Demon Diary

[This is a duplicate post from my Wordpress blog -- mostly a test to figure out how this works.]


I'm very picky about the art in the manga I read. I don't like it too simple and I don't like it cluttered so that nothing makes sense. If I can't "read" the art easily, if it doesn't enhance the story, there's no way I can get into the text. 


Demon Diary has brilliant art, although it had it's own trials while being written. The artist changed after the first book. The original artist was a college student who didn't have time to work on it. I think it came as a shock to the author who was excited to have the book released and now it looked like it might fall apart if the publisher couldn't find another artist. Fortunately, they found a great artist and the art didn't suffer from the change. In fact, if one wasn't aware of the fact that the artist changed, it might not be noticeable at all. The clothes and setting are all beautifully done. As for the story, I was a little disappointed in the third volume when the story took a different turn than I was expecting. It flowed very well into this new story, but I still want the other story. I'm so determined to some day write a version of Demon Diary as I wanted to see it. That's the great thing about writing. If a story goes on another tangent, then the writer reading the story can pick up the story line that interests them and make it their own. Sammy Hagar once said that he wrote songs because when he was listening to other people's songs he thought they were singing one thing but the lyrics turned out to be something else, so he "stole" what he thought it was originally and put it into his songs. My favorite character is Eclipse. Not only is he cool, but I think I can identify with his plight to raise up this new demon lord right. It's a mother thing, I'm sure. The parts where Raenef tries so hard to be a demon lord, but is just too pure of heart to be evil, are hilarious. In the end, the story takes a couple strange turns, but leaves the reader wanting more. Oh, so much more could be written about this story. If you're wondering if Angel Diary (also by the same author and artist) is related to Demon Diaries, I have to sadly say, "No." I was really hoping the two were related, but they aren't. Again, something I'll have to add to my own list to write someday. I'm finding it much harder to get into Angel Diary, mostly because of my own disappointment I believe. Someday I'll give it a fair shake and start reading it over. But for now, I'm enjoying Eclipse way too much.