INNOCENT

DESCRIPTION

CAST

CHAPTERS

MANGA DramaInnocent Rouge

REVIEWS

• 

  JOBEY

  40/100
  I am in love with Marie-Joseph.

  History (4/10):
  On the edge of the French Revolution from the point of view of the family of executioners in the service of Paris.
  The premise is quite good, not any historical manga comes to touch this issue and more from the original point of view that is from the Sanson family, known very well in French history as the death angels that brought bad luck to those who They were surrounded, Innocent begins telling the story long before the French Revolution exploded based mainly on who will be the protagonist of the story "Charles-Henri Sanson" from the beginning hating the family office to become the head of the family, although the manga is not 100% true to the story and has original content from the author but still maintains the main events and strongly realistic setting of what is the dark era of France that consists of everything dark, depraved, bloodthirsty, sexual and cruel that was the time .. Although, history follows the main events and is preparing things for the French revolution is when the problems begin more of the same manga, first presents characters that seem "important" to never show them again in the remainder of the manga (there are many examples but I will cite one specifically that would be "the son of Damiens"), the manga also love to present historical figures of that time every time but also return to the same to present them for a single moment in specific and never show them again in the remainder of this manga, do not close any plot-point in the whole manga just to leave it in the sequel, the last time skip in which the manga participates before finishing is the accumulation of all the problems that before indicated and more by the fact that the participation of Charles is relieved by giving camera to Maria Anttoinette that in itself not It's bad that but she's pretty boring when she has focus protagonist.
  For the cake cherry the last 10 chapters are those that transform the manga a "Clusterfuck" presenting a character that in the 99 chapters we had never seen and tell us that it is the love of all life of Marie, shortly after appears to the next chapter everything that had been achieved is destroyed and end up killing to leave it in cliffhanger in the last chapter .. Pretty fucking shit

  Characters (5/10)
  I mention it right here, the only character that is genuinely good is Charles, has a very good development since its inception with ideals of his youth hating the work of his family to the point of becoming like his father, all the moments in which he stars the scenes are the best thing that has to offer "Innocent" from then on is also Marie who is justified that is a shitty personality and her actions that take course in the story have meaning around breaking the stigma of her family, here the problem with Marie is that her character in the last time skip her personality reaches a maximum point of being annoying, when she was still a girl you can enjoy her participation in the protagonist focus but when she reaches adulthood she becomes the worst character in the manga, not I mention all the other characters because they have no relevance except Maria Antoniette but her appearance is until the last part of the manga, hence nobody else matters

  Art (10/10).
  I will not extend, I'll say it simple and concise, art is the best aspect of the manga and the author has an excellent use of panneling as well as his visual metaphors

  Enjoyment (7/10).
  Enjoyable and interesting experience, it is an entertaining manga although I would not recommend it and more because you have to swallow all the open plot points and the horrible ending to read the sequel that closes all

  Overall (4/10).
  It is a manga that leaves everything for the next part without concluding anything and that the only good thing is its protagonist and the realistic setting

  Continue on AniList
• 

  TheRealAms

  75/100
  Flawed but Beautiful Work of Historical Fiction

  Innocent is a completed post 2010 manga based on the French Revolution and the events leading up to it from the perspective of the executioner of Paris, Charles Henri Sanson written and drawn by the critically accaimed mangaka, Shinichi Sakamoto who's other work included "The Climber". French Revolution isnt an original setting in anime/manga. Its been done before by a better author but this work has a lot of value to offer in its perspective, tone and art which we'll look at this review.

  Art, Atmosphere and Visual Symbolism

  I'd like to start of with the art and visual symbolism first because this where I believe Shinichi Sakamoto shines the best. His art is really gorgeous and has a photographic realism to it. It does a fantastic job in setting the dark, gritty and mature tone and atmosphere of the entire manga. Every page looks beautiful and from a purely artistic point of view it might be among the other great Historical manga such as Vagabond and Vinland Saga. Whats more impressive about his art is how he does his visual symbolism. They're all done in an amazing, nuanced and at times disturbing and creepy ways that you cannot help but be awed by Sakamoto-sensei's visual prose.

  However, the art in my honest opinion the art can become a double edged sword at times. While its aesthetic and shiny, sometimes it feels like his art is dead. The characters feel like dolls with four different expressions. But overall the art is fantastic and adds a lot of value to the series in presenting its tone, atmosphere and beauty of the manga.

  Setting, Story and Characters

  Its based on the first major and regarded by historians as the greatest revolution in history - The French Revolution and the events leading up to it. Its a setting that has various interpretations by historians and Historical fiction authors alike, even in the medium of anime and manga alike. There have been other manga such as Rose of Versailles (A masterpiece) and Marie Antoinette. Innocent stands itself apart from the rest of these manga in how it portrays its events. Its a dark, brutal, negative and a harsh representation of 1970s France and Paris. The story follows a kind hearted boy born into the family of executioners of Paris and its his journey of being this coldblooded executioner who has to do his job of killing men, women and chidren alike with impartiality.

  The story does a pretty good job both telling a good story about the journey of young executioners while also paralleling actual historical events fairly faithfully. However its not perfect. The story loses its coherence in the middle of its narrative, it becomes unnatural at times and it feels like we've missed something important that the narrative needed. Moreover, the series at times is too hell bent on pushing sex and the mature part into the story just for the sake of being edgy. Some aspects of it tie really well with the characters and their development but by the time a dildo came up I couldn't take a lot of it seriously.

  The character development of the protagonist is all over the place as well. The character development in the first half is amazing and starts off super strong but it then loses its direction mid way through the story in the manga. The protagonist changes in a very disappointing way. It's like the author tried making this sweet character into his harsh historical counterpart without the actual care & nuance needed for development. We aren't given a proper nuanced look into how his values change but a few tropey ones. Which is a legit criticism but the positive that comes with it is that it focuses on a different character in the second half of the story for the most part who's really well written and a great foil to the MC but it comes with the cost of mediocre off screen character development of the protagonist.

  Conclusion

  Innocent is very good and enjoyable manga with really strong highs with breathtaking art and visual imagery, and an interesting journey for the protagonist that falls of after the mid portion of the story. Its a manga with very high highs, and very low lows. Its a must read for people looking for a manga that can never get a proper anime adaptation and people looking for a mature historical manga without weeb-ey tropes that insult a reader's intelligence. Its not a perfect series, it has multiple flaws but its still a great manga reading experience.

  75/100

  Continue on AniList
• 

  geovannyboss

  65/100
  manga could not use its potential well

  Japanese authors may sometimes have a weird perspective on European history, be it Middle Ages, Queen Victoria's ruling, or introduction to French Revolution.

  Ironically, the downfall of this manga is caused by its indulgence and excess--the very things it portrays as leading to the downfall of the French aristocracy. You see, especially in the latter half, it indulges in symbolic and metaphorical pictures, as well as snapshots of potential futures or poetic representations of events. (I noticed at least twice when they had characters presumably singing their internal thoughts). All that means that each chapter has very little actual content.

  The character of Mary from a free-falling sociopath becomes some sort of analysis on gender roles, LGBT history in 18th century france, polyamory, racial discrimination all in the span of 10-20 chapters. It's so on the nose it's almost funny.

  Charles had a slow transition into the character of his father that went slipping down at the speed of light as soon as the author decided to focus on Mary, all she has to do is drop random quirks about how he changed as he whines about family obligations.

  He tortures his own son. His opposition to torture set the basis of his character from the beginning, it defined his values and worldview to the point where he was ready to topple the seemingly endless power of his grandmother. It led to his liberal sympathies. it was the central reason he didn't want to kill people violently, which was what would have led him to seek out the guilottine.

  The reader is never given any reason as to why he changed, he just did. There's two comments about the world being rough and how raising kids made Charles more conscious of his family. Which could certainly be explored as a reason for him to enjoin with the system. But here it's a magical incantation that transforms him from a grey, morally tormented character one page into a saturday cartoon villain the next. Replete with last minute d'oh moments as his dastardly plan to have his sister married is befuzzled scooby-doo style.

  Everybody gets simplified, flanderized, almost a caricature. At the start it was beautiful, and read almost like a novel. The father, grandmother, uncle were all "villains" but were given ample space to prove that they had a 3-dimensional personality and were acting out of selfless motives but constrained within a hierarchical system that forced them to participate in violence, which hurt them as much as the victim.

  When father Sanson tortured Charles. He acted out of a belief that the firstborn must inherit the family business, and therefore has to be strong in character to take a life. Something that can only be achieved by getting one accustomed to violence. Said torture also had a secondary purpose of forcing compliance with the unreasonable demands of his family, such as the inheritance itself. He knew it was painful for the son, but justified it by claiming that his son was his flesh and blood and an extension of him. Despite voluntarily participating in child torture, he is a victim as well.
  What could be done to fix this?

  Removing constricting family institutions, authoritarian systems, class-based understandings of occupation, societal acceptance of child violence, patriarchal norms. For there to be no Jean, the whole political, economic and cultural landscape has to be changed from the grounds up.

  When a bunch of white french aristocrats attack a half-black french noble for being mixed, then burn down his orphanage with the children still inside, provoke him to a fight, kill him and publically leave their family emblem in his body. They did it because they were assholes of comedic proportions. Even with all the discrimination present in pre-revolutionary france, burning down an entire orphanage wasn't something people laughed off.
  What could be done to fix this?
  "Literally, like, stop being evil. "
  That's all the message there is. No compulsion from a higher system, no psychological explanation for their actions. The reason they burned kids alive was because they wanted to burn kids alive. The way to stop them from burning kids alive is for them to stop burning kids alive.

  The art is admittedly well-drawn. Though, to be honest, it might be too ornate. The lips are overly lush and shiny. The backgrounds are grainy and at times there's too much going on, making it hard to focus on the relevant details. Also, sometimes characters' eyes look badly placed on their faces--like they're just tacked on. But even if the art was perfect, that wouldn't justify adding needless pictures. If this manga had trimmed all its padding and perhaps been only about half as long, it would've had the potential to be a masterpiece.

  The last half of the manga introduces Marie Antoinette into the storyline and begins setting the stage for the events which lead into the French Revolution. But that's all that it's doing: setting the stage. The entire last half doesn't really feel like it has much purpose other than acting like a prequel for the next manga.

  Continue on AniList

SIMILAR MANGAS YOU MAY LIKE

• MANGA

  AdventureKokou no Hito
• MANGA

  ActionBerserk
• MANGA

  DramaVersailles no Bara
• MANGA

  DramaDeath Sweeper
• MANGA

  ActionVagabond
• MANGA

  ActionChevalier
• MANGA

  DramaAisha
• MANGA

  Horror#DRCL midnight children
• MANGA

  ActionBaraou no Souretsu
• MANGA

  DramaTheseus no Fune
• MANGA

  ActionVanitas no Carte
• MANGA

  HorrorAkai Kiri no Naka kara