Angel Sanctuary

Basic Information

Japanese Title: Tenshi Kinryouku
Art and Story by: Kaori Yuki
Genre: Shoujou. Contains aspects of action/adventure, horror and fantasy
Licensed in the US by: Viz Media
Rated: 16+ older teens
Approx. price in US per volume: $9.99
No. of volumes published by Viz: 15/20

Any Warnings?: Gore, incest, mild shoujo/shounen-ai, mild cussing

Storyline in a Nutshell...

Angel Sanctuary is set in Tokyo 1996 and is focused around a boy called Setsuna. Setsuna is your average teenage boy. He's hotheaded at times, rebellious and has an unhealthy, incestuous crush on his younger sister. However, just when he thinks it can't get any more difficult in his life, two strange people (claiming to be demons) appear. They claim that he is the reincarnation of an organic angel called Alexiel, whose body (after the first great war between Heaven and Hell) was sealed in a crystal and her soul banished to Earth to live many lives, dying tragically in each one. All of a sudden, Setsuna becomes the 'Messiah' and is forced to save the planet from total destruction and prevent a second war between Heaven and Hell.

Beatrix's Opinion

Angel Sanctuary has to be my favourite manga series. I had always admired the artwork, but never looked into the series until a few months later. It was just as good as everybody had said. At first, Angel Sanctuary can be confusing because it is very deep and there is a lot going on all at once. However, the plot is very interesting and characters have a lot of depth to them, making them extremely likeable. As you read on, you get used to the many things going on at once and it becomes less confusing. I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who is a fan of beautiful artwork and fantasy. My overall rating of the series is 9/10.

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