I invested heavily into AS, going as far as to buy the whole series, OVA, and art books.
To me, it was a worthy purchase.

Even though the characters were all similar in terms of art, it was still a compelling, deep, and disturbing manga that leaves one excited, upset, utterly confused, and heartbroken.

I give this mangaka a lot of credit for touching on so many uncomfortable subjects, and as long as you don't take this for more than what it is -a manga- you won't feel 'damaged' afterward. (And this comes from a Christian. lol.)

But I would be remiss if I didn't say that many of the complaints people have are true:

If you're bothered by incest -you won't like this.

If a story with 1001 characters bugs you -you won't like this.

If you're religious (and of the Christian faith) and don't have the capacity to separate fact from fiction and view this as a form of entertainment and nothing more -you won't like this.

If you're super picky about art and can't get into androgynous-looking characters -you won't like this.

If a zillion sub-plots irk you -you won't like this.

And this isn't the sort of manga where one can recommend that you read the first few chapters to see if you can get into it; the story becomes too complex and too far away from where it started for that. This is more of a story that you need to just decide that you're going commit to and see where it takes you.

... disturbing, heart-breaking, gruesome and I stopped counting the number of taboos it broke about halfway through.

Though at its heart its a tragic romance where I couldn't guess its ending.

Other posters have listed many of its flaws and I agree with some of them. However, I'll just list what worked for me;

(1) The intricate plot that kept me hooked and I was never sure how it was going to turn out
(2) The tragic romance(s) of many of the characters
(3) The amazing art
(4) It really earned my respect so if you can get past your own prejudices you'll end up rooting for the main players in this manga.
(5) I've not read any other manga like it.

... Last updated on October 19th, 2010, 12:54pm

One thing that makes this manga standout is the beautiful art and character designs. That alone helped me to slog through the first 3-4 volumes until the story picked up. After that, I thought both the art and story make this well worth reading. The wealth of characters can make this story a bit confusing at first but they often have distinctive personalities and characteristics so that after a bit, you'll soon sort them out. This wasn't one of my favorites nor one I'd highly recommend but it was entertaining and very enjoyable to look at...

... Last updated on December 3rd, 2006, 10:36am

Well, I read Angel Sanctuary for the first time 13 years ago and the characters took up permanent residence in my mind afterwards. I think about this story all the time and I don't know how many times I've re-read it. Setsuna and Sara touched my heart with their tragic love. Kurai, Archane, Kira, Rosiel, Katan... so many wonderful characters. It's a complete experience. I don't think the story is too edgy. Yes, you see the dark emotions, you see the hatred, the total despair, the jealousy, the questioning of why are things like this. Then you also get to see the hope, the passion, the faith, the love, and the beauty of the world. That's how life is. The characters shine so brightly to me. I love it.

... Last updated on January 24th, 2024, 7:54am

If you can get past the whole brother/sister incest angle which does monopolize the first story arc, this does become a lot less important as things progress. Sure its still there, but it is very insignificant at times considering everything else that is going on.

There are a ton of characters in this one. Some of the Heaven characters are not so nice, and some of the Hell characters are decent folks. There's also plenty of good folks in Heaven and outright evil in Hell, so it's not like this manga makes a blanket statement that evil is good and good is evil. If anything, we're talking about a whole lot of shades of gray of varying degrees.

People who don't like Setsuna, probably should give up on reading this. I'm not saying that to be mean. Angel Sanctuary has 108 chapters that are spread out over 20 volumes. While the story doesn't follow him around to the point that nobody else gets character development if he's not around to see it, he does remain the main character at all times. The manga will continue to revert its focus back to him perodically even if it seems it has forgotten about him for a while.

I do highly recommend reading this one non-stop. I am not suggesting that you do so in one sitting so much as just concentrate on reading only this manga until you've finished it. One of the issues that other commenters have mentioned of the plot getting confusing at times and difficulties in sorting out who is who is a lot less likely to occur if you're not setting it down for long periods of time. [All the volumes have been published here in the US, making this very possible to do now.]

... Last updated on June 12th, 2011, 6:55pm

Warning to younger readers of manga, this may not be for you.

Themes of incest run rampant in the series and with how angels and devils are portrayed, it's very controversal to say the least. I actually didn't really understand it. Everyone looks alike, expect for the main dude with short hair because he's in every scene.

It's very interesting to see that the good guys may not actually be "good guys" and the bad guys may not actually BE that "bad guys." It all depends on how you view them. This manga is very dark but it's illustrations is just superb. It suits the dark and serious tone very well. The illustrations remind me of a gothic tower.

This manga was fantastic! It broke many taboos and was really disturbing, as I expected of Kaori Yuki sensei. I enjoyed it from the beginnig... charmy characters + twisted story+ beautiful draw+ A LOT of drama= Master Piece

P.D: Rosiel ROCKS!!! Love him from the bottom of my heart

It's one of those rare mangas that I'll never possibly grow out of. I loved it when I was a kid and I still love it now when I'm an adult. I'm aware of the weak points of the story - honestly, it's not that great. But I've loved it for over a decade and I doubt I'll ever stop.

I really liked the beginning and I thought this had great potential. I picked this because I heard it was similar to a favorite manga of mine called Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru. And it was, the beginning at least.

At first it started simple, without any confusion. I can tell that until volume 5, it was an 8/10 for me. I was excited to continue, but as the story proceeded, I lost interest and it became super confusing. I couldn't even take some things seriously... The manga has shounen-ai tones, rape and incest. Still, I didn't mind, but I felt bored of the story later. It was all about SetsunaxSara love and it was getting ridiculous at times. I was expecting something more intriguing. I know it is a romance title, but I didn't like the certain relationship. Also, I detected a few plot holes that were never explained.

I didn't like any of the characters. Setsuna was a mediocre character, being all obsessed with Sara and Sara was just... Super annoying. As for the others, many of them are not memorized that well, especially on the beginning. The author keeps introducing new characters without being able to remember the past ones.

Many male characters look like girls and I never liked Yuki Kaori's artwork, personally. She makes all of her characters so similar.

Too bad, it disappointed me. Also, if you are a Christian, you will be very offended by the content, because it introduce Angels as the bad guys.

After quite a long reading with 2-3 breaks I finally managed to complete this series. First of all I'll point out that I'm not a shoujo reader. This is only a second shoujo series that I read (first one being Haou Airen which I hated) and I guess I somewhat liked it.

Well, to start with, the first thing that catches your eye when you start reading is of course the art. I really appreciate that this manga didn't had a typical shoujo artwork for that would surely be a huge let down. Art is beautiful, detailed and rich and it appeals to you in away.

First, to make a remark that I really liked this story epic factor. It really kept me going from a volume to a volume. I didn't like very much that whole romantic aspect and it felt a little boring after a while but that's my personal taste. If you read plot description for this one you will notice that whole setting and war between heaven and hell, good and evil would also fit for some shounen title, just add more fighting scenes and you're close. But the focus of the story is on main character Setsuna and the love he has for his sister. So if you problem with incest in this title stay away from it. The rest of you will surely notice another aspect of the story upon reading. I am talking about the plot gets very complicated with time. This manga is surely the most confusing title I have read so far, so this is the second obstacle for someone trying to finish it. I can see a lot of people reading this and wondering what the hell is going on. But still you should have no major trouble to hold on to this series until the very end.

Oh, the ending. I'll just say that if you're reading this manga and think "Oh this is so confusing", wait till you reach the end. When the story starts to unravel, half the time you'll be asking yourself what the hell is going on. By this time you will probalbly hold on till the very end as you will have only like 2 volumes left.

Now, another point that I would like to make is that the author of this manga obviously lost herself couple of times while making this. If you read carefully you will notice slight dyssynchrony of the beginning and the later volumes. Couple of changes made to the story later on, caused for this series to have plot holes, inconsistencies and some rather illogical developments. For me, this is quite bothersome, but most of you probably wouldn't even notice these things.

The character in this manga are many, and what's especially confusing is that bunch of minor one's often make a comeback after a shit load of volumes. As for the major characters I found a great deal of them unintresting and boring. I could only connect with a few of them like Setsuna, Kira, Rociel, Sevotharte and Zaphikel.

To cut this short, the rating I give to this one is based solely on my personal tastes. Shoujo fan will probably give this a higher rating. Still I found this manga entertaining enough to carry on with the reading till the end and I do not regret this. So be sure to give this one a go in the near future, presuming you already haven't.