Manga Review – Devils and Realist Vol 1 by Madoka Takadono, Utako Yukihiro (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Manga/Fantasy
Length: 192 pages
Publisher: Seven Seas
Release Date: May 25th 2010
ISBN-13: 978-1626920323
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Devils and Realist series
Source: Gift
Rating: 4/5 stars
“William Twining is blessed with both brains and wealth. He attends a prestigious school and lives in a huge mansion with his uncle and butler. But when his uncle’s business endeavours fail, the Twining family is left bankrupt.
While searching in a storeroom of his home for objects to put up for sale, William stumbles upon a secret room. This room contains a magical seal, with which he unintentionally summons a demon. This demon, Dantalion, tells William that he wields sole authority in selecting the “substitute ruler” of the demon world! So naturally, the candidates for the throne will pursue the bewildered and annoyed young man…”
This is the first book in the Devils and Realist series. Right now there are fifteen volumes released in this series. This was a decent manga that was a fun and light-hearted read. It’s set in Victorian England and has some supernatural elements to it.
William Twining is the perfect young man; incredibly smart, incredibly good-looking, and incredibly good at everything…and he’s not afraid to brag about it. However, when he finds out his uncle has gone bankrupt and left William with absolutely nothing, things take a turn for the worse. As Willian desperately searches his estate for the money to continue his education he insead finds a secret basement room.
In this basement William accidently summons the demon Dantalion…but of course William only believes in facts and science, not the supernatural, so he doesn’t take the demon’s appearance seriously at all. What follows is a hilarious caper in which multiple demons try to win William’s favor in order to get his vote to elevate each respective demon to the position of Lord of Hell.
This manga is beautifully drawn and was a fun and light-hearted read. I enjoyed a lot of the characters but thought the different demons petitioning William got a bit repetitive towards the end. I enjoyed this volume but I am not sure I could read 14 more volumes of this…
Overall this was a fun and well done manga. I liked it but didn’t love it. This is a series that I would have to buy (library doesn’t have it), so I am not planning on continuing it right now. However, I think fans of Black Butler would enjoy this one (although IMHO it’s not quite as good as that series).
This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Goodreads Reading Challenge
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge
– Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
