Ranked #4562

Jigokuren: Love in the Hell (Manga)

(Warning: This Review, while reviews the manga, also reviews one aspect, or theme in the manga which is the references of Heavy metal Music in the Manga, this review is catered more for the Heavy Metal Listener than for a Manga Reader. If you don't want to read one persons talk about metal in manga and the media, skip to the very bottom)

First let me ask you something? What is hell to you? Over History it has been interpreted differently. In a Christian/Abraham/Mainstream interpretation of Hell there are two different Hells, The Bible just calls it a world of pure fire. It was then evolved into a a Demonic Barron Wasteland thanks to Dante. In Norse Mythology, it can equate to one or both of two worlds, Muspelheim, the land of the fire giants and Nifelheim, the cold world of Ice and the land of the Dead. What ever your Religion or Philosophy, from Christian to Pagan to Atheist, you all have your own image of hell, even if you don't believe in it. Well, what ever notion you have, cast it aside, this hell is waaaaaaay different but yet the same.

In 2006 a clever little cartoon called Metalocalypse came into being. Besides movies like Spinal Tap and the Documentaries by Sam Dunn (Metal: A Headbanger's Journey and Global Metal) and one episode of Bones (Mayhem on the Cross) extreme genres of Metal, do not get any recognition by the Mainstream Culture. Metalocalypse was made specifically for the metal culture, filled with guest voice actors of metal bands and having small metal injokes (one of the more famous refs, Dimmu Burger). For me, that show was nice in it's little injokes but the actual music played by the fictitious band, Deathklok, was no Hypocrisy. (The music Sucked).

Now, this seems to be the next notice into some bits of Metal, Jigokuren - Love in Hell brings us the lovely pair of a Sinner and a 17 year old B-Cup, Demoness. To note really, this manga does not have any small head nods besides a Dimebag Darrell R.I.P. shirt it really plays to the 'mainstream' perception of Metal and known metal bands, we have Motorhead, Metallica, Ozzy. It shows the Author doesn't really listen to metal, just doing some catering because "Dur, Metal is the music of hell", as we have non metal bands such as AC/DC (Hard Rock/Blues Rock), Misfits (Horror Punk), and Slipknot (Mallcore/Nu Metal). I keep a close eye on this stuff. But yes, this manga does show hell, it has a Dokuro-Chan level of Blood. But while Dokuro-Chan was played for laughs in a more lighthearted Dark-humor way, Jigokuren is played in a Devourment/Short Bus Pile up/Viral Load style of Gore in Dark Humor, you don't know whether to Laugh, or awkwardly chuckle. Another way it shows hell is the art, the mangaka is a really good artist, but sometimes he draws things better left unseen to the mortal eye.(See Chapter 5, last couple pages).

For someone who knows that the Metal that the mangaka puts in this manga isn't anyway a good way of showing it at all, how do I like this manga? I like it a lot. It shows a good depiction of hell as an Episodic Slice of Life in an extremely Black Humor way. Is this manga for those who have a regular sense of humor? No. Is this for the Black Metal Satanist? No. Is this for the people with the Dark sense of Humor and know some basic stuff about Metal? Yes. This manga is not for Everyone, so tread with caution.

Scores:
Story: Episodic: 7/10
Art: 8/10
Character: 8/10
Enjoyment: 9/10
Overall: 9/10

(Just to say, when a famous Metal Musician dies, they don't go to hell, they go to Valhalla in our book) read more