Introduction Sekai Oni is a horror series by Uru Okabehttps://anilist.co/staff/118860/UruOkabe except maybe more than horror it would be better to call it an action series that also wants to be horror? I mean dont get me wrong here. There is a whole bunch of crazy stupid horror nonsense in this thing. 440https://i.ur.com/6KQPNpE.png But at the end of the day I would argue this is way more of an action series. Given that at the center of it all its essentially just I dont really care much about the actual plot of the series. I mean not that theres much to it. 440https://i.ur.com/4LfPWRU.png Theres a bunch of characters with this weird illness where they see weird shit in mirrors then weird monsters called World Devils show up and the Cheshire Devil pulls these characters and the World Devils into a weird mirror dimension to do battle. The real fun of this manga in my opinion is our team of characters that are picked to do battle against these otherworldly World Devils. As pretty much the majority of them are psychologically fucked. 440https://i.ur.com/70iZ6Sa.png The way these characters cooperate with each other or dont to battle the World Devils is where a lot of the fun of this series lies. The rest is in the absolute batshit craziness that permeates throughout the entire series. Ill begin with the core of Sekai Onis insanity. Shinonome Azuma 440https://i.ur.com/cSoNzit.png Our main character is without a doubt one of the most fucked up and craziest characters of the manga. And she is the primary reason why I ended up really enjoying this series. Not to draw comparisons but she gave me exactly what I wanted from a certain other horror serieshttps://anilist.co/anime/100010/MAGICALGIRLSITE/ about a young girl with a horribly awful TO A COMEDIC EXTENT life. Azuma has: young cousin that bullies and physically abuses her older cousin who physically abuses her and kills her pet bird which was the only source of happiness she had in this household uncle who sexually assaults/rapes her on an implied day to day basis her uncles wife who abuses her because she hates her because she knows about what her husband is up to and blames Azuma for ruining their family. 440https://i.ur.com/1a1si17.png She got stuck in this family because... I dont think its made clear early on what the exact situation is with Azumas mom but as it turns out her mom just... doesnt have a house for her to live in??? ??? Regardless because of this Azuma gets abused and tormented by this family pretty much every single day of her life. So when monsters start appearing in the world and shes whisked off to go do battle with them... she really couldnt give less of a shit. 440https://i.ur.com/1pKdvJH.png Literally her words not mine. Until she learns that the horror lying in killing these World Devils means that one of the people closest to whoever kills the World Devil... will die. 440https://i.ur.com/0PJZjHH.png And then fucking suddenly Azuma summons gigantic axes and murders the fuck out of a World Devil in one page. I dont give a flying fuck about saving the world but bringing about the deaths of my tormentors? DEAL. 440https://i.ur.com/41BQ8Ns.png The immediate chapter following Azuma killing her first World Devil is her relatives accepting the death of a member of their family. And you have a page where its just the three surviving members tears literally raining down from the panels and onto Azuma. 440https://i.ur.com/OcFV7BY.png And then right after as Azuma leaves the house alone we finally see her display positive emotion of any sort probably the first time outside of when shes alone with her bird dead or alive. 440https://i.ur.com/5tsUY7N.png Complete elation. Our protagonists only goal beyond meeting her mother is bringing about the deaths of the remaining three members of the family. She doesnt whine she doesnt repent she becomes a 100 insane determined whirlwind of violence and axes and its great. 440https://i.ur.com/VzD5lhQ.png ...If it wasnt already clear Azuma is my favorite character of this series and is probably the primary component of why I initially kept reading. Because while the battles are over the top and have crazy gore again I just didnt really care about the origins of these monsters or etc. But then the dark truth about these battles and Reserve Tanks came out and all of the characters immediately wanted to bail from the series itself and here comes Azuma... the one with a mission. Killing her abusive and terrible foster family. 440https://i.ur.com/p7yxdoV.png Over the Top Pretty much the rest of the series is completely over the top and crazy too Azuma is just personally my favorite. https://i.ur.com/FoYdz0j.png Rather than a sensible and interesting plot its really just battle after battle but scattered throughout it all is all the crazy over the top horror shit and gore Uru Okabe has to offer. In one instance one of the more psychologically damaged members of the group who is completely obsessed with sex actually follows Azumas lead and actually taps into the power of Materialization. Thats the name for harnessing your most powerful emotions and using them as power in Wonderland. Or something like that anyways. And her reason for it... is quite similar to Azumas. She has a reserve tank she wants to get rid of. Namely an unborn fetus... 440https://i.ur.com/ZG5OVh9.png ...and when two other members of the group tries to stop her from accomplishing her goal she rips ones penis off with her bare hands rips out anothers eyeballs and then proceeds to... to complete the shape. 440https://i.ur.com/HvP1hSh.png But then Then Azuma hatches from her egg form and steps forth reborn as the Grim Reaper herself 440https://i.ur.com/OC3vpTd.png Haha take that Youre nothing without your gigantic earthquake causing magical vibralook do I even need to go on here??? 440https://i.ur.com/nLZQwzC.png ...Theres a whole bunch of more crazy shit I could bring up always appreciate when something has someone use a full corpse as a weapon but Ill end by noting that the King is the second best character right after Azuma. 440https://i.ur.com/TUaEMRK.png 440https://i.ur.com/batibfO.png Bad Writing Bad Pacing If my personal enjoyment of this series wasnt so high I probably could have a field day with this section. But Ive said it once and Ill say it again I didnt read this for the plot... 440https://i.ur.com/03vltHI.png That being said there are still a few major things that really bother me. Like the Alices power comes from their negative emotions. Thats why Azumas power level is so stupid. Her life has been complete shit and shes driven on solely by the desire to kill her relatives. But yet all of a sudden way late into the manga its revealed that the bald prisoner character who was in the army and a drug addict reveals that he does not possess a darkness like the rest of the Alices do. His power... is LIGHT 440https://i.ur.com/hL4OcuE.png In a normal and saner series this character would proceed to probably be the most powerful because his power isnt from the fucked up shit he saw in the war or his desire to do drugs but because he genuinely wants to fight and protect his comrades. Instead he... turns himself into a suicide missile and takes out the World Devil before the Kings arrival. 440https://i.ur.com/ykY1N2K.png And dies. Which like in itself would maybe be fine if like Azuma then proceeded to like follow his example and instead try to harness her own version of the light but that shit just gets dropped entirely. Why even introduce that as a thing if its not actually... like it really seemed like that should have been made a bigger deal than it was I mean I guess they did bring him back But still thats not exactly how I pictured they would end up using the Light. ... ...Actually Im an idiot. Ive been rereading it while simultaneously writing this review and Azuma totally has her own version of the Light. 440https://i.ur.com/ek9jhM4.png Okay. Now I remember it all. My issue was with the absolute shit ending. ... Conclusion 440https://i.ur.com/MBHuJcm.png The ending specifically the epilogue is garbage and almost ruins the whole series but what can I say? I still love it. Its just so unabashedly over the top that I love it. Some parts kind of feel as if theyre dragging on a bit too long but then something else crazy or ridiculous happens. And you know while I do still stand by what I said at the start of this review about this feeling way more like an action series I think it being tagged as horror still actually fits which should say something. As Ive said various times in other horror reviews that these series should not be considered as such because theyre just awful or have nothing resembling horror. With this I have various characters just descending into darkness and a young girl carrying around a dead bird everywhere she goes working tirelessly to bring about the deaths of her family members. Sekai Oni is a 9 out of 10. I dont give a shit Get it? Because... because all of the characters dont give a shit? Its a recurring thing in the... in the thing? No? ...WHATEVER NOW I DONT GIVE A SHIT FOR REAL. https://i.ur.com/yeAXMgV.png
90 /100
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