Sengoku Youko

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Upon a recommendation from a friend whom I admire for her impeccable taste in character-driven manga, I started reading Sengoku Youko. And wow, it is quite amazing. I was hooked into this manga via a spoiler, which makes Naruto look so small in comparison and I cannot mention. You will see if you keep reading; all I can say is that Sengoku Youko utilizes a very rarely used narrative technique to move the plot along.

Initially, I thought that the manga depicted several shounen elements, even though the human protagonist, Jinka, wasn't necessarily the most hotheaded hero. Heck, he even hates humans! And yet, he is ... partnered with a female youko or demon named Tama who loves humans, so he is coerced (and sometimes out of his free will) into saving them as part of the "savior siblings." Sometime on their journey, a couple of other people join them, which reminds me of Avatar: the Last Airbender in some ways.

My absolute favorite part of this manga is the strong variety of both humans and demons alike. In most of the manga involving demons that I've read, demons are portrayed as either monstrous or innocent -- there are no in-betweens. And yet, Sengoku Youko manages to provide us with CUTE, adorable demons (think of the villagers from Animal Crossing), and at the same time describe very intimidating demons who are both good and bad. I also appreciated how this manga toyed with the question of duality: Are we humans? Or are we demons? It is not necessarily dark or dramatic, but it can be at times when the story necessitates it.

As mentioned above, Sengoku Youko is wonderfully driven by characters, whose choices they make impact the outcomes that continue to resonate with the remaining characters and what ultimately happens in the end. Because of their choices, the story makes use of a rare narrative technique to further surprise the readers and push the manga to new dimensions. Just because the Final Goal of one character may have been accomplished does not mean that the manga is completely over; in fact, it is this completion of the goal that creates a new Final Goal.

Much like Mushishi, Sengoku Youko is primarily a journey with no conclusive arcs -- no battling, training, or battling. Technically, there is at least one training session, but they are not tedious to read about at all! I enjoy the creatures that the group meets and their little stories, and I also enjoy the seemingly flawless integration of the plot with the episodic adventures at the beginning. All of the characters have a personality that later grows, recedes, and develops as the series continues, which is truly phenomenal.

Ah, the art? I have not mentioned that, but suffice it to say that the art of all characters evolves to reflect their growth and the passing of time, which allows them to escape the Same Face Syndrome that occasionally plagues manga and anime. Overall, I must highly recommend Sengoku Youko based on current chapters, the overarching storyline, and variety of characters with their unique motivations. After all, there is an eight-year-old boy with a thousand demons.

When I began Sengoku Youko, I had no idea it would affect me as much as it did. I thought I was starting a fun shounen action series, enjoyable and good to pass the time. It isn't that the summary isn't accurate, because it is ... for about the first ten chapters. This manga develops into something so deep and moving you never see it coming until you're already in the heart of it.

At its core this is a story about people. Humans, demons; the line between them is blurred as we learn that what defines us can never be categorized as simply as ... that. The characters meet and mesh and become inseparable, even when physical distance keeps them apart. Their lives and very selves are touched and changed with every meeting as we are reminded that who we meet is so much a part of who we are.

Shinsuke, the "scaredy cat swordsman" mentioned in the manga's brief summary, undergoes perhaps the most organic and immense character growth of anyone in any work I have read. The other characters evolve as well, as times passes, and while in some works a change in characterization can feel like a plot device - heavy handed and deliberate - these characters exhibit life of their own. They are not changing at the author's whims. They are reacting to the situations that arise, the people they meet, the passing of time, and becoming more than they were.

I will admit the pacing is a bit difficult in this, especially as it shifts protagonists part way through. It is unconventional, and may throw some readers. Don't look at this as a betrayal by the author; there is a point to this, and if you stick it through to the end you will witness something beautiful. Let the story take you down an alternate path, parallel and deeply bound to the one you thought you were going down. Don't forget the fondness you hold for the original cast, but allow yourself to experience the new characters the author is entrusting to you as the reader.

This is a story of people. Of meetings, separations, reunions, losses and parting and never forgetting the people that led you down the path that made you who you are. Let the characters tell their story, and let it remind you of the people in your own life who led you to where you are. Keep their warmth in you and let it fuel you to keep going.

Dont get me wrong. This manga is by no means bad, it is in fact very well-made. But I need to admit that I was greatly disappointed by, in my opinion, how much the author fucked up what could be a much better story.

Alert: This is may be a bit spoiler-y, but I needed to vent my opinion on this manga.
The first part was my favourite. It rounded up well and the characters were developing. I specially loved her who was supposed to be one of the four protagonists, if not the main one: Tama. I thought she, a cunning fox demon in the body ... of a little girl, was the most interesting out of the four protags. Apparently the author was interested in developing her and Jinka as the main characters, judging by how the first part ended. But I think somewhere in the middle of the story, after the part one, the author started worrying about what would his readers think of his work. As this manga is Shounen, in Japan its majority of readers are supposed to be guys. In my vision, the author began searching for a boy character to turn into a (relatable?) main character; he maybe thought Tama wasn't a good enough protagonist for a story facing the male audience, as there wasn't even fanservice from her part (for fuck's sake, she looked like a freaking child).

The story could have turned up very similarly if the author chose any other random male character to turn into the protagonist. Seriously, in the first part, Senya was an extremely minor character. I liked to see him grow in the second part; but I thought his arc would last until like, the part where he and Tsukiko showed all grown up in front of Tama. From there on, the author could have focused again in her, and seriously, could have given her some fighting abilities at last. She didn't have a single real battle scene. Tama and Shinsuke turned into minor characters and I hadn't even noticed, as I was anxiously waiting for the author to focus on them again. Jinka and Shaku had vanished (though I understand the author needed to do that *for the plot*).

The ending was so incredibly frustrating that, though I cried at Shaku's return and the reunion of Tama and Jinka, I skipped through all the tiring and unnecessarily long battle scenes that only served, in my opinion obviously, to emphazise overpowered, minor characters before and now main characters. I was specially frustrated since I had been postponing this reading for a long time, and really looked foward to Tama and Jinka's development.

The artwork was extremely good and clearly evolved through the series, and the battle scenes, though a bit tiring for me to read, were well-drawn. The character designs were unique and recognizable, and the world was quite well-developed. For these reasons, it was extremely frustrating to see what could have been one of my favorite manga, be turned into a simply "good shounen" like many other good shounen out there.

TL;DR, without spoilers: If you're reading for Tama, Jinka, Shinsuke, Shaku, don't expect much. If you're just looking for a good shounen manga, maybe to pass the time, try this one out, I guess.

To start this review, I will state that I am still EXTREMELY mad about the Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer adaptation. I will also preface that this is not my favorite of Mizukami's works, with Biscuit Hammer and Spirit Circle being superior in my eyes. However, this is still a top 10 manga of mine for excellent reason. It is ambitious and has a storytelling prowess not seen in his other works. While Spirit Circle is a layered story, and Biscuit Hammer is a spoof on the Sentai genre, Sengoku Youko is just Mizukami showing he can do a traditional Shonen while still maintaining his ... trademark untraditional style of fluid plot progression, nuanced character writing, and the beautiful emotional core at the heart of all his works.

The plot starts rather simply for a Mizukami story, following a pair of brother and sister (at least they call each other that) "Youko", or demons, named Jinka and Tama. They traverse the lands, with the younger sister being a proclaimer of absolute peace to misdoers, pleading with them to reconsider their actions. When this proclamation fails, Jinka goes beast mode and beats the meanies up easily. There is also a random guy that joins along with them named Shinsuke, and they kind of just let him. The start of the story isn't perfect, but it makes sense as it emulates many of its other shonen counterparts, then tears apart these traditional storytelling values in a unique way. I like to see the first 1/3 of Sengoku Youko similar to Hunter X Hunter, with our main characters all rather simple at the beginning, but showing both explicit and implicit growth with every scene that comes, making their growth immensely satisfying. I won't go any further into the plot, as the next 2/3 of the story is spoiler-heavy, but I will say that Sengoku Youko never stays stagnant, always growing as a narrative and making daring choices. Some work, some fail, but none of them are meaningless.

Now it's time to talk about the cast. A strength that all of Mizukami's manga have is that every plot point grows every member of the cast in some way, and that is no different for Sengoku Youko. My personal favorite character is Shinsuke, a character who starts out as your stereotypical shonen "I'm a normal guy stuck in a crazy world!" MC, but slowly grows into something far grander. He experiences the greatest character writing out of any manga I've ever read, consistently adapting in every scene, so much so that the Shinsuke from the beginning, middle, and end are all completely different characters. If nothing else, read Sengoku Youko for the absolute writing masterclass that is Shinsuke's character. The rest of the class ranges from great to serviceable, with characters like Senya, Jinka, and Douren being the other highlights. Senya has a really unique power and how it relates to his psyche creates polarizing dynamics, Jinka is a great foil to Shinsuke and would be higher if not for a questionable plot decision, and Douren is just so fucking cool. The only flaw with the characters is Tsukiko, who in my opinion does not receive a sufficient amount of development to justify her screentime. I felt that she was honestly quite expendable as a character in most of her scenes, and brings little impact to the overall narrative. She isn't actively bad, just a rather dull point in a non dull series.

And this final section will be spent on me GUSHING about Mizukami's art style and how much he has grown from his early days. Unfortunately, the site is bugging for me and won't let me post any pictures on this review, but I implore you to look up some of his art. At first glance, the art is almost mediocre, with a simple, shonen-like design lacks a lot of difference comapred to older mid-2000s manga with the same style. But Mizukami has absolutely perfected the art of expression, and his shading is some of the best of any mangaka I've seen. Admittedly, Biscuit Hammer is rather shoddy, with some scenes looking out of place and the art a bit wonky, but Sengoku Youko has not a single part that is flawed in any manner. It is excruciatingly beautiful, an example being Shinsuke's art style during the narrative. His change in design and character is so poignant to the points in the story that he's in, from jubilant, to fulfilled, to despaired, to content, every level of his character is only accentuated by the art. This review might seem like a bit of a Shinsuke dickride, but he's not the only one with outstanding artistic design. In fact, every character has such a fun unique design, and Mizukami uses the fighting techniques these characters have with a great scale yet never seems to falter in terms of quality. Overall, this is the peak of Mizukami's art, and seeing his progression throughout his career makes it an even more satisfying read.

Overall, I give Sengoku Youko a 9/10. It's gripping, unique, and nuanced in many regards. The only flaws are a few drawn-out plot points and questionable decisions (specifically with Jinka) that hold it back from Mizukami's other manga. I am so hyped for the anime and I pray to the gods in heaven above that they don't massacre another one of Mizukami's creations, otherwise I will riot.

This manga is gold in my eyes. This manga has been out for so long but only 1 review? Come on guys! This manga might seem a bit plain for some people but I honestly think it's one of the best "friendship wins over everything" manga. The story actually surprised me with the main character changing all of a sudden. The character development is actually great as it shows them aging from a young brat into a great adult and it's great to see the characters powering up. Better than Dragon Ball Z,to be honest lmao. Honestly,this is one of the better mangas I've read. ... Would recommend to everyone :)

Sengoku Youko is a manga that I might never really understand the appeal of to most fans.

The plot is actually split up into two different parts, with the first half focusing on the journey of these two demon siblings and this human samurai that has no talent and they fight an evil organization, but one of the siblings ends up getting super overpowered, and the second half focusing on an already overpowered villain turned hero as he fights to gain the power to defeat the one sibling in the first half. It's pretty standard shounen at this point, with the majority of the plot ... coming from different fights. I will say that the change in main character halfway through the story is pretty jarring, as it feels like all the time you spent learning about the first few characters is wasted, since they either show up very rarely in the second half or are completely different, asking you to believe that they made a complete change in the time you don't see.

The characters are pretty standard too, with no one exhibiting too many characteristics that make them stand out from the rest of the characters you might find in a typical shounen. I honestly wish a lot of the female characters did more in the story, as they pretty much only had minor roles in supporting the mains, even though they had potential to do much more. The only character that I found interesting and wanted to see more of were the tiger and dragon villains since their intertwining storyline was actually decently thought out and were both compelling in their own rights. I also find it funny how the author makes this one character that we spend like 10 chapters with (in which we don't really get to know too much about her), really important to the story and a pivotal plot point for the main characters. Any types of feelings that the author wanted the audience to feel near the end of the story concerning this one character honestly just feels really unearned.

The art is alright I guess, though I didn't really like it all that much.

Overall, Sengoku Youko was just average at best when compared to all the other manga out there. It doesn't do anything particularly well, it doesn't explore deep themes any more than anything else, it doesn't have super interesting and memorable characters, etc. The constant thought that I had while reading this was, "So when does this start to get as good as people say it is?" At most I'll give that it didn't do anything particularly poorly, but that's about it.

Sengoku Youko is good manga, but with a very weak start. I think my expectation for a work by the author of Hoshi Samidare, which is one of my favorite manga, got in the way of my experience.

The characters are quite charismatic having a good attention from the author, which is a positive point due to having authors who ignore them. This is something quite interesting since the attention is in the same style as One Piece, where characters appearing at one point in the story and having unexpected relevance later on.

The protagonists - Shinsuke, Jinka and Senya - are well written and have ... a great evolution during the story, being confronted by the world around them in a moral or psychological way. However, Jinka is the most uninteresting among them, in fact he makes the beginning of the story weak, as he is not charismatic and his motivations are shallow and uninteresting. However, luckily it gets out of focus at a certain point in the story.

The story is good and interesting. Initially it's something quite something that causes a certain disinterest in her, but gradually concepts and mysteries are introduced with surprises in the story that make her more and more curious. However, the end of one of these concepts was very weak in my opinion that I even stay open, despite having a good ending.

The art is the best part of the work. Very detailed and having very good action sequences, epic sebdi and giving excitement to the story.

Finally, Sengoku Youko is a weaker work than Hoshi no Samidare, but it still has its qualities and manages to be a good story. Having as negative points one of its protagonists not very charismatic and a concept that was left open.

Continuing on from Samidare into the catalog of Satoshi Mizukami, next I came along Sengoku Youko. Despite being Mizukami’s longest work and a shounen action manga, it was a name I’d heard little about. However what I did hear about was quite interesting, OPT threads posting ambitious spreads, and some classy-taste friends of mine listing it as their favorite battle shounen ever. So I began my delve into the 2007-2016 series, Sengoku Youko. Let’s Rock.

PLOT: Two people roam the land. We have the fox demon, Youko Tama, and her stepbrother, Yamato Jinka. Together they’re on a quest to reform the evils of the land and ... bring a better peace to the world. Along their way they meet the young samurai Hyoudo Shinsuke, who’s the first to join their party in their quest for peace. If this doesn’t sound interesting to you, don’t worry. This is just the initial set-up. Sengoku Youko is broken up into some clearly defined parts, each building on the events of the last and, in my honest opinion, increasing in intrigue. The first part has a pretty standard set-up and does drag for the first while, but what it ends up doing and being built from there is quite the mastercraft. Sadly this means it’s the type of piece where I have to hold my tongue on why it’s good because the twists and surprises are best left unspoiled. Once part 2 kicks it, it becomes a tightly woven tale that carries a lot of emotional punch. Despite the simple set up, some quite amazing and surprising things do happen down the road, the manga will shift the status quo quite a bit and time will pass, but all of this is done quite meaningfully and with a lot of skill. There’s also a lot of thematic and emotional weight, as the series goes into humans, demons, fate, and what it means to fight. It’s full of exciting fights backed by powerful ideals and heart-wrenching deaths. It manages to fantastically blend an intense action plot with a lot of character moments and development. As with my last Mizukami series, I will say the plot falls under the characters but that’s by no means a bad thing. Ending wise the series ties up nicely, even if the epilogue lacked in some ways.

7/10, the first part is a 6 with the second part beyond being an 8.

CHARACTERS: Mizukami is one hell of a character writer and this doesn’t change. The initial cast are all quite memorable. Tama herself I find to be the weakest character as while she’s likeable and cute I found her development quite lacking in comparison to everyone else. Her initial ideal of peace stays throughout with little questioning, but she does over time come to discover her motivations for what’s more important to her. Jinka on the other hand is quite strong development-wise. When we meet him he’s a human on a quest to become a demon, after being exiled and living with demons he watched humans kill all the demons he lived with and has developed a hatred for them. Through the events of the series (and especially through his relation with Shinsuke) he comes down off of his hatred horse and begins to develop into the main hero we want him to be. Shinsuke himself is quite the case, starting off as a coward and a wannabe we see an AMAZING amount of development with him. His development is rough, but as all human development is, and by the end he’s even rather inspirational. I can’t say his name, but the other character to go through quite as complex and satisfying a development is one who becomes a lead character in the second part. I imagine any fans of the series will know who I’m talking about and there’ll be little dissent on the development of this boy. There’s also a lot of great side characters. The character of Teru was a particular highlight for being both incredibly funny and endearing despite overall playing a rather minor role in the series. Some other characters such as Raidou and Nau were also quite nice. I never found any of the characters to be unpleasant, with the “worst” being fun but static. As far as villains go there’s a good amount to talk about here. Some of the recurring villains are quite nice, especially Douren who falls into the old trope of “Genuinely Great Guy who’s just on the Other Side.” The character of Mudo falls into the villain turned rival role and has some of the best character development in the series. I also want to give a shout out to Jinun but can’t say why for spoiler sakes. Lastly the series villains, who’s reveal itself is a twist, were rather interesting. They were built up in a mysterious and exciting manner over the early parts of the series, and come to pay off towards the end. Despite being villains they fall into the nice category of not only relatable, but arguably more right than the main characters and have a fantastic backstory even if they’re lacking as individual characters. All in all Mizukami outdid himself by creating a loveable cast that grows well and ends up becoming powerful and memorable characters.

9/10, epitomic of good battle shounen character writing.

VISUALS: I’d honestly say this is a mixed bag. Mizukami’s art isn’t the strongest but he pulled out all of the stops here. While the individual panel to panel can be alright, the action scenes (especially later in the series) are top notch. While it may not be the most anatomic or realistic, the art is really expressive and can flow well. Character faces convey a lot of emotion and the designs are unique and memorable. Most memorable of all are the spreads, which on their own might be 10/10. Whether it be epic attacks conveyed in gripping detail with powerful emotion, back to back spreads conveying a mix of scale and flow, or (most surprisingly) spreads of larger than 4 pages to convey the size and scale of a scene in intriguing ways, Sengoku Youko I feel is one of the best examples of how to utilize and make multi-page spreads in an action series. I can still picture some of them with their intense action and raw emotions. It’s ambitious for the medium with having even a 6-page spread at one point. The average page isn’t as good as these spreads, but the series looks fine on average. I also think some of the demon design is particularly fantastic, a personal favorite of mine is Banshou’ou’s combat form.

8/10, some amazing spreads put in what’s otherwise a pretty decent piece.

FINAL SCORE: 8/10

While not perfect (with a slow first act) Sengoku Youko does some amazing stuff and in my opinion is well worth the read, while not becoming my favorite battle shounen I think it’s a pretty good contender for one of the best ever. I’d recommend it for most manga fans and is a must-read for any battle shounen manga fan.

THE MEH

The premise of Sengoku Youko is both generic for a fighting shounen and familiar coming from its author, who was working on Hoshi no Samidare at the same time. Two siblings (not really in here) defeating both bad humans and demons and telling them to do better, out of love for either one or both species.

The initial plot structure is one of the same for a fighting shounen as well, the main group gets formed while defeating minor enemies, antagonist organization and big bads appear, more and more powerful bads appear later on, the good guys get stronger by getting more and more power ... ups, some romantic interests thrown in, and there you have it, your fighting shounen served and ready to go.

The comedy can be a mixed bag, there’s a lot of the usual silly yelling, funny moments thrown in during serious ones, overreactions and the like, yet there’s also some good comedy about subverting those typical shounen moments by cutting them off out of annoyance around one of the protagonists, so it evens out.

The powers are based on elements, spiritual energy, illusions, and the fights revolved completely around either fist or sword fights with demonic powers or transformations in them. At most they mix some boxing in it but that’s about it for innovation, which is very basic and inferior in terms of choreography compared with Hoshi no Samidare.

At least the usual craziness from this author is still there and if all you want is epic scales and scope in your fights, you will have them in both parts of the manga.

The art is overall decent but can be rough around the edges since the author was never very good at drawing. The artwork is simplistic and often lacks details or backgrounds, the character designs are simple and generic and feel kind of reused from other works, the motions are so-so, and as a whole there’s a very sketchy feel about what’s on the pages. At the same time the special effects are really powerful, and combined with the sketchy art style, the darker, hypest and more psychological moments in the manga have a raw feeling that make them immersive, impactful and memorable enough.

THE BAD

You can’t have your typical fighting shounen without its typical elements and moments, and that’s where all the bad writing comes in:

-Convenient power ups in battle, with even its own nine tails like Naruto.

-Quick training sessions on rooms where time moves differently so the main characters can conveniently become way stronger in order the defeat their opponents. Sometimes not even that but training montages through flashbacks and after time skips instead.

-Forgiving old bad guys that become future allies against stronger new enemies.

-Lack of permanent deaths in the long run. For the most part that’s present as well, but at least the characters that do die in here are more fleshed out than the ones in Hoshi no Samidare.

-Meh antagonist organization. As a whole they are fine, there’s enough variety amongst them and both good and bad guys in it but individually almost every member in it is lacking powerful enough characterization. Eventually two or three of them are fleshed out but the vast majority of them are not. Later on more antagonists appear and they leave a lot to be desired for how hyped they were when they appeared for the first time. Plus their existence is confusing in a way that feels like a plot hole. They come from the far more advanced past and despite claiming that they try to prevent their end, descendants keep over the time on which the series take place in, how is that possible?

-Random anachronistic element that doesn’t fit the historical setting, in the form of a rapper like villain that even speaks in English randomly, what the hell is with that guy?

-Lots of last moment saves and characters appearing randomly when needed.

THE GOOD

Despite the criticisms I’ve made, I think that Sengoku Youko is overall a decent one time read fighting shounen plainly for its second half, which although it still has the issues from the first, it also amplifies the good parts of it and adds some more on its own.

First of all, it takes an interesting narrative choice by switching the roles of some characters, thus you have some good guys from the first part being the antagonists while some bad guys are now the protagonists, while at the same time it follows every single recurrent side character or antagonist from earlier with a new role and newer character dynamics with some others, thus everyone remains kind of relevant for the story and plot and there is a sense of evolution for most of them that way.

This is done by not forgetting anything from both the earlier and the later parts, as every seemingly unimportant side story and character reappears with a role in the final battle and arc, while it also tries to make some sense out of the stuff that previously didn’t have much, or any.

The themes are ok as well. As it seems to be the case with this author, it’s anti-suicide, edgyness, depression, losing yourself out of greed for power, people getting a new perspective and identity in life and all that stuff, with this time the relationships between humans and demons as an addition.

Last year we have had several anime depicting demons in different ways, Frieren as irredeemable, Helck as victims, the S-Rank Adventurer Daughter anime as something in between, as there were demons that were just evil, as well as others that could be reformed with better nurture. Sengoku Youko takes a similar stand as the latter, as there are both demons that kill for hunger and humans that kill any demon indiscriminately, as well as demons and humans that coexist peacefully, since even though they are different on the outside, they still share presence in a same spiritual world, thus being essentially the same. The end of the manga also shows how demons can be reformed by being taught a different diet.

The key to the theme exploration is the presence of characters that are both human and demon, products of artificial experiments. Thus both demons and humans learn that coexistence is possible through them, with the key characters for that aspect being Shakugan in the first half, who was not just a friend for Tama and a romantic interest for Shinsuke, but also the one that helps the human hating Jinka notice that.

Tama is important for the theme exploration as well, since she was around humans or half humans as well as demons her whole life, which is why she is the mentor for everyone else in the main group, in terms of getting along between the different species.

And finally, remember that golem from Hoshi no Samidare with an existential crisis that was one of the best, if not the best character from that manga? Well Senya here is the same but done much better, coming from an empty husk of a character to an amnesiac little boy to a dangerous monster that can’t control his powers, to a suicidal half demon half human character with an identity crisis and full of guilt and repentance, to the hero of the story that never really breaks the power scaling, and finally a Buddha like figure that spreads forgiveness, hope, pacifism and coexistence between demons and humans, exactly because of the nurture, psychological introspection and character dynamics and development he has throughout the whole story.

The evolution of other characters is good as well. Jinka starts as an edgy hotheaded character but we also learn how good he is with other demons, and he develops by learning that coexistence between species is possible, before losing himself in his own power, requiring every other character to cooperate in order to stop him.

And Shinsuke begins as a comic relief character that turns himself into the edgy suicidal loner before he also learns the same thing as the other characters, and becomes a mentor for everybody else.

The female characters, as a whole, have an important role also during the fights, which is kind of rare for a fighting shounen, and although they never really match the males in power, for its genre and time period in setting, their roles stand out and deserve a mention, as they are not just romantic interests, plus the seemingly most powerful creature in the series (for the longest time at least) is a woman. Another good thing is that, although they are presented as cute and romantic interests, and although there are some nudity moments in the manga, they are very few and are never shown in a sensual way, thus the women are never treated as fapservice.

The second half also fleshes out other characters that up until that point were fun but shallow.

The conclusion is solid as far as characterization goes, as everyone gets a catharsis, and although easygoing and with a typical happy finale, it is also kind of bittersweet in a way, as it bothers to actually show the inevitable pass of time and its consequences, without a happy ending that skips character dynamics like Hoshi no Samidare, thus I consider this one to be better.

Bottom line, as it’s usually the case with straightforward action fiction, this is not a series you really follow for the writing or substance, even if it does become better in the second half, but the changes in it in the later stages of the manga and the characters, along with the epic shit moments, that make it a one-time worthwhile read.

I love Mizukami Satoshi, but this does not really mantain the same consistency of quality as his other acclaimed works (Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammar and Spirit Circle). Still, Sengoku Youko clearly is a highly ambitious work that experiments greatly with the Shonen formula and adds very intriguing subversions to its many tropes. If Biscuit Hammar served up subversion of modern Shonen storytelling and tropes, Sengoku Youko plays as a serious attempt to integrate these subversions into the tradition of Shonen storytelling.

I think firstly, unlike Spirit Circle, or even World End Solte, this manga starts quite slow and really takes its time to get ... going, arguably longer than Biscuit Hammar. This is a series that really relies on its characters to drive its story, but it does take its sweet time getting to explain its character's core motivation and complexities. I really do not blame readers for dropping this early as the characters and setting can seem... quite generic in the beginning. I myself, tried to read this manga years ago, and dropped it early because it did not compel me much.

Sengoku Youko is also structurally messy. Plot points weave in and out of this long journey spanning 8 years and longer, and some scenarios are thrown into the mix without sufficient narrative planting. This can make certain plot points feel rather... convenient and sudden. Not to mention it did the whole thing of throwing in a whole new group of antagonists and a central conflict (that barely has anything to do with the inital conflict) about 30 chapters in, and the role they play is strangely significant and insignifcant at the same time. I really do admire the attempt to play with story structure - splitting the story into 2 parts and changing the central protagonist. But, while this was incredibly exciting to read in the beginning because it was difficult to predict what might happen next, I felt all this structure served to really do was to underdevelop some of its crucial characters and preceeding plot points (especially perceivable at the end) for the sake of developing its new main characters and their journey.

Still, Mizukami Satoshi's mind works in grand, mysterious ways and when this manga hits its highs, it really does hit highs. Shinsuke's character development was excellently constructed and he was consistently one of the best characters in the series. He had a very intriguing moral development, and though his role as 'mentor' later often sidetracked his own development as a character, it was still engaging and emotionally touching to see his whole journey. I also liked the spiritual themes that the manga tackled - interpreting mental state and the inner self in a very mature way. I also enjoyed its rather inventive ways of solving conflicts (though in the grand scheme, can feel a little unsatisfying).

Overall, I think that Sengoku Youko is an intriguing and fine manga that plays and experiments with new ideas and storytelling forms within the cliches of its demographic, but I think this is not an experiment that fully succeeded. For better or for worse, this story could read as a breath of fresh air with its many refreshing subversions to battle tropes, but also a lengthy mess that never really felt like it had a clear structure or a conclusive end goal. I would highly recommend checking our Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammar or Spirit Circle for projects that captures Mizukami Satoshi's eccentric writing and storytelling style within a more cohesive structure and story.

tl;dr: An action-oriented manga that manages to bring together the extended stories of an interesting and decent sized cast into a single cohesive narrative. 

Sengoku Youku is a shounen battle manga, though one that excels more in plot and characterization than the actual action. The plot isn't that complex or convoluted really at all, but it does involve a lot of intermixed stories of a lot of characters. These stories aren't all that complicated, but it still feels somewhat impressive how they all tie together into what feels like a single well told story that is consistent from beginning to end, not just in terms of the plot ... itself, but also in terms of themes and tone.

Furthermore, while they are simple, they do help to highlight a lot of characters and develop their motivations and such. Ultimately, it felt like only a couple of the characters, Senyu and Shinsuke, got fully fleshed out character arcs where they experience major character growth, wherein while growth does occur in others it's not built up as well. Still, despite that, many of the less fleshed out characters were interesting and likable as well and it was interesting to watch where their stories led.

Relationship development similarly was a mixed bag with some feeling well built up but others, including most of the romantic relationships, feeling underdeveloped. Still, within the context of the plot the development was generally enough for what it was needed for in terms of having the reader have enough investment in certain characters and bonds for moments to have impact. This is especially true in terms of the ending which ends up being heavily built on that investment.

The ending overall was interesting in that over the course of a pretty extensive epilogue it wraps up pretty much everything, and seems to go farther than I expected in terms of this. By that I don't mean that it forced things, the way everything proceeded felt very natural, but rather it decided to provide endings to things I didn't expect to get endings. When it started proceeding in this direction, I was very skeptical, but by the end of the ending I felt that it had managed to do a good job with it.

TL:DR
Very poor start, flat characters, randomly changes main characters 1/3rd of the way through, lots of Deus ex Machina. The end is somewhat better but not by much.

Story: 3/10
It's bad. Lots of things feel like they just happen randomly, characters come out of nowhere and go out of their way to help the protagonists for seemingly no reason or the protagonist gets completely unearned power-ups. Lots of Dues ex Machina, feels out of place and robs the manga of any tension. The story is split into 2 parts, with two different main characters. This is very jarring and changes the focus onto a character that ... previously had maybe 3 chapters of screen time and barely any lines. It feels like the author got bored or something, it's so unexpected of a shift. It also feels like wasted time as you spend a good third of the manga getting to know three characters and then suddenly time skip and now they barely show up again. What was the point? The first part was very weak with all the aforementioned issues while also being written as if we're supposed to be attached to these characters we barely know. The emotional hits simply fall flat.

The second part actually gets better near the end but has many of the same problems. There is a neat twist on the standard shounen training arc plus some fun interactions between side characters but it's really more of the same.

Art: 5/10
Simple art, what you'd expect from a 4koma normally but the fight scenes can be pretty well done.

Characters: 3/10
Most characters (including the protagonists of the first part of the manga) don't have many traits that distinguish them from archetypal shounen battle manga characters. There is also a sort of forced emotional impact we're supposed to feel during certain parts of the manga that simply fall flat because we barely get to know these characters.

It's not all negative however, the interactions between a certain two antagonists are quite good. In the second part of the manga, the growth of the new main character is more compelling than the first half. Still, it's not very much and it certainly doesn't make up for everything else.

Overall: 3/10
Some enjoyable stuff but it's all at the end, and it doesn't justify the slog to get there. I seriously considered dropping this manga quite a few times before I finished it, but I waited because this had such good reviews. Maybe this manga just isn't for me but I really couldn't get into it. Definitely do not recommend this, there's way better out there.

Good
• Interesting take on a training art
• Fights are pretty cool

Bad
• Fights can be hard to follow
• It really does feel like the author got bored a third of the way through and basically soft rebooted the series.
•The female characters don't have a lot of agency and are basically set pieces for most of the manga