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Defense Devil
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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Defence Devil

Japanese: DEFENSE DEVIL

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 10

Chapters: 100

Status: Finished

Published: Apr 22, 2009 to Jun 10, 2011

Genres: Action, Comedy, Drama, Mystery, Romance, Supernatural, Ecchi

Theme: Mythology

Demographic: Shounen

Serialization: Shounen Sunday

Authors: Yoon, In-Wan (Story), Yang, Kyung-il (Art)

Statistics

Score: 7.59¹ (scored by 17,716 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #2385²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #460

Members: 37,899

Favorites: 758

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Reviews

Filtered Results: 16 / 16

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Filter Preliminary Spoiler

Jul 8, 2009

M_Mandraw2012

Recommended

Preliminary (13/100 chp)

By reading the synopsis I was expecting a manga with a lot of talk, a lot of stillness and surely no fights...

I was wrong.Sure they talk a lot but they fight a lot too...

The story is a shounen story so don't expect much(that doesn't mean its bad ,it means you'l have a "dejavu"...)

The art itself is good but i don't like the main character(I mean the chara-design his personality is uber cool>

Feb 21, 2011

WAXCHUG

Recommended

Preliminary (85/100 chp)

Well, no one reviewed this yet for a lonnng time, so I thought I’d give my first shot of reviewing on Defense Devil, today’s date as February 21, 2011.

85 chapters in and DD has been a pretty fun ride as of yet.

The best general idea I could give for this manga is referencing an earlier work by the duo team. If anyone’s read the two mangakas’ past series, Shin Angyo Onshi, DD follows a similar story pattern and plot elements that I think many can strongly relate to. If you haven’t, no worries, DD’s great story telling ability, art, and characters will offer up ... a considerably enjoyable experience.

I’m not gonna spoil anything for you readers, hopefully, but instead I’ll just give a general description of the type of story you’re expecting. It’s very similar to Shin Angyo Onshi in this respect, combining both the uses of small, short arcs/chapters with large overbearing arcs. Either way, DD excels at both. You’ve got your excellent short episodic stories reeled with a large adventure story. And the authors do their job well, offering up suspenseful storytelling while leaving the reader constantly guessing and wishing for more. They succeed at appealing to the large majority of audiences using a variety of genres: comedy, fantasy, drama, mystery, romance, action, and supernatural elements all rolled up nicely in a small package--how convenient.

There is, however, one major beef I have for the story. Certainly, it does have short and long arcs, but it’s dumbly disconnected. Once you begin reading, you’ll realize relatively quickly that Defense Devil disappears, to be replaced by Adventure Devil very quickly. The lawyer devil drifts away, and in its place we have extensive fights and an epic journey. We lose the "tough-talk" man we've known, replaced by the "RAWR-FIGHTING" man. For some people, this won’t be a major problem—hell, we’re all shounen boys obsessed with fighting anyways right--but looking at it as a whole, the story fails to follow its original roots, and that may upset some people. For those specifically enjoying the lawyer aspect, I would give a small caution reading further.

Moving on, the art is nothing to scoff at. Expect to see well-done action sequences from fights, a big variety of different outfits, a plentiful mix of character designs, and a large array of weapons. And just a warning (or supplement), expect to see a lot of ecchi mixed in for you creepo boys out there. There’s nothing I can really point out as erroneous in art, and just as Shin Angyo Onshi, expect the same level or the better.

And the characters, of course. I don’t find them bad, but they’re just so… typical, if that’s the right word. Let’s start with the character art while we’re still on the topic.

There’s one common thing going on for all the women: tits. Big boobies everywhere, and being a sucker male guy I am, the hotties everywhere in the manga’s gonna make you look for some good "doujinshi” around (^_^). But aside form sex appeal, the outfits themselves aren’t amazing. When I think of a very strong character, I think of Yoko from Tengen Toppa: a hottie with a sniper rifle, original color design, trademarked clothes design, hell, let’s even include her signature skull symbol design. That’s my top of the line original character. In comparison, DD’s characters look cool, but they’re ordinary. They’ve certainly got their own type and the such, but don’t expect a revolutionary character within DD.

And personalities? Nothing special. Hopefully not spoiling too much, but your main character this time around is gonna be the super peaceful, no-violence-if-possible kind of guy. Certainly a lot to build off of, but in my terms, again, nothing special. You’ve got your tsundere female lead which is always nice, but again, nothing special. And the extra characters are, really, all extras, nothing special. I’ve used nothing special four times now in this paragraph, now five, but that’s exactly the point.

Many people may critique that originality doesn’t have a factor in character ratings. But in my opinion, I can’t give a 10/10 for what I find to be an unoriginal character. I think it’s fair to say, however, that what it all comes down to, application to the story. If a story does a good job in pulling all the characters together, it doesn’t matter if a character is unoriginal, even a supposedly boring character can get recognition.

DD accomplishes this in some respects. There is a hint of mystery shrouding every character that the authors accomplish very well. Some characters are completely unknown, while others have “hidden” pasts. Taking a step back, we can see that this use of mystery backgrounds can be a double edged weapon varying between mangas. In some cases it can be done really badly, where the mystery portion is dragged on so long you’re wondering when the hell shit is gonna get explained, if it gets explained at all. In this case however, the mystery element is no doubt a positive factor. These mangakas are great storytellers, pulling off this mystery off nicely; the suspense won’t kill you, but will keep you guessing until the right time.

But besides mystery, there’s always character development to talk about… just kidding. DD’s character development is pretty non-existing. Unless if you count their pasts, the characters we know at the present haven’t changed. Nothing major really happened to the characters 85 chapters in, but there is major potential coming from our characters. There are certainly elements to work with, and we’ll have to see later what happens. But 'till 85, I can say that all you're going to see is plot, and nothing character-wise.

So, what do I think about this series. Well, certainly, the storytelling great though disconnected; the art good though nothing special; and the characters cool though nothing special. It’s not an original masterpiece, it’s not something going to be talked in the next generations to come, but at the end of the day, it certainly is what I would consider a fun adventure. Mix all these elements together and you have your exciting journey within the interesting and intriguing life of our defense devil. My enjoyment meter’s off the chart after marathoning 85 through the night.

I’m the type of guy that drops an anime/manga quickly. Check my animelist and you’ll see that my watching list is almost as big as my completed list, haha. It’s hard to keep my attention, and I’m really not sure what attracts me to certain animes/manga, it varies. But whatever it is, my addiction just suddenly pops in. DD is no different. Looking at DD objectively, I don’t think it stands up to the likes of the masterpieces we know. It’s nothing special afterall. Subjectively though, screw these stupid categories, DD has been a blazing ride, is a blazing ride, and will be a blazing ride for quite some time.

In conclusion, there’s not much else I have to say. DD’s a fantastic ride that I encourage everyone to read. Yeah yeah sure, Defense Devil is no masterpiece, but it still has enjoyable story, art, and characters.

Nov 10, 2009

nobody_knows

Recommended

Preliminary (Unknown/100 chp)

Ever think about after you die, that you would go to hell without knowing what have you done in your life; and you will be sentence to suffer forever. No one here to help you or even given you another chance. And for this manga review, whoever die are given another chance to prove his/her innocent, of course with a help of a devil lawyer.

Once again, Korean manhwa artist has impressed me once more (the other is KuroKami). Defense Devil was a great combination from some of the manga i know could think of: almost has the Death Note art style and a little story ... style + Phoneix Wright (sorry the wrong spelling) character with action + maybe a Detective Conan story tell.

The story are pretty quick and simple to start, Mephisto Bart Kucabara and Bichura are trying to get back in their homeland, but they need something call the 'Dark Matter'. So to do this, they have to get their 'client' (the dead) to sign a contract; and is up to this 2 to solve the case and prove their innocent, then finally earn the Dark Matter that was release from the client after the case is solve. However, the shinigami here will do whatever it take to finish their own job, execute the dead.

The first chapter of the manga has already state the basis and detail you need to start off your reading. After chapter 1, it begin to progress to the plot. This plot are cases that are need to be solve like 5, 6 or more chapter. Feel lost in the middle of the story, the tittle of the chapter will let you keep track easily. The name of the tittle will keep repeating the same with the number changing as each chapter goes until that cases is close.

Like all the detective story, there always be some plot twist on the chapter. And Defense Devil IS A detective story with supernatural element on it. It also got some comedy part in it, but the effect just work a little to give light on the manga. There is occasion that Kucabara say something 'dirty' to the lady around in Defense Devil, that just one of the example.

The character drawing are over the top. The guys look cool, the girls look very sweet and beautiful. Plus i would say that all the shinigami here are real bad asses that will let me continue to read on (i want to see them dead! dud!). Both notorious and dreadful that continue challenge Kucabara and Bichura as the cases goes.

The manga is still on going, and the story begin to explore just how many shinigami are in Defense Devil and why when so far to execute the dead, Kucabara and Bichura real identity and past, and of course the client cases, continue to expose and explore through out the chapter.

A supreme manga that are highly recommend everyone to check it out, though i have a lot of manga i don't know that are serialize and how good they are. But i be looking forward another Korean manhwa will start serialize in the future. A high hope and a salute again to the Korean.

Sep 2, 2009

icamundo

Recommended

Preliminary (19/100 chp)

i like this manga very much. it's true that that there are recurring scenarios like getting a client then defending for him/her to prove the person's innocence and obtaining the dark matter. but the recent chapters prove otherwise, with the new chara idamaria(did i spell it right?) the story takes another turn. the story gets more interesting and i find myself anticipitating for new chapters. i smell romance between kucabara and idamaria, though i might be wrong. >_>
the artwork? fantastic

kucabara reminds of L though because of his looks. and just like any typical shounen hero, he's self-righteous and strongly believes in justice. i love him ...

Jan 26, 2012

srsng

Recommended

We all know that we have a “Butler from Hell”- Kuroshitsuji. Now what do we have? – “Lawyer from Hell” – Defense Devil.

Meet Mephisto Bart Kucabara. He was a prince from the Demon world but was banished due to some reasons ( I don’t wanna spoil here), and now he lives in Event Horizon. A place between heaven and hell. In order to get back to his home, he must collect this so called “Dark Matter” from souls who were casts to hell.. He then decided to become a defense lawyer. They let their client(the dead) sign a contract, prove their innocence and claim the ...

Jun 17, 2013

JordanDN

Mixed Feelings

To begin I would just like to say that reading this manga was, despite all my negative criticism, an enjoyable experience in which I would suggest to someone who reads manga purely for enjoyment. I have written a lot of negative criticism bellow but would like to say that those are only the negative parts to the story. This manga has a lot of good qualities otherwise I wouldn't have bothered to read it all (my personal opinion).

Firstly, the story was compelling and had well thought out plot which was thrilling to read, especially if you like mystery. However that is only ... for the first 20 chapters at most. I fell in love with the characters and their personalities in the beginning, but was sad to see the mystery solving Devil Lawyer disappear only to be replaced by an action manga hero. His perks and quirks where mixed around and he became a different character who was no longer suited to solve crimes but instead suited to fight the criminals.

There was one arc however I loved, "Kucabara's Wisdom" (basically his back story). It started off with a bang which was intense and really emotional, yet it was also the beginning in the shift from Mystery/Plot Based manga to Action/Entertaining manga. I didn't notice at the time, simply assuming the arc was just the tragic back story, because we all no we can't have a manga without one of those. But it set up the course for the rest of the manga, defining what the "final confrontation" would be, defining a reason to go adventuring along with a villain to defeat. It was amazing and I loved reading every minute of it.

It wasn't until around chapter 50 that I really started to notice the decline in the stories integrity. Not only was the mangaka trying to increase their readers base using stereotypical action plot twists, but the art took a turn from beautiful to ecchi. There was one character who had a different skimpy outfit every time you saw her to the point where I didn't know who was there until someone said her name. Each change involved not only a clothes, but her hair and even her mannerisms where changed as well.

*paragraph long emotional rant*
There was one chapter which was absolutely pointless to the entire manga. It started out that a new character was introduced, then a dangerous problem was introduced. So the new character solves this problem with some rainbow magic and disappears never to be seen again. THEN we learn that she was an ILLUSION!!! They also introduce this clock that isn't used until the very end of the manga. It's not special, it doesn't have any power. It's just used to countdown 2 minutes in the last 5 chapters... IT WAS ALL SO ANNOYINGLY POINTLESS!

The ending to this manga was hard to swallow. It was inconclusive as to what was actually happening. We had 3 new bad guys introduced in the span of 5 chapters and the main characters entire motivation for action was flipped upside down and replaced by something new. I am just going to say that the last 17 were rushed and should have lasted 50 or more chapters if the series wasn't ending. Sub plots were abruptly ended and ruined by the easiest means possible. I felt terrible seeing that all the depth and life to the story was sucked dry as it ended. (there was even someone who dies, then is spontaneously brought back to life without any reason to take a hit for the main character and die again...) This manga which started out really nice turned into a real travesty at the end, story wise. The plot was screwed over but it was still an enjoyable read. So; don't read this is you want a well written plot based manga, read this if you want and enjoyable time wasting manga. That pretty much sums it up.

Jul 7, 2015

TargaryenX

Not Recommended

Defense Devil was a huge disappointment for me. It starts out strong, but you can almost see the point where the authors just stopped caring and started blatantly trolling the readers. It doesn't even deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as the manga duo's earlier work Shin Angyo Onshi, although from there it's hard to go anywhere but down.

The art is probably the best part of the manga. The artist half of the combo, Kyung-Il Yang is pretty much a master at his craft, delivering atmospheric landscapes, great character designs, badass fight scenes and beautiful titties.

The characters are not bad, but there are ...

Sep 30, 2011

dgpl

Mixed Feelings

The original premise of the story was set up in a way that it could be taken in little bits, basically a bunch of different cases which the protagonist could solve and then be done with. However, after a few of these cases the series takes a turn and begins an arc which spans the rest of the series. Personally I felt like at that point it started to become another generic fight manga where two people take turns slugging it out until one passes out. the story doesn't really have much to offer actually, and there's not enough tension in the end.
The story, art, ...

Aug 23, 2009

tami4875

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (6/100 chp)

when i read the synopsis for this manga i was hoping for something really good and after a couple of chapters it got better and also a bit repitetive since its all about the main character trying to prove his clients innocent and fighting against shinigami trying to put his clients in hell. it makes me wonder if the author is gonna be using this same formula for each story arc--new client, main character promises to prove client innocent, a bad guy for each arc trying to take main character's client to hell, main character proving client's innocence and then sucking up evil matter to ...

Feb 17, 2012

rondoblend

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (39/100 chp)

What's the line between imagination and reality. Should it be a pure fiction or should it be based on fact. what makes manga Detective Conan great is that Ayoma Gosho always consults his brothers who were chemists on technical aspect of crime scene investigation such as blood spatter and blood clot. So he didn't just make up the stories out of his pure imagination.
another case is slam dunk, The author Takehiko Inoue is a genuine basketball lover. He understands the game well, it can be seen on the lead Hanamichi Sakuragi who has the size and ... built big enough to actually play basketball in japan.He is not a make believe character that misled kids to think that physical strength is not required to excel at sport.
Now back to the manga

a young devil is eager to be a defense lawyer after watching court proceeding on TV
+art
The art is smoth and beautiful, and attention is paid for example. on the detail of Kucabara costume in his human form and his devil form. If fan service is what you are looking for in the manga, the girls are cute and some like Elimona is curvaceous.
+Kucabara and Bichura's transformation
Kucabara looks like a normal skinny teenager with no impressive physical feature that can wow a girl but he has a sympathetic personality and smile, bichura looks like a cudly plush toy. But by drinking a certain matter these two can revert to their original form.
Kucabara's is a gigantic muscular guy that can make Rob Gronkowskwi of NFL's New England patriot trembles in fear. While Bichura's real form is a cool winged humanoid demon.
-Really
The manga failed to present convincing and sound argument on each of the cases handled by kucabara. I don't want to give a spoiler but i guess the first case.
A punk is carrying a steel baseball bat, and riding his motorcyle on his way to help his buddies who are involved in a gang fight. He holds the steell bat on his right hand which is stretch wide and somehow he was distracted by something he accidently crushed the beautiful face of a high school girl with his steel bat. panicked he ran over an old woman. The punk was death and was sent to hell. Kucabara offered his service to the punk and set out to prove the innocence of his client
The problem lies first with the methode of investigation, at first Kucabara frantically searched for an evidence that can prove his client's innocence, leaving no single stone unturned . But as time runs out, Kucabara then used a tool that enable him to see the past.and just like that he found the evidence. problem is that where is all the excitement and fun if Kucabara can easily use magical tool to solve case. which means no need for thrilling investigation which is a good detective story is all about.
The second problem is in the real world, eventhough the punk didn't do it in purpose . The way he was holding the steel bat while speeding are sufficient grounds to punish him for carelesness that injures and kill people.
The fact that he was on his way to a fight means he bore an ill intention and had he not been killed in the accident he might would have killed someone in the fight.
It seems to me that the authors are ill prepared and didn't do research on the law and investigation techniques. They seem to be content with presenting their own interprestation of the event. Unfortunately people and even children now are exposed to law and investigation techniques through popular crime shows in television and some through law books. a high school freshman who at least watches crime show will wrinkle his forehead if she/he read this manga.
-Detective or action manga??
The combination didn't work well because sometimes enemy appears to disturb Kucabara's investigation, depriving us of how Kucabara's process the data and reach the conclussion. Or is it because the author didn't really understands how investigation works?
Reading Defense Devil

Judgement
The author should have at least spent times to read law book and consult police so that the manga could be more solid and not just imagination

Aug 31, 2011

dubaifalcon

Mixed Feelings

short and simple anime/manga reviews:Defense Devil
Pros: Great start with good mystery, Nice art and many ecchi moments for us guys
Cons: That great mystery I was talking about in the pro section soon changed into a con after the start of this manga the story went down hill all that great mystery that gave me high hopes for this manga just went away and was replaced with B.S action and B.S plot turns.
Overall this manga was dissapointing I mean this could have been the next Majin Tantie Neruo (which you should check out) put really this manga isn't bad but the awesome mystery and whole ...

Sep 21, 2011

mangamaniac93

Mixed Feelings

This manga is the perfect example of story-writers making stuff up (in this case, quite poorly) as they go, which reached outrageous levels at the (!!!painfully rushed!!!) end; unexplained plotholes, huge contradictions and I'm not at all exaggerating when I say that it also manages to take the phrase "Deus ex machina" to a whole new level.

Oh, and let's not forget about the absolutely neglected original storyline, which vanishes out of nowhere right after the first volume. I'm curious about the fate of those next-in-the-line 'unknowns' after Kucabara decided to visit home...

Still, it's not all that bad. Yes, it's cheesy and it has lots of ...

Aug 10, 2012

skypiercer

Mixed Feelings

At first I thought that it was going to be like The World God Only Knows where Kucabara will be doing one contract after another. But then the story completely went off it's mark. He was no longer doing his Defense Devil but something else.

The character was typical too. The main protagonist as the "Naive" and innocent shounen, the main heroine as a Tsundere, and with both of them having experience tragedies in the pass.

Overall, a redundant manga but still a good manga.

Jul 9, 2015

UltimateAdrian20

Mixed Feelings

When I first came across Defence Devil, I thought of two things, "Harmless dumb shounen fun" or "Absurd concept turn awesomly serious"

Defense devil is about a demon named Mephisto Bart Kucabara, banished from his land as an outcast former prince and takes an interest in human life on earth.He takes up the role of a defence attorney of any innoncent soul who are unfairly judged on their deaths been considered sins.With his sidekick devil Bichura , he battles other devil to protect his client and save their souls from doom.

On the surface it sounds like a cool concept. A Phoenix Wright style manga with ... the concept of being devils and hell as trials and lawyers and in the beginning it does.We see how the story of Kucabara develop with his clients, how attached to human life he really is and how he is determined to fight anyone in his way.

Unfortunately after a couple of interesting stories, the whole thing takes a detour towards typical shounen cliches.Evil brother, fights against species, characters teaming up like a buddy sitcom.It forget that it is a lawyer story and instead focus on generic battle stuff

In terms of art , its really impressive.Sort of a fantasy apocolyspe style which works well, characters look different enough to stand out.Though nothing mind blowing or unexpected.However this is the best part.Everything else is really painfully meh

The story is too fast paced and rush heavy, you can feel plot points being added and dropped as quickly as they appear.And the last 20 chapters are probably the worst part of this story.Trust me when I say that the ending was predictable, confusing, and rushed without any thought given to itThe plot holes were multiple and the plot twists were more non-nonsensical then surprising.You really felt that the writer knew this series was getting cancelled so he cobbled together a half baked climax

The characters are also badly represented too.Apart from Kucabara and Bichura who are genuinely likable and work off each well, everyone else feel so irratatingly unlikable.All unemotional hate fill beings , that you wonder why you should care for them.Special criticism goes to the heroine Idamaria, who plays the tsudere victim to a detestable level .She is supposed to a victim of devils wrath and we want to see her grow away from that. But everytime she utters her absolute hatred for devil despite her constant savings by one.And trust me she stays the same throughout the entire manga.

In conclusion, this had an interesting concept squandered away for a cliche but servicable story which was destroyed by an infuriating and terrible resolution

THE VERDICT IS : GUILTY!!!!!!!

Dont read this manga, there are much better more fun manga than this.And hopefully , we dont have to wait long for a more better courtroom drama style manga

Jan 26, 2019

Apple_Twinkle

Mixed Feelings

This manga is one that sets up an interesting premise, story and tone. In order to throw it out the window when it thought it had your attention. To be honest I feel a little betrayed by the direction of this work, as I really enjoyed the opening few chapters.

Story - 4
The story is windy and twisty in that terrible kind of way where you get the feeling things change because the author woke up feeling like that one day. Entire ideas are thrown out at the drop of the hat. The first chapters are the best because not only do characters have a ...

Feb 9, 2021

Resting_Bonfire

Not Recommended

Defense Devil

If anyone should ever ask me which work I see as the greatest waste of potential, I wouldn't hesitate for a moment to name "Defense Devil".
This work has an excellent style and a very good presentation. I have to give him this at least. I also found some of the beginnings of the plot to be okay. I still have to pat myself on the back and praise myself for getting these 100 chapters over with.

Plotholes like no other title. Not even the writer himself apparently had any interest in explaining something and simply threw something down so that it somehow fits the situation ...