Reviews

Jul 27, 2020
Preliminary (30/37 chp)
I have to admit that Aku no Higan has a pretty cool premise, absolutely full of potential. Just look at the summary above. Exchanging one's life years for riches and power, or the other way around, sacrificing your fortune for longer life... Just imagine what you could do with that. Imagine the opportunities for character drama, hard choices, moral dilemmas, world building and thematic exploration.

Well, too bad this author just took a fascinating concept like that and wasted it on a very average (even sub-par) shounen.

The plot is basic and forgettable. The whole concept of exchanging years for money (here presented as the main hook) is only focused on at the start. It ends up left behind very early on in favor of a very cliché story about our protagonist leveling up, saving waifus and fighting generic villains under the guidance of his mentor. Speaking of our protagonist, he's a textbook example of a Gary Stu. He's smart, hot, athletic, heroic, and almost completely one-dimensional. He never doubts, never struggles, and basically cake walks through any opposition he encounters. The manga makes some attempts to paint him as morally ambiguous, but all he ever does is defending the weak and fighting obvious bad guys, so those attempts fall as flat as the character himself.

The rest of the cast doesn't stand out very much, with a possible exception of Viktor, the main character's mentor. Why only “possible” exception? Because he seemed mysterious and he may have gotten some development at some point in the story, but I didn't stick around long enough to find out. Thirty chapters should be long enough to get the measure of a story.

To sum it up: good concept, ruined by uninspired execution. Don't waste your time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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