Ranked #1098

Samurai Deeper Kyo (Manga)

First off - I may be a little bias towards this manga, as this is actually the first manga that I ever read. But regardless of that, I really wanted to write a review for this particular series as I tend to feel that this gets slightly overlooked. Samurai Deeper Kyo is Akimine Kamijyo's first published manga. Compared to the anime of the same title, this offers so much more to the general audience. And not only that, the anime does not accurately portray the manga. But despite the differences between the two, they both follow the story of Onime no Kyo - or Demon Eyes Kyo, the 'supposed' slayer of 1,000 men who's body was stolen and his soul locked within another's body.

The manga is during the era of Tokugawa Japan, maybe even offering a slight twist on the history of that period of Japan's history. Most of the characters that feature in the manga are actual people eg. Tokugawa Hidetada, Sanada Yukimura, Nobunaga Oda, and Izumo no Okuni to name a few. Sometime after the battle of Sekigahara Kyo's soul was taken from his body and locked within his best friend, Mibu Kyoshiro's, body. Kyoshiro then hid Kyo's body and lived the next four years as a medicine man. The underlying story of the manga is that Kyo, while trapped within Kyoshiro, is trying to find where Kyoshiro hid his body. However, Kyo doesn't make a full appearance in the manga until the 3rd volume where he takes over Kyoshiro's body and keeps his consciousness firmly locked away. That's when the search truly begins. He is joined by Shiina Yuya, a 16 year old bounty hunter who arrests Kyoshiro in the first volume for mistaking him for Demon Eyes Kyo, they come to an unlikely alliance when Yuya witnesses Kyo's emergence from Kyoshiro's body during a battle between some villagers and the ancient day equivalent of the mafia (although, they aren't really a match for Kyo who quickly beats them down). Kyo's initial intention was to kill Yuya, but she defied him and said that she needed to live so that she could find the man with the scar on his back - the man who killed her brother. In subsequent volumes they are joined by a complete cast of characters including Hotaru, Akari, Yukimura and Benitora.

As the volumes progress, so does the story - what begins as a relatively light-hearted and almost comedy story, quickly turns into one of love, betrayal and ultimately, revenge. Kyo was taken in and partly raised like a son by the Crimson King. A man known as the ruler of the Mibu, but Kyo was cast out from among them and was reviled as the 'demon child' as no child had been born to the Mibu since Kyo's appearance. Subsequently he was taken in my Muramasa, himself a Mibu. But one who had left his people and his homeland because he took Kyo in. Muramasa then went on to train Kyo in the Mumyou Jinpu school of fighting. Muramasa loves Kyo like a son, and calls him the Mibu clan's 'Hope'.

The plot line can get a little confusing every now and again, I have often found myself re-reading a few pages to try to make sense of what I am actually reading. But it is definitely worth persevering with. The art style is very well executed, each panel is extremely detailed, and the character development seems to get better with every passing volume. And for a graphic novel, there is plenty of action and the battles get pretty intense (the whole of volume 16 is devoted to 1 battle!) As of now, I am only up to the 26th volume - but I'm eagerly awaiting the next instalment in this saga. read more

This is the worlds most underated manga ever made. Possible the most underated thing in this world.
This series is just as bleach but more serious and less humor.

As most series it starts out a little wierd but later it turs into a masterpiece.
The story follows a boy named Kyoshiro, a medecinman who only wants to help people but an bounty hunter yuya misstakes kyo for Demoneyes kyo and caputre him. Later on he Kyoshiro changes into Demoneyes kyo in a dangerous situation. And some chapters in the future he changes into him permanently.
Then story follows him trying to found his own body. It sounds simple but the story is very good.
This action manga is like bleach but better.
If you like shonenseries like naruto or bleach etc you will fall in love with this masterpiece.
Its a shame this series hasnt gotten as much attention as it should.

Dont be fooled by the anime. This series has 32 volumes and anime 24 episodes and the anime is not even the same story. Get my point?
When i say that this will be one of the greatest manga you will ever read, i aint lying. read more

I know in a lot of reviews, it tells you practically everything that happens. I will try my best to avoid that. You can read a series summary on this site for it. And any summary really doesn't due this manga justice. Instead, I'll tell you why I gave each category its rating.

Story=9
This story goes much more in depth than the anime makes people believe. There is action, adventure, sadness, humor, suspense, and all the good things that make a plot line great. But you might ask why I didn't give it a ten then.
Here we go; there is suggested romance, but it just isn't enough. I know this is a shonen, but I have a little pet peeve about it. There was just enough romance that you know there is something there. However, that little peek is more annoying than anything else. There should have been just a little more.
That wasn't my only reason though. It went from having this one bad guy, who was made to be evil incarnate, to a completely different bad guy. It wouldn't have been so bad if the transition was slower, but it happened pretty abruptly.
There are also a couple confusing occurences that happen. Only the most observant readers will notice them (me included). If you do,none of them affect the plot or really stand out, but it just makes you wonder. (You'll know what I'm taking about when it coems to the Hair thing with Kyo when he was a child) So I can't say the story is perfect.

Art=10
The drawing style was amazing, to me. It stayed the same throughout the whole series (which is a good thing), and the characters didn't suddenly wear something completely different or have a miraculous scar that wasn't there 2 chapters ago.
The drawing was also crisp and clean, without the haziness or jagged lines that sometimes make a manga hard to look at. The fight scenes were well planned out, with each one unique. It was easy to follow the path of the drawings, which I and any other manga fan greatly appreciates.

Character=9
Each character had their own personality and style about them. Yes, there was the obvious stereotypes: a guy who is mean on the outside, but is more trustoworthy than anyone: a girl who constantly worries about a guy, but then acts like she doesn't care: a comic relief who has a serious side etcetera etcetera. However, they still had some things about them to make them different from the norm.
Only reason I didn't give it a 10 is because I thought that some of the main characters should have had a little more background given to show why they were the way they are. So in all honesty, I would have given this category a 9.8, but you can't do that.

Enjoyment=10
I consider the level of enjoyment how well the plot turns out. Sort of like the story category. This particular manga was great.
There was just enough fighting to keep even the most violent person entertained, but there were still time for peace and quiet. Not meaning that there were tons of fillers. I can't even say there was a single one.
Each chapter had a reason behind it; either to add to the story developement or show something about a character you didnt know, or will need to know later. I don't remember a single chapter that didn't have reasons behind it, however small they were.

Overall=10
It is rare to find any form of entertainment that comes close to the other 4 categories' ratings. Even though I didn't give it a perfect score (which is impossible to me by the way), I still say this as the best manga I have ever read. Any fan of shonen manga, or manga in general, should add this to their list. read more

After I just finished reading this Manga I feel like I really have to write a review. With such a great story I can't understand that Samurai Deeper Kyo still has a rather small fan community.
I think a reason for that could be that stupid anime that's made of this. I first heard of SDK because of the anime ... and I didn't really like that - but there were so much questions left open in the end that I decided to take a look at the manga - what a great decision^^

I was totally surprised about the manga. The way the story is told is simply outstanding - a perfect mix of tension und fun (and especially the first chapters of SDK are really funny)
SDK provides interesting characters (and character developement), an awesome story that electrifies the reader, exciting fights, very funny and entertaining moments and some subtle romance.
You can find some philosophical aspects as well ... 'live your life with passion' - 'good and evil' - 'right and wrong'

But what get me captivated the most were the character developments. Until the end you'll be surprised about their decisions, thoughts and feelings. Someone who seems to be a traitor may come to help again, someone who seems to be cruel may only be protecting some he loves and someone who seems to be evil may try to save the world. And the past of the main characters is revealed pretty late in the story. All the reader gets are some hints and that turnes the story even more exciting.
You'll always learn something new about the characters while reading this great manga.

It got me totally obsessed (and I'm kinda sad it's over now)
You should definitely give it a try read more