This post was last modified: Aug 31, 2021 at 2:37 AM by n̷̨̘͖͗̊͜ò̴̟̜̲̲̞͈͚̖̲̽̈́́͐͛́̏̋̈́̑͐̈́.

After numerous amounts of fake outs; the day has finally come. I've finished Konjiki no Gash Bell. To be honest; I'm not sure what took me so long. I'm not sure why I bullshitted waited so long instead of just knocking it out. 300 chapters goes by pretty quickly once you get going. Now, just so we're clear, this is like....what Snagglepuss...1-2 years in the waiting? I'm aware this probably isn't going to be the most comprehensive thing you've read or live up to your expectations. I'm also aware that 99% of the board won't give a fuck. It's all good. I'll do my best regardless.


Without further bullshitting; Here we go.




Now initially I introduced Gash Bell as a very great shonen manga. I may/may not have also mentioned that I had previously read over half of it forever ago but forgot various details as the years went by[welcome to adulthood], however, I'm happy to report that after completing the series.....

Gash Bell....

Is still.....


A very good shonen manga. One the best I'd say.


Now rather before we get into needlessly praising the fuck out of this manga let's get some obvious flaws of the series out of the way.

1.) The art stye
Now while I don't think the art in this is bad, it's definitely an acquired taste and by acquired I mean; some panels look kind of basic as fuck. Not taking anything away from the artist. We've all heard horror stories about how awful drawing for a weekly magazine can be on your mental/actual health. I commend him for that, it's truly impressive. Still though; the art style will defintely turn some people away from the series and I can't fault them for that. Proportions can be out of wack at times, backgrounds can be non existent at certain points and some panels[very small few] it can be hard to tell what's going on at once. As a One Piece fan, two of those issues really don't bother me but I did begin to be a litle disappointed when backgrounds became more of an afterthought....on the plus side this only really starts happening at the tail end of the series.

2.) It's a slow build up
This series starts slow. Now I read the remaining 10 volumes in about 3 days but honestly. You'd be better taking your time with this one. Maybe 1-3 volumes a week. Become attached to the characters. Enjoy the mystery surrounding certain events. Get more used to character traits. This manga is very episodic in nature up until about mid-way through so trying to dash through you'll rob yourself of enjoying the moments. The quirky villians[and there's a fucking lot of them. Trust me.], the gags[will talk about this in detail further down.] , the growth of Kiyo and Gash's friendship and the just Kiyo in general...all of it will feel lesser than if you enjoy/take your time. It's honestly the reason it took me so long in the beginning but I'm so happy I invested my time. The pay off is well worth it.

3.) ...Well...con #3 is something I should probably save until the end. I think I'm ready to start gushing about this manga.



Snaggle. Thanks for making me read this.


I'm going to avoid giving a run by of characters/story/shit like that. This isn't a synopsis and I'm not a anime youtuber/blog writter. I'm just a guy with too much free time. The basic run down is weird doll looking boy bursts throw middle schoolers window one day telling him he was sent to him by his dad in england in order to help him grow and develop as a person. This doll looking boy turns out to be just one of many other demons sent down to earth in order to participate in a battle to see who will become demon king. It's pretty nuanced; not all demons want to participate in the battle; those who do participate have their own ideals and goals. This isn't including the human partners, who often time have their own reasons for helping/wanting their partner to achieve their goal/become king. Like with most shonen there's a heavy emphasis on teamwork but it feels a lot more believable here since the story starts off with...well...a team.

It's an actual teamship too. It's not like Digimon where your human partner screams, yells and acts dramatic while you, the fucking DIGIMON, does all the goddamn work. Kiyo goes through hell with Gash. Every attack sent Gash's way is 9 times out of 10 heading directly to him as well and he has to dodge, actively avoid his enemy and come up with strategies to defeat them or else he could get defeated and have his book burned. Oh yeah; forgot to explain that. See; Gash busted through Kiyo's window with a yellowtail fish and a book. This book is actually the spellbook that the human partners use to battle, depending on what hardships/growth/development the two receive they gain access to newer[and stronger spells] and it provides as a great incentive/reward for reading. I always found myself in awe, anticipating which spell the two would learn next even if I was vaguely familar with what would happen....however if this book is attacked in the crossfire of battle it'll burn and send Gash back to the demon world without becoming king[same for ever other demon partner or"mamodo" as they're called and i'll call them from this point on].

Back to sort of the beginning of the story though; Let's talk about Kiyo for a second.





There's many ways to write a bad ass character. Take Guts for example; someone whose constantly fighting, suffering, improving himself while struggling in a battle field. Would you believe me if I told you Kiyo is doing the same thing? He starts the story as a asshole genius child who's literally been skipping school because he looks down on both the teachers and the students but by the end has matured into not just a upstanding person but a very awesome rolemodel for Gash. He doesn't get there over night either. You get to see him warm up to people, you get see him build up these relationships, you get to see how he cherishes them even the people he claims "annoys him".....they all really give him the strength he needs to keep going in not just the battle..but in life. The most hilarious example I can think of is one of the earlier chapters where one of his classmates[who is notorious for her bad luck] ends up getting held hostage at a bank. This is the turning point for Kiyo's character and one of the most important scenes so I'll post it here[wont be doing this a lot btw. want potential readers to go in as blind as possible.]








He's smart but still dumb. He's talented but has his flaws. He's cold but caring. In other words, he's any decent person who's had to deal with his fair amount of hardships[bullying, isolation, self-loathing to a degree] but Gash comes into his life and though he thinks he's a burden at certain points early he realizes here that Gash isn't a burden. He genuinely wants to help him and down the road Kiyo desires to help Gash more than the reverse. I really enjoyed how they had a older brother-younger brother kind of dynamic, usually these types of characters don't stick around too long in manga but with him being the MC it'd be kind of hard to kill him off. Kiyo is also, of course, the driving force of a lot of the story with him being smart he's usually[but not always!] the first to figure out something or figure out where to go, once again, this isn't always the case and actually mid-way through the story he ends up relying heavily on his partners than his intellect but we're getting ahead of ourselves.


Let's talk about Gash himself for a bit before we dive into the meat and bones of this story!


Gash is a doll, shota, annoying motherfucker at times but goddamn he is for sure one of the main highlights of the series. For one; he's funny as fuck. I legit lol'd at some of the shit he'd get himself into. He's a kid so he's pure hearted and he also has a lot of drive and passion. He's a bit naive and a bit too trusting early on but he learns from every bad experience and never truly remains stagnant...which to me is good for a main character! They nailed the little brother vibe perfectly with him and I'm really happy about that. Besides that; we see him deal with a lot of complex life themes like loss, love and even heartbreak[multiple times tbh though probably not what youre thinking of....more on that later]. I don't have much more to say about him other than he's one of my favorite characters for sure, even more than Kiyo which is saying something because I enjoyed him a lot as well.

Oh and since we talked about Gash I want to talk about some of my other favorite characters as well because fuck it:

----
Rodeax and Chita


Honestly didn't think I'd end up liking these two as much as I did given that Rodeax specfically spent a lot of the manga being a piece of shit but...man.....it wasnt a long batch of chapters but...lets just say something happens mid way thru a certain arc that both wows and touches you. It's something else I love about this series. Nothing is as it seems on the surface. Despite how it may appear these two really care for and about each other which makes what happens so impactful in the story with them so impactful. Love their designs as well.

Leila & Al


What I initally thought was going to be another henchman to defeat turned about to be a really awesome ally character during a certain arc. Her ability is also basic but super cool looking. I loved how she gave her all to help Gash and co. even if it meant defying someone who was admitdly scary as fuck. After the arc ends she shows an absolutely amazing resolve that I'm ngl made me choke up a little bit. Come on bros, it's a loli character and I'm saying she's one of my favorites. You know she's good. I hate lolis.

Megumi & Tio


Megumi and Tio were both just really cute characters. That isn't to say that's all they were to the story. They were both competent fighters, strategiers and supporters for their allies. Similar to Gash and Kiyo but instead of the brother dynamic they were well...sisters. Megumi is one of the first characters Kiyo bonds with outside of his school so it's really cool to see their relationship blossom and turn into a genuine friendship. I loved Tio's big moments later on in the series; she really steals the show. It's actually refreshing as fuck to see not just her, but multiple side characters get major spotlight[and it happens often! which is good!].

Folgore & Kachome


This guy is a pop star who has a song about how much he loves boobs. If that doesn't scream based to you i dont know what will. Now; these two I thought were just going to be generic gag characters but they turned into legit powerhouses and awesome characters. Kachome in particular really turns OP and FUCK man I was so mad.....so fucking mad....if you end up reading it you know but it was some bullshit bro. FUCK!

-------------------------

There's honestly so much more I could name. Sherry & Brago, Yopopo and his partner were great, The guy who didn't fight back and had fucked up people stealing his inheritance dude so many good stories man but I gotta chill.

So basically; the stakes are high. Everyone has their own reasons for battling. There's amazing characters and a pretty great shonen. So what was the last con I had?

# 3

Heart-break

I don't know what the fuck it is about this story, this manga...but I cried more at this than the recent Evangelion movie. There's so many twists and turns, so many endearing characters and due to the nature of the story you just know that not all of them can stay. With that being said; every single goddamn scenario involving a character losing their book/life was so damn tragic. I've posted screenshots. You've seen the art. It's pretty good but it's not amazing...so why?? Why is this weekly manga for boys/teenagers making me cry so much? It just has soul and passion bros. We're going to go on a bit of a highlight reel but look at these pages;










These are all such simple pages but they're filled with so much emotion. I think that's this authors true strength is. Bringing out and displaying raw emotion within his pages and making you feel them but don't worry. It's not strictly a feels feast. Like I said there's some great comedy bits in here as well. Matter of fact; It'd feel wrong calling this just a straight shonen because it's also very much a gag manga at all that definitely always reminds the readers not to take it too seriously.








Honestly, all-in-all. Gash Bell is a great shonen story. A very fun read. It'll tug at your heart-strings, potentially make you cry, get you hyped and for sure make you fall in love with more than a couple of it's characters. I kept it vague, I never really meant for this to be a full deep dive but if you have any questions let me know. Thank you again Snagglepuss for making me read this. I...have kind of been in a weird point in my life where I'm sort of unfulfilled and aimless but as corny as it may sounds...this manga gave me the strength to keep going. So that's what I'm going to do and I hope you all find your inner Gash to keep going with your lives as well!