Seinen Shin Angyo Onshi

[distorted]

My first review..... Don't be too harsh ^_^
I decided to screw the 4 pics at the end cuz I didn't wanna waste my time resizing.

Title:Shin Angyo Onshi
Genres:adventure, comedy, drama, fantasy, seinen
Author:Youn In-Wan
Artist:Yang Kyung-Il
Publication:Young Champ
Start Date:2001
End Date:2007
Number of chapters at review:75 - completed
Number of chapters read by reviewer:75
(if you have trouble finding any of this info, contact me, and I'm sure I can get it for you)

General Overview:
This takes place in a futuristic yet fantasy world called Jushin set in Korea and follows a man named Munsu, one of the last guardians against corruption and tyranny, as he searches for the one responsible for the destruction of his country.
In Jushin, there were guardians called Angyo Onshi commissioned by the king to find corrupt city officials and to bring peace to the citizens. However, Jushin has split into many rivaling factions and the Angyo Onshi has been destroyed. This story revolves around Munsu, the last angyo onshi, as he searches for the man who destroyed his country and his life.

Category Ratings: (1-10 scale)

Art: 10
The art is absolutely excellent. The artist manages to make the art flow with emotion and detail.
The characters are drawn exceptionally and consistently. Although some characters are dressed strangely and the like, the characters and setting are drawn with incredible attention to details.

Plot: 9
The plot is woven intricately and it's obvious that the author spent much time fixing details.
Although some things are unanswered, such as the nature of the main antagonist, The plot is generally excellent. At first, it is a series of short stories about Munsu's adventures, however, eventually, it develops into saga with flashbacks, betrayals and romance.

Characters: 10
The characters are excellent. Although we see Munsu as a person on the side of good, by all means he is not a saint and many of his flaws are depicted. As the brutal reality is shown, we see that Munsu is not a superhuman.
The other characters are developed with less details but are just as good. Every character seems to have their own set of beliefs and values and by no means are two dimensional.

Theme: 10
The theme definitely deserves a 10. The story is unpredictable and takes extremely sharp turns. The short stories show that nothing is as it appears.
Eventually, as the main plot develops it develops into a larger theme. It shows that we must accept the world as it is... that the world is a harsh place... but by no means should we give up hope.

Originality: 9
The manga was definitely refreshing for me to read. There are no "I beat you, now you're my friend", and barely any stereotypical cliches. What you unconsciously prepare for is often the exact opposite of what actually happens.

Overall: 10

This series is definitely a must read. Although the flashbacks may drive you crazy(There's a 10+ chapter flashback), this series is still an amazing manhwa.
It kept me at the edge of my seat and I had to struggle with myself every time i had to put it down for a bathroom break or sleep.
I recommend that you read this series slowly and absorb every detail, every character and enjoy it as much as possible.


Here's some random pics I found. Not from chapters, but more cover art so it's spoiler free

Spoiler

 

[segua]

The cover art is just amazing. Makes me think how good the art is in the manwha. It is a Korean graphic novel right?

Anyway, sure looks interesting. Great review.

 

[paradoxe]

Flashbacks are usually interesting, when they aren't a repeat of what has already been said.

This is an excellent manga..although it can be repetitive at times (not because of flashbacks..i thought the flashbacks were well made lol).

Reminded me a bit of Vagabond.

 

[Koen]

Good review but ratings are very high then again who wouldn't give his own preferred manga high ratings.

Yep I was kinda surprised I read this manwha. Normally I don't like it but shin angyo onshi had a great intruiging story. The art was different to what is generic but yet again this was very positive for me. The only thing that saddened me was the end. Not it's ending itself but the fast pace gave me a rushed feeling

 

[zelllogan]

This manwha was in my top-10 "manga" all times ... and then I read the end. I still put a manwha in my top-10: Ares (for which I did a review by the way).

Shin angyo onshi is awesome in the first part. Then we have a huge flashback and I hate flashbacks. I want to see what's happening next ... I don't want to have several hundred pages of past events. When finaly, the flashback is ending ... there is the rushed ending. I agree with koenosaki. At the end, there is so much happening ... it becomes messy and the art is not helping to clarify the situation.

last thing,
From the beginning, we had two good characters ... Why the author decided to split them at some point in the story ?

A great manwha, destroyed by a long flashback and a shitty ending. It was a deception.

 

[Nami]

Distorted, your ratings are really high! ^^
I can understand it though, when i first read it, i was totally swept away by the artwork and the plot. I mean, it's a manhwa! Or almost a manhwa/manga but it's still quite impressive. For the characters, i guess not all of them were fully developed, esp. for Sando and Aji Tae. Its still kind of vague what they really are, unless we read the SAO gaiden.

Shin angyo onshi is awesome in the first part. Then we have a huge flashback and I hate flashbacks......................A great manwha, destroyed by a long flashback and a shitty ending. It was a deception.

I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry at this...I love the flashbacks...it just shows how awesome some of them were and how tragic their lives ended. At least Munsu was shown looking smart at some point. But the ending was just hard to digest. Maybe I expected it to be a bit more 'happier' which just did not happen. Well, can't please all.

 

[Koen]

Well the flashbacks weren't annoying at all. I think they had some great use. It was very amusing to know more about general munsu and his relationship with aji tae and the other historical protagonists. I think the ending itself was great as it wasn't that happy ending but it was too fast. I preferred the first (flashback) fights between aji tae and munsu

 

[zelllogan]

I don't hate that flashback particulary ... I hate all flashbacks .
You put a flashback in a manga and usually I stop reading if it's too long ... IMO a flashback should be just a support to the story or character development, not becomes the main story for several volumes.
For the end I never expected an happy ending. The story isn't an optimistic one. It's pretty sad, an happy ending would not fit.

 

[Arashi_Oushou]

I loved this book from start to finish.

It was a refreshing take on a almost Final Fantasy world.

The characters are great, the main character is by far one of the most compelling ones I've ever red in a manwa or manga. And the villain is just amazing.

But what really struck with me along the story is the sense of inpending doom and almost certainly failure for the heroes.
The villain is just totally overpowered and Evil in a way that I've never seen before.

Delivered from the beginning to the end, and it's definetly in my top ten of must reads.

 

[ichigo_blue]

First the art is absolutely amazing, and the concept of the entire story was definitely one of the best that I've ever read. The plot was really well constructed, but I think there was something MISSING IN THAT MANGA. It didn't heart-wrench like I completely expected it to, I was so disappointed by that. I think that the character development was the part that liked the "je ne sais quoi" factor. OVerall I think it is only an 8. Oh so sad, it should have been a 10.

 

[theraikage]

just finished reading it, great series

 

[Polemidis]

its such a great manga... so well-made.. it easily made it's way to my top favorites the feeling I got when I finished reading it was like the peace after the storm.. refreshing!

 

[segua]

Finally got around to reading and finishing it. I would recommend this to people to read.

The plot was intriguing as it kept building upon the mystery of the antagonist. The end seemed quick. It could've been drawn out just a bit more but it was a satisfying end personally.

Some of characters were mediocre in my opinion. There seems to be some contradictions between a character when they are presented to later on. The author did well to minimize this with tying it to an extremely evil guy.

I thought that the antagonist was utterly pathetic. It showed that the primordial evil didn't calculate man's frailty of fearing the unknown nor man's strength in faith. Or, the author tried portraying something in a humanly fashion.

The flashbacks were well utilized for the most part. It does shed more light into the background of the protagonist.

Art is fantastic hands down. It was laid out well. Artistic talent is not only key but the ability to visually present a story is key. Overall, it's the presentation style of the artist that will determine how good an artist really is. It's not the minor details or etc but presentation and how well a viewer comprehends it. I wouldn't ask for any other artist to help me convey my story.

 

[richqtjvsy]

Review well done..I have started reading this just last week and is loving it on every page..Job well done!

____________________
Arakawa under the Bridge × Bridge - 07

 

[killer7]

One of the Great mangas I had ever read.

When ppl start to read it they will be surprise, when they find the hero

in that form at ch1.

Right now am at v11 and start to read v12.

I really recommend this manga cause it have a lot of crazy things with a comedy style.

 

[thornofcarrion]

The characters are great, the main character is by far one of the most compelling ones I've ever red in a manwa or manga. I already read 6 chapter of it and I like the theme of it. Flashbacks are usually interesting. I like its comedy very very much.

Its one of the best series I have read. Great storyline, awesome characters, decent humor, and to top it all the ending was marvelous. I like the flashbacks, most of them. The mini stories in Shin Angyo Onshi were good too.

 

[shinsengumi]

shin angyo onshi IMO is what you would call the closest one to being perfect . plot-wise , storytelling-wise , twist-wise , art-wise , character-wise and everything else-wise there is to a manga (manhwa)
i just couldnt stop reading and finished it in 2 days .eventually it became one of my favs. of all times
the struggle between the antagonist and the protogonist slightly reminded me of Berserk but not like it takes anything from their originality and uniqueness in their own rights
BUT i believe the strongest aspect of this manhwa - which impresses people the most - is the brilliant twists placed all around , not just once or twice but constant appearances of unexpected turns of events . its what makes S.A.O so unique and interesting.
its a must to read without a doubt

 

[k-dom]

I don't hate that flashback particulary ... I hate all flashbacks .
You put a flashback in a manga and usually I stop reading if it's too long ... IMO a flashback should be just a support to the story or character development, not becomes the main story for several volumes.
For the end I never expected an happy ending. The story isn't an optimistic one. It's pretty sad, an happy ending would not fit.

Without the flashback, Shin Angyo Onshi looses 50% of its interest. Plus this one was really well made since it is intertwined with the current plot line. If one want a brillant use of flashback in a serie, Shin Angyo Onshi is the one.
Honnestly I don't understand your hate for flashbacks, series which don't use them generally have loosy plots. Maybe you should try reading 7 seeds, the only serie I known where you are reading flashbacks without knowing it

 

[benelori]

Without the flashback, Shin Angyo Onshi looses 50% of its interest. Plus this one was really well made since it is intertwined with the current plot line. If one want a brillant use of flashback in a serie, Shin Angyo Onshi is the one.
Honnestly I don't understand your hate for flashbacks, series which don't use them generally have loosy plots. Maybe you should try reading 7 seeds, the only serie I known where you are reading flashbacks without knowing it

Did you just spoil the entire story?

 

[k-dom]

well no since you can tell they are flashback only once you have read them :-)