Jigokuren: Love in the Hell
Love in Hell

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I can make this short, without spoilers, read chapter 1.
Did you like it or find it interesting? Congrats, every chapter feels like it.
Did you not like it? The feel doesn't change at all so its not likely you will like it with more chapters.

Really read the discription, its really all there is to this manga.

On a side note, the story feels like its over FAR too soon, but it also feels like there couldn't have been more written at least in the context of the stories original premise.

A 27 year old man gets drunk and accidentally dies (alcohol is bad, kiddies) and then he goes to hell. He gets a cute and inexperienced demon named Koyori as his guide. She is here to punish him for his sins and he may only leave hell when he has endured enough punishment to properly repent. I love stories with devils as good guys and anything with sadistic women, so I had high expectations for this manga. It did not entirely deliver, but it also was not bad by any stretch of the imagination.

This manga is pretty sweet and rather funny. I read it ... because of an Oretama recommendation, and I really liked Oretama, but this manga was not nearly as ecchi or off-kilter, and the similarities were mostly superficial. The romance here was also a much smaller focus than in Oretama, with the main characters' interactions being a lot less interesting. Most of the humor in this manga is slapstick as opposed to ecchi, but slapstick comedy about people being skinned can still be pretty hilarious, if repetitive. It was an okay comedy. The main character could not catch a break at all, and it was pretty humorous to see him struggle and suffer, even if we are kind of rooting for him. Seeing as this manga had very simplistic art, plot, and everything else, humor was its only real strength and there certainly wasn't any depth to it. The characters were generally cliché and it didn't offer too much originality overall. I will say that the unveiling of a certain trap was one of the only times I've been surprised by that plot device and it was done hilariously. The sadistic demons also made for some very funny situations. The idea would have had a lot of potential as a comedy, psychological, or ecchi manga, but it didn't always play to its strengths properly and the execution was a bit disappointing.

My problems with this manga lie with my disappointment in several aspects of it. Only a couple of the characters were entertaining, none of those being the main character, and the development between them was forced. This is supposed to be a romance, but the love happens very quickly and inexplicably and we never see anything come of it. This manga had a good idea, but it would have been better off staying away from romance territory entirely and just sticking to laughs. Otherwise it could have developed the romance earlier and used it to add to the comedy, working it into the manga far more effectively. I feel as if I could have really liked the relationship between the main characters if it was better led up to, and if I saw more of it

One of the things that kept me reading was the mystery of why the main character was sent to hell in the first place, but the revelation was disappointing and felt very out of place for the series. I was expecting something moderately funny or more creative. It really killed the mood that the manga had going and then it kind of glossed over it. Perhaps I'm nitpicking, but in such a short manga even a small thing can be significant, and I simply did not like that plot development at all.

Overall, I'd probably recommend this manga to the average person, although it is admittedly just mediocre. It was not really anything special, but it was a short read, and I did rather enjoy it. I always looked forward to the release of the next chapter and I am a bit disappointed to see it end. I was ultimately a bit underwhelmed, and there was a lot of wasted potential, but I never actually disliked any of it, which is still more than I could say for the majority of manga that I have read or reviewed. The enjoyment factor bumps the otherwise mediocre score of a 5 up to a relatively generous 6.

The story is quite odd.

PROS:

1. The author did worldbuilding quite well. They showed how different plants work and what different jobs and roles of characters do in their lives, and how the "hell" in the story functions like a society.

2. Some of the designs of stuff are quite creepy too. There are odd, slimy stuff like something from a monster's stomach or whatever.

CONS:

... 1. If you don't like creepypasta stuff, this story might be revolting for you. It has a lot of freakish stuff and fanservice, so keep away if you don't like it.

2. There are not really much character development, resulting in the characters not being that memorable. It's also not worth the re-read because it's just a "one and done" story, with no deeper storyline for anyone to figure out.

OVERALL:

I left it somewhere for BookCrossing. Feel free to read it.