This manga is based off of Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor, the Nintendo DS game published by Atlus. Being a fan of the game, I was curious to see how the manga would turn out and how the storyline would develop. Let’s take a look.
Devil Survivor 1 (Kodansha Comics)
And of course, the teenagers are like, “screw this message, it doesn’t mean anything” and it takes someone’s death in order for them to get their act together. The plot is a bit jumbled from that point–all we know is that demons are fighting demons and Kazuya and his friends’ lives are constantly in danger. In order to survive, they have to harness the power of their “comp” demon.
The demon abilities are pretty entertaining to see on the page. I can tell that Matsuba is trying really hard to stay true to the game, because there’s key information on how they fight, what they are, and how these characters are going to learn their new abilities. I think it’ll be something that the fans will enjoy and if they haven’t played the game, then they’ll want to after they start reading. There isn’t much to the first volume aside from all the shonen-type fights, because this is just a simple introduction to this new world.
The gore is very light and there aren’t any notable themes, leaving me to believe this is for a younger audience. I thought it was entertaining to say the least, and I’m curious to how it’ll turn out considering that the game evolves through the choices you make. Clearly, we can’t make any choices here, so I’m wondering what direction Matsuba is gonna take on this one.
Conclusion
I think it’s too soon to tell if this is going to be one of those series that you can read over and over, but it’s a good start. The dialogue is solid and the characters, though typical, aren’t all that bad. The demons could be a little more original, but I liked how it sticks very close to the game. I would say go for it, especially if you’re already a fan.
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