Tengoku Daimakyou
Heavenly Delusion

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Tengoku Daimakyou presents us with two sets of characters: a group of orphans in a sterile, mysterious academy (very à la Promised Neverland, as @deadoptimist mentions above), and a two voyagers making their way across post-apocalyptic Japan, searching for this same academy.

Art: Detailed backgrounds and a strong sense of spatiality allow for world building, while characters and action sequences are clean, crisp, and earnest.

Story: Unravels somewhat inconsistently, has a few exposition dump moments. But apart from them, the tension created from the spun web of alternating narratives drew me in.

Characters : what really drew me in, as all the characters feel ... memorable and fresh. Some characters are dumb, some are insecure, some are jealous, none are particularly cliché. Most importantly, the manga really highlights how duplicitous humans living in a post-apocalyptic world would really treat one another. Tons of tiny 'revelations' end up being dead ends or false starts instead of plot development because characters have been lied to or manipulated. It's great for character developments, as it allows (notably) our two voyagers to learn to navigate the world around them, but also avoids story beats from arriving too predictably in a satisfying way.

The side characters, as in both the staff of the orphanage and the settlement inhabitants / bandits / innkeepers the voyagers meet along the way are really stellar! They are also all visually interesting, and alongside the artist's detailed rendition of cool monsters and worn-down cities, really flesh out the world.

I guess I also need to address the 'gender swap' that occur not once but twice (!) in the first 27 chapters. Expected them to conveniently devolve into fanservice, but that hasn't featured too heavy-handedly yet. The fanservice is honestly super bearable (and I'd compare it to that of Chainsaw Man / Fire Punch fanservice, where one couuuld argue that it doubles as plot or char development). At the same time, the gender swaps don't seem to bring forth any trans identity narratives. The themes of gender will probably feature more prominently as the manga develops (voyagers about to enter a matriarchal village where men are treated like dogs), which will help us revisit these moments.

All in all, giving Tengoku a solid 7.5. While I wish the plot and characters were slightly more consistent, the worldbuilding and central mystery are intriguing and cool.

Art : 9
Story: 7
Characters: 6
Enjoyment: 8
Overall: 7.5

This manga starts with all the parts necessary for a good postapocalyptic thriller, but fails to develop them in time, while fanservice slowly piles up. The main secret stimulates curiosity though, and robust art makes reading pleasant.

Tengoku Daimakyou conceptually is a polyphonic narrative – each chapter is named after the leading character in it, but in practice there’re two main plotlines. The first is a “Yakusoku no Neverland”-like slow burn mystery inside a very special orphanage, where we follow a group of kids and try to understand what’s brewing. The other is “The Road”-like journey across a calamity-ravaged Japan, riddled with picturesque debris, suspicious ramshackle ... villages, bandits, and occasional monsters. These two parts are obviously connected, the hooks for their meeting are set, but it’s not clear how it will happen in the end – this is the main question of this work, the main attraction of its story.

The second strong point is the art, reminiscent of “Ibara no Ou” or “Apocalypse no Toride”. Tengoku Daimakyou has a similar attractive steady linework and very well-designed debris. It is even, maybe, more cinematographic. The composition of panels, the life-like designs of clothes, buildings and items, the many weathered faces and human types make this manga feel like a modern sci-fi TV movie – enriched with the imaginative freedom of a fully drawn medium and with a strong pedigree of Japanese quirky postapocalypse acutely felt.

The characters also begin in a very promising way. The kids in the shady facility are easily discernible, bright and sympathetic. The slow way in which we catch glimpses of the bigger picture in their simple lives feels natural. The pair of heroes on the road has good chemistry. The dynamic of an older more experienced but somewhat awkward bodyguard lady and a younger, active and capable, but not yet fully grown special boy feels fresh. The two share the childhood of being a post-calamity orphan, so they offer funny opinions on our civilization, now lost for their world.

So far so good, and indeed I couldn’t stop reading for the 10 (very substantial) first chapters or so, but then problems started to become visible. The cracks showed the most in the road story part, with exposition been delayed too much, which harmed characterization. Subsequently the author strained my sense of immersion by swapping genders of several characters in a convoluted way, seemingly largely for shock value and banter jokes. I can’t comment whether it may be interpreted as queer representation, maybe it can, but for me it seems to lack realism, attention, and gracefulness to be a good one or a plus in this story. The narrative is also very clearly male-centric. Only women are sexualized, sometimes in strange ways. The fanservice is light, but it’s all over the place thematically.

And after I had finally made peace with the new data and the new expectations from the characters, another issue arose – and that was the lack of engagement in the road part of the story. As far as post-calamity wastelands go, this one is fairly typical, I am afraid – the ravaged world here doesn’t whoa me by itself. The monsters are rare and there’s too little data on them, likely withheld for the final arc connecting the two plotlines. There’re too many red herrings and inconsequential events, places change way too fast to care, the danger for the main duo stops feeling real. While characters chat plenty, the author keeps readers at a distance from their thoughts and feelings – our connection with them is mostly voyeuristic. Clumsy attempts at unnecessary romance and convoluted sex jokes, increasing in volume with each new chapter, also don’t help.

So, gradually, I found myself not caring about the traveling pair of characters despite the richness of the events which happened to them. The kids’ side still interests me, even if it is oftentimes disturbing. (Speaking about the disturbing part, there’s human experimentation, several suicides, and a bit of body horror – all typical for these types of stories.) And what I am still genuinely curious about is how it all connects. I will definitely come back to Tengoku Daimakyou to check for it.

Overall my rating and personal opinion on Tengoku Daimakyou, based on subjective readability, is not terribly high. But I would recommend this work for its slow-building intrigue. I think it may suit people who like postapocalyptic stories in general. I can gladly advise it for its hearty brisk art. I even think that many others won’t share my problems with the story. However I can’t discard the overly slow exposition, sparse characterization and uncomfortable gender juggling, which disqualify Tengoku Daimakyou for character-focused readers. I have to warn about fanservice, which may put off some people. This is a manga definitely worth trying for yourself, but there’s a non negligible chance of disappointment.

The only 3 anime episodes that are out for the moment got me very interested in the plot, and thus I blindly proceeded to start reading the manga.

I think these kind of shows really hook you up because of the mystery element. At least that's the case for me. The experience was pretty pleasant until.... the chapters 32-33. Not only that's terribly cheap but it's also disgusting. Especially after you've grown to like the characters. I saw some people defending this as a necessary plot device to "develop" the characters. Using RAPE to develop the characters? Give me a break. In my eyes, here it ... is seen to be used only as a cheap shock-factor. Even the aforementioned brought "development" wasn't that big of a deal and could've been done in many other not less interesting ways.

I did continue to read until the last chapter that is out for the moment (53). Very mixed feelings. It felt immensely promising in the beginning, but when the author pulls out such a dirty trick on you it feels just tremendously frustrating. Maybe it was the author's intent, to make the reader so frustrated without any good reason. I just can't understand why. I couldn't even like the characters anymore after this.

What pisses me off the most is that neither of the main characters did act belivable in this whole situation and the resolve is extremely unsatisfactory. A couple of chapters later they act as goofy as ever as if nothing happened? What the heck. Kiruko reflects on it casually just ONCE and does so only a dozen of chapters later and it didn't even feel even as she was traumatized by any means by this event. A bit unhappy maybe, but not much more than that. Even the night after the rape Kiruko says something along the lines "I'll just follow the orders for now". What the fuck? You've just been raped, and you want some more?? Does the author imply that she'd simply obey the rapist unless Maru would show up? When Maru appears Kiruko just unties her arms by herself as if there was no rope in the first place(why didn't she escape if she could by that moment!?). Robin gets almost no punishment at all besides a couple of punches in the face from Maru who was stopped by Kiruko almost instantly after he inflicted his fists on him. I can't believe any of this. That Kiruko didn't fight back and even was willing to obey. That Maru stopped at once when Kiruko asked him. It didn't even feel like Maru was enraged with any of this like he should've. And the next thing he does is tell Kiruko he loves her!!?? What the fuck!? She's just been raped!!? And you say that after letting the offender walk away with close to no resistance?? Dude!??... Just think about this: would you REALLY just let the one who sexually assaulted your beloved one walk away so easily? With a couple of punches? In a lawless world?.... bruh... This completely broke my suspension of disbelief. The characters didn't feel real and likable after that anymore. I felt as much disgust towards the main characters as towards the rapist after that. I kept on reading because I still was interested in the plot and probably secretely hoped for a retaliation or comeback of some sorts from the author's side. Did not happen. Looking back, the reading experience was already ruined to me at that point leaving a very bad taste in my mouth that was not washed out with the consecutive chapters.

Some people might think: "How can you judge the whole manga on basis of a couple of chapters?". Look. If you take a barrel of honey but put a spoon of shit in it and mix it up, then it is not a barrel of honey but just with a spoon of shit in it, it all just becomes a barrel of shit. But alright. Let's imagine that this horrific episode didn't happen for a moment. The manga is still very intriguing, but I'd say that it is too slow in its pace for the most of it. And I admit I would still like to learn the truth about what actually happened in this built world and all of its riddles even considering that I pretty much hate this manga by now. The drawings are detailed and look somewhat old-school style, I liked that. Besides that, there's not much I can add to this.

I believe some people would still find the manga really cool even considering the aforementioned cursed chapters. In order to prevent you from thinking that I'm some over-sensitive person who just can't handle dark themes in fiction I want to mention that I did read titles like Berserk and Oyasumi Punpun etc. and enjoyed them a lot. But what happened in this manga to me seemed out of place and felt incredibly stupid. Do not recommend to people who value believability in fiction. Or to people who want to like or relate to their main characters. By believability I don't mean like the author broke his own world's rules, it's just that he butchered his own main characters' believability. Believability is highly subjective of course, and so is likability but if I knew something like this would happen in the plot in the first place - I certainly would not spend time reading it.