Volumes: 3/3 (Complete), In Print
Shounen
Genre: Fighting, Demons, Fantasy
Summary: Three years ago a plague known as the Daemonblight spread over the land that turned people into monsters. But the blight had not yet reached where Velvet lived peacefully with her sick younger brother Laphi, and her friend and protector, Artorius. But one night during a Blood Red Moon, Artorius betrayed them, and sacrificed Laphi in a ritual for power by summoning magical beings known as Malakhim. Since then, Artorius founded the Order of Exorcists and was hailed as the savior of the world. Meanwhile, Velvet rots in a special prison for the Daemon infected, as she has an infected arm that eats Daemons. One day an old friend comes and frees her, and she breaks out along with a motley crew and swears revenge on Artorius, even if it kills her.
Review: This manga was adapted from a popular videogame, but the general consensus seems to be that the videogame has a much better story. And I don’t doubt that at all, it really reads like a below average Shounen manga, with the only unique quality being that it’s unusual for a guy's manga to have a Heroine as the main character. And the artwork is a bit more ornate than average but also kind of generic fantasy looking too.
It started out as a very cut and dried revenge story and the first volume is incredibly boring. Nothing much happens past the beginning and the rest is just an extended introduction to the large cast as they meet each other and start their quests. The only thing of interest is the reveal that the Malakhim, who form contracts of power with Exorcists, are basically slaves. The Second volume has some more of the central plot between Velvet and Artorius, but looking back at it after finishing the series I don’t think it made a lot of sense. Artorius and Velvet used to live together, it is weird how Artorius isn’t trying to convince Velvet to his side, or claim that sacrificing Laphi was necessary or anything really. He acts like he barely knows her.
Finally in Volume 3, it’s really very rushed as the central plot comes crashing in all at once. After a big twist, Velvet ends up fighting for the free will and emotions of all humans instead of revenge for her brother. It was an interesting concept, IMO, but it really needed more foreshadowing before the twist. And lastly the ending was fine. But honestly the plot was kind of convenient in a lot of ways, it’s kind of weird that the Malakhim she happened to save and the book they happened to steal from the Exorcists ended up both being super important.
All in all the manga really suffers from a pacing issue. It goes from sluggish to average and then almost all the plot is crammed into the last volume. It should have been about 5 volumes. I also think the relationship between Artorius and Velvet was weirdly untouched/undeveloped even though they are supposed to be opposites fighting each other over the fate of humanity.
Recommended: TLDR; All in all, this might be of interest to fans of the videogame, but it’s not really going to be of interest to most readers, due a lot of issues in the story.
Age Rating: PG13: quite a lot of cleavage. Some moderate violence but not very graphic.
Related Series: Tales of Zestiria
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