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 ( )

Sadly, I couldn't get into this piece at all. The story line was complex but utterly shallow and the characters didn't show any great depth. I also hated the art style. But that's just me. ( )

Killer computer games, reincarnation, fallen angels, demons, weird romance -- this book has it all! Seriously, I don't think that it can get any cooler. Sometimes, when a bunch of really cool elements are thrown together in one book it can be disastrous, but Yuki pulls it off and has created an incredibly exciting, suspenseful series. Plus, the artwork is beautiful. I don't think I've ever read a manga with such gorgeous drawings.

As for the characters, I fell in love with Setsuna immediately, and I adore all the others. It's a very complex story with a deep historical background that I'm sure will be revealed little by little throughout the series. There are some funny moments to alleviate some of the tension (this is a very dark series). These moments aren't laugh-out-loud funny, but they definitely put a smile on my face.

The only thing I had trouble with was remembering who was who, and what gender they were -- Yuki seems to love the theme of too-pretty males.

I would recommend this for fans of dark fantasy and fallen angels. Be prepared for some serious weirdness, though! ( )

Angel Sanctuary is a series I wanted very much to love. The art is breathtaking: gothic and detailed.

Kaori Yuki has a way, both artistically and narratively, of inverting our expectations. She makes the beautiful grotesque and the saintly evil. But the story is too complex, has too many layers. At every volume, I felt as though I had to reread all the rest or be hopelessly lost.

I can't capture the plots in one paragraph but let me try. Setsuna is in love with his sister (a little incest is a requirement of all Yuki's work). Their mother, oddly objects. They run off but after a brief happiness, Sara is killed. In his grief, Setsuna destroys the world. Kind of. Because it turns out that Setsuna is the reincarnation of an angel. After that it gets complicated. There are trips to hell, heavenly rebellions, hopeless romances, insane creatures of every allegiance.... The series questions the authority of god and heavenly order. Each character (and there were countless characters) is more twisted and complex than the last. Most fascinated me, none more than Kira, Setsuna's mysterious friend.

Like I said, by all rights I should have loved this series. I love the macabre and I think developed characters make a story. And I did enjoy it but if it had been 3 manga, it might have worked better. Yuki has done much better. ( )

Like Jenson_AKA_DL, I also found it a bit difficult trying to keep track of who was whom. Because the angels don't have definite male/female attributes, they are sometimes hard to keep track of. Hopefully I'll be able to keep track of them soon!

Storyline is all right. I like the author's blurb about what if Lucifer's name was really Lucifel, since angel names end in -el? Lucifel is a beautiful name for the being who was the most beautiful angel.

I like Yuki's art style... except for her faces in profile. They seem smooshed somehow, and the ears don't look right from the side. Perhaps it's just an issue with this series, because I've also read some of the Cain series and the artwork is much better in those stories. ( )

Although the idea of this manga sounded interesting in premise, dealing with corrupt angels, desperate demons and human pawns unfortunately I found both the story and the illustrations completely over the top confusing. I got the basics but trying to keep track of which angel was which and who was the reincarnated spirit of what was completely mind boggling. This one was certainly on the older teen side with a great deal of violence and obsession being main plot points. Unfortunately not one of my favorite manga so far. ( )