Yamikagishi
The weird French cover is the only good one I got
Man, this is one manga I really liked. It's been a while since I read something like this and I love it.
Jounosuke is a locksmith. He makes and/or opens locks as per his customers' requirement. He lives in a temple dedicated to lock and lives his quiet life in Feudal age Edo. But he's way more than what meets the eye (duh! action manga) because he's a DOORMAN. No, not like an usher, but more like an exorcist.
The Doormen are people who seal away the evils of the world in locks and maintain the balance between light and dark. Whenever demons manifest in the hearts of evil men and thrive on their evil deeds, the Doormen seals them in their magic locks.
Sounds like a kooky story? It's a lot better than what I can put into words. It's like a very watered down BERSERK! meets Blade of the Immortal meets shounen manga! A very very enjoyable ordeal. There's the violence from demons ripping people open, a wee tiny bit of nudity and sexual references which is all way below the genre's usual levels.
The story is nice, the characters are awesome and painstakingly well elaborated, the art is excellent and a lot of things I really enjoyed in the manga. But I do have my problems:
- With just 4 volumes and the final volume ending with "Yamikagishi Part 1: END" am I (among others) to believe that there's more to come? Maybe a part 2? I really wish they'd make more.
- Throughout the manga there's a lot of leg showing. It's nice when Okin-chan (Jounosuke's sidekick) and the other pretty girls do it ^_^ But... sometimes the guys do it too. I guess it's how Jap clothes work = / Inevitable in many ways, granted. But I could have read the manga and felt better without it. It's ok too, not that much of a problem. If someone made a comic about a lungi-clad hero with a lot of action, it'd probably end up the same way. lol
- The lead character is as emotionless as a rock. And an origin story would have been nice.
- Frankly, the manga could have had a lot more sex, violence and naked women = (
In any case, I loved this manga. Part 1 ended pretty nicely and if there's more coming, I'll be waiting for it in my cave till it's finished being published, scanlated and uploaded.
If you loved Basilisk: The Kouga Ninja Scrolls, Onikiri Jyuzo, Berserk! or Blade of the Immortal..... heck, if you like any supernatural, historical, action or even adventure manga, just any one genre among those, you'll definitely not regret reading this. I recommend this.
PS: The BakaUpdates image is not a girl but a very girly looking boy... to say the least. Any more info on that boy would be spoilers.
