(Manga) Beelzebub - The Manly Art Of Child-Rearing

[rubberchicken]

This series by Ryuhei Tamura has been running in Shounen Jump for about half a year or so, but I just stumbled across it.

Right. So, there's this typical juvenile delinquent, Tatsumi Oga, who's earned a reputation for coldness and violence in a school that's already infamous for its sizable delinquent population.

One day Oga's working some thugs over by the riverbank when this baby comes floating down the river. He has no idea what to do with it, but rather than leave it there, he takes it with him. In short order a demon woman named Hildegard shows up and informs him that the baby is Beelzebub IV, Prince of Hell. Apparently the Demon King has tasked his son with wiping out the human race, and Hilda has been sent to find the most violent and despicable example of humanity to raise the baby into an appropriately horrible engine of terror and death.

Naturally, Oga has no interest in raising a kid, demon or otherwise, and Hilda likewise is sure that there are far more suitable "parents" out there. Unfortunately for them both, Baby Bell has become attached to Oga during their brief association, and doesn't take kindly to being separated from him. He shows this by throwing tantrums, and since he's an uber-powerful demon baby, this results in massive destruction in the immediate area. Oga turns out to have the unlikely talent for calming the baby back down (with manly words of wisdom) - which is just as well, because it turns out that Baby Bell's attachment to him is so strong that if they're ever more than fifteen meters apart, he'll pitch a fit strong enough to kill Oga outright.

With no other option, Oga tries to resume his normal delinquent life while taking the kid with him everywhere, resulting in assorted comic antics around his school and home. Before too long he realizes that there's a mark on his arm - the beginnings of a demonic seal of some kind. As Baby Bell learns the ways of terror and violence from him, the markings will grow and eventually cover his entire body, driving him insane and turning him into a monster. Or something. Oga vows to turn his life around and begins searching for a delinquent even colder and more violent than he is, hoping that the kid will find a more suitable parent and free him from his obligation. Of course, Hilda seems to be conspiring to prevent just that from happening...

The series has had some good laughs so far (at least for me), and it's fun to watch Oga's doomed interactions with the other thugs around school and his beleaguered best friend. I'm liking Hilda so far too, as she seems to be quite an adept schemer.

I'm not sure how long the series will stick with me, but the novelty of a shounen series focused on raising a child should hold my attention for a while. Anybody else read it?

[SigmasonicX]

The comedy scenes have been great, but I feel that the action scenes have been quite weak, especially due to the incredibly slow pace of them. Maybe they read better when marathoning, but either way, if the series lasts long enough, the anime should definitely wait until at least 150 chapters are out before starting. Hopefully the battles improve once the inevitable supernatural enemies start showing up.

[Sparticus]

I've been readin'. I like the premise, and I like the art buuut the pacing's kinda all over the place. Hopefully the mangaka can get it together 'cause this series has a lot of potential. :)

[Rud]

So, how are you guys liking this new arc in the demon world, its been very funny (aliens, nuff said), lol, the ending of the last chapter where Furuichi's head gets stuck was just gold. So, anyone really think Alaindelon is really dead, i doubt it.

[Sparticus]

It is sufficiently silly! :D I wonder what Oga did to those guys...

[rubberchicken]

Holy balls, somebody bumped my topic.

After months of beating up thugs, we were due for a change of scenery. Plus, the school's demolished. I doubt Alaindelon's really dead (too much comedic potential to waste), and I'm really more surprised that Angelica actually turned out to be hot (I'd assumed it was just going to be a cruel joke on Furuichi).

Most of all, the shot of the demon beast rising up at the end of the new chapter reminded me that we get a new Berserk next week. What's not to like?

[Rud]

Oh wow, the end of the last chapter was funny as hell, Baby Bell turned into a giant to fight a monster, this is strait out of power rangers!

[Sparticus]

That last page, Oga's "ATTACK!" And Giant BL... ffffffffffff... I giggled for a good long time over that. XD

[FlyByNite77]

Wow this chapter was the funniest stuff ever. Seeing a giant Godzilla-sized naked baby pulling off wrestling moves against another giant monster. I almost spit out my drink when he did the Boston Crab

[rubberchicken]

GO FORTH, CHANGED MAN #28!

Enter the badass mentor?

[Rud]

Change Man clothesline FTW. Dude that was just ridiculous, i remember just the other day the kid coudnt beat a cocoroach... or another baby.

[Rud]

Bump for awesomeness, so, this whole new school environment is kind of different, its so normalier... anyway, that new guy who wants to be Oga's underling is pretty funny, especially in chapter 50, that last chapter really highlights the greta humor in this manga...

But forget that fior now, back at the end of the last arc before they let the demon world, at the end those demons were talking about Oga being Belzebubs contractor and hinting at demon related things to come... can it be, that this manga is going to have an epic plot?

[rubberchicken]

wooden ruler smite

[Rud]

Yeah, that scene pretty much guarantee that these 6 knight guys are nothing to Oga or that blond guy he fought before with the tatoo.

[ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, that scene pretty much guarantee that these 6 knight guys are nothing to Oga or that blond guy he fought before with the tatoo.

Not necessarily. Even if that's probably the case, not all of them have been revealed yet, so its possible that there might be at least one among them who is much stronger than all of the rest. I mean, it'd be pretty pointless to even bother writing them into the story if not even one of them could cause any trouble for Oga in any real way, somewhere along the line.

[rubberchicken]

Chapter 55.

Natsume steps up to fight. The club leaders are officially doomed.

[Rud]

Eh, i hope this arc ends soon, it was funny in the beginning with that blond kid wanting to be Oga's lackey and flattering him, but every thing else has been boring... well, at least were getting some Natsume action next chap.

...i wanna see some demon world stuff.

[rubberchicken]

57.

Where the hell is Toujou when you need him?

[Rud]

We dont need him, i bet Oga will go like "is this all you got?" in the next chapter and then pwn Miki.

[rubberchicken]

Dammit Oga, let Kanzaki have his moment of awesome.



Baby Bell going UP YOURS was almost as hilarious as the Boston Crab.

[ensatsu-ken]

Alright, this chapter points out my biggest issue with this manga: Its pacing just feels WAY too slow, or rather, very little seems to happen in any given chapter. Aside from Oga smacking away Kanzaki, I feel like absolutely no progress was made in this chapter. I mean, as I was reading and saw Oga get back up, I was like: "Alright, its time for round 2 with Miki." However, I was surprised to see that the next page was the last page of the chapter (I wasn't paying any attention to the page numbers as i was reading), and realized that I had easily gone through the whole thing in under 2 minutes. Really, this is my main issue with quite a lot of currently running Shounen Jump manga. I think that I'd probably be better off just waiting a few weeks before I start reading again, which will cause long gaps/intervals of time in between, but at least I can read a whole set of chapters at once and maybe make it last more than 10 minutes, rather than just reading single extremely short chapters on a weekly basis.

[rubberchicken]

I have that problem with long-running shounen series in general. I think I notice it a lot less with BB since it's been delivering the lulz pretty consistently with each new chapter.

[ensatsu-ken]

Well, yeah, its true that it does happen with a lot of shounen in general (which still doesn't mean that I like to excuse it), but with BB its mainly during fighting parts such as this that it feels needlessly dragged out. The fight will probably continue one for at least another chapter or 2, if not even a few more, but a fight on this small of a scale really should have been over b now, IMO. That said, when its focusing on the non-action elements, the series is suprisingly fun. I hope we get another "fun" Be'el arc after this, since the baby that this manga is supposed to be about feels like he's only been part of the background for a bit too long. :p

[Rud]

My god, this new arc is killing me, i want this fight and this arc to end so we can get back to the funny stuff (preferably go back to demon world, that was awesome).

[SigmasonicX]

An anime has been announced for January! (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-08-31/beelzebub-manga-gets-tv-anime-in-january)

This is pretty surprising, especially since there aren't even 75 chapters out, and there probably won't even be 100 by the time the anime starts. Plus, the manga goes at a very slow pace. However, it should be easy enough to create filler for it, and it could be following a seasonal format instead of being a continuous long-runner. Plus, it has Kamina's VA as Oga.

[Rud]

An anime has been announced for January! (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-08-31/beelzebub-manga-gets-tv-anime-in-january)

This is pretty surprising, especially since there aren't even 75 chapters out, and there probably won't even be 100 by the time the anime starts. Plus, the manga goes at a very slow pace. However, it should be easy enough to create filler for it, and it could be following a seasonal format instead of being a continuous long-runner. Plus, it has Kamina's VA as Oga.
Kamina as in Kamina from Gurren Laggan?, if so, then that will be incredibly epic and so fitting.

anyway, i am pumped for this, this is awesome news.

[River26]

Plot's synopsis


The story follows the "strongest juvenile delinquent", Oga Tatsumi, he is a first year in "Ishiyama High" the school for delinquents. The story starts as he is telling the story of how he found the baby to his best (and only?) friend Furuichi Takayuki. One day while fishing by the river (actually, taking revenge on people trying to kill him in his sleep), he sees a man floating down it, he pulls him to shore and the in half revealing a baby boy. This boy is the son of the demon king and he has been chosen as the one to raise it with the baby's maid Hilda. The story follows his life with the child and at the delinquent school. The early chapters of the manga follow Oga as he attempts to 'pass on' Baby Beel to other students at Ishiyama, (The theory is that if Oga can find someone more evil and stronger than him, Baby Beel will attach to that person instead of Oga). After subsequently fighting and defeating all members of the Tōhōshinki and in the process, destroying Ishiyama High itself, Oga and company are transferred to Saint Ishiyama Academy, which appears to be a direct opposite of the delinquent school

[Rud]

Are any of you guys watching the anime, its up to episode 2 right now and its pretty awesome.

they did cut out what was arguably the best scene in chapter 1 though:sad: