I read this so long ago that I can't remember much about it -- close to when it first appeared, I think. I saw the artwork first, and bought the artwork book just for the images, because -- as my first exposure to manga -- I found the art so beautiful and intriguing. So it's on my reread list to get back into the story! ( )

My first series by Kaori Yuki was The Cain Saga. I fell in love with her work and had to get everything that was translated into English.

I almost couldn't find this series and thought I would never complete it, but luck was on my side. . .

From the first page, I couldn't put this down. I love Kaori's artwork and her storytelling techniques, and yes - I found the incest weird at first - but the longer I read to build the pieces revolving around this, the more intriguing it got.

This series is not for everyone.

Alexiel loved God, but she was rebellious against Heaven, and as punishment, she was sent to Earth to live numerous tragic lives. This time she reincarnated as a teen: Setsuna Mudo, who is in love with his sister Sara.

Setsuna is a hardhead and keeps fighting anyone when he can. He tries to be noble in his attempts to no avail. Now Angels have come so Alexiel can wake up. Because an enemy has launched an insidious computer game Angel Sanctuary.

I still love this series and will be rereading it and reviewing each volume :)
( )

In one of the tie-ins after a chapter, Kouga wrote: "(...) the story that interested me most is the existence of the “fallen angel.” (…) Lucifer - - who was once most beloved by God, and who was the most beautiful angel of all - - is very appealing to me." (p. 27). One of the best things in this manga is that she was able to create several angels as interesting, even if the one who sets the plot in motion - Alexiel - is Lucifer 2.0 (not to worry, Lucifer is still present and plenty interesting).

Alexiel was disgusted by fellow angels brutally slaughtering demons who had carved out an existense for themselves separate from both heaven and earth. This lead her to declare war against heaven. Eventually, a fight against her twin brother rendered her weak enough to be captured by heaven. Her body was locked away and her soul punished to be reincarnated in miserable existence after miserable existence,

Setsuna Mudo is her current reincarnation. A high schooler in love with his sister, Sara. Yeah, to read this, one just have to accept the incest love story. However, as Sara's backstory comes into play, one can explain it away somewhat.

An interesting take on hell is Setsuna and Sara's talk about their actions condemning themselves and each other to hell without knowing that them living this life with these problems is actually their hell.

To start off, two parties are out to reawaken Alexiel and in the process kill Setsuna: Her crazy twin brother, Rosiel, who simultaniousely longs for Alexiel's love and wants to kill her for revenge. And awesome lesbian crosdressing demon Kurai who was once saved by Alexiel and has been searching for her since. She's accompanied by her gay crossdressing cousin Arachne who, if I remember correct, has an interesting character arch of his own later.

So: Complicated politics of heaven and hell crossed with high school romance, varying between the serious and the silly, plenty of interesting queer side characters, And, as noted by other reviewers, beautiful drawings. It's been years, but I've missed these characters.

its batshit. the story is not good. the writing is goofy as hell. the art can get awkward at times. but its so so so so fun ( )

I never know whether to write my review for a whole series for the first or the last volume. I guess the first volume makes more sense, though, and I will do my best to avoid spoilers here. Just thinking about summarizing the plot makes my head ache, anyway.

So first, let's get the most obvious thing out of the way: the art of this manga is GORGEOUS. To die for. Really, really stunning - the art alone'd deserve at least six stars. Or more. (It's also fascinating to see how this classic series has influences others - I think I recognized Kira as a model for a lot of Minamoto Kano's characters, for example.)

Then there's the plot. It's... interesting, if a bit much and convoluted. I shudder to think that this actually was the first manga I attempted to read. No wonder I got confused. I suppose it all makes sense in the end, and it's definitely interesting and thought provoking. The pacing, however, isn't perfect, but this also ties in with what I think is the series' biggest weakness:

The characters. There are way too many of them, and this leads to some of them not appearing for volume after volume after volume... this may be a matter of preference, but I'd rather have a limited cast of characters I can really get to know rather than a gigantic cast where I only get glimpses of each character's story (and all my favourites end up dying anyway). Of course, that makes for good fanfiction fodder, but not for a particularly satisfying read for this reader. Add to this the fact that I couldn't bring myself to care for Setsuna, let alone Setsuna & Sara.. but that definitely is a question of preference. Just, I never really *felt* for them. And speaking as a person who tends to really fall for characters (*cough* HakkaifromSaiyuki*cough*) - it's just always disappointing when it doesn't happen, especially with such a long series.

The four stars I decided on are well-deserved, however. I admit I mostly read this because a colleague gifted me most of these volumes, and a gift like that deserved to be read. And I am glad I read it (if alone for the artwork, really), but I would hesitate to call it an absolute must-read ( )