Independent Propaganda

THE ACADEMY DEMONSLAYERS

Review by ER Mixon

So I was surfing the web looking for some decent webcomics, as I often do and came across something interesting. Now what I’m about bring to your attention is by far not the best there is to be found but for what it is I think it is really good.  The Academy Demonslayers is a webcomic created by Sakinah D.Rasheed about, amazingly enough, an academy of demon slayers.  Now go read it immediately!   WHAT YOU WANT MORE… well, ok then, but only because I like you. 

 The story revolves around this academy I mentioned, a military school which teaches its students how to fight demons by using a power called Genji.  There are four students in particular that the series revolves around, Nezumi, Juste, Li, and Rook, each of whom have been paired off in two-man teams  which fight demons in order to win points with the school.  Anyway, the first  half of the series consists of the main characters going on various missions to kill demons, good stuff but it only gets really interesting toward the middle of the first volume. The plot thickens as mysterious characters enter the fold with their own agendas and as a new force neither demon nor human becomes a player.  This new threat is called a Pandora and all I can say is that at least two of the main characters seem to be able to transform into them. 

What I like about this series is mainly the story, which I think is well told and compelling. The character development was done well and the plotline continues to  bring surprises. There is a lot of action a number of good fights involving magic, demons and ninjas in a couple of cases. This is in my opinion one of the better web comics out there with only one thing against it. 

The one problem with this series is the art; it is very amateurish. It’s not bad, mind you, but it isn’t quite on a professional level either.  The first couple of chapters are by far the worst art-wise, however, the art does improve.  It seems to get better and better with each chapter and by the end of the first volume you really start to see the difference.  By the second volume of the series the art is a grade above, still not really professional quality, however, I suspect that by the end of volume two it will really be close.

Don’t get me wrong, I actually kind of like the amateur art style. It shows that with practice someone’s art skills can go from being slightly mediocre to being fairly decent.  However if you really don’t want to read something with amateur art you probably won’t like this.   On the other hand if you prefer an action packed story that lasts a good thirteen chapters, (and when I say chapters I mean full issues)   then you will love this. I know exactly how hard it can be to find a good lengthy web comic when you want to and if this is anything it’s that.  So if you care more about getting a good story and a lot of it then I recommend this one to you.    This is ER Mixon saying that The Academy Demonslayers is really worth the read if you can stand the art and that  Sakinah D. Rasheed is a rising talent we can expect to see great things from.

the earlier art

the middle art, little bit of an improvement

later art, a lot better

newest art: vastly improved