(L) Gokutei Higuma

[amasposu]

Spoiler for :

Name: Gokutei Higuma
Associated Names:
Story & Art: Hokami Natsuki

Watch out malevolent fugitive souls, Higuma will send you straight back from where you came!

[amasposu]

https://www.viz.com/shonenjump/chapt...-warden-higuma

Weekly Jump's newest series. Viz.com has the first chapter that you can read for free.

The first chapter is extremely interesting. I can see a lot of potential in this series.

[amasposu]

Chapter 2 can be read for free in the link above.

I like how Higuma can reuse a previous enemy's ability, but it seems kind of broken. I hope there is some kind of weakness or something. Also, I hope Ayaha's brother feel better soon.

[thefreakmike]

Finally got to read it, gotta say its my favorite of the new trio of releases thus far, with Chainsaw Man a close second. Tho with another successful exorcist manga in Jujutsu Kaisen, makes me wonder about Higuma's surviving chances, wouldn't be surprising if the former cannibalizes the latter. I'll keep my expectations moderate

[amasposu]

Yeah. This series needs a deeper story if it wants to go past 50 chapters. I hope we see an arch-nemesis soon.

[amasposu]

Chapter 8:

This arc is actually getting pretty suspenseful. I hope nothing bad happens to Akane's mother and sister. 😰

[wuhugm]

This is actually good

I blame amasposu for picking the most cliche shounen panels possible

[MK-95-]

This manga is really damn good!!! Not gonna lie, I went in with low-moderate expectations because WSJ has been putting out a lot of mediocre works as of late that tend to get axed not long after.

This one and Chainsaw Man are easily two of the best new works I've seen from the magazine. This story has better characters, character development and a little more depth than Chainsaw Man does, but CM is still a close second which has a lot of potential.

I also kinda like this more mature and darker approach WSJ is taking with its newer titles. It's not often that you see gore and graphic violence in this magazine after all. Let's see, we've got Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man for the gore/violence and Promised Neverland has the psychological shit covered.

Gokutei Higuma is more tame compared to all of those in terms of its themes and presentation, but things can still get pretty heavy when the stakes are raised. I'm definitely sticking with this one.

[zztop]

Originally Posted by MK-95-

This manga is really damn good!!! Not gonna lie, I went in with low-moderate expectations because WSJ has been putting out a lot of mediocre works as of late that tend to get axed not long after.

This one and Chainsaw Man are easily two of the best new works I've seen from the magazine. This story has better characters, character development and a little more depth than Chainsaw Man does, but CM is still a close second which has a lot of potential.

I also kinda like this more mature and darker approach WSJ is taking with its newer titles. It's not often that you see gore and graphic violence in this magazine after all. Let's see, we've got Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man for the gore/violence and Promised Neverland has the psychological shit covered.

Gokutei Higuma is more tame compared to all of those in terms of its themes and presentation, but things can still get pretty heavy when the stakes are raised. I'm definitely sticking with this one.

I recall Promised Neverland's writer saying in an interview that originally, WSJ's editors refused to accept his pitch for Neverland because it's not typical shounen -
hot-blooded young boys going on adventures.

Fortunately, Demizu Poska vouched for Kaiu and agreed to be the artist.

I think one reason WSJ accepts the darker titles now, is because it sells with readers; the bottom line of sales is what counts for them. They will still cancel any series that fails to reach their minimum levels of reader interest and tankoubon sales, dark story or not.

[MK-95-]

Originally Posted by zztop

I recall Promised Neverland's writer saying in an interview that originally, WSJ's editors refused to accept his pitch for Neverland because it's not typical shounen -
hot-blooded young boys going on adventures.

Fortunately, Demizu Poska vouched for Kaiu and agreed to be the artist.

I think one reason WSJ accepts the darker titles now, is because it sells with readers; the bottom line of sales is what counts for them. They will still cancel any series that fails to reach their minimum levels of reader interest and tankoubon sales, dark story or not.

Back during the prime of the Big 3 era, WSJ was as shounen as it got tbh. At least 70% of titles that were serialized during that era mostly conformed to the traditional shounen formula for whichever series' respective genre(s). As a matter of fact, according to the current lineup, that is still the case, but there is a little more variety and unique premises to their serializations post-2015 that makes the magazine noticeably more diverse compared to how it was in the 90's and 00's.

I'm glad to see that their titles are incorporating more mature genres like dark fantasy, horror and psychological. It's slowly blurring the lines between a purely shounen demographic and becoming something like a shounen/seinen hybrid. If Attack on Titan and Sousei no Omyouji are still recognized and categorized as shounen, then I don't see any problem with WSJ being a little more bold and experimenting with their lineup.

-----------------------
Anyway, enough about that. I just want some additional opinions regarding chapter 12 of Gokutei Higuma. Don't y'all think it's a little too soon for the guy who killed Higuma's father and aunt to appear? Wouldn't it be a little more appropriate for him to appear after Idk, maybe 30-40 chapters in?

I say that because when he appeared, my pessimism kicked in and I started hearing the axe swinging in the distance. I'm hoping that I'm just overthinking this. It'd be a shame if this gets axed because it's really good imo. If they insist on axing a series or two, then they can gladly axe Yui Kamio Lets Loose, I'm from Japan and Boruto. I'm fine with any of those disappearing from my sight.

[zztop]

Originally Posted by MK-95-

Back during the prime of the Big 3 era, WSJ was as shounen as it got tbh. At least 70% of titles that were serialized during that era mostly conformed to the traditional shounen formula for whichever series' respective genre(s). As a matter of fact, according to the current lineup, that is still the case, but there is a little more variety and unique premises to their serializations post-2015 that makes the magazine noticeably more diverse compared to how it was in the 90's and 00's.

I'm glad to see that their titles are incorporating more mature genres like dark fantasy, horror and psychological. It's slowly blurring the lines between a purely shounen demographic and becoming something like a shounen/seinen hybrid. If Attack on Titan and Sousei no Omyouji are still recognized and categorized as shounen, then I don't see any problem with WSJ being a little more bold and experimenting with their lineup.

-----------------------
Anyway, enough about that. I just want some additional opinions regarding chapter 12 of Gokutei Higuma. Don't y'all think it's a little too soon for the guy who killed Higuma's father and aunt to appear? Wouldn't it be a little more appropriate for him to appear after Idk, maybe 30-40 chapters in?

I say that because when he appeared, my pessimism kicked in and I started hearing the axe swinging in the distance. I'm hoping that I'm just overthinking this. It'd be a shame if this gets axed because it's really good imo. If they insist on axing a series or two, then they can gladly axe Yui Kamio Lets Loose, I'm from Japan and Boruto. I'm fine with any of those disappearing from my sight.

Boruto's connected to Naruto, which is a pop culture icon both in Japan and overseas. That connection would make it harder to axe.

I'm from Japan's a gag comedy; which I hear tends to be treated differently from other serialized titles in WSJ (IIRC they get placed near the end of the magazine as a wrap up.) I don't know if WSJ tends to axe gag comedy titles as much.

Maybe Kamio Yui, but there's no accounting for local reader taste at times. If it were, stuff like Nisekoi would've been cancelled long ago.

[MK-95-]

^Ik Boruto won't get axed and it's a damn shame too... Boruto is trash and that's me putting it nicely. I'm not blindly hating on Boruto either, I really did try to give it a chance, but man does it suck. It really pains my heart to say that since I grew up on Naruto (been watching it since I was 10 and reading the manga since 15) and it was easily my fave of the Big 3. Boruto really shits on Naruto's legacy tbh. Should've honestly ended everything with the Boruto movie.

As for the other two, I'm not big on gag and 4-koma manga, so they usually get a hard pass from me and well, I made a post on the Yui Kamio thread expressing my gripes with it. I'm honestly expecting this one to get axed by three volumes. If it doesn't, then colour me surprised.

[MK-95-]

This manga's future still seems uncertain to me. The new chapter both gives me hope and a feeling of dread. On the hopeful side, we're in for a couple flashback chapters and that's not including the overall conclusion to present events. There's also the fact that Ayaha drew our attention to the "unfulfilled promises" tidbit, so that guarantees that we'll at least see Higuma and her attend the festival together after this battle.

However, what I'm dreading is the fact that this showdown between Higuma and Akagane feels a little premature. Hell, if Higuma doesn't have some kind of hax regeneration or healing, then those injuries are going to make things difficult for him going forward. The part about going to the festival can also be a negative because if this really does get axed, the author would most likely choose that event to end this story on a good note. It'd be a feel good ending that also "fulfills the promise" that was made.

I really hope this is just me being paranoid...

[wuhugm]

^Big bad appeared too early
I don't think there will be a peaceful chapter until this dude gets killed

[MK-95-]

I agree that he appeared too early and that's why I'm uncertain about things going forward. Granted, he isn't the final antagonist since there's clearly a few that rank above him. However, he's arguably the most important antagonist for Higuma since there's reason for Higuma to hold a personal grudge against him.

That said, if this serialization does extend beyond this point in the story, then Akagane would become something like an Itachi to Higuma's Sasuke, minus the whole "he was secretly a good guy all along" plot twist.

[DragonOsman]

I just read Chapter 15 yesterday. Have you guys only read up until Chapter 13 or is it okay to talk about the other two chapters here too?

I'm also worried about this series get the axe after reading @MK-95-'s posts about that, but hopefully it ends up as nothing more than paranoia. There's still a lot of potential this series, so I'd hate to see it end prematurely.

But yeah, it's really soon for Higuma to be fighting the spirit that killed his father and aunt, since as Roku said, his father was a lot stronger than he is now. Unless Higuma can get some sort of power-up mid-battle, there's no way he can win this. He could get rescued and live to fight another day after getting stronger. That'd be best.

Akane loves Higuma. It seems to only be because he saved her which seems like an underwhelming and unimportant reason (I don't mean to say her feelings don't matter or anything, but the reason she fell for him doesn't seem good enough to me somehow). But this also means that if Ayaha does fall in love with him too, she's going to have a rival. Though I don't know if she's a strong rival or not. I want Ayaha to win, though. Definitely. I do wonder if a Hell Warden is allowed to be in that kind of relationship with a Bunreisha, though.

[MK-95-]

All of the websites I use to read manga only have up to chapter 13 tho. Well anyway, to answer your question: those that are able to read ahead can make posts, just make sure to put the info behind properly labeled spoiler tags.

Yup, I'm with you on that one man. I really hope this doesn't get axed. I genuinely enjoy it for the most part. I like the art, characters and the plot has a lot of potential.

With regard to the shipping, I can already mostly tell that no other girl should be able to compete with Ayaha. Maybe if a female Hell Warden later joins the cast and forms a team with with Higuma, then it'd create an interesting group dynamic where there's a Hell Warden and Bunreisha vying for his attention and even then, I'd still give Ayaha the edge in that situation. There's nothing to make me doubt that Ayaha is most likely going to end up becoming Higuma's most important person by the end of this manga. Granted, we're only 13 chapters in and a LOT can happen if this is planned to be long running serializatio. (Plz don't get axed. T-T)

[DragonOsman]

I found Chapters 14 and 15. The Viz website doesn't have them, though, which sucks. And I can't say where I found them either, since it'd be against forum rules here in a thread about a licensed manga.

What do you think will happen in the fight against this spirit? It really is too strong for him to beat by himself.

[MK-95-]

^If I'm going by the assumption that this isn't going to get axed, then there are two possibilities I can see playing out here:

1. Akagame whoops Higuma's ass for the entire fight and just as he's about to deal the finishing blow, reinforcements arrives and successfully repels him. Akagane would then become something like an Itachi (from Naruto) where he'd appear periodically throughout the story and have short scuffles with Higuma and Co, but won't actually be defeated/killed until the story calls for it.

2. Higuma does manage to take Akagane's arm due to some extremely lucky circumstance and Akagane stays true to his word. Therefore, he spares him and leaves just as the reinforcements arrive (Also, Higuma's going to take his right hand. Additionally, if Higuma is unable to regenerate or reattach his own right hand, then the ultimate irony is that he's going to use Akagane's hand as his replacement. It's almost poetic in a way).

If I'm going by the assumption that this is going to get axed, there are also two possibilities I see playing out here:

1. Plays out almost exactly the same way as #1 above, but instead of repelling him, Higuma and his reinforcements manage to exploit Akagane's arrogance and defeat him despite the fact that he's overwhelmingly stronger than them (it's shounen after all, MCs do this shit all the time ). Manga ends with Higuma and Co. going to the festival.

2. Plays out exactly like I described in #2 above, but manga ends after Higuma and Co. attend the festival. It'd be left open-ended with no real conclusion since Akagane would still be alive and somewhere out in the world (really unsatisfying ending, but it'd still count as a small victory for Higuma, tho imo, he won a battle, but the war would be far from over. Granted, we'll never see that war because the story would be getting axed at that point).

[MK-95-]

Alright, this series seems to be safe for the time being. It doesn't look like the author has any plans to wrap this up in the foreseeable future considering that he's already begun laying the foundations for future developments.

The ending and aftermath to the fight with Akagane was anticlimactic if I'm being honest, but I do appreciate that the flashback chapters further fleshed out Higuma as a character and clarified his motivations for being a hell warden. The fact that he can completely heal and reattach severed limbs felt cheap tho. The sense of doom/gravity of the situation almost completely dissipated the moment it was revealed that the injuries were completely healed. There was no sense of loss, visually speaking anyway. His lifespan was still shortened as a result of the fight, but that wouldn't be as memorable to readers as it would've been seeing him have a permanent injury or something similar. That's how I felt about it anyway.

Also, the author seems to be setting up Akagane as the last or second to last boss before Higuma eventually comes to blows with "the old man". Chapter 18 more or less implied that Engetsu may be weaker than Akagane and that he's probably one of the strongest fugitive spirits around which is indeed interesting. We're given a preview of one of the stronger antagonists early so as to build interest in the eventual rematch, but it's simultaneously implied that said antagonist is much stronger than he was initially thought to be.

Lastly, don't you just love Ayaha? I'm almost certain that no other female characters in this story would be able to top her. My best girl senses are already tingling and we're only 18 chapters in lol.