Senkawa Rintaro: a regular guy in his mid-20’s who got a bit tipsy one night and fell to his death. But that is just the beginning of Rintaro’s story as he finds himself unexpectedly in Hell where he meets his guide, the painfully sexy devil Koyori. Can Rintaro take his situation seriously enough to repent for the sins of his former life, or is he fated to be eternally tempted, teased, and tortured by scantily-clad devils with iron spiked clubs?
3.5 Yeah I was surprised by it. It's surprisingly well thought out, and composed. Kind of has a tongue-in-cheek sort of tone to it. It knows how ridiculous it is, and also what it can get away with. Yeah it's not too bad. The violence is over the top, the nudity is in extremes, and the characters are basically little shits. The main character is definitely a little shit, and I thought maybe it was going to go in the way of "try and feel for this bland asshole character, DO IT" sort of thing. But no it actually does a pretty good job of developing a personality, and becomes kinda self aware at the same time. So a guy dies, goes to hell, denies he should be in hell, and pretty much right off the bat shows that he's not as good as guy as he sees. He has a demon watching over him, a tiny cute anime girl, whose got her first sinner to punish. Yeah she's pretty lenient, and to show that they give a second demon and server who are far to the crazy field of one "masochist, and big breasted anime hardass". The cliches are there, but again it's self aware. The nudity doesn't bother me since it's not used in HUGE excess, but there's still excess. It's not until the second half of the collection that it gains speed. The plot gets going, and the personalities start moving to their final arc, and that's where this gains that extra .5. It's not bad, it's pretty good. If this kind of stuff doesn't bother you, then by all means give it a shot.
I can tell the series got cancelled early, because the ending comes waaaay too quickly. I don't think it would ever have been GREAT, but it could have kept me interested for another few books at least.
Loved the atmosphere and the story was very original and intriguing. I wish it were longer. The ending felt a bit rushed, incomplete and a tad predictable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
3.5* stars. What if Hell was like our everyday lives, except for, you know, demons and torture? That's what Rintaro, a mid-20s everyday man, finds out after he accidentally bonks his head drunk one night and finds himself met with the beautiful, petite demon, Koyori, in Hell. She becomes Rintaro's guide to their little circle of Hell, explaining how he can make an income to live a better life here, and of course, how his daily torture sessions will work for the remainder of his multi-decade sentence! Can Rintaro figure out why he was sent to Hell when he had led such an unassuming life? And why won't Koyori help him learn of his sinful indiscretions? The answers to those and many other questions lie solely within this complete omnibus of the three-volume series.
There are a lot of things going on in this book. Like, a lot. Sinners being tortured - skinned alive, - demons in ridiculous but adorable and sexy outfits, and the fictional Amazon company of Hell. This story is like the town of Hell Live in Hell is set in, a melting pot of a little bit of everything. And while this is not for the faint of heart as there is some nudity, crude jokes, talk of torture, and all manners of death of all ages of people, and sex, it all strangely works!
The story is compelling, especially the world-building of the system regarding the demons and their assigned sinners. When a sinner arrives, they are automatically assigned to a demon and their torture for redemption begins. The demon can tell how much torture the sinner has left due to a handy smartphone app: if a sinner gets their demon's emblem tattooed onto themselves, the demon can track their movements wherever the sinner is! Not to mention how the sinners can make a living and live in the equivalent of high-rises while still being tortured daily. It's fascinating!
As long as you can handle dark and crude humor and aren't shy about, well, any of the things mentioned above, I recommend Love in Hell. The situation may bring you to the series, but the different characters and world will keep you enthralled for the long haul.
В этой серии 3 тома, и они успешно упакованы в Complete Edition объемом 488 страниц. Будь она разбита на несколько книг, я бы остановилась на первой. Gore, violence & ecchi.
Плюс: показана модель ада, где грешникам необходимо пройти курс искупления грехов путем пыток. Чем изощреннее пытка и чем больше страданий, тем быстрее набирается процент искупления и тем ближе грешник к перерождению/переходу на другую ступень. Бонус – на следующее утро все следы пыток пропадают и грешник снова готов к испытаниям. Несчастных препоручают супервайзерам-демонам, у которых разнообразный подход к подопечным (главгерою повезло во всех смыслах). Добавляется еще потребность в питании (это особенное издевательство, когда даже будучи мертвым(!) и в аду(!) все равно хочется кушать), так что надо крутиться и работать на стороне, чтобы заработать местную валюту и купить заветный пирожок. Неслабо, да.
Минус: два тома переполнены заявленным комедийным стебом с уклоном в эччатину (совсем не мой юмор, но это было ожидаемо). В третьем же некоторым образом вскрываются подробности прошлых событий, и там замешано насилие в семье, сломанные и прерванные жизни. Полная безысходность, что идет вразрез с заданным ранее тоном и «фэнтезийным» насилием (пытки в аду это как workout, который рано или поздно закончится). Минусом идет и финал, который писался словно на коленке, многие важные моменты ужаты до одной строки и никак не объяснены.
I ordered this manga through inter-library loan from my library, because with the Halloween season upon us I was in the mood for a horror comic book. The plot about a person sent to hell to repent for his sins while being punished by a sexy demon woman seems like a weird enough plot to evoke some Halloween fun, humor, and a bit of eroticism.
The violence and sexuality in this omnibus is pretty tamed when considering the premise. There are a few boob pictures and some violence, but nothing extreme. Overall, the actual story and art work is also pretty tamed when compared to a Junji Ito manga. However, the one exception is the little girl being punished by her father. This drastically changed the tone of the book. It is really disgusting and the author could have chosen a better and less disturbing reason for Rintaro to end up in hell.
So, what about the humor? It has some funny moments here and there, but not nearly enough. The art work is really nothing special. It is in the typical manga style with nothing really standing out.
This is one of my very favorite mangas. It is perverted, yes, but that comes with the ecchi genre. Like Oh My Sweet Alien! and Monster Musume, it shows what life is like for someone living amongst unusual beings, in this case devils in hell after death. The main character is sort of a manga anti-hero: lazy, lonely, and unsuccessful in life. His one point of strength is a certain ability to stand up for his friends and his love, which he could never do while he was alive. The manga seems to have been canceled early, so it is only 3 volumes, but I do not think it suffers for being short. It is so enjoyable that its length just makes it easy to revisit. Great for fantasy, supernatural, slife of life, and ecchi fans!
Best bit of this book was the ending and also because I had finally finished it. This was hard work and just seemed pointless. I was really looking forward to reading this and again was really disappointing. Seemed to skip scenes really quick and wasn't much to each part. Would never read this again which for a manga is very surprising for me.
If I was to go to hell I would hope to have a demon like Koyori as my overseer lol. This series is a lot of fun. A bunch of crazy stuff happens while people are being punished for their sins. Though the ending was nice pretty much a happy ending so to speak. Finding out Rintaro's sin, that story was pretty sad. Glad it worked out the way it did.
I picked this up because a prison library requested it through ILL. The request fell out of the system before I could send it so I checked it out to myself. It was interesting concept of sinning and hell.
Fun softcore romp with a very light peppering of hard gore shots but far and few between fir my taste. I'm so used to Ito's work that all I keep thinking is "More just more gimme more of this" but other than that the world it slowly creates is unique and engaging.
Overall this is an entertaining read for the most part that focuses on comedy, romance and a bit of perversion (surprise!). What I really liked is that between all the fun and the laughter there are treats thrown there for the thinkers (but ain''t we all thinkers?)
The missing star is for the rushed story ending. The book could have easily benefited from another volume or two for a better character build up and a more complete story in my opinion, but I guess this book was never meant to be taken seriously.
I have to say this Manga-style book (black & white graphic novel) was very intriguing and engaging. It was explicit and funny. The short chapters enticed me to read yet another "chapter" each night. A great plot throughout the 3 books - complete in this collection. Made me want for more at the end! I hope that Reiji Suzumaru continues with these characters, or at least with writing/drawing another amazing series!
Underneath its sexuality, "Love in Hell" has a few very original and intruiging ideas about the atonement of the afterlife. There's a graphically disturbing movie in here. Unfortunately, the story runs out of space in the final third; the sense of languish in part 1-2 suddenly makes place for a rush.