Ranked #1316

Defense Devil (Manga)

Well, no one reviewed this yet for a lonnng time, so I thought I’d give my first shot of reviewing on Defense Devil, today’s date as February 21, 2011.

85 chapters in and DD has been a pretty fun ride as of yet.

The best general idea I could give for this manga is referencing an earlier work by the duo team. If anyone’s read the two mangakas’ past series, Shin Angyo Onshi, DD follows a similar story pattern and plot elements that I think many can strongly relate to. If you haven’t, no worries, DD’s great story telling ability, art, and characters will offer up a considerably enjoyable experience.

I’m not gonna spoil anything for you readers, hopefully, but instead I’ll just give a general description of the type of story you’re expecting. It’s very similar to Shin Angyo Onshi in this respect, combining both the uses of small, short arcs/chapters with large overbearing arcs. Either way, DD excels at both. You’ve got your excellent short episodic stories reeled with a large adventure story. And the authors do their job well, offering up suspenseful storytelling while leaving the reader constantly guessing and wishing for more. They succeed at appealing to the large majority of audiences using a variety of genres: comedy, fantasy, drama, mystery, romance, action, and supernatural elements all rolled up nicely in a small package--how convenient.

There is, however, one major beef I have for the story. Certainly, it does have short and long arcs, but it’s dumbly disconnected. Once you begin reading, you’ll realize relatively quickly that Defense Devil disappears, to be replaced by Adventure Devil very quickly. The lawyer devil drifts away, and in its place we have extensive fights and an epic journey. We lose the "tough-talk" man we've known, replaced by the "RAWR-FIGHTING" man. For some people, this won’t be a major problem—hell, we’re all shounen boys obsessed with fighting anyways right--but looking at it as a whole, the story fails to follow its original roots, and that may upset some people. For those specifically enjoying the lawyer aspect, I would give a small caution reading further.

Moving on, the art is nothing to scoff at. Expect to see well-done action sequences from fights, a big variety of different outfits, a plentiful mix of character designs, and a large array of weapons. And just a warning (or supplement), expect to see a lot of ecchi mixed in for you creepo boys out there. There’s nothing I can really point out as erroneous in art, and just as Shin Angyo Onshi, expect the same level or the better.

And the characters, of course. I don’t find them bad, but they’re just so… typical, if that’s the right word. Let’s start with the character art while we’re still on the topic.

There’s one common thing going on for all the women: tits. Big boobies everywhere, and being a sucker male guy I am, the hotties everywhere in the manga’s gonna make you look for some good "doujinshi” around (^_^). But aside form sex appeal, the outfits themselves aren’t amazing. When I think of a very strong character, I think of Yoko from Tengen Toppa: a hottie with a sniper rifle, original color design, trademarked clothes design, hell, let’s even include her signature skull symbol design. That’s my top of the line original character. In comparison, DD’s characters look cool, but they’re ordinary. They’ve certainly got their own type and the such, but don’t expect a revolutionary character within DD.

And personalities? Nothing special. Hopefully not spoiling too much, but your main character this time around is gonna be the super peaceful, no-violence-if-possible kind of guy. Certainly a lot to build off of, but in my terms, again, nothing special. You’ve got your tsundere female lead which is always nice, but again, nothing special. And the extra characters are, really, all extras, nothing special. I’ve used nothing special four times now in this paragraph, now five, but that’s exactly the point.

Many people may critique that originality doesn’t have a factor in character ratings. But in my opinion, I can’t give a 10/10 for what I find to be an unoriginal character. I think it’s fair to say, however, that what it all comes down to, application to the story. If a story does a good job in pulling all the characters together, it doesn’t matter if a character is unoriginal, even a supposedly boring character can get recognition.

DD accomplishes this in some respects. There is a hint of mystery shrouding every character that the authors accomplish very well. Some characters are completely unknown, while others have “hidden” pasts. Taking a step back, we can see that this use of mystery backgrounds can be a double edged weapon varying between mangas. In some cases it can be done really badly, where the mystery portion is dragged on so long you’re wondering when the hell shit is gonna get explained, if it gets explained at all. In this case however, the mystery element is no doubt a positive factor. These mangakas are great storytellers, pulling off this mystery off nicely; the suspense won’t kill you, but will keep you guessing until the right time.

But besides mystery, there’s always character development to talk about… just kidding. DD’s character development is pretty non-existing. Unless if you count their pasts, the characters we know at the present haven’t changed. Nothing major really happened to the characters 85 chapters in, but there is major potential coming from our characters. There are certainly elements to work with, and we’ll have to see later what happens. But 'till 85, I can say that all you're going to see is plot, and nothing character-wise.

So, what do I think about this series. Well, certainly, the storytelling great though disconnected; the art good though nothing special; and the characters cool though nothing special. It’s not an original masterpiece, it’s not something going to be talked in the next generations to come, but at the end of the day, it certainly is what I would consider a fun adventure. Mix all these elements together and you have your exciting journey within the interesting and intriguing life of our defense devil. My enjoyment meter’s off the chart after marathoning 85 through the night.

I’m the type of guy that drops an anime/manga quickly. Check my animelist and you’ll see that my watching list is almost as big as my completed list, haha. It’s hard to keep my attention, and I’m really not sure what attracts me to certain animes/manga, it varies. But whatever it is, my addiction just suddenly pops in. DD is no different. Looking at DD objectively, I don’t think it stands up to the likes of the masterpieces we know. It’s nothing special afterall. Subjectively though, screw these stupid categories, DD has been a blazing ride, is a blazing ride, and will be a blazing ride for quite some time.

In conclusion, there’s not much else I have to say. DD’s a fantastic ride that I encourage everyone to read. Yeah yeah sure, Defense Devil is no masterpiece, but it still has enjoyable story, art, and characters.
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Ever think about after you die, that you would go to hell without knowing what have you done in your life; and you will be sentence to suffer forever. No one here to help you or even given you another chance. And for this manga review, whoever die are given another chance to prove his/her innocent, of course with a help of a devil lawyer.

Once again, Korean manhwa artist has impressed me once more (the other is KuroKami). Defense Devil was a great combination from some of the manga i know could think of: almost has the Death Note art style and a little story style + Phoneix Wright (sorry the wrong spelling) character with action + maybe a Detective Conan story tell.

The story are pretty quick and simple to start, Mephisto Bart Kucabara and Bichura are trying to get back in their homeland, but they need something call the 'Dark Matter'. So to do this, they have to get their 'client' (the dead) to sign a contract; and is up to this 2 to solve the case and prove their innocent, then finally earn the Dark Matter that was release from the client after the case is solve. However, the shinigami here will do whatever it take to finish their own job, execute the dead.

The first chapter of the manga has already state the basis and detail you need to start off your reading. After chapter 1, it begin to progress to the plot. This plot are cases that are need to be solve like 5, 6 or more chapter. Feel lost in the middle of the story, the tittle of the chapter will let you keep track easily. The name of the tittle will keep repeating the same with the number changing as each chapter goes until that cases is close.

Like all the detective story, there always be some plot twist on the chapter. And Defense Devil IS A detective story with supernatural element on it. It also got some comedy part in it, but the effect just work a little to give light on the manga. There is occasion that Kucabara say something 'dirty' to the lady around in Defense Devil, that just one of the example.

The character drawing are over the top. The guys look cool, the girls look very sweet and beautiful. Plus i would say that all the shinigami here are real bad asses that will let me continue to read on (i want to see them dead! dud!). Both notorious and dreadful that continue challenge Kucabara and Bichura as the cases goes.

The manga is still on going, and the story begin to explore just how many shinigami are in Defense Devil and why when so far to execute the dead, Kucabara and Bichura real identity and past, and of course the client cases, continue to expose and explore through out the chapter.

A supreme manga that are highly recommend everyone to check it out, though i have a lot of manga i don't know that are serialize and how good they are. But i be looking forward another Korean manhwa will start serialize in the future. A high hope and a salute again to the Korean. read more

i like this manga very much. it's true that that there are recurring scenarios like getting a client then defending for him/her to prove the person's innocence and obtaining the dark matter. but the recent chapters prove otherwise, with the new chara idamaria(did i spell it right?) the story takes another turn. the story gets more interesting and i find myself anticipitating for new chapters. i smell romance between kucabara and idamaria, though i might be wrong. >_>
the artwork? fantastic

kucabara reminds of L though because of his looks. and just like any typical shounen hero, he's self-righteous and strongly believes in justice. i love him though. ^_^

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We all know that we have a “Butler from Hell”- Kuroshitsuji. Now what do we have? – “Lawyer from Hell” – Defense Devil.

Meet Mephisto Bart Kucabara. He was a prince from the Demon world but was banished due to some reasons ( I don’t wanna spoil here), and now he lives in Event Horizon. A place between heaven and hell. In order to get back to his home, he must collect this so called “Dark Matter” from souls who were casts to hell.. He then decided to become a defense lawyer. They let their client(the dead) sign a contract, prove their innocence and claim the Dark Matter within them after the case is solved.

At first glace, this manga is just about solving cases. Kucabara meets a soul, lets them sign a contract, finds out the cause of death and the offense they’ve committed before they died, prove their innocence and collect dark matter afterwards. It goes for about 4-5 chapters, but I must say the cases are all interesting – detective stories that have supernatural events. That’s for the introductory part. The story starts to pick up when he meets Sister Idamaria. As the story progresses, it reveals more mysteries, and the questions are slowly answered. The plot would make you say “What!?” or “Holy!?”. It reveals answers slowly but surely. It doesn’t give readers a full blown answer at once that would make them hard to understand or something like introducing many characters at once. As for the art, it is nicely done. Kinda reminds me of Air gear when I first read it.

Overall Defense Devil is a nice action packed manga with a dash of comedy that will make you ask for more. You guys have to read it while it’s still less than 100 chapters. As for the number of pages, it spans just like your regular shounen jump manga (18-20 pages except for the first few chapters). Trust me, this manga won’t let you down.

A very big thanks to YoruAngel866 for recommending me this manga or else I would have missed one of the most epic manga of this time.

PS. I would still like to write more but I think I might spoil you guys so there just read and see for yourself.
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The original premise of the story was set up in a way that it could be taken in little bits, basically a bunch of different cases which the protagonist could solve and then be done with. However, after a few of these cases the series takes a turn and begins an arc which spans the rest of the series. Personally I felt like at that point it started to become another generic fight manga where two people take turns slugging it out until one passes out. the story doesn't really have much to offer actually, and there's not enough tension in the end.
The story, art, and characters are all pretty mediocre, and nothing really sets this apart from any other "generic shounen". Of course, the beginning chapters were different, and I enjoyed those much more. They had me thinking "how is the protagonist gonna fix this one?" and had me waiting eagerly for the next chapter. Alas, after a few cases the author switched gears. Pity.
I liked the art, I liked the main, I liked the story at first. Then after twenty chapter it went downhill.
Overall, I liked it when it was coming out, but in the end it's only decent. Not great, but definitely not bad. I reread the first twenty chapters every now and then. read more

At first I thought that it was going to be like The World God Only Knows where Kucabara will be doing one contract after another. But then the story completely went off it's mark. He was no longer doing his Defense Devil but something else.

The character was typical too. The main protagonist as the "Naive" and innocent shounen, the main heroine as a Tsundere, and with both of them having experience tragedies in the pass.

Overall, a redundant manga but still a good manga.

By reading the synopsis I was expecting a manga with a lot of talk, a lot of stillness and surely no fights...

I was wrong.Sure they talk a lot but they fight a lot too...

The story is a shounen story so don't expect much(that doesn't mean its bad ,it means you'l have a "dejavu"...)

The art itself is good but i don't like the main character(I mean the chara-design his personality is uber cool>

What's the line between imagination and reality. Should it be a pure fiction or should it be based on fact. what makes manga Detective Conan great is that Ayoma Gosho always consults his brothers who were chemists on technical aspect of crime scene investigation such as blood spatter and blood clot. So he didn't just make up the stories out of his pure imagination.
another case is slam dunk, The author Takehiko Inoue is a genuine basketball lover. He understands the game well, it can be seen on the lead Hanamichi Sakuragi who has the size and built big enough to actually play basketball in japan.He is not a make believe character that misled kids to think that physical strength is not required to excel at sport.
Now back to the manga

a young devil is eager to be a defense lawyer after watching court proceeding on TV
+art
The art is smoth and beautiful, and attention is paid for example. on the detail of Kucabara costume in his human form and his devil form. If fan service is what you are looking for in the manga, the girls are cute and some like Elimona is curvaceous.
+Kucabara and Bichura's transformation
Kucabara looks like a normal skinny teenager with no impressive physical feature that can wow a girl but he has a sympathetic personality and smile, bichura looks like a cudly plush toy. But by drinking a certain matter these two can revert to their original form.
Kucabara's is a gigantic muscular guy that can make Rob Gronkowskwi of NFL's New England patriot trembles in fear. While Bichura's real form is a cool winged humanoid demon.
-Really
The manga failed to present convincing and sound argument on each of the cases handled by kucabara. I don't want to give a spoiler but i guess the first case.
A punk is carrying a steel baseball bat, and riding his motorcyle on his way to help his buddies who are involved in a gang fight. He holds the steell bat on his right hand which is stretch wide and somehow he was distracted by something he accidently crushed the beautiful face of a high school girl with his steel bat. panicked he ran over an old woman. The punk was death and was sent to hell. Kucabara offered his service to the punk and set out to prove the innocence of his client
The problem lies first with the methode of investigation, at first Kucabara frantically searched for an evidence that can prove his client's innocence, leaving no single stone unturned . But as time runs out, Kucabara then used a tool that enable him to see the past.and just like that he found the evidence. problem is that where is all the excitement and fun if Kucabara can easily use magical tool to solve case. which means no need for thrilling investigation which is a good detective story is all about.
The second problem is in the real world, eventhough the punk didn't do it in purpose . The way he was holding the steel bat while speeding are sufficient grounds to punish him for carelesness that injures and kill people.
The fact that he was on his way to a fight means he bore an ill intention and had he not been killed in the accident he might would have killed someone in the fight.
It seems to me that the authors are ill prepared and didn't do research on the law and investigation techniques. They seem to be content with presenting their own interprestation of the event. Unfortunately people and even children now are exposed to law and investigation techniques through popular crime shows in television and some through law books. a high school freshman who at least watches crime show will wrinkle his forehead if she/he read this manga.
-Detective or action manga??
The combination didn't work well because sometimes enemy appears to disturb Kucabara's investigation, depriving us of how Kucabara's process the data and reach the conclussion. Or is it because the author didn't really understands how investigation works?
Reading Defense Devil

Judgement
The author should have at least spent times to read law book and consult police so that the manga could be more solid and not just imagination


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short and simple anime/manga reviews:Defense Devil
Pros: Great start with good mystery, Nice art and many ecchi moments for us guys
Cons: That great mystery I was talking about in the pro section soon changed into a con after the start of this manga the story went down hill all that great mystery that gave me high hopes for this manga just went away and was replaced with B.S action and B.S plot turns.
Overall this manga was dissapointing I mean this could have been the next Majin Tantie Neruo (which you should check out) put really this manga isn't bad but the awesome mystery and whole plot of the begining of Defense devil turned into a B.s "Let save the whole world" thing. read more

when i read the synopsis for this manga i was hoping for something really good and after a couple of chapters it got better and also a bit repitetive since its all about the main character trying to prove his clients innocent and fighting against shinigami trying to put his clients in hell. it makes me wonder if the author is gonna be using this same formula for each story arc--new client, main character promises to prove client innocent, a bad guy for each arc trying to take main character's client to hell, main character proving client's innocence and then sucking up evil matter to defeat the bad guy and then not saving enough dark matter to return to being a demon, etc. all in all this is an okay manga for those with the time and patience to sit through and read all the lond dialogues read more