Night of the Beasts

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Night of the Beasts is about a spunky girl named Aria who meets a guy named Sakura who is possessed a demon. Aria gets caught up in his plight, and is eventually forced to fight the demon in order to save him. Though this is shoujo, this is very much in the action genre, with a dark fantasy/supernatural type of plot and quite a lot of blood and violence. If you're familiar, this manga feels to me like it's trying to be in the style of X/1999 by CLAMP.

I found the story interesting enough, though for the type of story it was trying ... to tell, usually I'd expect it to be quite a bit longer. I think it could have used more length too, for having more time to flesh things out or have more detail. As it was, I felt it was sometimes rushed. There's also a major tone shift after the first act, when I think the tone could have been more consistent if it were less rushed.

There were also times where there were confusing jumps from one panel to the next. Some of this was because the characters literally had teleportation powers, but it also didn't really make it clear when these powers were used, or often why they were teleporting, so it felt to me it kind of felt like suddenly the location changed for no reason. It didn't help that the art is also overdone. Don't get me wrong, the artist is clearly talented, but they have a tendency to overload every panel with so much texture and detail, that the panels no longer "read," that is, you can't make out easily what is visually happening anymore.

Still, Night of Beasts is a decent enough read, even if there is also room for improvement. If nothing else, it's refreshing to see a woman be an action hero.

Art was okay overall. There were some visually gorgeous panels. Though it also suffered from what I call yaoi syndrome. Overly large shoulders, extremely long necks, and small heads.

The plot was decent enough. The problem were the characters. Most of the characters in the series were bad. The main character regressed and wasn't very likable in the middle or the end. In a way, she kind of mirrors that one friend in real life. You know? The friend that's actually cool and super fun, but then they change for the worst when they get ... a boyfriend. That's the main character, Aria. Sakura wasn't a very compelling character either. Sakura is only good when someone else is possessing his body, which is a writing failure.

I know people will like this because the female lead is a fighter. However, I always maintained that just because someone can't fight, doesn't mean they're a bad character. The opposite is also true. Just because someone can fight, doesn't mean they're a good character.

I personally don't recommend this series. It's not really good. The plot isn't all that, and the characters aren't good.