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闇の末裔 [Yami no Matsuei] #5
Descendants of Darkness, Volume 5
The business of Death is never done. Asato Tsuzuki works as a Shinigami, or "Guardian o Death," in the Ministry of Hades. It's his duty to make sure that the souls of the dead reach the afterlife, but contrary ghosts and humanity's evils keep getting in the way of a job well done. With all these problem assignments, will he ever get a bonus...or will he be stuck paying back damages for all eternity?
It's a grand ole time at the Count's annual tea party in the Hall of Candles, and it seems that the whole Ministry of Hades is there. Hisoka, Tsuzuki's partner, runs into Tatsumi, another Guardian of Death, and learns some startling secrets. Meanwhile, Tsuzuki finds a study containing a strange book. The kind that sucks you in--literally.
Tsuzuki finds himself in a bizarre world whose inhabitants are dark parodies of people he knows in the real world. Tsuzuki, always ready to plunge into a situation, puts on a magic show to help a poor girl buy medicine for her sick father. But when a plague hits the town, Tsuzuki is blamed for it. Can he escape the townspeople's wrath? And will he ever find his way out of the pages of the book and back to the Hall of Candles?
It's a grand ole time at the Count's annual tea party in the Hall of Candles, and it seems that the whole Ministry of Hades is there. Hisoka, Tsuzuki's partner, runs into Tatsumi, another Guardian of Death, and learns some startling secrets. Meanwhile, Tsuzuki finds a study containing a strange book. The kind that sucks you in--literally.
Tsuzuki finds himself in a bizarre world whose inhabitants are dark parodies of people he knows in the real world. Tsuzuki, always ready to plunge into a situation, puts on a magic show to help a poor girl buy medicine for her sick father. But when a plague hits the town, Tsuzuki is blamed for it. Can he escape the townspeople's wrath? And will he ever find his way out of the pages of the book and back to the Hall of Candles?
200 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
About the author
Yoko Matsushita
17 books43 followersYoko Matsushita (松下 容子) is a mangaka best known for the supernatural series Yami no Matsuei (published in English as Descendants of Darkness).
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
August 25, 2018
This is probably the most coherent plotting I've seen from Matsushita to date. The whole volume is one story this time, and although I could nitpick some things it makes sense, flows pretty evenly, and is even interesting both as an internal story [concept spoiler, for those who want to be surprised, but not the actual plot points] and in terms of what is revealed about the characters' past histories with one another. Apparently Tatsumi used to be Tsuzuki's partner. I guess everyone else has worked with him at some point. I'm not sure what it says about me that I don't see what his coworkers find so annoying about him. I guess he's a bit more casual than is necessarily ideal in an employee, but he seems to get his work done adequately, and isn't a jerk to others. Thoughts, fellow readers?
Also, we learn what sort of man the author fancies:
Hey, Matsishita-san, that's my type, too!
Also, we learn what sort of man the author fancies:
Hey, Matsishita-san, that's my type, too!
November 2, 2020
La mangaka dice sempre che disegna male ma per me disegna benissimo. Tutte le tavole non possono venire perfette ma di certo non disegna male. 😆
June 16, 2018
A nightmare about Muraki, a fight with Tatsumi, and a visit to the Count of Candles’s tea party sends Asato Tsuzuki running through the Hall of Candles, only to find a strange book. He opens it and finds himself sucked inside the story, a story which has much occupied the Count. For it’s populated by a host of doppelgangers of people he knows, including a female version of himself. An amorous alternative version of the Count is pursuing her and this Count’s scheming butler is Tatsumi. The butler is doing all he can get the Count and female Tsuzuki together, yet what are his true intentions? Is he truly a reflection of the real Tatsumi? How can Tsuzuki escape from this book before the butler decides he’s too much of an obstacle to his plans and decides to deal with him permanently?
Tatsumi stepped up in this story as a character and in showing that his bond with Tsuzuki is as powerful as Hisoka’s. This bond undergoes a trial by fire via their book counterparts. Meeting everyone’s doppelganger was interesting. Hisoka was quite scary, especially the panel where he’s holding the goblet with the mismatched eyes. An intentional parallel with Muraki? Watari’s abilities and character were explored more, along with the Count’s. Some of the most beautiful panels yet involving Tsuzuki and flowers appeared in this volume. Muraki’s cameo in the dream was hilarious, including how Matsuhita-sensei kicked down the fourth wall to keep him from going full on yaoi. Not that I’m sure he won’t keep trying. :)
There are times when this series reminds me a bit of Dark Shadows. It draws from the classic story themes in shoujo manga, just as Dark Shadows drew from the classics in literature, reinventing them in new forms involving their own unique cast. This series is also becoming a genre cocktail, flavoured with enough yaoi to stand apart from shoujo manga, yet mixed with enough plot, ongoing story, and character driven elements apart from the male/male relations which are becoming more and more erotic. Descendants of Darkness appears to be evolving into something new, mingling and going beyond the set borders of genre, for which I admire it all the more. For doing this in a way which deepened character development and relationships, adding a dash of yaoi, all in a strikingly beautiful art style which never ceased to entertain, this gets four stars.
Tatsumi stepped up in this story as a character and in showing that his bond with Tsuzuki is as powerful as Hisoka’s. This bond undergoes a trial by fire via their book counterparts. Meeting everyone’s doppelganger was interesting. Hisoka was quite scary, especially the panel where he’s holding the goblet with the mismatched eyes. An intentional parallel with Muraki? Watari’s abilities and character were explored more, along with the Count’s. Some of the most beautiful panels yet involving Tsuzuki and flowers appeared in this volume. Muraki’s cameo in the dream was hilarious, including how Matsuhita-sensei kicked down the fourth wall to keep him from going full on yaoi. Not that I’m sure he won’t keep trying. :)
There are times when this series reminds me a bit of Dark Shadows. It draws from the classic story themes in shoujo manga, just as Dark Shadows drew from the classics in literature, reinventing them in new forms involving their own unique cast. This series is also becoming a genre cocktail, flavoured with enough yaoi to stand apart from shoujo manga, yet mixed with enough plot, ongoing story, and character driven elements apart from the male/male relations which are becoming more and more erotic. Descendants of Darkness appears to be evolving into something new, mingling and going beyond the set borders of genre, for which I admire it all the more. For doing this in a way which deepened character development and relationships, adding a dash of yaoi, all in a strikingly beautiful art style which never ceased to entertain, this gets four stars.
September 4, 2011
Most of the volume was set in a different dimension of a kind - Tsuzuki was pulled into a book and became a part of the storyline there. I liked that it offered us an insight into Tatsumi's feelings because inside the book, his character, the reflection of the real Tatsumi, was in love with Tsuzuki's counterpart and was willing to do anything to ensure her - yes, Tsuzuki's character was female - happiness. It makes you wonder if the real Tatsumi a) loves Tsuzuki or b) is actually in love with him, just like in the book.
July 28, 2018
3.5 stars
Didn't like this one as much as the others.
The Shinigami gang get invited by the Count for a tea part. After a childish fighting with Tatsumi, Tsuzuki get stuck in a book while wandering around in the Hall of Candles. He realizes that all the characters are fantasy versions of him and his friend.
It is fun stand alone story that do not affect the main plotline, but this is mostly filler.
We learn that Tatsumi & Tsuzuki used to be partners. The Ministry accountant have a little bit more depth and personality, his character is more flesh-out here.
There was not enough Hisoka for my taste! At least there was a really beautiful scene where Tatsumi tell the young Shinigami that “Perhaps the one who will stay with him for eternity is you, Hisoka Kurosaki.”, while discussing being in partnership with Tsuzuki.
Didn't like this one as much as the others.
The Shinigami gang get invited by the Count for a tea part. After a childish fighting with Tatsumi, Tsuzuki get stuck in a book while wandering around in the Hall of Candles. He realizes that all the characters are fantasy versions of him and his friend.
It is fun stand alone story that do not affect the main plotline, but this is mostly filler.
We learn that Tatsumi & Tsuzuki used to be partners. The Ministry accountant have a little bit more depth and personality, his character is more flesh-out here.
There was not enough Hisoka for my taste! At least there was a really beautiful scene where Tatsumi tell the young Shinigami that “Perhaps the one who will stay with him for eternity is you, Hisoka Kurosaki.”, while discussing being in partnership with Tsuzuki.
January 13, 2019
This volume starts off with Tsuzuki having a nightmare about Muraki being aided by Tatsumi in his conquest of Tsuzuki.
This leads on to the main Shinigami characters being invited to a cherry blossom viewing tea at the Hall of Candles by the Count. Here Tsuzuki gets sucked into a book after a fight with Tatsumi, where he finds the female version of himself being pursued by the Count!
In Purgatory, we find out about Tatsumi’s partnership with Tsuzuki and why it ended. In the novel world, we see that Tatsumi really does care about Tsuzuki despite actions/ascertains to the contrary. 4 stars
This leads on to the main Shinigami characters being invited to a cherry blossom viewing tea at the Hall of Candles by the Count. Here Tsuzuki gets sucked into a book after a fight with Tatsumi, where he finds the female version of himself being pursued by the Count!
In Purgatory, we find out about Tatsumi’s partnership with Tsuzuki and why it ended. In the novel world, we see that Tatsumi really does care about Tsuzuki despite actions/ascertains to the contrary. 4 stars
August 19, 2019
Reread. I really didn't remember any of this! I said in my latest review that this series is back to 5 stars when Tsuzuki's angst is back and now it was. Maybe this is more like 4,5* but rounding up to full five. So I enjoyed the amount of Tsuzuki's foolishness and angst in this and that Count is really a creepy guy. Lovely mix of more serious topics and funny things. Kept me smiling.
February 25, 2020
Tsuzuki gets sucked into a book! Hisoka, Tsuzuki's partner, learns that Tatsumi used to be Tsuzuki's partner (his 3rd partner) and why they went their separate ways. Some of Tatsumi's backstory comes to light while Tsuzuki tries to make sure the boook character Luka gets her happily ever after, at risk of his own life.
February 23, 2026
Der Teil war wirklich super spannend, da wir endlich mal ein wenig (verständlichere) Hintergrundgeschichte zu Tatsumi und Tsusuki bekommen.
Dazu ist die ganze Geschichte ultra dramatisch und hach, diesmal wars wirklich gut :3
Dazu ist die ganze Geschichte ultra dramatisch und hach, diesmal wars wirklich gut :3
August 21, 2021
I have zero memory of this "sucked into a book" arc being in the anime version.
December 27, 2021
I remember reading this volume when it was released and thinking about how much I wish that this would have made it into the anime.
August 5, 2022
Rating: 2.5
September 4, 2025
Tradycja zapychaczy się skończyła (jak na razie) i teraz mamy do czynienia z opowiadaniami o przeszłości. Pan z okładki, Tatsumi, jak się okazało, kiedyś partnerował Tsuzukiemu, no ale nie wyszło. Dowiaduje się dlaczego nie wyszło i... i czytamy o miłości tychże panów. Ale - hola hola - powiecie. Jaka miłość? Ano taka w książce, tyle że w innym świecie, gdzie Tsuzuki jest babeczką :)
September 30, 2013
Tsuzuki gets sucked into one of the pervy Count's novels, which is a vehicle to explore the relationship between him and one of his previous partner's Tatsumi.
This is very much a stand alone volume, and doesn't particularly fit the rest of the series, but for all that it's great. Tatsumi has become a major character and it's fascination to look at his deeper motivations. Hisoka very much takes a backseat in this one and Tsuzuki/Hisoka fans might be disappointed.
The artwork's gorgeous although I do find some of the characters look very similar and also the names - we get characters referred to by first or second name and some such as Tsuzuki/Tatsumi are a tad similar to keep straight. A cast list at the beginning would have been really helpful.
Despite having to re-read panels to keep things straight (no real hardship as the art is beautiful) the story is fun and I love the characters.
This is very much a stand alone volume, and doesn't particularly fit the rest of the series, but for all that it's great. Tatsumi has become a major character and it's fascination to look at his deeper motivations. Hisoka very much takes a backseat in this one and Tsuzuki/Hisoka fans might be disappointed.
The artwork's gorgeous although I do find some of the characters look very similar and also the names - we get characters referred to by first or second name and some such as Tsuzuki/Tatsumi are a tad similar to keep straight. A cast list at the beginning would have been really helpful.
Despite having to re-read panels to keep things straight (no real hardship as the art is beautiful) the story is fun and I love the characters.
July 17, 2019
Mi è piaciuta la maggior partecipazione di Tatsumi in questo volume: la sua relazione con Tsuzuki è interessante e tormentata, e lui è piuttosto attraente.
Adoro alla follia l'inserimento di Byakko: è il mio personaggio preferito, ed è divertente vedere che si presta a fare l'animale ammaestrato per il suo padrone!
Il conte è un pervertito!
Adoro alla follia l'inserimento di Byakko: è il mio personaggio preferito, ed è divertente vedere che si presta a fare l'animale ammaestrato per il suo padrone!
Il conte è un pervertito!
July 23, 2013
#Program BUBU
Read
May 11, 2011F MAT dod v.5
January 15, 2016
pretty good.
August 1, 2013
An interesting little side-story in this volume. It amused me greatly that the Count writes RPF. Just lol.
October 3, 2016
I am so glad I gave this series another shot. This volume was fantastic. Gotta love being sucked into fanfiction!
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews