Working For God In A Godless World TP Vol 01 Review

 

Writer: Aoi Akashiro

Artist: Sonsho Hangetsuban

Translators: Motoko Tamamuro & Jonathan Clements

Letterer: Ayoub Bensidi

Publisher: Titan Manga

Price: $12.99

Release Date: December 18, 2024

 

Yukito Urabe doesn’t want to be the next leader of the Religion Of Divine Land Worship. But that won’t prevent his father, Worship Leader Soichiro Urabe, from propelling him toward destiny. Will Yukito lead his father’s cult in the decades ahead? Or will his father sacrifice him to his God? Let's grab our Magatama beads, leap into Working For God In A Godless World TP Vol 01, and find out!

 

Story

In Aoi Akashiro's story, Soichiro Urabe packs his son in a drum, and his followers hurl Yukito into the sea. There is no cause for worry. Yukito will drown, but Lord Mitama is omnipotent. After three days, Mitama will raise Yukito from the dead and thus prepare him to succeed his father as the sect's next leader. But Yukito is fed up. He has grown up without friends and force-fed a religion he disbelieves in. So, as he sinks into the sea, Yukito wishes that in the afterlife, he awakens somewhere with no beliefs, religion, or God.

 

To Yukito’s surprise, he washes ashore near a village. Little Alural wished for a friend and found Yukito. Siluril, her older sister, runs a tavern. Yukito lives with the girls. He spends his days drinking and accompanying Roy on his crazy adventures.

 

Yukito’s idyll hits the skids in Working For God In A Godless World TP Vol 01 when Roy has another brilliant idea. Once a month, the girls travel to the capital city to replenish their supplies. Roy has heard of a shop there that has a forbidden book about sex. Although Yukito grew up in a cult, he doesn't share his friends' hangups about pornography. He accompanies Roy and the girls anyway, unworried by what he will discover.

 

Seeing the book causes more trouble than titillation. But grief follows when Yukito discovers Roy, Alural, and Siluril's secret. Their land has two kinds of people. Most willingly die at the emperor’s command. The rest, like those in Alural, Siluril, and Roy’s village, fear death. For this crime, they are declared outcasts. When the teens observe an End Of Life announcement, Roy’s brand edges above his shirt collar. The locals, offended by the Defectives’ presence, complain, and the authorities issue execution orders for Alural and Siluril.

 

When Yukito attempts to defend the girls, the executioners willingly include him in the ceremony. Then Yukito gets the surprise of his life, as Lord Mitama comes to his rescue. But after expending her powers, Mitama needs to recharge them. As His Holiness Terry Pratchett covered in his religious text, Small Gods, belief empowers deities. But how can Mitama protect Yukito, his friends, and their village when no one believes in a god?

 

Art

His father shouts as muscular, bald followers carry Yukito in a barrel. Like a bodybuilder draped with a stole and a beaded necklace, Soichiro Urabe declares Lord Mitama's greatness. After Yukito sinks into a black abyss, he drinks from a wooden tankard with Roy and Siluril. Little Alural brings them food and remembers covering her mouth upon finding Yukito on the shore.

 

The friends pass the stalls in the capital city and enter a shop filled with clay jars. Roy and Siluril peer over Yukito’s shoulders in Working For God In A Godless World TP Vol 01. As Yukito studies a picture of a man making love to a woman, wide-eyed Alural slams shut a book she was reading. Sonsho Hangetsuban shows the kids leave the shop as silhouettes gather to hear a list of names.

 

Ayoub Bensidi casts comic-size uppercase black letters into dialogue balloons. Words grow bold for emphasis and swell for volume. Heightened emotional dialogue fills thorny balloons as Yukito gains new respect for his father's accomplishments. Sound effects enliven attempts at seduction, tragic deaths, and a god's appearance. Lord Mitama speaks words into cloudy balloons as she embraces Yukito. Did I mention Yukito's God manifests as a girl even younger than Alural? That'll make it easy for Yukito to convince the locals that she can protect them! Thanks to Titan Manga for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

When Yukito is reborn in a world lacking religious beliefs, he tries to protect his new friends by starting a religion. As the story compares religion with popular culture and social media, Working For God In A Godless World TP Vol 01 ushers readers into a world where fear is treason, and sex change is a form of cleansing.

 

Rating 9/10 

 

To look inside see my preview at The Dragon's Cache.