Shiki Ichinose’s mother abandoned him as a baby, and he was adopted by a man named Tsuyoshi Ichinose. One day, the two get into a heated argument. Then, all of a sudden, a man from the Momotarou Agency—a group who hunts and kills oni—appears, and tries to kill Shiki. Tsuyoshi never told him until now, but Shiki has oni blood, and Tsuyoshi himself is a former member of the Momotarou Agency. With help from Shiki, who enters a berserk state via special powers from his oni blood, Tsuyoshi is ultimately able to defeat the member of the Momotarou Agency. But it comes at the cost of his own life. Shiki, now back to normal, then vows to avenge his adoptive father by mastering the immense power of his oni blood. This ultimately leads to him enrolling in a school for those with oni blood—a school whose primary goal is training its students to be able to face off against the Momotarou Agency by teaching them how to harness their powers.
The Good
The art style has just the right amount of edge for a story like this one, giving this first volume some visual flair. Combined with some dynamic poses and visually-interesting fights, you have a manga that’s very nice to look at. I’d also like to compliment the facial expressions in particular. Whether joke-y or serious or somewhere in-between, they always look fantastic. I especially like how a great deal of care seems to have been taken in making sure that all of the characters appearing in this first volume have distinct faces. Well, their designs in general are all pretty distinct so far, but nowhere is that more evident than it is in the faces.
The Bad
If you’ve read/watched just about any other shonen series, on a fundamental level, you’ve probably already experienced this story before. If you like this story, that’s fine; it keeps getting remade and retold for a reason. However, if you’re like me and not usually a particular fan of shonen series, odds are you’re not going to find anything special in TA. Instead, you’re going to find yourself having bouts of deja-vu from watered-down glimpses of series like Blue Exorcist and Soul Eater, and getting bored.
The usual suspects that might help to alleviate an uninspired plot (EX: fun/well-constructed characters, interesting character dynamics, cool lore/worldbuilding, clever dialogue, etc.) are equally by-the-books, leaving the whole thing feeling painfully unoriginal in a way that makes this volume feel painfully predictable at best, and at worst, like a trudge to get through. It’s in desperate need of some kind of hook, or anything else to set it apart in a sea of similar shonen revenge quest/supernatural school series.
Verdict
For better or for worse, this first volume of TA feels like a textbook example of a shonen series in almost every possible way. Whether or not you enjoy it is almost certainly going to boil down to how you generally feel about shonen series, and/or whether or not that’s what you’re in the mood for. And good news: if that is what you like, or what you’re in the mood for, you very well might enjoy this. Meanwhile, this series probably won’t be changing the hearts and minds of people who don’t usually enjoy the genre. Said people will likely see this as little more than the manga equivalent of when you stack a bunch of images with a low opacity on top of each other in Photoshop and what you’re left with is the “average” amongst them, just now with more guns.
You can purchase Tougen Anki: Legend of the Cursed Blood on Bookshop, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.
If you liked Tougen Anki: Legend of the Cursed Blood, you might also like…
- Blue Exorcist
- Soul Eater
- Jujutsu Kaisen
Credits
Author: Yura Urushibara
Translation: Ko Ransom
Lettering: Ivo Marques
Publisher: Yen Press
A special thank you to Yen Press for allowing us the opportunity to review this title. Receiving a review copy has in no way altered the opinions expressed in this article.
The Good
- The art and designs are very stylish and dynamic.
The Bad
- You’ve probably already seen dozens of other versions of this story by now, and thus far it doesn’t have anything that significantly sets is apart.
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