It seems like I'm the only one here who has read the whole thing, so let's write a review.
I remember dropping this after reading a few chapters, thinking, 'WTF IS THIS? 46 volumes? NOOOO, bye!' But that wasn't fair, so a few days later, I came back and gave it another shot... I ended up reading everything in 2 weeks.
**STORY/CHARACTERS 10/10 **
_Ushijima's story structure is quite unique. The first part is an incredible piece of storytelling. It's mostly made up of short, independent arcs (3 volumes at most), where we follow one of the debt slaves who are linked, in one way or another, to
...
Ushijima's business. The main character won't be the central focus here; he is more of a background character, mainly appearing at the beginning and end of each arc. There is also a large block of storyline where Ushijima takes center stage as the main protagonist, facing various complications due to his growing empire. This storyline is intertwined and continues to expand as we progress through the story.
Each arc has its own protagonist, theme, and conclusion. It's a fascinating ode to exploring something modern society has to offer: everything is linked to money. If someone can't get any loans from the banking system, their only alternative is to seek out a "yamikin," the Japanese term for a loan shark. The thing about yamikin is that their interest rates are incredibly high, and the chances of getting screwed are also high—it's a risky, illegal business.
We follow those so-called "victims" who need to pay Ushijima no matter what. There is a total absence of Manichaeism in this story—no villains, no heroes—just humans with their flaws. On one side, we have our main character, Ushijima, who is ruthlessly making gigantic profits off miserable people, someone who won't hesitate to use any means at his disposal to get his money and interest back. On the other side, we have the Yakuza, who use their power to grab a piece of the pie from everyone. We also encounter rival yamikin and other gangs who are ready to kill for more power.
Then, on the other side, we have the so-called victims, most of whom are unlikable, twisted individuals. Their flaws and vices have led them to the situation they are struggling with. Most of them could move on with their lives, but they are still attracted to certain desires, dreams, and temptations that only money can afford.
Those characters are the real highlight of Ushijima. I said they were unlikable, but it's not entirely true. They are just deeply human, full of flaws, vices, and dreams like everyone else. Despite Ushijima's portrayal of such vile individuals, I never once felt any frustration following them—it was just totally fascinating
I've never seen anything like Ushijima's first part. It's full of incredible arcs/characters, full of moments that will make you reflect on your own life after hearing a conversation, and full of moments where you'll relate to someone after following him/her for only 2 or 3 volumes. It's also full of nonsensical characters and weird stuff—you'll never think something like this could ever work. The fact that Shohei Manabe managed to write 30+ volumes of this concept while giving himself a limit of 3 volumes to tell something meaningful is simply marvelous.
The second part was incredible, taking a huge turn that I did not see coming, but I won't talk about it.
** ART 10/10 **
Ushijima's art is quite ugly at the beginning, but it ended up growing on me quite a lot. The evolution is phenomenal.
One of my favorite aspects is the city of Tokyo and its suburbs, where the majority of the story takes place. Everything is ridiculously detailed and accurate; Ushijima's main and sub-environment representations are incredible. Tokyo feels extremely oppressive—this feeling never leaves you; it's always there. Tokyo is more of an entity than anything else. The work on Tokyo’s urbanism here is remarkable. From a simple room to a landfill to a highway, this is by far my favorite city representation in a manga.
Ushijima puts a huge emphasis on contemplation with tons of gorgeous textless panels. The artist never feels the need to add text just to tell you something that is already there. Ushijima is visually stunning, with spectacular scenery and insane visuals present in EVERY chapter. Visual storytelling is fully embraced in the second part, where it reaches its peak with a brilliant visual shift.
As a testament to how good the paneling is for a manga that has so much dialogue, I never skipped a single bubble of text. Everything flows so naturally. The action scenes are perfectly structured, but more importantly, this manga reads surprisingly fast. This is the perfect mix between dialogue and contemplative storytelling. It's an absolute joy to read
**CONCLUSION**
You probably won’t believe me when I say this, but all the people who have read it know that it's true: this is genuinely one of the best mangas ever made. Yes, I’m not kidding this is the second-best manga I have ever read. There is nothing like Ushijima.
A manga that fully assumes its identity, its brutal, dark, personal while being extremely relatable at the same time it's clearly not made for everyone. ushijima never try to shock the reader its just here to tell something. If you are too fragile or immature ushijima won't be for you. From the start to the very end there is no intention to please anyone.
Its such an ambitious project that took 15 years to complete. The fact that it's totally unknown outside of Japan is, simply put, an absurdity that doesn’t make any sense. When I finished Ushijima, I was in disbelief to learn that something so good was so well hidden and so unknown in the rest of the world!
**BONUSSSS**
You won't find any content that goes in-depth about Ushijima online. You'll only find two (French) reviews on YouTube, none in English. The only reason I had the chance to read it is because I was lucky enough to stumble upon one of those reviews.
You're probably wondering why something that good is not known outside of Japan. I did some research: it has sold 22 million copies, had TV shows, a drama, and Japanese fan-dubbed chapters on YouTube getting millions of views. The author's new manga is already selling like hotcakes...!
To be honest, I don't have an answer. I've seen plenty of shitty, good, or obscure manga get a full English translation, so seeing something like this fly under the radar... is just unreal! Really, I have no words. I've never seen a case like this in any medium.
The fact that it never got an English translation may be the reason why. It seems like someone started translating it in 2021, and 114 chapters were translated into English, but the project stopped(+ the pics quality is low). I highly recommend reading everything in one burst, so it would be a shame to stop after 114 chapters. That's why I think it’s better to wait maybe one day, this will get a full English translation based on the french version that you can buy digital (so the quality is great!)
So at the end of the day, there are only two options: either you know Japanese or French (like me, lol =D). Because, yes, as crazy as it sounds, the manga was FULLY licensed in France unbelievable ALL 46 volumes translated.
my final message would be: TRANSLATE ushijima in ENGLISH because its a such a shame that there is no translation stop translating those lame ass isekai LOLZ.
 Alternative TitlesSynonyms: Ushijima the Loan Shark Japanese: 闇金ウシジマくん InformationType: Manga
Volumes: 46
Chapters: 493
Status: Finished
Published: May 10, 2004 to Mar 4, 2019
Demographic:
Seinen
Serialization:
Big Comic Spirits Authors:
Manabe, Shohei (Story & Art) Statistics Ranked: #29892 2 based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #2355
Members: 9,332
Favorites: 79 Resources | Reviews
Filtered Results: 5 / 5
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Nov 17, 2022
It seems like I'm the only one here who has read the whole thing, so let's write a review.
I remember dropping this after reading a few chapters, thinking, 'WTF IS THIS? 46 volumes? NOOOO, bye!' But that wasn't fair, so a few days later, I came back and gave it another shot... I ended up reading everything in 2 weeks. **STORY/CHARACTERS 10/10 ** _Ushijima's story structure is quite unique. The first part is an incredible piece of storytelling. It's mostly made up of short, independent arcs (3 volumes at most), where we follow one of the debt slaves who are linked, in one way or another, to ... 
Jul 10, 2014
Warning: Nudity, Sex scenes, Coarse language, etc
Story If you managed to get past nudity and sex scenes without going straight to the Manga… then thumbs up to you and here’s the guts of the story, “Yamikin” the Japanese equivalent of the bottom feeding “loan shark” and everything that comes with it. Legality problems, shady backers, gang pressure, con artists, the sex industry, though most of all trying to get their money back from the people who take loans. And I’m not gonna pretend to be an expert on the Japanese loan shark system, but the story has an element of realism to me because, it’s ... 
Apr 19, 2016 Recommended Funny  Preliminary
(45/493 chp)
A series I marathoned in the course of one night to avoid coming back to it the next day, Yamikin Ushijima-kun reads like a heavy punch in the gut, especially the early chapters. You wanted some nice fluffy escapism? It’s definitely not here.
The end mark, 7, is a result of complex math in this case. It’s a thought-provoking, decently written, dramatic seinen on an unusual, but very relevant topic – usury. I don’t know about the place where you live, but here there’re a lot of shady businesses that offer “money now, no documents needed”, and the reports about the results of such deals are ... 
Mar 10, 2019
Story: The story follows a group of dept-collections/loam-sharks running what seems to be a legit payday loan business while conducting illicit operations for themselves and the yakuza under the surface.
The story is equally about these characters led by the titular Ushijima-kun (who is possibly the best gangster/criminal ever put to manga-ink) and the 'victims' of the group - from a rich debutante forced into prostitution to pay off her debt, to a young businessman left for dead after being 1,000,000's of yen in the hole and unable to pay. 10/10 gritty, dark, not everyone has a happy ending, but some do. This is everything you want ... 
Nov 26, 2019
There's a problem with this manga. The problem is it depicts the bottom of society, people that fell far, made mistakes and are in general, in really bad situations... there's not a single spark of hope in there. All will end badly. There will be no help. And you, the reader, will watch how another character slowly spirals into oblivion, trying, in vain, to claw at what's left of their life, only for it to crumble into dust.
And that's the issue. It depicts dirt, dregs and grime of society. However, such thing can be found in reality in significant amounts, and as such it is ... |
