Ranked #376

Until Death Do Us Part (Manga)

"What? Another (trashy) shoujo manga?"

Wrong.

A blind swordsman, a young precog, urban crimes, violence, gory deaths and sliced limbs are a regular appearance. What more, the only teenager in the manga (!) makes herself useful and actually jumps into the action to help out!

Despite the possible first wrong impressions, the title is very significant. The basic storyline is introduced in the first chapter and it is very simple; a girl hires a badass blind guy to save her from the criminal world which is after her 90% accurate precognition. He’s hired for life.

For a while it’s all action and adventure, which is excellent and… perhaps not very original, however...

Somewhere at the end of volume 2 an incredibly interesting plotline is introduced. You see it coming from the very beginning, then either forget or are either convinced 'that thing' couldn't possibly happen... only to get smacked in the face again, and not all too subtly. The twist is nearly comedic and had me fall over of laughter and shock. Then I knew I got hooked. When the spice has been added, you'll only want more and I sure did want more!

With the exception of Haruka, the whole cast is adult, which gives an established feel... with lots of room to explore the various background stories and weave it into the present. The character development happens at steady pace, so nothing is rushed.

The manga's major selling point is Mamoru Hijikata... a blind, ruthless, manly, intelligent martial arts prodigy turned murderer, now a crime hunter.... and a very good looking one at that. I think he's incredibly hot and GAR. Of course he attracts fanboys AND fangirls like a freaking magnet and wraps them all around his deadly katana single handedly. Don't be surprised if you fall for him too.

Since Haruka is only a child there isn't much to say yet about her personality, but so far she's proven to be quite compatible with the others. Naturally, it will be interesting to see her development as she grows up surrounded by a bunch of emotionally messed up people, who act like her surrogate family. I predict she'll be kicking a lot of ass in the future.

The art is eye candy! For a debuting manga artist in Japan DOUBLE-S is already no amateur at his job. He's a master. The art is great from the beginning, but the quality starts to shine from volume 4 and it only improved to my astonishment! I honestly wish I could draw like that.

The character designs are attractive, memorable and realistic. Body proportions are excellent. On top of that DOUBLE-S knows how to tell, no, show action filled scenes like no other. This man absolutely brings the story to life in a fascinating way.

UDDUP contains all the good things that I want and the mix is successful. I'm obsessed to the point I'm trying to read the raws. That doesn't happen often in my case.

This is one of those manga you'll be guaranteed to hear about often in the future. It's better to start now -- there's still a long way to go until the 'death' part in the title. Give it at least 2 or 3 volumes to experience some of the essential things to this manga. Decide from there.

"What happened to those shoujo fans who fell for the trap title?"
Surprisingly, they love it too! read more

Picked this one up at the start of the week, looks pretty good.

Story: (9)
"Until death do us part" is about a blind assassin (who can only see shapes of objects thanks to supersonic technology) kicking badass with a walking cane/katana. He is accompanied by a tech support guy and a small girl who can "predict the near future" (not quite sure how to word it, so i'll just go with the Bakafish translation). With the assitance of the tech and the girl, the blind guy goes around protecting the streets, saving people and doing the odd jobs that police can't do...
Okay, to put it simply, it's about a blind GAR kicking some badass with a sword. Too bad such storyline lacks originality.

Art: (8)
Considering the high amount of action in the manga, the artist didn't do too bad drawing the actions. The drawing style is pretty serious, not much funny faces and clumsy situations ( like your shounen and stuff, think Angel Heart or City Hunter). The only critisism is that the faces are drawn a bit too simply
(think Naruto)

Characters: (10)
cold, insensitive GAR: 10
damsel in distress: 10
tech support with lazt attitude and smart-ass comments: 10

These characters are pretty much essentail to the plotline of "GAR protecting the streets in his own way". It might be a bit repetitive, but that's what we like XD.

Enjoyment: (10)
Personally, I enjoy GAR manga with lots of fight scenes.
Until Death Do Us Part pretty much staisfy all my needs.

Overall (9)
With such a classic storyline, cast and it's pretty good battle scenes. I really wwanted to give this a 10. But it's lack of facial detail and lack of originality really hit the weak spot.


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