Book Cover
Title Volume 1
Author Kaori Yuki
Publisher VIZ Media - 2006
First Printing Hakusensha, Inc - 1995
Book Cover
Title Volume 2
Author Kaori Yuki
Publisher VIZ Media - 2007
First Printing Hakusensha, Inc - 1995
Book Cover
Title Volume 3
Author Kaori Yuki
Publisher VIZ Media - 2007
First Printing Hakusensha, Inc - 1995
Book Cover
Title Volume 4
Author Kaori Yuki
Publisher VIZ Media - ?
First Printing Hakusensha, Inc - ?
Book Cover
Title Volume 5
Author Kaori Yuki
Publisher VIZ Media - 2005
First Printing Hakusensha, Inc - 1995
Book Cover
Title Volume 6
Author Kaori Yuki
Publisher VIZ Media - 2008
First Printing Hakusensha, Inc - 1996
Book Cover
Title Volume 7
Author Kaori Yuki
Publisher VIZ Media - 2008
First Printing Hakusensha, Inc - 1997
Book Cover
Title Volume 8
Author Kaori Yuki
Publisher VIZ Media - 2005
First Printing Hakusensha, Inc - 1997
Book Cover
Title Volume 9
Author Kaori Yuki
Publisher VIZ Media - 2005
First Printing Hakusensha, Inc - 1997
Book Cover
Title Volume 10
Author Kaori Yuki
Publisher VIZ Media - 1998
First Printing Hakusensha, Inc - 2005
Book Cover
Title Volume 11
Author Kaori Yuki
Publisher VIZ Media - 2005
First Printing Hakusensha, Inc - 1998
Book Cover
Title Volume 12
Author Kaori Yuki
Publisher VIZ Media - 2006
First Printing Hakusensha, Inc - 1998
Book Cover
Title Volume 13
Author Kaori Yuki
Publisher VIZ Media - 2006
First Printing Hakusensha, Inc - 1998
Book Cover
Title Volume 14
Author Kaori Yuki
Publisher VIZ Media - 2006
First Printing Hakusensha, Inc - 1999
Book Cover
Title Volume 15
Author Kaori Yuki
Publisher VIZ Media - ?
First Printing Hakusensha, Inc - 1999
Book Cover
Title Volume 16
Author Kaori Yuki
Publisher VIZ Media - 2006
First Printing Hakusensha, Inc - 2000
Book Cover
Title Volume 17
Author Kaori Yuki
Publisher VIZ Media - 2006
First Printing Hakusensha, Inc - 2000
Book Cover
Title Volume 18
Author Kaori Yuki
Publisher VIZ Media - 2007
First Printing Hakusensha, Inc - 2000
Book Cover
Title Volume 19
Author Kaori Yuki
Publisher VIZ Media - 2007
First Printing Hakusensha, Inc - 2000
Book Cover
Title Volume 20
Author Kaori Yuki
Publisher VIZ Media - 2007
First Printing Hakusensha, Inc - 2001
Category Manga
Warnings Incest and other sexual scenarios
Main Characters Setsuna, Sara, Alexiel, Rosiel, Kira, Kurai, Katan, Arachne, Mad Hatter, Zaphikel, Raziel, Kirei, Kato, Uriel, Sevothtarte, Jibril, Michael, Raphael
Main Elements Angels, demons




Master artist Kaori Yuki has applied a sure artistic hand and dynamic storytelling to some of the most controversial subject matter found in modern manga. Is heaven all good; hell all bad; and are there mortal sins that can lead to salvation?

Click to read the summaryVolume 1

Click to read the summaryVolume 2

Click to read the summaryVolume 3

Click to read the summaryVolume 4

Click to read the summaryVolume 5

Click to read the summaryVolume 6

Click to read the summaryVolume 7

Click to read the summaryVolume 8

Click to read the summaryVolume 9

Click to read the summaryVolume 10

Click to read the summaryVolume 11

Click to read the summaryVolume 12

Click to read the summaryVolume 13

Click to read the summaryVolume 14

Click to read the summaryVolume 15

Click to read the summaryVolume 16

Click to read the summaryVolume 17

Click to read the summaryVolume 18

Click to read the summaryVolume 19

Click to read the summaryVolume 20




I first came across Angel Sanctuary years ago when I was first getting into anime and there was a cheap copy of one the first DVD. I thought a storyline involving angels would be wonderful, but I didn't count on being exposed to just about every sin there is, including incest. I still shudder a little bit at the scenes where Setsuna and Sara express their undying love for each other (somehow Rosiel's obsession with Alexiel is just that, obsession, not love, plus he's crazy so it's not so weird). I'm not a fan of putting incest on a positive light where the reader can't help but root for siblings to be together (the same thing happened in the Shadowhunter series by Casandra Clare but since that was "instalove" I was already rolling my eyes, and also figuring that things would turn out ok somehow since YA instalove in North American literature is "meant to be". Japanese lit however can be much more dark...)

Anyway, when I saw my library had the series I decided to give it another go. With just the one DVD I didn't have the full series and I have this need to finish things I start so decided to push my way through the manga (and it does have a lot of good points, and gorgeous art!). Well, I really got into it. I tried to ignore the incest bit and focused on the rest, of which there were a lot of many things going on. Here we see Heaven is the, well, heaven we think it is, with a strict hiearchy of angels and their cruelty in maintaining their positions. They war with the demons, they war with themselves, and no one quite knows where God went.

Kaori Yuki managed to take characters from the Christian mythology but then added her own personalities to the characters, with a few characters entirely from her vivid imagination. The plot is actually incredibly complex with virtually no one being what they first appear, everyone has secrets, and a common problem I have at times with manga, I couldn't always recognize who was who all the time. I think I'll probably read this again some time, now that I know all the messy threads and will be able to see how they were all woven together more clearly.

And of course one cannot get enough bishonen with wings...


Posted: August 2017

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