AniManga: Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba)

"My shallow thoughts drift...on the deep sea of imagination."

Rarely do I find a manga story that's so well written, that also has exquisite artwork. Kimetsu no Yaiba, (Blade of Demon Destruction) is an original concept with an imaginative recreation of old Japan. The series is written and illustrated by Koyoharu Gotouge. The manga ran from 2016 -2019 with a twenty-six episode anime adaption aired in 2019.

The story follows siblings Tanjiru and Nezuko Kamado. Their father died from illness while they were young. Teenage Tanjiru the oldest of five children took care of his mother and siblings. While Tanjiru was out on an errand his family was killed by a demon. Only Nezuko survived but was turned into a demon. Together they go on a quest to cure Nezuko's sickness and take revenge on the creature that caused it. Along the way Tanjiru learns of the Hashira, part of the Demon Slayers Corps and trains to become one.

Almost all demons in the world can be traced back to the primordial demon Muzan Kibutsuji. He is the original demon and had lived for centuries when the story begins. Muzan possesses three brains and five hearts. Along with his unique anatomy he has the ability to create new demons with his blood. Telepathically communicate with and control any demon created by his blood, shape-shift, and separate his body into pieces, then recombine. He is bloodthirsty and extraordinarily hard to kill with very few weaknesses. The demons he creates also possess super human abilities like regeneration, strength, agility and a special skill called Blood Demon Arts. The more humans a demon eats the stronger they become. The really powerful get selected by Muzan to be executive Hashira slayers known as the Twelve Kizuki.

There are only a few ways to kill a demon. They can be killed by beheading with weapons made from a special metal alloy. They're also harmed by the flowers from the Wisteria plant. The flowers poison demons. It interferes with their regeneration, strength and blood arts. The last and most effective weapon is sunlight. Any demon exposed to the suns rays turns to ashes. The sun is the only way to defeat Muzan Kibutsuji. He's powerful and has lived so long that he's become impervious to the other methods.  

The Demon Slayer Corps was founded by the Ubuyashiki family hundreds of years before the story begins. This family has the special ability to see into the future which allowed them to amass a fortune. Kagaya Ubuyashiki is the 97th leader of the Demon Slayer Corps. His sole mission was to put an end to the demon Muzan during his generation. To achieve that goal he accepted Tanjiru and his sister into the Demon Slayers Corps. This decision did not pass without resistance from even his most dedicated supporters. After all Nezuko is a demon and they are demon slayers...it goes against their code of ethics. It's the equivalent of letting a wolf tend the sheep. Or letting a fox sleep in the chicken coop. The main reason they accepted Ubuyashikis' decision was because Nezuko didn't eat humans. She possessed enough of her humanity not to attack innocent people. 

Hashira train using special breathing techniques and swords, which allows them to fight on par with demons for a short amount of time. The first breathing techniques and strongest are breath of the sun and moon. After came water, fire, rock, thunder, Insect and several others. The swords they use are made in a secret village of blacksmith's high in the mountains. The place is so secretive that all the artisans wear masks. Also demon slayers have to be blindfolded and carried to the village so its location can never be compromised in case of capture. Once a demon slayer choices their sword the blade changes color. These unique weapons once broken have to be returned to the blacksmith's village for repairs. They're that important.   

After Tanjiru finished learning breath of water, he finds out he is a descendant of the breath of sun user. This allows him to use two breathing techniques and combine them. On his quest Tanjiru becomes friends with Inosuke Hashibira who uses Beast breath and Zenitsu Agatsuma who uses breath of Thunder. Inosuke's mother was killed by a demon so he grew up in the mountains around animals. He's wears a boars head at all times, is a duel sword wielder, and likes his swords to be jagged like shark teeth. Because he's lived around animals most his life Inosuke has a rough personality and is easily influenced. 

Zenitsu is a spoiled cry baby who grew-up being trained by his grandfather. Because of his scaredy cat personality he often has to be persuaded or dragged on missions. When put under tremendous stress Zenitsu becomes narcoleptic. He passes out then his brain switched from coward to badass. Usually he doesn't remember what happened afterwards. Both Zenitsu and Inosuke are fiercely loyal to Tanjiru. While Zenitsu is in love with Nezuko. 

The story follows their adventures full of challenges and tragedy wrapped in an exotic dance of illustrative art. The author really focuses on world expansion and character development. All the Hashira have interesting backstories which lead them to join the Demon Slayer Corps. One is blind, One has been mutilated by a demon and survived, One is a trained ninja with three wives, One had to kill his own mother, the list goes on. They have different reasons and histories that enrich the overall plot. 

Aside from the epic battle scenes, carnage, madness, mayhem and cemeteries worth of dead people. There is an underlying tale of family bonds, tradition and sibling affection. The plot is actually quite heartwarming. (Did I mention the carnage...cuz the demons get bizzy) The battle scenes are graphically detailed, with a lot of action sequences. There are only pauses never breaks. Season two of the anime just finished airing February 2022, and season three has already been announced. For people looking for something new and entertaining check out Kimetsu no Yaiba. If u like the series, pass it on and tell a friend to tell a friend. 

Until next We Speak, Be Well 

Tha One an Only 

AniManga: Jujutsu Kaisen

 

First let me say I'm pleasantly surprised to see Bleach return to serialization. It was one of my top three manga's twenty years ago. I didn't like how the original story-line ended. It felt unfinished. I'm curious to see how the new arc develops.

 

Now with that p.s.a. (public service announcement) out the way, let's talk about the current manga in my top three. Jujutsu Kaisen, is written and illustrated by Gege Akutami. It been in serialization since 2018. The 24 episode anime ran from Oct. 2020 - Mar. 2021. If I had to describe the series in one sentence, I would say... "It has martial arts battles like Naruto, crazy powers like Dragon Ball Z, with plot twists and originality of Hellsing". It's off the chain.

The foundation of sorcery is control of cursed energy. All living beings release cursed energy. It's the build up of negative thoughts and emotions that's unconsciously leaked into the environment. When there's a strong convergence of negative energy it results in the birth of a cursed being. These cursed creatures or invisible to human eyes but can still kill, and consume humans. Cursed energy can also be imbued into objects such as weapons, places or jewelry. 

The most powerful cursed being was Ryomen Sukuna. He was so powerful it took the entire sorcery world to defeat him. All that remained of Sukunas' body were his twenty fingers (he had four arms) containing his cursed energy. The fingers were spread in various places throughout the world. Some were collected by sorcerers, others collected by curses, while the rest were lost.

The story revolves around a high schooler named Yuji Itadori. He goes from being a normal student to a fugitive in the dangerous world of Jujutsu sorcerers. Through a series of unfortune events Yuji ends up eating one of Sukuna's fingers to save his friends. Once Yuji ate the finger he became the host for Sukuna. Sukuna's goal is a world where curses rule and humans are servants. The more fingers Yuji consumes, the stronger Sukuna's possession over his body becomes. To help Yuji control Sukuna's possession they send him to a sorcerer school to learn how to control cursed energy. Aside from being able to see and exorcise curses, Jujutsu sorcerers can use it to recover from fatigue or heal wounds. 

The Jujutsu world is torn asunder once curses learned Sukuna had a vessel and could be revived. The majority of  the Jujutsu sorcerer's decided to execute Yuji. Most of the powerful curses hunted him for capture. Yuji spends the majority of the time fighting curses, other Jujutsu students, teachers, and rogue agents with nefarious agendas. The battles are intense and  exceptionally detailed. (They get busy!)  It's a fast paced, original story with good character development a lot of plot twists and dark humor. If you're looking for something new to read, u should definitely check out Jujutsu Kaisen. If u like the manga support the artist and tell a friend to tell a friend. 

Until Next We Speak, Be Well 

Tha One an Only

AniManga: KaraKuri Circus

It's been a while since I've watched an anime that's almost a perfect adaption of the manga. KaraKuri Circus is a manga written by Kazuhiro Fujita. Published from 1997 - 2006 The anime aired from October 2018 - June 2019.

The story is about a boy named Masaru who wants to become a puppeteer. It sounds simple. The anime is full of complexity and plot twists that make you binge watch at three in the morning.  Masaru's story is part of an older story that started over 400 years before Masaru was born. 

Two brothers Bai Yin (older by a three years) and Bai Jin traveled from China to Prague to study western alchemy. They met a woman named Francine and both fell in love with her. The younger brother, Jin professes his love for Francine to his older brother, Yin. The older brother asks Francine to marry him. In retaliation Jin steals Francine, defiles her and hides in a small town. 

Yin finds Francine after five years of searching. He finds her imprisoned and sick from poor treatment. Not only from his younger brother but also the villagers. They were superstitious and feared Francine was a witch because of her silver-colored hair. She dies in a fire before Yin could free her from captivity. Yin confronted Jin and found that his brother had gone insane but had also successfully created an elixir for immortality. 

After Yin left in grief over Francine Jin created a doll of Francine. He uses hair from the real Francine combined with his elixir and alchemy to bring the doll to life. The new Francine was perfect in every way except he couldn't get her to smile. To solve the problem along with his boredom Jin made puppets called Automaton. Their job was to serve Francine and make her smile. To achieve this goal they created a circus group called the Midnight Circus.

Fast forward to modern times. Bai Yin, Bai Jin, and Francine have all been reincarnated. The elixir of life got poured into the town Well and made all the villagers into Shirogane. The Shirogane age one year for every seven human years. They possess immense strength, speed, regenerative abilities, and their blood is poison to Automaton. Francine was a Shirogane from birth. She was trained as a puppeteer who could manipulate puppets to battle Automaton.  

Bai Jin created a disease called Zonapha Syndrome to punish mankind for losing Francine. The Midnight Circus and other Automaton travel the world spreading the Zonapha Syndrome. The Automaton of modern times no longer perform circus tricks. Instead they hunt humans and drain their fluids to use as fuel. Masaru, Francine, Bai Yin, and the rest of the Shirogane battle to stop Zonapha Syndrome from destroying the world.

The story is original. The action and art style is awesome. The plot has love, betrayal, ambition, good character development and enough action to keep you pressing the play button. There's also deep questions of morality and loyalty between men and family. If you're a fan of awesome anime check out KaraKuri Circus. 

AniManga: Kangoku Gakuen (Prison School)

Kangoku Gakuen (Prison School in English) is my manga guilty pleasure. It has a comedic storyline, interesting character development, kinky imagery, and insane plots. The manga is written by Akira Hiramoto. Its been serialized since 2011. The series was made into a twelve episode anime in 2015.

This AniManga centers around a group of five teenage guys who attend Hachimitsu Academy. The school was formally an all-girl academy and one of the strictest schools in Tokyo. To make things worse the school is under the control of a group called the Underground Student Council. Most of its members hate men. The rest of the student body is apprehensive about talking to men because they have no experience with them. If that sounds bad..it only gets worse from there. On the high school premises is a small prison, hence the name Prison School.  The five guys named Kiyoshi, Takehito, Shingo, Joji, Reiji get locked in prison. 

Kiyoshi is the main character of the series. He's in love with the president of the USC (Underground Student Council) little sister Chiyo. Kiyoshi is also the love interest of Hana another member of the USC. Hana is a martial arts expert, sadistic and is jealous of Kiyoshi's affection towards Chiyo. Out of the four guys Kiyoshi is the most normal and runs into the most problems. Kiyoshi and Shingo were friends from middle school. Shingo, is your average high school delinquent. He has a pessimistic personality and almost zero loyalty towards the other four guys. 

Takehito (also known as) "Gakuto" is a glasses wearing otaku with a fascination for the Three Kingdoms. Throughout the series, Gakuto proves to be a smart strategist and opportunist. During their stay in prison, Gakuto and Kiyoshi come up with several ingenious plans to escape their forced captivity. Out of all the guys, Gakuto takes the most physical abuse during the series. He also has the worse reputation. 

Joji (also known as Joe) is the weakest member of the group. He has a persistent cough that never goes away. He can only take light physical exertion and is no help in their attempt to escape prison. Joe does have an affinity towards animals. At one point during the series, he is portrayed as a Doctor Dolittle by talking to a colony of ants. Joe is loyal to his friends. On numerous occasions, he tries to be the voice of reason for the group.  

Reiji (also known as Andre) is the largest member of the group. He is overweight and taller than the other guys. Andre stands out from the group because he is a masochist with extra long earlobes. He enjoys pain and being degraded. During his stay in prison, he becomes obsessed with their prison guard Meiko. Like Joe, Andre is fiercely loyal to his friends. Throughout the series, he starts out as a gentle giant. As it progresses, he becomes more outgoing. Due to his strange proclivities, he becomes the object of fascination for several girls at the academy. 

I'll leave the circumstances of how the guys get locked in the school prison up to you the reader to discover. What I will say is once the guys are in prison they get treated like POW's (Prisons or War). Their prison guard and enforcer for the USC is a woman named Meiko. She is in charge of keeping the guys in line by using fear, intimidation, and extreme violence. For some reason, she has a particular dislike for Gakuto. 

Meiko is a tall curvaceous woman who is fiercely loyal to Mari the USC president. Meiko also has enormous breasts which she flaunts proudly. As a youth, she was bullied for her breast size until Mari befriended her and helped her develop the self-confidence to be proud of her figure. Due to her constant strength training, Meiko is often drawn sweating. She is an extreme sadist with inhuman strength. Meiko is stronger than Andre the biggest member of the guys' group. She can be seen as the main protagonist during the first half of the series. 

Mari is the USC president. She is also the daughter of the Chairman of the academy. Mari hates boys and believes all men are perverts because her father has a fascination with the female form (especially butts). Mari plots and conspires with the rest of the USC to get the guys expelled from the academy. In the first half of the series, she is pure evil. During the second half, she becomes calmer because she experiences some of the torment she put the boys through. Her relationship with the chairman is tumultuous. She is overprotective of her friends and little sister Chiyo.  

The character development during the series is phenomenal. The whole first half is about the USC while the second half of the series is about the above ground student council. The USC and the student council go to war for control of the academy and the five guys get trapped in the crossfire. My one criticism is that during the second half of the series some of the story arcs get dragged out. The writers break-up the action between too many chapters instead of keeping it fast-paced and condensed. 

Overall Kangoku Gakuen is an awesome series. If you're looking for action, ecchi, romance, comedy, interesting characters, with insane plots...I highly recommend it. 

Animanga: One-Punch Man

It's been awhile since I've read a manga that has such a great blend of humor and action as One-Punch Man.

The original series began as a webcomic in 2009 by a man mysteriously known as One. The remake is illustrated by Yusuke Murata and written by the same One. That is the version I've been following.

One-Punch Man is an action packed manga, full of bizarre villains and heroes. The main protagonist is a man named Saitama, who is as unremarkable as they come. He has an average look, build and even a laid back disposition. What makes Saitama unique is his strength and love for mankind... especially his home town Z-City.

Ever since Saitama was a child he wanted to be a super hero. After numerous encounters with criminals he finally decided to take action and train his body to perfection. Through basic calisthenics (push-ups, sit-ups and running) for three consecutive months, Saitama was able achieve incredible power. He acquired enough raw strength to destroy almost every enemy he faced with one punch.

In his world the cities are given names from the alphabet (City A, B, C, ect....Z) and are often attacked by monsters. These monsters are called "Mysterious Beings," and range from normal humans to hybrid (beast) humans to intergalactic conquerors. Each attack against an alphabet city by one of these is given a threat level. Those levels range from "Wolf" which is a human level threat, to "God" which is an extinction level event. No one knows where the Mysterious Beings come from but they all seem to have an instinctive hatred for humans.

To handle threats against mankind a group of powerful individuals began the Heroes Association. This association employs citizens as heroes and provided them pay and services for protecting the alphabet cities. The hero classes range from "C" (ordinary human) to "S" (superhuman) and all officially recognized heroes are part of the Heroes Association.

Saitama joins the as the lowest ranked C-Class hero and works his way up through the ranking. Along the way he gains a disciple named Genos (The Demon Cyborg) who is impressed by his strength. Genos is on his own quest for vengeance and tries to learn the secret of Saitama' power. Ironically Genos is given the ranking of S-Class based off some of the monsters Saitama defeated. He is also one of the few individuals in the Heroes Association who knows how strong Saitama really is.

The manga was recently turned into a 12 episode anime that ended in December 2015. The anime was taken directly from canon material and featured superb artwork and battle scenes. The great thing about this series is that it's a parody of the whole super hero genre. In the video below Saitama shows up to stop a meteor from destroying all life on Earth. Check out the anime and check out the manga....if you like what you see. Don't forget to purchase official copies from the Mangaka, cuz those guys work long hours for little pay or appreciation.

AniManga: Fate/Stay Night Series

Fate/stay night is a Japanese visual novel, which was originally released as an adult game. Since its release in 2006 its been adapted into a manga and multiple anime series.

The story takes place in modern Japan. Where Shirō Emiya, became the sole survivor of a massive fire as a child. Shirō was adopted by a retired mage named Kiritsugu Emiya and taught the basic principles of becoming a mage. Kiritsugu Emiya, is the main protagonist in the fourth Holy Grail War (featured in Fate/Zero) which inadvertently destroyed Fuyuki City and left Shiro orphaned. Kiritsugu Emiya died some years later after instilling a strong since of justice in Shiro.

As a teenager Shiro witnesses a battle between servants and almost gets killed. By luck or fate he gets saved by a classmate and unwillingly becomes a participant in a death tournament called the Fifth Holy Grail War. It's bloody warfare where mages use heroes called servants from every time period in history. For a chance to have their wish granted by a cup called the Holy Grail. The stronger the mage the stronger the type of servant they can summon. 

There are seven different class of servants. Rider, Assassin, Saber, Archer, Lancer, Caster and Berserker. Each servant is equipped with a special weapon or ability called a Noble Phantasm. Since the Noble Phantasm can reveal the users identity, most servants refuse to use it until moving in for the killing blow or to escape a desperate situation.

Although most Noble Phantasms are weapons like Sabers, sword or Lancers, spear some Noble Phantasms are an ability. Berserker, who is the reincarnation of Hercules is equipped with the Noble Phantasm called regeneration. Since he had to complete twelve labors, he can be reincarnated twelve times before being killed. Gilgamesh, is unique because he is the first hero in history and possesses a very large number of Noble Phantasms. He was a servant of the Archer class who had a strange obsession for Saber. 

Saber, is King Arturia Pendragon more famously known throughout history as King Arthur. She is the strongest servant in the knight class which consists of Saber, Lancer, and Archer. Her Noble Phantasm is the mythical sword Excalibur. The sword remains invisible until Saber calls its name to deliver the killing blow to an opponent. The scabbard of Excalibur, is named Avalon. It gives the holder a limited form of immortality by repairing mortal wounds in an instant. Avalons regenerative abilities saved Kiritsugu Emiya's life several times during the fourth Holy Grail war.

Unlimited Blade Works follows a two-week period in Shirō Emiya's life. He goes from an amateur mage to becoming a Master in the fifth Holy Grail war. There are seven Masters for seven servants. Masters are capable of controlling servants by command seals placed on the back of their hands. A Master only has three command seals to control a servant. Once all three commands are used the Master loses control of the servant and can be killed by them. 

Shiro, summons Saber and together with the assistance of another mage named Rin Tōsaka tries to stop the Holy Grail war. Tosaka summons the servant Archer who turns out to be the future version of Shiro from a different timeline. Archer hates Shiro because he knows what awaits him after death. His biggest desire was to kill Shiro before he becomes a champion of justice and is reincarnated as a servant. 

Servants, maintain their form by feeding off their Master's Mana (spiritual energy). They can heal injuries and use their Noble Phantasm multiple times depending on how much Mana their Master can produce. Some servants like Caster, can drain Mana from humans causing them to fall into a coma and in some cases death.   

Caster, is a special servant because some Casters are also mages. This is dangerous to the Master because if the Caster is stronger than the Master...he will be killed. In the fifth Holy Grail War. The Caster is Medea. A sorceress who was the daughter of Greek King Aeëtes of Colchis. Medea was so powerful she was able to summon her own Assassin servant to assist in the Holy grail War. Only the Caster is capable of summoning another servant.  
   
To date there are three different anime series based off the Fate/Stay Night novels. There's Fate/Stay Night, Fate/Zero (the 4th Holy Grail War), and Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (the 5th Holy Grail war). All three of the anime are superb. Although the writing, battles and character development in Unlimited blade works seems to be a step above the other two installments. 

If I had to describe the series in one sentence it would be. Fate/Stay night, is a mix of action packed battles, betrayal, tragedy, magic, with excellent characters and plot. Check out the clips below featuring battles between Shiro vs Gilgamesh and Archer vs Lancer.