Is Ayashimon Worth Reading? Review & Where to Read

Quick facts
Format	Manga (shōnen), 25 chapters, 3 volumes
Run	2021–2022 · completed
Community score	AniList 6.3 · MangaUpdates 6.3
Content	Violence
Where to read	VIZ Media — official

Overview

Maruo Kaido spent his childhood copying the special training arcs from his favorite manga so thoroughly that he became inhumanly strong — strong enough to break rocks by age seven, and strong enough to easily flatten a gang of thugs who turn out to be ayashimon, shapeshifting yokai, when he steps in to save a girl named Urara. Impressed that a mere human could beat her pursuers so easily, Urara recruits Maruo as the first human member of her yakuza group, and the two get pulled into a turf war set off by the death of the supernatural underworld's chairman. Written and illustrated by Yuji Kaku — creator of Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku — Ayashimon ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from late 2021 to mid-2022 and is licensed in English by VIZ Media.

What it does well

The central joke here works because it commits to itself: Maruo isn't just strong, he's strong specifically because he trained like a manga protagonist, and now he gets to actually live inside a manga-style yakuza story. That self-aware framing gives even straightforward fight scenes an extra layer of fun, since Maruo keeps approaching mortal danger with the genre-savvy enthusiasm of someone getting to do the thing he always dreamed about.

The Maruo/Urara pairing is the other strong element. He has zero criminal instincts and no interest in actually running a gang; she's a sharp, capable yakuza heir with real stakes in the turf war. That mismatch generates easy, reliable comedy without needing to lean on either character being incompetent.

Kaku's action art is a clear strength too — fights stay legible even when the chaos ramps up, which tracks with the sharper, more acclaimed choreography in his other work.

Where it falls short

The biggest issue is simply how short the run is. At three volumes, Ayashimon barely has time to establish its yokai-yakuza world before it has to start wrapping up, and several side characters who look like they're being set up for bigger roles don't get the space to pay off. The rival gangs and the wider supernatural underworld stay mostly a backdrop rather than becoming a fully realized setting.

The central irony that powers the comedy — a human treating a life-or-death gang war like his favorite manga — is also strongest in the opening chapters and starts to repeat rather than deepen as the story goes on, since there simply isn't enough runway for it to evolve into something new.

Verdict

This is a fast, enthusiastic shonen action-comedy that gets real mileage out of its self-aware premise, even if its short three-volume run means it ends just as the world and cast start to feel like they could go somewhere bigger. Worth a quick read for the central gag and Kaku's action art, but don't expect it to build into anything more than that.