Angel Densetsu - Reviews

The first thing that hits you when reading this manga is the fecality* of the art. The perspectives are off, with the desk in the first chapter evoking a Picasso painting, but clearly unintentionally. Hands and faces, the most emotive features, are drawn poorly. Over time, the artwork gets smoother and more palatable, but it never transcends mediocrity.

The artwork is forgivable because this is a gag manga. Even though there aren't any pie-in-the-face or otherwise obvious gags, it's still so over the top and ridiculous that it creates a humorous tone. The premise of society judging peoples' personalities based on their looks could be the premise of a serious drama, but not in this case. The overwhelming, abject terror from simply seeing Kitano's face (which isn't even drawn to look that frightening (another failure of the artwork)) and refusal to even consider that fe could have a kind personality makes it humorously absurd.

Like a Mr. Magoo or Mr. Bean, Kitano inadvertently wins fights and becomes the unknowing leader of thugs. Thankfully, the story doesn't hold itself to maintaining this "everything happens by accident" perspective and instead shows Kitano winning confrontations because of feir higher-than-normal reflexes, endurance, and speed. Fe is also shown as having superhuman strength, which fe sometimes uses to righteously defeat somebody, always with the goal of defending others. Since Kitano is innocent and pure throughout the manga.

These are the main storylines (named after a focal character):

• Kojima (chs. 3-6)
• Ryoko (chs. 8-13)
• Suda (chs. 14-19)
• Ogisu (chs. 22-25)
• Ikuno (chs. 28-35)
• Hishida (chs. 42-48)
• Kaburagi (chs. 54-62)
• Sana (chs. 66-70)
• Leo (chs. 71-75)

There are many one-shot chapters as well as two or three chapter storylines, but the main drive behind the manga is the stories with new characters encountering Kitano's villainous face for the first time. Unfortunately, these storylines stand and fall based on how engaging the introduced characters are. Most of them are great! The less appealing ones are "Ogisu," "Sana," and "Leo." You'll notice, two of these occur in the last quarter of the manga; before that point, I would have judged the Story as 10/10.

*crappiness

This is one of the best manga i have read, the story of densetsu is amazing. it will really make you giggle a lot. then about the illustration of story (not the art) is something that you can not find in every manga, it will make your imagination to boost up as like you are watching anime. to watch how th mc always get misunderstood by his actions is really fun to watch and the side stories is also something great that you will never want to miss.

there's just few chapters in volume 14 that i hated because it felt cruel and unnecessary but other than that, this was an incredible story and absolutely hilarious, i generally like the thug 90s high school culture so this was a treat for me and the MC is an adorable sweetheart who evolves throughout the volumes.

I wish one day this manga will get a good anime adaptation

The character design is actually not great at all (although it does evolve throughout the series, just like the old garfield and new one, or the old simpson and new ones, still the same, but a little more refined), but it's the personalities and the story that make them feel alive anyway. There has been a 2 episode OVA on this manga as well, but sadly they never got any further than that.
I really would love to an anime of this as well.
Having had a phase myself when little children would just start crying at the sight of me, it is also really easy to crawl into the skin of kitano seiichirou. By the way, that problem does not occur for me anymore... Not as much anyway, now it's mostly like "look, that man has long hair" and in some cases still a frightened look, but nothing more... Luckily it's not bad enough to be seen as some criminal, to most adults I apear as friendly and cheerful, eventhough I am actually suffering from depression... Ehm... Wait.... The manga, we were talking about the manga!
Hehehe, so anyway...
You may have noticed by now, the main character is a scary looking guy that soon becomes known as the devil guardian due to a streek of misunderstandings, because in fact he is indeed a very kindhearted young man, trying to fit in.
I have had a lot of laughs and a few sad moments too while reading this manga, it really is very well written and has a nice flow. I just flew through all 15 volumes/84 chapters in 3 days.
And that for someone who actually dislikes reading because I make too many mistakes slowing me down. (I actually read faster than my thoughts can handle, mixing up the words I have 'seen' and the ones I actually understandingly read. But that's more personal details about my ADD and stuff, so let's skip that. =P

So, if you like the delinquent settings, a little roughing up, lots of misunderstandings and funny situations and a lot of characters you can't help but come to love throughout the story, you can't skip this manga.

A comedic and wonderfull read. When it comes to the entertainment provided by the daily life of Seiichirou Kitano- the thoroughly misunderstood protagonist of this story, it does not dissapoint. Hand-in-hand, the misunderstandings provided by the story and the traits of Kitano that just always land him in not the best of situations will undoubtedly make you smile. On a more serious note- though a comedic interpretation of the life of a seemingly gangster-like student, it does vividly convey the message that you should not judge based on appearance; and you may notice that as the story evolves, the many friendships the character makes and the relationships they build truly brings you into 'not a manga called "angel densetsu" some guy drew, but a peering window into the world of hekikuu town, a sunny place with little rain, full of silly people who act out silly little events'.

An entertaining story with a satisfactory ending that could have gone further.