but it ... captured my attention immediately with that first chapter and it already settled its own worldbuilding in no less than six chapters and it's something I'm really looking forward to explore. Keep in mind, this manga does not hold back and that was the beauty of Hell's Paradise so expect the unexpected with this growing gem.

Art - 10:

It's beautiful and again it's as beautiful and awe inspiring like it was with Hell's Paradise and sorry if I keep mentioning that lol but that's another series I recommend to anyone that just began this series also. Everyone looks distinct, the art in the background is telling its own story, and you can actually see the action and feel the impact of each blow.

Character - 9:

We only got introduce to two main characters so far like Maruo and Urara but they're good enough to keep you compel in their upcoming journeys plus the background characters and upcoming enemies look tantalizing and I can't wait to explore more info on them.

Enjoyment - 10:

I'm excited to see where this story's direction is going and I want to keep reading more. I hope to God this series gets more traction so please, I urge to give this manga a try.

Overall - 9:

It'll probably be a 10 in the future with the way it's going, it got potential and a whole f$%@ ton of it. I'll re-review every 20 chapter or so, so for right now it's good for the first 6 chapters we have right now.

It was a shame to see this series end in only 25 chapters, but so is the nature of weekly SJ releases and their cut throat serialization standards. So while only 25 chapters may feel like not enough for an honestly decent and fun series, it wasn't really able to capture me in any particular way across these last 6 months. Unlike some of the more popular SJ releases I felt that this title was somewhat lacking of a voice and personality of its own, which sometimes made it hard to come back to week after week.
The general premise was ... fun, but I believe it's main compromising factor was the general lack of characters to really get invested into. The main cast of characters wasn't necessarily bad in the time I spent with them, but they didn't really capture me in the same sort of way the Jujutsu Kaisen cast did, and I believe that it is that lack of overflowing personality is what really hinders the overall enjoyment to be had from Ayashimon.
I could definitely taste the potential, but unfortunately it couldn't quite get those sparks to fly before its time was up. And without having a meaningful ending it's kind of hard to recommend this work in its current unfinished state.
However, I see a lot of promise in this author and I look forward to seeing what they come up with next!

“What I want isn’t the truth. I want revenge.”

- Urara, Chapter 2

Ayashimon, like a number of Shōnen series that found themselves being ended before their time, was a manga that struggled to form a coherent identity for itself. At times it felt like a rehash of currently popular themes stuffed into a battle manga’s coat; quickly becoming trapped by this identity and unable to find its own voice. This meant that the potential established in the earlier chapters was quickly lost as it began to feel like a collection of repeated clichés.

By establishing a clear goal in its opening chapter, Ayashimon was ... given a strong start; offering a plot that tackled the inherently interesting topics of fighting and revenge. These gave the reader something to latch onto, helping them to get invested in the superficial narrative. Unfortunately, there was nothing else offered by the narrative as it struggled to balance the battle genre with a more emotional side that allowed the reader to care about what was happening. This doesn’t mean that there wasn’t a potentially darker side to the narrative, but Ayashimon struggled to commit to these elements.

It felt like there was a failure to trust that the readers would remain engaged in the story if there wasn’t the promise of an imminent fight. This reliance on fighting to maintain attention led to a number of other problems; such as the lack of emotional investment. There was also a reliance on exposition in order to tell the reader what was happening and why characters were acting in certain ways. It created a distance between the reader and characters because we never got to see the world from any particular perspective. It was as if the author didn’t have confidence in their premise, haphazardly telling the reader what they should find interesting rather than letting that interest grow naturally.

The reliance on exposition also reduced some of the potentially interesting conflicts into feeling one-dimensional. With having a large number of fights in such a short run, it is easy to feel like they aren’t fully developed and so exposition took the place of drama. I do think that the ending does a good job of representing the general tone that Ayashimon sets up. While it could have been paced a little more fluidly, the open-ended approach avoided any hasty attempt to resolve numerous plot lines. However, this might be frustrating for some as a large number of questions that the series established were never answered.

This lack of conclusive ending works well because, for the most part, Ayashimon was treated as a rather one-dimensional series; limiting itself almost immediately by a superficial attachment to a 1v1 fight style. There seemed to be a pattern of the author establishing the potential scope of the story and then almost immediately limiting it. This led to a number of conflicts being unable to reach any meaningful depth as they became too reliant on the main character. This created a problem when the protagonist is treated as a meathead who is obsessed with manga.

While proudly displaying inspirations on their sleeve is nothing new for manga series, Ayashimon’s over-reliance on its odd brand of forced meta-comedy felt out of place. Having the main character be obsessed with wanting to be the main character wasn’t a bad choice, but there would usually be some sort of internal challenge to this type of dream. For Marou, however, there was no sense of internal complexity. He was simply someone who wants to be cool and this made him feel flat.

Outside of his manga obsession, Marou was established as a conventional protagonist, being someone who pushed through conflicts no matter what was in his way. While this can be a solid foundation for a character, the reader was not given any sign of internal growth, making it difficult to form an emotional connection with him. This led to the author telling the reader things about Marou rather than letting the readers understand who he was through the story's progression. He ended up feeling more like a plot device than a character which made him a little grating after a while.

His relationship with Urara was also seemingly trapped in stasis, struggling to develop any meaning to it. This was a huge missed opportunity as their personalities should complement each other well. One of the main reasons this ended up failing was that Urara was mostly there for her backstory; rarely showing any aspects of her present personality outside of the opening chapters. This was a shame because she seemed to be an intriguing character with a lot to offer. Instead, rather than building up her character, Ayashimon ended up focusing more on the character of Ten, someone who didn’t offer all that much to the early story. While a main trio is often a staple of Shōnen, especially in action-based series, his introduction caused a loss of balance between the characters.

There was a wider problem in how characters were handled; the reader didn’t see them having active roles. Both Ten and Urara’s roles are centred around Marou which meant that we didn’t see them act of their own accord. It would have been nice to see them show some form of development or importance to the story outside of the main character, especially as Urara should functionally be the most important character.

The inability to balance characters was something that affected a number of the side characters as they struggled to land any impact or leave an impression. They felt more like two-dimensional tropes as opposed to developed characters. Readers weren’t given any reason to connect to them, meaning that some potentially interesting plot points lacked an emotional weight to them. There were, however, a couple of characters who stood out; retaining a layer of mystery that made the reader want to know more. Unfortunately, due to the series ending, these mysteries could end feeling more frustrating than exciting but it showed that there was potential for Ayashimon.

The character designs were also quite interesting, especially those who weren’t part of the main cast. This was especially true for those used as a part of the environmental storytelling. They formed an interesting world that could have been better explored. It's a shame that there wasn't more faith placed on Kaku’s ability to visually tell a story. This would have alleviated the reliance on exposition and allowed the art some room to shine as it was often the quiet moments of Ayashimon that stood out the most; developing the characters in more meaningful ways. There was also an inconsistency in the tone of this series; especially with the darker elements that were demonstrated in the world-building of the opening chapter. Unfortunately, the story immediately limited itself to the yakuza groups and while it could have expanded out later in its run, it ended up feeling like wasted potential.

I should add that a couple of stylistic choices ended up feeling out of place; especially in regards to battle choreography considering this was Ayashimon’s main focus. If the series was going to take the meat-head fighter approach, then it would have been cool to see a little more variation in the earlier fights to show that the fights weren't going to be the same fight, with the same plot beats but with a different opponent.

Overall, it was the self-imposed limitations that end up causing the most problems for Ayashimon, taking a strong idea and turning it into an identity crisis. This is often rooted in a lack of confidence in both the story and the reader which can be very difficult to overcome. While there were definitely faults in Ayashimon, I believe that it was ultimately a combination of reader expectations and lack of strong characterisation that led to this series meeting a premature end.

Ayashimon. I was brought here because this was made by the same author of Hell's Paradise. And well, this will be my short review of the manga.

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Story (7?/10):
The overall quality of its story is very difficult to judge as of now. It is still fairly early for this part

Art (9/10):
If you've read Hell's Paradise, you will instantly know that it will be good. The character designs, backgrounds, and fight scenes are drawn excellently.

... Character (8?/10):
It is also fairly early to judge how the characters of this manga are written. But as of now, they are great and comprehensible.

Enjoyment (9?/10):
It's great. It's basically reading a story about Saitama (from OPM) fighting for a princess.

Overall (8?/10):
I would definitely recommend this manga to everyone. Although it's still quite new, the plot will be great if executed properly.

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If you've reached this part, well, thank you for reading!
Please do enjoy the manga!!!

Ayashimon is the current manga being made by Yuji Kaku, a former assistant of the renowned Tatsuki Fujimoto (of CSM fame) and also the author of Jigokuraku : Hells Paradise. And while I do believe in Yuuji Kaku's abilities as a competent author of the current age of shounen jump, I must observe that Ayashimon has yet to show such promise.

Story : 7
- Currently the flavour of the story is mild. Its a mix of Yakuza-supernatural which is a very interesting setting to follow and it serves of one of the strong suits of the story, with some memorable sections of art giving life to ... the setting. However, the praise ends there. Currently 9 chapters deep, the story is going through some basic motions and setting up some ground rules while introducing the players of the game. I do not find any of this entertaining, if anything its mildly amusing and somewhat forgettable. It lacks the raw power given to readers by his previous work, Hells Paradise (or HP). And while I do recognize that Yuji Kaku is very likely taking his time to establish the groundwork for his (hopefully) long run is SJM, one thing that feels tacky is that the current story as we know it even exists in the first place because of a miraculous stroke of luck (read chapter 1 you'll see what I mean).The story's atmosphere is also not as strong or prevalent as it was in HP, it feels somewhat confused. Besides that the pacing of the current nine chapters are fairly quick which is somewhat off-putting given how things are handled. Its quick enough to notice but not slow enough to predict what's going to happen in the future, which should be considered a strength but personally feels more jarring. I do hope at some point that the story picks up for real and Yuji delivers a story playing to his strengths.


Art : 9
- The art is superb, and very distinct; as expected from Yuji Kaku given how striking his art was in HP. He's got an excellent set of designs in Urara, in his monsters (or ayashimon) and in his environments (which feel as good as they do purely because of his art style). He has some excellent shots present throughout his chapters and doesn't shy away from some well done action (though they are succinct) which are also popping with style. Even the weakest link in his chain, Mauro, has a passable design that would've been a negative in a different art style. If nothing else, this Manga is loaded with eye-candy and is deserving of attention just for that. Its also worth remarking some of the angles Yuji uses, they lend the scenes some deserving weight. Also lacks glaring fanservice (but isn't entirely absent).

Character : 7
- On the same wavelength as the story. But more so noticeable because of the main-main character, Mauro. Lets break it down. As of 9 chapters, we have been given slivers of character stories and those don't give us nearly enough to know the characters, which is honestly why I feel this category is deserving of a 7 and not 6. There's promise of better characterization within future chapters. Another reason for a 7 rating is Urara's character. Personally I am not a fan of Tsundere or Bratty types in stories because of their raw ability to make little sense and still be a bitch about it, but Urara has been a pleasant surprise in that she has been the sole voice of reason between the main duo. She expresses more than a few faucets of character and those are worthy of appreciation. Speaking on the supporting cast, they too have some positive traits in that they make enough sense within the story. No one is there just for shits and giggles. Then we come to Mauro, who is personally my biggest negative of the story. Guy can be surmised in in four words : Big. dumb and brutish. And I mean this very literally, seeing as his motivation, strength and level of intelligence are established in chapter 1. Arguably there isn't much issue with this, but Yuji has yet to find a way to differentiate Mauro from the others who use his Archetype and do it better. In short Mauro is simply dumb and loves to throw down, and we've seen enough of this ; and he hasn't been given his own distinctions. He can be redeemed however, by giving him the same edge of sincerity that was offered to Denji (and if chapter 9 was any indication, we'll hopefully receive it soon). Because of the existence of Gabimaru, the protagonist of HP, we know that Yuji Kaku is very capable of writing an intelligent MC, or at least one who isn't as dumb as a pile of bricks, so it wouldn't be a stretch to place faith in Yuji Kaku's ability to craft a suitable MC.

Enjoyment : 7
- Its mildly enjoyable, for the reasons stated above. Its serious but not quite. Fun but not quite a popcorn read. It treads an odd middle line which places the series in an odd position. While I am interested in seeing where the series goes, as of right now its a solid 7 in terms of enjoyability. Good but not great.

Overall : 7
- A solid 7 all across the board, recommendable for both Vets of the anime/manga medium and newcomers on account of its storytelling and lack of fanservice. If you've got the time of day, spending it on Ayashimon isn't something you'd regret, or so I hope.

I am truly saddened at the fact that Jump did not have enough faith in this story.

The world of Ayashimon had so much potential. The ways that the underground crime aspect of the underworld, a very refreshing and interesting setting for a story of a shonen protagonist being both simple to understand and becoming rich enough in drip-fed backstory to have a journey of what it means to "be the main character of a manga". The set up for meta commentary while delivering creative fights with wonderfully designed characters in the process of being fleshed out in a world with fun rules was just revving ... up and getting its footing

And then Shonen Jump canceled it.

I had a great time reading this week to week, and it is a shame that Shonen Jump is too afraid to take a mild dip in sales to bet on any new mangas for the future when their entire moneymaking lineup has either ended (Demon Slayer and Chainsaw Man) nearing their ends (MHA, JJK, Black Clover) or setting up for a conclusion (One Piece)

I know this isn't necessarily a review of Ayashimon proper, but rather the fact that Ayashimon had all the potential to become something really great with so much going for it, only to be axed. It truly is a cutthroat world for the manga industry.

Ayashimon was great for what it was, and it is a shame that (in my opinion) it never had the chance to explode into the superstar it had the potential to become.

8/10

As of writing this review, the series only has 8 chapters, so please keep that in mind.

Story: 7

At the moment, the story has been rather weak. It's fast paced and keeps you on your toes, but I can't really speak on it until the series gets more of a chance to develop itself.

Art: 10

The art in this series is ABSOLUTELY STUNNING. The visuals are great, that's all I can really say about it.

... Characters: 8

Characters are very solid and charming, and the current villains are interesting enough. Maruo has easily become one of my favorite protagonists, and Urara makes for a great female lead.

Enjoyment: 10

it's been an amazing ride so far and I can't wait until the story gets developed further.

Really sad to see this get axed. It's hard to deny we didn't see it coming, with how low it always ranked in popularity amongst WSJ readers. But people online who are blaming the MC for the series' failure are out of their mind. Maruo Kaido, the MC, was what made this manga for me. His whole shtick of wanting to be a manga protagonist was super funny and relatable, and made for some amazing moments. There's this scene where he's a child reading a manga, and then he looks up and envisions himself as the protagonist fighting against the villains, which is what we ... as readers are experiencing. And another where they break the 4th wall and you can see the author writing Maruo into the pages of the manga during his final fight. The whole premise of his character was really unique and made for some endearing and hilarious moments throughout the manga. I would have loved to see where they took his character next because he had lots of room for growth and development.

What actually caused this manga's downfall was the incredibly bland story. The first chapter really gets you hooked, but by chapter 2 they take a 180 and turn it into a very generic and lifeless yakuza story. There's this girl who's the daughter of a gang leader and wants to get revenge on them after they killed her father. So Maruo just.. randomly decides to help her for no reason. They go to this city that's run by yokai called Ayashimon and fight a bunch of random people. And that's the entire premise. It's incredibly dry and boring, and all of the side characters feel pointless. They really add nothing to the narrative at all. If perhaps the manga took a different route and made the surrounding cast and story interesting, then this manga wouldn't have been axed. Because the main character was amazing, and the art was excellent. But the rest of the story really flopped in my opinion.

If you want to give it a read, its really fun because Maruo is an awesome MC. But the rest of the story falls pretty flat.

Story: 4
Art: 8
Character: 6
Enjoyment: 8
Overall: 7

Ayashimon was one of the most fun manga I've read since JoJo's Part 4. This has been favorite story by Kaku and I wish it never got the axe or I'd have rated it a nine or a ten. Some things I really wanted to explore more of or wanted to see a conclusion to just weren't able to be touched upon due to the cancellation.
I can't wait to see what Yuji Kaku has in store next. If you are a fan of manga that references manga in a fun way and still makes room ... to be it's own thing give this one a shot.

Story: 7/10
The story is like a lot of Shonen where a main character finds someone to protect and help him reach his goal. However, as stated in the first chapter, this is Yuji Kaku's manga stuffed with all the things he's most familiar with from biker gangs to Yakuza. The manga will take you on a wild ride.

Characters:7/10
This is where a lot of people see as a low point of the story. The characters don't get enough time to show growth or allow people to connect with them.

Art: 9/10
Due to the chapters being produced on a weekly basis the art was not able to match that of Hell's Paradise, but it still managed to look better than majority of weekly series.

Enjoyment 10/10
There's nothing more fun than a manga protagonist who wants to be a manga protagonist. It's so thrilling to see Mario seek out a worthy opponent and yet so relatable when a fight let's him down.

This story borrows a lot of the same themes, character types, and world-building as a lot of other popular shonens, but that doesn't make it any less satisfying to read. In just 25 bitterly short chapters, I was pulled into the world of Ayashimon and turned into a cheerleader for the little gang of Yokai (+ 1 human) protagonists.
I can't say that this storyline isn't predictable- super OP male lead finds he's even stronger with his friends... but I'm the type that likes to revisit common themes, such as those in JJK or CSM, especially when the leads show great character development, and for ... good reasons. That's the biggest weight for me when I decide how "good" a piece of media is, and although the author definitely sticks to tropes, the characters are deeply developed and show a ton of growth even though the series never finished its first arc due to a sudden cancellation. I wish I could have seen how far they would have come with a properly finished plot line.
The art style is gorgeous, and the character designs are the icing on the cake: Each panel is beautifully lined and planned out across each page, in a way that fluidly guides the reader throughout each chapter and keeps them flipping through the manga. Art style is another top guideline for me, and I love media that breaks from the mold and allows the main art team to play around and express themselves in each tiny sketch. Even the littlest dot adds to the feeling of the artwork!
Maybe I'm moreso defensive since this manga started off so captivating and promising and got nipped in the bud out of nowhere... I really wish I could have seen this series last even a little bit longer.

Honestly, I really enjoyed this manga. It felt like a parody in the style of one punch man, with the cartoonishly dramatic characters of csm. The story seemed to be building to something much more exciting then it did. I assume that the author was only told they were not getting continued within the last few chapters, as up to that point they seemed to be setting up a lot of characters with a clear plan on how they would be fleshed out. I really would like to give this a higher rating, as I found it funny and interesting, but being cut off at ... 25 chapters clearly cuts off the anticipated story quite a bit.

Ayashimon is a tribute to battle manga.

As you can see, this one’s a short read. The content is jam-packed and showcases some pretty gnarly artwork.

The gore — almost Berserk-esque — hyped me up to see the main character keep on getting up to throw another punch. I was in awe of how much artistic work it may have taken to concretize representations of traditional yokai in addition to the badass combat.

The story partly talks about how people cope differently with grief and the extreme ways some vent these pent-up feelings. Central themes that come up would be how it should become more common for people ... to look out and ask for help when they need it, as the protagonist is able to beat up these characterizations of fear with more and more ease in every battle.

However, the conversations/dialogue can get a bit stale or corny, while the ‘lessons of the story’ are sometimes cliche. These lessons the author tries to convey to the reader aren’t too deep or philosophical, but it does serve as a reminder for those who happen to have some spare time to read this. You could tell that there is an appreciation for the shonen manga that most people may have picked up as kids, with not-so-subtle references to them here and there.

The chapters leading up to the ending, although short-lived at least provided me reassurance in the main character's abilities. Stories like this don’t always need closure when the reader has built this wall of trust and belief with the characters, especially through just less than 500 pages.

All these things about it still never failed to keep me hooked; as I finished this manga within the course of a free stay-at-home weekend!

“This isn’t loyalty. It’s gratitude.”

I'll be as direct as possible since this is my first review and I don't really know what I should write.

The story starts in a peculiar way and can grab the attention of most readers, specially if you're into shounen and yakuza styled manga. With that said, don't get your hopes too high because it's only 25 chapters, not nearly enough to finish a story with this kind of plot, making it have an open ending. The character development is average and a bit vague, making you don't care about what happens to who.

It's a shame it ended up being a disappointment since I ... was looking forward to reading it.

Everything that makes a shounen bad is imbued into this work, and is perhaps the seeds that were sown to get the manga cancelled.

Ayashimon is a manga that took me quite a while to get through, despite only having 25 chapters available. It showed a lot of promise, even I admit this - the concept of Yakuza compromising of different mythological monsters from Japan fighting within a red light district setting certainly piqued my interest. It’s unique in that regard, a big problem in manga and anime recently has been ideas overlapping to the point that if you’ve seen/read one work from a genre ... then you’ve practically seen them all - Ayashimon’s concept stood out from this pattern.

The plot, however, was bipolar. The whiplash from dialogue heavy exposition, to a quick fight scene and then to a funny goofy “friendship” moment really battered me. There were times I was heavily invested in a scene, in the characters' emotions and motivations, the juicy bit right around the corner but it’d be rudely interrupted by a completely out of place plot point that knocked the train right off the tracks. A lot of well written scenes got absolutely demolished by the author's inability to hang onto the important panels and I felt it really diminished the characterisation of several of the cast.

The cast themselves suffered from similar issues that plagued the plot. Their base outline was really good, however as the story went on it felt like the main character remained stagnant and those around him grew.

Marou is an ok protagonist, he’s a bit boring after the 12th chapter of him trying to fight everyone who’ll agree and his design is actually rather dull and fits into the self insert style of design a lot of main protagonists suffer from. Despite his constant mentioning of manga, very weird to hear about manga so much while reading a manga, and his inability to really seem relatable I do actually think Marou could have gone somewhere.

Urara and Ten are really the cast you stick around for - both gaining a lot of development in the short amount of run time the series had, even if their developments were really fast paced and, despite feeling like their characters would naturally progress to the end of the arc, it could have been shown more than said they improved.

The art is pretty good, it’s definitely more in the classic manga style that you see in a lot of assistants' work. This isn’t to, again, say the art is bad, it’s really well drawn and the panels look gorgeous no matter where you look, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that the art style is very reminiscent of a lot of different manga and isn’t a stand out in terms of stylisation.

Overall, I’m giving Ayashimon a 6. Despite all the merit the manga has, it’s swiftly followed by many issues and problems that fundamentally lower my enjoyment while reading. I am still sad that it got cancelled as I could see it still had more to offer.

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.