Daiku no Magia

I picked this up from the library without knowing anything about it except that it looked like standard shonen fare. It turns out it isn't but it does have similar themes.

There's a high schooler whose parents were killed by a demon and now he wants to become an exorcist. He hunts down an eccentric man named Beethoven who runs a "church" (not a church, just a group of exorcists for hire) and tries to convince him to take him on as an apprentice. Beethoven says no, guy insists, gets hired as a cleaner with the implication that if he does well he could be an apprentice, yadda yadda. High schooler gets his own musician name at some point: Brahm. Everyone who is an exorcist has the name of a famous classical musician. There's a reason for this, but I'll leave it up to you to decide if you want to read the manga to find out.

Everyone is bishonen. There are battles sometimes, with lots of flowery visuals and musically-named attacks, but the story focuses more on the characters' relationships--all of whom are archetypes you'd find in a mediocre mid-2000s shoujo manga, despite this being from 2015--and is very obviously josei. But not particularly GOOD josei.

I will say that the art is nice and the music motif could potentially be very fun if it had more space to shine. However, at only 2 volumes, the story ends just as it's starting and I was left with multiple questions. On the bright side, the short length means that even though it's far from a masterpiece, it doesn't feel like a time sink to finish. If you just need something to do while waiting for the bus, this wouldn't be a bad choice.

Magia the Ninth

Get this, your favorite classical composers in a manga, featuring their famous compositions, fight against demons, and (SPOILER UNTIL *) not even have a proper ending.*

I think the author either likes classical music or just researched them and have them in a manga where classical music enthusiasts will enjoy them.

Well having well know composers like the 3 B, Liszt, Schumann, Schubert, and even a violin maker, Stradivarius, you know the author did some research.

At first, when they chant some words before they execute "Masterpieces", I felt that the author wants classical to not be an obscure taste.

The pieces the author chose are mostly the most famous works, with each varying stories, interpretations, and descriptions about the piece.

With that in mind, the pieces were limited. Look at Schubert, he only used Der Erlkonig throughout the entire series. Liszt only have Liebestraum. Brahms's Alto Rhapsody. And of course Beethoven has 4 because he's the . most famous composer, and he's the main protagonist.

Story-wise, young kid wants revenge and find a mentor, yeah.

Art, all of them are bishounen, because the target demographic are women so it's ok, but what is not okay, at least for me, is a WOMAN TCHAIKOVSKY. You could have choose one from the many female composers instead of gender bending.

Would I recommend you reading this? No, unless you just want to marvel at pretty boys, classical composers character, fantasy action, then I won't stop you.