Late Halloween Manga Recommendation - Marry Grave

Hey there! It's Monmon! Q-ichi's partner on Rosetta Archive!Happy Halloween! Or it was supposed to be, but muh internet got screwed. So happy that it finally got restored. Anyway, Autumn’s End! Here’s manga recommendation that’s meant for the spooky festivities.

Hey you kids~ Trick or treating? Well, here’s a real treat! It’s a spooky manga recommendation! Starting off with a Halloween theme is the supernatural shounen manga Marry Grave!

Starting its run on the ‘Shounen Sunday’ publication near the end of 2017, Marry Grave is a typical shounen manga written and drawn by Yamaji Hidenori. It features a man on a quest to revive his dead wife. The manga starts with the man himself, Riseman Sawyer, explaining his world’s setting.

! An end of humanity scenario. Good way to start a horror themed shounen manga.

He is saved by other humans who are hiding from the demons. They used magic to conceal their hideout and are in the midst of preparing a grand spell to destroy the demons. How does this magic work? In this manga, magic comes from unique materials that are usually created or extracted from magical creatures. Through this material, users extract the magic potential in it to create magic unique to the material.

Cool. Marry Grave’s magic system is established.

Realizing that the ingredients used to make the grand spell is an ingredient he needed, Riseman swipes one for himself, much to the ire of the humans. Being confronted and challenged, Riseman explains that he need the ingredient to perform a spell to revive his dead wife Rosalie.

Yep. His dead wife Rosalie. Any normal person will run thinking that he is one messed up dude.

Inside a coffin that he has been lugging around is the mummified corpse of his wife along with various sorts of peculiar items. One can derive that these items are the ingredients that are needed for his spell. Materials he has painstakingly gathered for over forty years. And the spell that will resurrect his wife comes from a magical tome called the Deadman’s recipe.

Using the Deadman’s recipe, he will gather ingredients to perform a spell to revive his wife.

Unfortunately, the humans are not into his sob story and condemn him to execution. Then, a huge commotion interrupt’s Riseman’s execution. A demon has managed to infiltrate their hideout! Disguised as a human, the demon tricked the humans into bringing it into their hideout where the demon’s true form is revealed.

The demon jabberwock. Like from Alice in Wonderland?

The jabberwock attacks and the humans are forced to use their grand spell against it. Unfortunately, the jabberwock interfered with the spell and caused it to fail. Without the grand spell, the humans face a gruesome death by the jabberwock. That is until Riseman steps in and took the jabberwock’s bite in their place. Not to worry, for his injury instantly recovers because he is an immortal undead. A Deadman created from the Deadman’s recipe.

Cool. So a Deadman is a sort of immortal zombie.

How did he become a Deadman in the first place? Well, on his wedding day, a horde of demons attacked the town. Riseman went with other men to protect the demons but died to the demons, much to Rosalie’s despair.

Oof.. That is a brutal death.

Determined to bring him back to life, Rosalie sets out on a quest to perform the Deadman’s recipe. Travelling all over the world, she gathered all the necessary ingredients to bring her dead husband back to life.

Rosalie in her own ultimate quest to revive her husband. The beginning of everything.

After decades of hard work and perseverance, she finally gathered all the materials for the spell. An old woman, wrinkled and gray, hugs the corpse of her husband and performs the spell. However, the spell has a consequence.

For his wife to die in his place. It must have hurt him like hell.

In exchange for her life, Riseman is brought back to life as a Deadman. An immortal undead. Thus, it is Riseman’s turn to gather the ingredients to perform the spell once more to revive Rosalie. As the manga returns to the present, Riseman uses the remnants of the human’s grand spell and revives it using his passive ability as a Deadman. The jabberwock is blown to pieces and the humans are saved. Thankful for saving them, the humans gifted Riseman his desired ingredient. The Deadman sets off once more to keep gathering the ingredients for the Deadman’s recipe for as long as it takes. Because the only thing that drives him on is the love of his wife and a silver of hope.

A long journey for a possibility. One that will take a significant portion of the manga’s run.
All for the love for his wife.

What a start. Marry Grave has an interesting premise. It uses the old story of the protagonist creating a spell to revive his/her loved one and gives it a unique twist. The spell has been done before and the protagonist is immortal as a result. The spell is part of a magic system that uses materials as a conduit for magic. For this magic system, a bizarre world full of magical creatures is created. Then, a good and evil faction system is established with the demons as the evil faction and the humans leading other races in the good faction.

Okay. It looks like the evil role is forced on the demon by the majority but demons encompass various types of races.

The world is set with the demons running rampant while the humans and other races are driven to near extinction. A whole world for the protagonist to explore as he completes his quest. With pockets of civilization here and there and demons packed in between, each location can be structured as a complete story arc. All of these elements make for a good tried and true manga structure that is ripe with fresh content.

Here's another manga that uses a similar structure. How successful was it again?

However, despite all of this, the great content potential as well as an interesting setting, I find it really hard to get into the manga. I find Marry Grave pretty bland. Whenever I read an interesting manga, I would get really immersed in the chapter, even overreacting at exciting scenes. But for Marry Grave, I occasionally roll my eyes or have them glazed over as I read a chapter. Yet I still come back to read it whenever a new chapter releases. Why is that? Why would I still recommend this manga?!

Hold your horses. I'm getting there.

So, the manga starts into a new arc. This arc features Riseman Sawyer in the past. How he found a friend in a land of ferocious demons. How they travel in search for shelter and chanced upon Riseman's future wife Rosalie. Then, the focus shifts over to Rosalie. As I continued reading, I am introduced to Rosalie's character, her backstory, her own resolve in this mad world of magic. And it struck me. This manga is interesting! I am absorbed in reading the manga for the first time since its run! How is this- It's so weird! I found the manga bland when I first look into it but I some how stuck through it. Why did I stuck through it and why has it turned interesting at a drop of a chapter? Finally, after some thorough self reflection, I found the root of the problem. The cause of the Marry Grave's blandness is...

Riseman Sawyer.

Yup. My problem with Marry Grave is the manga's own protagonist. In the recent arc, Riseman was delegated to the support character in the background while Rosalie takes the center stage as the star of the arc. So what about Riseman cause this manga to go bland? Well, that's all down to his character. Riseman is a typical cookie cutter shounen protagonist... Beaten with a sledgehammer if stupid. Riseman is infuriatingly stupid. Right at the start of the manga, he is already acting as a child and a stupid one at that. Those exageratted faces just forces me out of the manga through cringe alone.

These faces just peeves me.

I've not started with his incompetence. He gets into all sorts of trouble that could be avoided if he wasn't so inept. It's not only that. I can handle some incompetence and Riseman's troubles are those that any normal person can fall victim to. In just that when Riseman is neck deep in a trap of his own making, he just put on a 'serious face' and solves the situation like a hero. ...Where did this badassery come from? Where did your incompetence go?! This stark contrast in character is just impossible and I can't help but get angry at him!

Lastly, the manga's structure made it even worse. With the format of multiple small story arcs, each centered around one location setting, all the characters and story invested in the arc are gone at the start of the next. Thus, the only anchor I have on the manga going forward is Riseman freaking Sawyer. How annoying is that?!

Okay, now that I identified the problem, it's time to reevaluate the manga in a new lens. And by golly, the manga really shines. Each chapter is well constructed, the scenes are wonderfully choreographed and little snippets that eludes to what comes in future pages is a pleasing addition. Some scenes feature some exposition, woven in the scene as the focus of the chapter and changing the dynamics of what the Deadman and its recipe is. Rereading the manga while noting how terrible a protagonist Riseman is has really changed my impression on it for the better.

So there you have it. When Riseman is removed from the spotlight, the manga's charm finally draws me in. Its charm had always been there. That's why I am still drawn to continue reading the manga despite being put off by its protagonist. The manga had been interesting all along. It's just that its protagonist, which is the face of the manga is downright terrible. Horrible, isn't it? A good manga marred by a terrible protagonist. Looking at it once more, I think that the manga has taken too many elements from the manga that inspire it.

Hidenori, you're lifting too much, man.. Still I’m reminded of the recent faces from that famous manga making their rounds on the internet.

Fortunately, the right people are taking notice. A tsukomi character is added as Riseman's travel companion to improve the manga. However, that only improved it a little and a terrible protagonist is a tough one to fix. Maybe that's the reason for this 'from the past' arc. Maybe Hidenori put this arc forward so he could rework and improve Riseman's character when the manga returns to its present timeline. This is pure speculation, but I'm willing to accept some improvement.

I mean.. If the bar is set so low, the only way is up.

So, I've decided to give this manga a good fighting chance and put out this recommendation. A good manga disfigured by a terrible protagonist. A perfect manga for Halloween! This manga is pretty good. Give it a good read. Who knows? You might not be bothered by Riseman Sawyer and will enjoy a good manga outright. Everyone have their own taste of characters after all.

Marry Grave. It’s my shounen recommendation for Halloween.

Also, if you’re looking for something more exciting, intense and mature, I’ve got you. I’ve prepared two Halloween manga recommendations, one for shounen and one for seinen! A supernatural seinen detective manga, Keyman: Hand of Judgement! A fair warning, it will knock you out with awe!