The story is set on a remote island... in an isolated rural community... where they practice a creepy local strand of Buddhism... the dark and oppressive art style screams "horror"... so I expected this to be a horror story. It's not. Despite being published in a Seinen magazine this reads more like a Shounen action story.

You won't believe how this outbreak of demonic murders gets solved. Four local kids in the town get possessed by the four gods of the island (representing North, East, South, West) and are tasked with defeating the demons. How do they do that? By beating them up real good. The main characters all get Shounen-style transformations and powers that make them look like wannabe Bleach characters.

The end result was not very appealing to me. The only giveaway it was published in a Seinen magazine is the fact people can die. However, the only characters who do die are background characters who are only on the page for 0.2 seconds before getting killed. It never feels like there's a serious chance of the main characters getting killed so the presence of death doesn't raise the stakes. As an action story, the powers weren't very interesting and definitely lacked any kind of "cool" factor. The action scenes themselves were not interesting because there was no strategy or logic to the fights. The main characters just use the power of friendship to hit the monsters really hard and that's that. As a horror story... it's not a horror story. The only thing horror-themed is the art style. It's a Shounen story in a Halloween mask.

This manga is one of the most solid one I have come across. There are very few flaws in the storyline and everything got wrapped perfectly in a seemingly rush ending. Although the final boss seems pretty weak, it's due to the ability of Iori (turtle girl) that is made to perfectly counter his OP lights.

After re-reading it, I found that it is implied that the Gods are pretty bad creatures rather than the ones that "saved" the world. Ezo sensei remembered he was "manipulated" into releasing the Dragon God, and the culprit is none but the God itself. So, it is reasonable that the Gods are killed in the end, as without their deeds the so-called bad guys wouldn't have been realeased again in the first place

This is good manga, not great but just good enough, I thing what make this stand out is the lack of cringe moment that we usually find in good manga, so I think this make it great manga. What make this manga good is focus, there's so little filler chapter all chapter is there for the sake of the ending, the character while good is not really special, I do like that there's no character that I want to punch, and I like the ending.



Otogi Matsuri may not have thing that make them great manga, but it still worth reading, the story is concise, the character is good.

This is a really good manga right up until the last chapter. Even then I highly recommend it. To be honest it was probably one of the best structured manga I've read in a long time. It didn't drag. The story wasn't elongated for no reason and it actually got better as it progressed.

The characters are really good. Especially, Yousuke, Ezou, and Irori. They're fleshed out, interesting, and I actually felt like rooting for them. The story is meh, but because it's so concise it doesn't really bring it down that much. And then the ending happened



The ending was weak at best and ruining at worst. It felt like the mangaka was just being childish and changed his mind at the last second.

... Last updated on April 28th, 2015, 12:00am

now, i understand some people are angry because of the deus ex machina, but i think its quite a funny ending imho. because humans really are better off by themselves without gods.

As other comments have said it certainly feels like a throwback to "classic" shonen stuff, but it lacks a certain something to push it beyond mediocre. While the world and the characters are interesting enough, and fitting for this type of story, the pacing is absolutely atrocious. The plot lurches from scene to scene with little rhyme or reason, often leaving one chapter feeling entirely disjointed from the next. This isnt helped by the drop in quality of the translation in the last three volumes, it desperately needs a second pass by a native english speaker.

Still despite its flaws its a relatively solid action piece, worth a read if youre a fan of such things

Dear authors, you do not get to make a story with such a setup, only for it to have this kind of resolution. It's ridiculous. So disappointing.



... Last updated on January 14th, 2015, 1:59pm

.. to the classic action shounen with its typical Japanese folklore cliches. sounds boring, and at times you might agree, but the execution of the plot, characters, and story fluidity is done adequately.

i don't really agree with the seinen tag too much since i think this story is caught in between shounen and seinen. reasons are that the good and evil is painted pretty black and white, the characters act mature and reasonable in their situations, there's a very large age range with the main character cast, the story takes into account of the 'grownups'/government (minus family members for whatever reason..), pretty straight forward storyline, and there is a good bit of graphical death/murder involved. wouldn't recommend to kids though since the violence does get a bit too graphic at the end.

i don't really recommend this story though if you have no interest in demons, ghosts, yōkai, obake, yūrei or whatever mystical creatures that come from Japanese folklore. the characters and other story elements don't really pull you in otherwise. although the artwork for those monsters are pretty interesting at times.

Edit: imo, the ending felt thought out and timely which is sometimes hard to find in manga. also an ending that throws in commentary on human behavior that is brewing discussion throughout these reviews is a job well done imo. also the romantic subplot tag is very light, up to the bitter end. i'm just glad Irori Mikawa got some time to shine.

but after reading it all, i still can't give this manga something higher than an average rating. not enough badass moments? characters maybe too bland? monster of the week vibe for too long? too straightforward and predictable? i can't quite place it.

... Last updated on March 18th, 2015, 9:06am

I'm so glad that someone is picking this up~ This is such a great manga: beautiful art, interesting characters, hella intense plot that drives you to keep turning the pages! Haven't come across something like this for quite some time, really looking forward to what happen next...

... Last updated on February 15th, 2012, 8:14am

Action, myth, set in modern times these elements are difficult to put into id a harmonious pattern but this manga has managed to keep it under well balanced state.
Usually the shonen mains are the most annoying ones out there but Otogi painted the main out really well.
the whole setup is set in modern times where a Boy who doesnt believe in supernatural accidentally smacks a shrine open, out from it a strange bird like beast posses him and gives him the power to fight monsters in exchange of sth that he holds dear the most.
Steadily Yousuke finds more allies some experienced and some novice than him in this operation of destroying different types of monsters which is ransacking and destroying places all over.

its a highly underrated manga given it has such good elements in it

... Last updated on December 20th, 2011, 9:54pm