User:FanOfAniManga

Hey Wikians. My username is FanOfAniManga, or FOAM for short. As you can tell by my username, I'm a fan of anime and manga series.

I mainly like to work on anime and manga-related Wikis on smaller series that I personally like and think have the potential to become extremely popular. Searching for other manga/anime series to keep myself entertained besides just Bleach after many years, I've chosen Beelzebub as one of them, the other being Nurarihyon no Mago.

My Thoughts on Beelzebub
Last Updated: February 4, 2014

Back in 2010, the title of this manga series, Beelzebub, caught my eye. I immediately thought of how awesome this series could turn out to be right from the title. And so I started reading the manga series. Before I knew it, I was lulled with its spectacular mix of action and comedy within a developing storyline from the beginning to the present, and, like Bleach, a wide variety of characters with many unique traits, which I love to see.

The anime was okay, though I REALLY wish the anime staff started it at least a year later than they did because they ended up running out of material from the manga to adapt and resorting to lots of filler material to lengthen the anime. Despite all that, however, the anime somehow came to be extremely popular in Japan, even comparing to the likes of One Piece and Naruto. Unfortunately, by starting an anime adaptation so early, it had to end early too, but overall, I'm grateful the adaptation ever existed.

Unfortunately, time had not been as kind on this series as I had hoped. I had hoped this series would've developed better, but it's certainly fallen apart and met its match. Since the downfall of Akumano Academy, Tamura shifted from developing the story to focus exclusively on one-time gags. By doing so, he basically abandoned whatever identity the story had at the first 140 or so chapters. And it was a strong identity to start off with because he put some deep thought into organizing the story, from the culture clash between the Yankees and the private school elites, to the hierarchies of Behemoth's Pillar Squad, to the implied foreshadowings involving characters like Athrun and Natsume.

Even Akumano Academy was a bit lacklustre. What should've been an opportunity to develop Behemoth's Pillar Squad instead became a truncated arc leading up to an even more truncated boss battle with Jabberwock, as if he was rushing to stray from developing the story.

Afterwards, it became a random plethora of unrelated storylines all stitched together at random with no flow, from the skirmish in Okinawa, to San Marx, to the Christmas competition, and beyond. The chapters that should've been spent building on the denizens of the Demon World get thrown aside for a series of miniarcs that may have appealed to readers and editors in the short-term, but cannot sustain long-term storytelling.

In fact, I believe Oga facing the Killer Six Elements is a perfect metaphor of the series facing competition from new series in the Weekly Shonen Jump lineup. I'm guessing Tamura was trying to market his own as a "jack-of-all-trades" series, hence the randomness after Akumano. Unfortunately, it succumbed easily to becoming "master-of-none" compared to the onset of newer and more popular romcom, sports, gag and action manga, thus never being able to regain the popularity it once had when it began.

According to the Weekly Shonen Jump Table of Contents, the series appealed better to the readers and editors whenever the manga focused more on gags and less on developing the story. However, this would serve to damage the progress of the main story to the point that it could not return to it without becoming so contrived. And by the time the manga inevitably returned to focus on its story starting with the Killer Six Elements, it was too little too late; the serious story had became too neglected for readers to care anymore. It's a real shame because I strongly believe the storyline could've expanded a lot better while still maintaining reader and editorial interest. Instead, we get the ONE metaphor of the very problem the series has had through years of neglecting the main storyline: Fuji.

Up until he was introduced, there had been absolutely NO buildup regarding Fuji and Satan. Unlike any of the past antagonists we've seen, there had also been zero indication of Fuji's presence, not even a partial face reveal. All we had been given was his silhouette from many chapters ago, which up until Oga came back to Japan, was used repeatedly, and if Takamiya had taught us, gives little indication of his true appearance, thus showing how little planning Tamura put into Fuji and how much he had procrastinated from planning. Heck, he never bothered giving Fuji a first name after his "big" reveal, as with all the other major antagonists.

Fuji and Satan's eventual appearance is one of the biggest letdowns I've ever read in any storyline. They're so lacking in character, constantly preaching how they've been so isolated all their lives, thus they need to destroy the world, which is one of the stupidest motives of an antagonist I've ever seen in a storyline. And it's not just their own personalities they're screwing over by being so flat, but the entire series. By having zero motivation to put up any fight, it completely destroys whatever identity the series had altogether; a zany protagonist going against a bunch of zany, charismatic antagonists who prefer to fight like gentlemen as opposed to just conquering the protagonist's life straight away. The characters weren't the only thing that turned into stone upon Fuji's arrival, but the manga itself. It became so stale and unappealing, I began to wish this manga would end as soon as possible, not that I think Tamura would necessarily disagree, given how much he rushed Akumano Academy.

With all that said, for what the series was worth, it was fun following along Beelzebub all these years, and I hope Tamura comes back with something bigger and better. Along with Nurarihyon no Mago, it's also what started me off on my Wiki editing journey.

As I found this Wiki abandoned, I adopted it so I could better organize it. Although the series has concluded, I'll still be visiting this Wiki on a regular basis for maintenance and updates. I also look to develop Wikis of new, potentially groundbreaking series to the same standard as those of well-established Wikis of manga/anime series.

Help us contribute!