Those looking for similarities, won't have to try hard to spot them. There's Jio Freed, a boy who grew up alone, hated because he had the Kyuub-, I mean Satan sealed inside of him. There's the Akatsuki, err, these organizations, trying to capture the tailed be-err, the Angels and Devils. And so on, and so on. Similarities aren't necessarily a bad thing. There's more to 666 Satan, though.
To be honest, I was contemplating dropping this after some chapters. No matter how I looked at it, it was just another Frankenstein of a manga. A mixture of many different popular ideas, which doesn't come up as charming as initially hoped. Also, fanservice is one thing. Having a naked neko hacker giving her explanation of the Big Bang, made me question myself for reading this.
And then, there was the recipe that never fails. Dragonball taught us how to love fighting tournaments. All kinds of different fighters and techniques, competing with each other, with the occasional drama too. Ever since that point, 666 Satan is a non-stop fun ride; a ride never to slow down, as one fight just leads to another, with more and more interesting, powerful characters showing up while the secrets of the Kabbalah unfold.
The amount of time it takes to get to this point is certainly not neglectable. But after this point, there's no reason not to love this. There's non-stop action. Sure, hot girls, hot guys, too. Implementation of more popular "techniques", by skipping some four years, and having these characters "level up"; then you have these brats, turning into some pretty cool looking guys. Some quite emotional side stories, especially towards the end. Some gruesome monsters, which will send body parts flying around. Drawings that keep getting better, too. And more old-school influences; I couldn't help but think of NGE, during this guy's grasp of Armageddon.
Fair or not, when it comes to the unavoidable comparison with Naruto there are three kind of people, the way I see it. Most Naruto fans should effortlessly enjoy their favourite manga's little brother. Even if there is a slim chance for haters to like this, I don't think they would have the patience to get to the point when things get interesting. And, ah, there's a third category too. My favourite. Those who just -have- to be "alternative". "You crazy? I h a t e Naruto, but I l o v e 666 Satan!" I'm sure you do, but instead of arguing about why similarly tasting food tastes similar, let us get back to the point.
Here is a collective of some genuinely interesting characters.This guy's not bad. His intentions are good, and honest; never hiding his influences, and keeping superfluous chapters to a minimum. Personally, I will be looking forward to future works.
