So, in light of Satoshi Mizukami's new series Planet With starting serialization, I've decided to go back and read the only big series he had I didn't check yet.
Sengoku Youko
So the story is split between 3 parts around the feudal japan era. Part 1 is around a Kitsune and a Human travelling and trying to redeem hateful humans and demons, with Jinka (the human) having the goal to eventually become a demon so he can be with Tama (the Kitsune) forever. The dynamic here is that Jinka hates humans while Tama loves them. During these travels, they pair up with a wandering Samurai (Shinsuke) and a half demon half human Girl (Shakugan). Eventually it devolves into defeating an order of monster slaying monks that are fond of human and monster body experiments. They mostly succeed, but Jinka is consumed by his desire to become a monster, and we have a time skip.
Part 2 is about Senya, a character that briefly showed up in part 1, and his struggle to contain the 1000 monsters sealed inside him. Of the old Cast, only Shinsuke remains with the occasional Tama appearance. We now have Tsukiko, a girl from the village where we start part 2, and Nue, a small water spirit detached from it's lake. They son find that something is turning the gods of the land mad, and they are attracted to Senya, who can't control his powers well. The internal struggle of Senya is really interesting and the biggest highlight of the series. It's great to see how he reacts to this massive horde that at times empowers him and other times tries to overtake him, but all characters shine in this part, everyone gets good developments and all play a role in the end. There is also traveling, but it has a better sense of pace and knows when to wind down. Eventually they reach Kyoto and meet the resident protective God and the Shogun who, again, is a highlight. This part ends in a very, very high note, in a climax in 2 stages that does justice to all characters involved. And a goddamn
5 page spread.
There's another 8 year time skip and then we are onto Part 3. The previous cast is now settled in a village that accepts humans and monsters alike, even reforming previously bloodthirsty demons. After coming of age, Senya and Tsukiko along with Nue leave the village to try and deal with what's turning the Gods of the land mad along with helping Tama redeem Jinka. This eventually escalates to the point where there's a massive army battle on the ruined temple grounds of Part 1's climax, perfectly weaving previous characters back into the narrative in great and surprising ways. Although i have to say, the final confrontation against Jinka is underwhelming due to many reasons, but mostly because there's really no bad blood between the two main characters, and you leave feeling like the story climaxed early with both the amazing fight between Dousuke and Kumozu and the spirit realm negotiations. Still, the 2-chapter epilogue is perfectly bittersweet and a great conclusion to the series.
I feel like this work doesn't have a story or characters as good as
Hoshi no Samidare and especially
Spirit Circle. I never really cared for the main cast of the first part, and that ended up undermining certain aspects of later parts. Thankfully there's great world building and secondary characters to redeem it, and as the previous images should have shown you the art is actually really really good, and by far Mizukami's best, with only the final arcs of Hoshi no Samidare and a single page of Spirit Circle to give it competition. The action is quite good, and a few of them do belong quite high in my ranking of favorite fights in manga, especially those involving Senya and his struggles. The twists and turns the story takes are classic Mizukami where he has everything planned and it ties up in a nice, satisfying bow.
Despite my criticisms, in the end I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading it, and i even feel like I should go back and read certain arcs again, and it earned it's way to one of my top 15, maybe 10 favorite manga works. After reading this, to me Mizukami is the most consistently great manga author, and I'll always look forward to any project he partakes in the future.
Rating:
A
Recommended if you like: Other Saotshi Mizukami's works (especially Hoshi no Samidare), Feudal Japan setting mixed with Shounen battles, engaging characters and spiritualism.