The Spring 2024 Manga Guide

Gokurakugai

What's It About? 

The troubleshooters of Gokurakugai are open for business! In a run-down town without law and order, Alma and Tao accept work from clientele of all creeds and cultures. They're always ready to dole out justice against human-devouring monsters that lurk in the shadows. They'll take on any case—as long as the price is right!

There's never a shortage of crime around town, and a young boy searching for his beastman friend is just another entry on a long list of missing person reports. However, Alma and Tao realize that they're the best chance at solving the case—and destroy the vicious monsters waiting around every street corner.

Gokurakugai is a manga with story and art by Yuto Sano. David Evelyn provided the English translation. This volume was retouched and lettered by Kyla Aiko. Published by Viz Media (April 16).

---

Is It Worth Reading?

Christopher Farris
Rating:

I don't necessarily have a problem with Shonen Jump-style smackdowns. Gokurakugai, to its credit, opens with some solid spreads of cityscapes and promises a cool gun-wielding older lady in glasses. This is one I could see myself settling in with. Sure, the actual story setup of our generically defined "troubleshooter" agency main characters and the nebulous demon monsters they fight is…wanting for originality. So long as the fights are cool and there's some semblance of personality to engage with, this could be worth…something.

Sadly, no, Gokurakugai doesn't have that much going on. Across the three bloated chapters of this first volume, the only thing that sticks out is that the nondescript demon-things our heroes fight are termed the "maga." This makes for a fair amount of unintentional humor in the dialogue ("No more maga means no more need for weapons"), but making your own fun that way is about as far as you'll get. There aren't enough clashes with these creatures or insight into what they are beyond being corpses reanimated for some ill-defined purpose. Other story elements, like the underground home base, come and go too quickly. Exactly what our dynamic demon-hunting duo's formative relationship is, how they properly interface with tracking and hunting maga as a job, and why virtually all the civilians in town are unaware of the danger—these are all elements glossed over at the altar of cool to potentially be expanded upon later.

That leaves that artistically articulated action as basically this book's sole hook; to its credit, it's almost enough. Once Tao and Alma stop skulking around standard sob stories and get to work, Yuto Sano's sorely missed art springs to life with dynamism. They really can draw the crap out of physical and firearm combat. And the fighting synergy between the two leads sells their chemistry more than the complete lack of detailed backstory or elaborated connections. That might make killing an hour or so with this book worth it. But it's a near thing, and the dud of a cliffhanger it ends on hardly makes it tempting to see where it goes.

---

Lauren Orsini
Rating:

Gokurakugai is as recommendable as its name is untranslatable. The title refers to the neighborhood where the story takes place: a vibrant Chinatown setting where I can see the red of the fluttering paper lanterns and smell the scent of gyoza wafting from the restaurants. Even more eye-catching are the character designs. Alma is a mouthy redhead who makes up in sincerity what he lacks in smarts. Tao plays the big sister role to Alma's little brother energy with artfully drawn lower lashes and a cool, calm attitude.

Alma and Tao sit around all day at their agency, waiting for people who might need the services of "professional troubleshooters." This is, of course, a cover for something much cooler. They specialize in supernatural combat against this world's version of malevolent spirits called Magas (not MAGA). It will never stop being funny whenever a character curses the existence of Magas. In the first volume, Alma and Tao pick up a couple of odd jobs that each turn into a much more sinister encounter with Magas. Tao is a sharpshooter, while Alma has a secret that allows him to use blood weapons similar to Chainsaw Man's Power.

It isn't just the main duo that's captivating. I also love Gokurakugai's ensemble cast for its endearing (if expectedly generic) ensemble cast. There's bubbly Yaya, who works at the noodle shop; puppyish inventor Yoki (an anthropomorphic dog person) and his curt assistant Dara; and the not-so-smooth ladies man, the informant Tatsuomi. These are all familiar character archetypes, but they're brought to life through vivid character designs. Even the customers who stick around for just a chapter are memorable. The population of this bustling neighborhood is just as colorful as the town itself.

Gokurakugai is available to read now on the Jump+ app. This volume's immersive setting, charming original character design, and edge-of-your-seat battles only scratch the surface of what Gokurakugai will eventually become. As the plot progressed and delved deeper into Alma and Tao's fascinating character profiles, I went from "Oh, this is cool" to "I am fully emotionally committed to my new son and daughter." Even though I think Gokurakugai has "the juice," as the kids say, you don't have to read it; you can wait until it gets adapted into an anime. Because I am that confident it will be adapted into an anime.

---

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

It's hard for anyone aware of current American politics not to get at least a little giggle out of the fact that the monsters in this book are known as “maga.” How funny you find that depends on what end of the political spectrum you're on, but I think we can all rest assured that Yuto Sano didn't mean anything political by it; it's almost certainly a portmanteau of some sort in Japanese. But still, it's one of the most noticeable elements of the volume.

But how about that story? To be perfectly honest, it's not anything you haven't seen before in the realm of shounen manga. You've got a team of human and kind-of-human troubleshooters who work on supernatural problems and monsters that look like a combination of Hollows and any other creepy white toothy monster you care to name. The maga are born out of the unresolved issues of the dead, and by “issues” I mean “evil thoughts.” For the most part, anyway. At the end of the volume we learn that there's very likely someone manipulating everything from behind the scenes, but to find out who he is and what his deal is, you'll have to wait for volume two. It's not a bad hook, all things considered.

So why is this good, despite its surface-level lack of creativity? Mostly it comes down to how the story is played out. Each chapter is double-length, which allows the story to unfold at a measured pace. There's plenty of action in each one, and all of it slowly builds into a singular, more cohesive narrative, but it's not in a hurry to get there. It trusts its readers to have the patience to get to the point, or at least to be entertained by the fight scenes while we get there. It also has Tao, who is the sort of badass lady who can make or break a story. While she's relatively cookie cutter in her presentation – smokes a lot, and talks down to people – she's also clearly got a warm human heart underneath her crust of incivility. In the second chapter, there's an understated moment where she tells someone that half-maga Alma is unquestionably human, defending him before any assumptions can be made based on his heritage. She believes in him and there's some implication that she's taken him in because no one else was willing to look beyond it. That says a lot about Tao, even if you don't find her badassery hot.

Gokurakugai is one of those stories that feels greater than the sum of its parts. It wears its influences on its sleeve, but that doesn't make it less entertaining to read. It also feels like one of those manga where an anime adaptation is an inevitability, so get in on the ground floor if you like shounen/seinen action. I don't think you'll be disappointed.