At the end of this dreamless hopeless inhospitable century there was a boy who possessed a serenely honest and simple heart...Unfortunately he looked like this.https://files.catbox.moe/xsrtxq.png Angel Densetsu is the first serialized manga by Norihiro Yagi who would later go on to create Claymore and one of my alltime favorites. It is at its core a parody of delinquent manga and asks us the readers one simple question: Should a book be judged by its cover? We follow Seiichiro Kitano to find the answer watching as he tries to navigate his way through the world of a delinquent battle manga comically oblivious to all the dangerous situations he keeps getting himself into Story Characters The story and comedy of Angel Densetsu essentially revolve around the various antics and misunderstandings that our main character Seiichiro Kitano manages to get himself into by virtue of his terrifying appearance. Its a fairly simple formula: Kitano tries going about his daily life whether at school or somewhere else until he runs into someone usually a rival delinquent or a civilian that needs help who invariably either flees or attacks him once they get a look at his face. The comedy is built on misunderstandings many times Kitano will be trying to do a good deed like return a wallet or clean up the schoolyard only for someone to panic assuming hes trying to kill them. Its essentially the same gag repeated over and over something that I normally dislike but Angel Densetsu somehow manages to have a fresh take on the joke every time. Sometimes the jokes overstay their welcome a little bit looking at you Kuroda but overall I found this to be a genuinely hilarious comedy manga. Of course this wouldnt be a delinquent shounen manga without a truckload of fight scenes. The conflicts follow a sort of monsteroftheweek formula where a new delinquent shows up to challenge Kitano and then loses horribly in some comedic way. The most recurring one is Katayama a sneaky thug who fights dirty and never stays down. The main antagonist if he can be called that is the principal of Kitanos school. He considers Kitano a heinous delinquent all because of his face and his presence at the school to be a disgrace and he tries everything within his power to find a reason to expel Kitano even going as far as calling in special counselors to beat Kitano up. https://files.catbox.moe/7bp99c.png Kitano however is totally oblivious to the effect his face has on people and he is to a comical degree unaware of the things going on around him. It takes a gun getting pulled on him for him to realize hes in danger He walks right into enemy territory just to return a wallet and he doesnt react in the slightest when the toughest guys in town show up just to give him a hard time. His denseness I think stems from how unflinchingly pure of heart he is. He is the Angel in Angel Densetsu and for very good reason. There are few fictional characters that are as kind and heroic as Kitano. All he wants to do is help people and make the world a better place to the point where his only wish is for peace on earth and goodwill for all. He seems genuinely incapable of comprehending that someone would have ill intentions and he will just stand there and let people beat him up as he assumes they have a good reason for doing so. This contrast between his turn the other cheek Jesuslike personality and his terrifying face is the main driving force for the series as a whole. Besides Kitano the angel himself the core cast consists of four characters: Ryoko Takehisa Ikuno and Kuroda. Ryoko is a classic action girl a skilled martial artist and the heir to her fathers dojo. Shes the first person to find out that Kitano isnt really as scary as he seems and their relationship begins to blossom from there. Takehisa is a snarky and dangerous delinquent who winds up essentially becoming Kitanos self proclaimed sidekick and Ikuno is a darker type of action girl who admittedly might have a few screws loose. https://files.catbox.moe/yqr2dg.png Finally Seikichi Kuroda. Kuroda is at face value a dumb brutish bully who acts entirely as comic relief. Hes introduced in chapter one as an antagonist a huge tough guy the guardian of the school always followed by two lackeys And then he gets totally and accidentally trounced by Kitano. From then on the Kuroda trio is the main comic relief of the cast. Theres more to his character than that though. Yagi himself calls Kuroda the second protagonist of Angel Densetsu after all. He IS dumb comic relief but his idiocy and all the trouble he causes are actually a major driving force for well most of the plot developments in the manga if Im honest. He also acts as a foil for Kitano: Kitanos personality is essentially that of a doormat but hes secretly tough as nails. Kuroda meanwhile talks a big game but is in fact the weakest and most cowardly of the Hekikuu crew. His antics admittedly get old after a while but its undeniable that Kurodas presence is crucial to the manga. Art I want to put extra emphasis on the art in Angel Densetsu as I think its what really sold me on the manga early on. Im not an art critic but Im not going to sugarcoat it the art at the beginning of this manga is not good. However I think that actually worked out in its favor. For one we get to see Yagis art style truly take shape from the ground up and we see his skills develop in real time. Early on its quite rough in many ways: the anatomy is off characters have no consistent proportions perspectives are weird the list goes on. Is this not a weirdlooking panel? https://files.catbox.moe/vgcthk.png In terms of characters Kuroda in particular looks very out of place in the earliest chapters almost like he belongs in another manga. Hes drawn in an entirely different more realistic style than everyone else and at the start hes the only character that doesnt wear a proper uniform. All these issues however disappear as Yagis art style develops and solidifies. Most manga generally go through art style changes as the mangaka figures out their style and gets more comfortable but I dont think Ive personally ever read a manga where the first and last chapters differ so drastically like in Angel Densetsu. You can literally see the Claymore art style take shape before your very eyes chapter by chapter which I find deeply fascinating. Characters start getting consistent looks backgrounds and perspectives start getting fixed up and the general look of the manga gets softer and a bit more elegant as time goes on. One consistent strength Yagi has even from the start is his shading as he masterfully makes use of various different shading techniques to convey the terror that Kitano inadvertently inflicts upon everyone around him. Second the entire premise of the manga the pillar that everything rests on is that Kitano has a terrifyinglooking face. The roughness of Yagis drawings early on and the slight offmodel janky look everything has really help to drive that point home early on. Kitano can look truly demonic at times and I found myself getting actually jumpscared a few times as I turned the page. Seriously look at this guy:https://files.catbox.moe/d6esbj.png Comparatively the later chapters lose some of this charm in exchange for a more refined style. As Kitano starts being drawn in a more and more normal way it becomes harder to take the demonic heroinaddict face thing the characters keep yapping about seriously. Though perhaps thats intentional on Yagis part Conclusion As Ive said previously I think the message of Angel Densetsu can be summarized as dont judge a book by its cover. Its a simple message but the manga manages to deliver on that theme perfectly. Kitano is scary at first even to readers but as the story and Yagis art evolves the characters and we the readers begin to get to know his true personality and that he really isnt as scary as he seems. https://files.catbox.moe/f5602h.png At the end of this dreamless hopeless inhospitable century there was a boy who possessed a serenely honest and simple heart and he made very many precious friends.