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It's sad that this series has been cancelled. I thought that Yuji Kaku had a lot of potential built up in these few 25 chapters. Ayashimon was a series I really wanted to see succeed and I thought it would, but it seems JUMP doesn't want to let any series grow a develop into its own. Ayashimon had a very cool world built around the story. The power system was interesting to say so, but I think it was one part of why Ayashimon did not survive. The main character Maruo has a personality that I loved, and his power was kind of a mystery ... and I wish the series would have gone over why he is so strong, but it would have happened later in the series I bet. Yuji Kaku's art and ing is amazing in this series, and I think was very eye catching.

In my opinion, the only reason why this manga has been canceled was the complete failure of the editorial department. And yes, Yuji Kaku did not create such a great manga as ‘Hell’s Paradise’, but to cancel this one over completely mainstream shounen manga, which even had worse sales than this, and that they ran this manga before the Anime of “Hell’s Paradise’ even started, showed me how incompetent the current JUMP editorials are –just look at ‘Red Hood’ or ‘Phantom Seer’–. But enough about JUMP, let’s talk about the manga and why the editors thought this won’t be such good work like his previous ... work.

Short version
- Overall (6/10):
‘Hell’s Paradise’ catched the reader immediately with great artwork, designs, mystery, mature action and as the most important, 2 extraordinarily interesting main characters. Meanwhile this manga failed in every aspect, compared to the other work. This does not mean that ‘Ayashimon’ is a bad manga, but it was definitely weaker than the author’s previous one. The artwork and designs were still good, but due to its own story limitations the action was way too one dimensional, the mystery aspect was slightly noticeable and we got a female protagonist which is just there to be protected, while the male protagonist is so plain, dumb and one-hit k.o. strong that it gets boring fast.
This sounds harsh, but don’t forget: COMPARED to ‘Hell’s Paradise’, so a lot of fans are surely disappointed. But on its own it is a solid action manga, which had a lot of potential if they would have given more time to extend. So let’s get into the details.

Long version
- Story (6/10):
The plot is a typical revenge story, but with so-called Ayashimon, which are demon/ghost like creatures. The ayashimon girl (Urara) wants to avenge her father and for that she wants to take over the yakuza like ayashimon syndicate. This is of course not all, because we also have a male human protagonist (Maruo), who is so strong that he lost his purpose in life. So a lucky accident brought them together, and Maruo gets the bodyguard of Urara. Together they literally punch through ayashimons over ayashimons to solve mysteries like ‘who was the traitor?’ or ‘how this weak and plain guy got the most badass antagonist ever?’, but the start was maybe too slow to catch every reader and at the same time the pacing was too fast (meeting the final boss within 5 chapters).
The other negative in the story was the ayashimon’s ritual fights, which were a 1-v-1. Because the male protagonist was too plain, dumb and strong at the same time, the fights get boring fast. This also improves later – at the end the amazingly choreographed mass fight in a hotel without catching the attention of the guests was definitely the highlight –, but again it was potentially too late. Also they tried maybe too hard to ride on the ‘Tokyo Revengers’ hype with such a darkish yakuza like revenge story, which did not fit very well with the Shounen JUMP’s demographics – which the editors should have known… –
So the story had potential, it just started to unfold the mysteries and the power levels, unfortunately it was too late and the limited 1-v-1 fights + the simple protagonists decreased its own chances to fully evolve.

- Art (7/10):
I gave ‘Hell’s Paradise’ a 9/10 for art, so how can this be just a 7? The artstyle of an author should’n get worse in such a short time and mostly it even improves further, so why? The answer is simple, I think Yuji Kaku is not so suited for a weekly series (‘Hell’s Paradise’ ran in Shounen JUMP plus, where he had every 3 weeks 1 week break). The designs of all the different ayashimons are great again, but they weren’t as much in focus as could be, and we mostly just saw the plain protagonist. On top of that, the whole style felt rushed. The lines were more shaky and here and there I missed 1-2 more s to get a more smooth dynamic. And again the 1-v-1 fights took a lot out of the fights, especially if the protagonist’s full fighting repertoire is a strong punch… I mean, it works for ‘One-punch Man’, but that also gives you way more build-up and/or comedy. And of course it had the faults from the past of felt like missing backgrounds.
Here and there we get a glimpse of the author’s creativity, like the mentioned hotel fight, but probably after he got the OK to do what he wants due to the cancellation. Which again showed that the editors limited him.

- Characters (4/10):
Now we have arrived at the major weak point of this series. I’m sure you got the big picture already, the characters were way too simple and one dimensional. Female characters (not just Urara) whose only purpose is to be protected by others is way too outdated. Maruo’s dumb and plain character could be fun, but it is also often boring and repetitive. Most of the side characters and antagonists get almost zero screen time, so why would you care about them?
But again, after a certain point in the story we get a very interesting side-character – similar to Gabimaru of ‘Hell’s Paradise’ – and his backstory, as well as the main villain get a more proper introduction and our 2 protagonists evolve characteristically. So it is a pity it did not have enough time.

- Enjoyment (7/10):
To be honest, as a ‘Hell’s Paradise’ fan, I still enjoyed this manga even if it was not as good, but had maybe even more potential. Yeah, the characters and story could be way better, but I think with more time it would have worked. The art / designs were still outstanding and the creativeness of the author was really refreshing compared to the current running battle shounens. So give this mangaka as much freedom for its work as he wants and it will be as great or greater than ‘Hell’s Paradise’!
It is very sad that the editors at JUMP seem sometimes really off in their manga predictions and/or limit the author's potential. Giving other series enough time to unfold (like ‘Yozakura Family’), but axe very promising ones (this or ‘Red Hood’) immediately…

Ayashimon, penned by Yuji Kaku, the mangaka behind Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku, is a Weekly Shonen Jump series that follows a manga obsessed beat em’ up protagonist and the yakuza boss yokai girly he chooses to serve under as they try to climb their ranks through the criminal underworld. However as you may have noticed, and like many works that can’t hit a certain arbitrary number of sales, it was canned before its time, capping off at a sad 25 chapters.

Now before we get into it a discussion about the work itself, I have to lay some thoughts out about Kaku's last work. While many ... seem to laud Hell's Paradise, I honestly didn’t care for it. I thought the work was sloppy and uninteresting, and the one element that was worth caring about (the protagonist’s relationship to his wife) was not enough to carry it out of mediocrity.

Similarly, Ayashimon is generic from top to bottom. A short lived, shonen-to-the-core three volume blunder that I felt had marginally less potential than other canceled works of this ilk. There’s a mild metatextual nature to the manga in the form of a protagonist that’s obsessed with Jump, but otherwise it’s got nothing more, no legs to stand on. Like anything else, Jump goes through phases, and for the last few years a lot of its titles have been into the yakuza, mafia, spy/assassin/demon/underworld schtick and I am SICK of it. Tacking on the yokai element does not do Ayashimon any favors because the setup is already relying on genre conventions that are overdone in many of its contemporaries.

But is the presentation at least interesting, or unique? I’d have to say no. At times, the manga can get really bogged down by a heavy amount of dialogue, wherein the characters are ultimately just saying a whole lot of nothing; I didn’t feel drawn in by the setting whatsoever simply due to a bad balance between expository worldbuilding and mediocre action scenes. That’s another thing: Kaku is, sadly, not a very good artist. His style is rough and sloppy, and not in an endearing way like that of Chainsaw Man’s Tatsuki Fujimoto (whom he served under as an assistant), but in a way that sort of gives me the impression it was done hastily, and in ballpoint pen. His s aren’t framed well, he can’t engineer very visceral fight scenes, and overall I just think it’s somewhat ugly. It skirts the edge of being serviceable simply due to competence in perspective and style, at least, but that's being kind.

So what’s left? Despite all these notes of complaint, I can’t sit here and say Ayashimon is some horrible piece of trash, because it isn't – it’s just… a manga. A short, unoriginal manga that’s got basically nothing for me, but has enough hallmarks of the shonen demographic to where I’m sure it’ll easily appeal to others. In my Red Hood review (another WSJ work canned at three volumes) I lamented the lost potential, but here I don't know if there was much to begin with. I don’t recommend it, but other than being uninspired and boring it doesn’t have glaring narrative faults that actively make it “bad,” leaving it right in the middle as plain ol’ “average,” as the majority of manga made are probably this level of amateur. I know very well that these traits win it popularity in some circles, and I’m fine with that, but I myself couldn’t willingly it on it to someone. There are better shonen with generic traits that have gotten, and still get, to exist as longer publications, building on their stories.