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Manga Review

Disgaea – Manga Review

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I’m kind of a Disgaea maniac. I played the original PS2 Disgaea for like, 90 or so hours before stopping. I’ve also clocked quite a few hours on the sequel, Disgaea 2. I also went on a buying spree last year when I got some Disgaea figures and a prinny plushie. Then there was the Disgaea calendar I got, too. So it’s just natural that I read the Disgaea manga, right?

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I’m kind of a Disgaea maniac. I played the original PS2 Disgaea for like, 90 or so hours before stopping. I’ve also clocked quite a few hours on the sequel, Disgaea 2. I also went on a buying spree last year when I got some Disgaea figures and a prinny plushie. Then there was the Disgaea calendar I got, too. So it’s just natural that I read the Disgaea manga, right?

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Story:
After a two year sleep, Laharl, the prince of the netherworld, wakes up to find that his dad is dead. That makes him the new king! It’s not totally automatic, though. Laharl must prove himself the rightful heir to the throne by fending off all of the contenders to the throne.

There’s also the love maniac angel Flonne to deal with. She was originally sent to assassinate Laharl’s father, but she finds out later that he was already dead. Not that she could have actually done it…

Analysis:
I already stated that I’m a huge fan of Disgaea. I thought that the plot for the actual video game was pretty good. For some reason, they changed things in both the anime and manga versions. They even got rid of the zombie with the horse wiener!

Having said that, the story itself is really silly anyway. Disgaea is more of a gag manga than a serious story. There’s a whole lot of stalker, pedophile and pervert jokes. While I found it funny for the most part (I’m kind of a sucker for dumb humor), it seemed to lack the seriousness that the game’s story had at points.

The entire story is covered in one volume, so everything happens really quickly. It felt kind of weird that Laharl still thought Flonne was annoying in one chapter, then felt the sudden need to save her in the next one. The relationships in the game take some time to develop, and they really felt rushed here.

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Character Designs and Art:
This is probably my greatest disappointment of the entire manga. The cover art is done by Takehito Harada, the original character designer for Disgaea. The designs are awesome! There’s nothing wrong with them, and they’re immediately recognizable to me since I’m a huge fan of the games.

The actual mangaka is Arashi Shindo. I’m not going to lie, the art looks wrong. It doesn’t look like official Disgaea, but rather some kind of fan doujinshi. It appears that this is Arashi Shindo’s first ever manga. The art isn’t bad, really, it just doesn’t match the style that I’m used to seeing the characters in. The characters’ eyes are all way too eyelashy, if that makes any sense. To me the conflicting cover and content constitute a bait and switch; I’m that particular about the art.

Conclusion:
The Disgaea manga is fun, but I couldn’t shake off the weird feeling that I was reading some kind of fan doujinshi due to the art style. I’ve taken a look at the Disgaea 2 manga, and the art seems a lot more acceptable, thankfully.

I could recommend the Disgaea for fans of the games and whatnot, but with the caveat that the art is not going to look like typical Disgaea. Part of the reason that I loved the series was the uber cool character designs, so this was really a big negative for me. Couple that with a somewhat rushed story and you get a fairly average manga. So yeah, if you’re a Disgaea completest, get it. Otherwise I’d say the Disgaea manga is probably not for you.

4 replies on “Disgaea – Manga Review”

when i watch this, it feels like this is what anime should be, crazy, not human like at all, just full of nonsense, that’s what makes this so great! the fighting rocks, the characters are crazy, it’s gothic and cute, scary and funny! what else could there be!

Why does Laharl look so nicein that last picture of the first page?! I could barely tell it was him. He’s selfish self centered and mean to the extreme but the artist sure didn’t make him look that way in the picture!!!!

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