Phantom Seer Manga Had Insane Potential

The Phantom Seer manga is one of the first major disappointments from Shueisha’s editing department, as it’s a high-quality shounen manga that got axed relatively early in its publication cycle. Now, let me be clear. Phantom Seer isn’t changing the game. It isn’t reinventing the exorcist and supernatural genre. However, its brisk pacing, stunning horror imagery, solid writing, and very compelling characters make it stand out from the crowd. Alas, it didn’t stand out enough, as it ends VERY abruptly at chapter 30.

The Usual Exorcism Schenanegans

Right, let me quickly explain what’s going on in Phantom Seer. Our story revolves around Iori Katanagi, a shaman, and a girl he just met called Riku Aibetsu. The premise is very simple: Iori had a former Beckoning Hand (they are people who attract phantoms) sacrifice herself to save him. Now he meets Riku, who’s also a Beckoning Hand. Now, for some reason, Iori’s sister, Yayoi Katanagi (the most powerful shaman alive, btw), forces Iori to guard Riku. That’s how our story kicks off.

Riku wants to help people. She’s always had a sixth sense, which allowed her to save those around her from various supernatural accidents. Later on, she discovers her true nature, being a Beckoning Hand. She was the one causing those accidents to occur by attracting phantoms.

Now she’s coming to terms with her new ability and the realisation that she brought danger to people.

Iori was much like Riku before. But, due to that one girl’s sacrifice, Iori became the typical “I don’t wanna do this anymore” type of protagonist. He’s very traumatised from this experience, and it gets referenced very subtly throughout the chapters. Now, he plans to retire from all this supernatural crap. But, before he can leave the shaman world, he needs to exorcise the phantom that caused all that chaos and pain; Senjudoji, a cruel and sadistic phantom that takes the form of a little girl.

Iori and Riku, an Insanely Entertaining Duo

So the beginning and the plot aren’t all that special in the exorcism/supernatural genre. However, where this manga shines, compared to others in this field, is the writing. Iori is the protagonist, Riku is the deuteragonist. And the banter these two have is the most entertaining part of this manga. I’m not even kidding, it’s like you put Denji and Power, but they aren’t two completely psychotic idiots (which is also peak writing, don’t get me wrong), and they play off each other INSANELY well.

This manga has a TON of amazing humor, which is accompanied by the appropriate switch in art style to emphasize, well, basically Iori’s or Riku’s crashout. These two get on each other’s nerves CONSTANTLY, with Iori being a snake and always either using Riku as bait or by thrusting her face-first into danger because he doesn’t wanna bother with it, and Riku doing her best to be useful and ignoring Iori’s constant bitching and moaning.

But, besides just getting on each other’s nerves, these two are pillars of support for one another. Iori grows to care about Riku, and Riku wants to be there for Iori ever since she learned about his past. After all, Iori was the same as her; he was always going out of his way to help people. He has a good heart; it’s just that trauma forced him to put up a wall around it. Riku comes as the perfect wrecking ball to tear those walls down and help Iori embrace his true self once again.

Oh, the Horror

DO YOU KNOW WHAT EVERY EXORCIST OR SUPERNATURAL MANGA NEEDS? SOME FREAKING HORROR. That’s right, if you’re diving into the eerie and the creepy, I WANT TO SEE IT. Many exorcism manga don’t make their ghosts and ghouls scary and creepy. Which I hate, as that’s one of the best additions to my battle shounen, a touch of those jump scare panels, some ghoulishly terrifying creature design, you know, the usual for such a world. Maybe even thrown in some horror sequences that send a chill down your spine? Yeah, the Phantom Seer manga understands that perfectly.

There are numerous jump scares and remarkably chilling designs. Most of the phantoms the gang encounters look and act like actual ghosts. Some even made me think about keeping the light on while I sleep, as their scenes invaded my brain with truly HAUNTING panels. They were structured very well, the art accompanying them is OUT OF THIS WORLD, which is very helpful when showing scary ass creatures that are also not of this world!

The horror isn’t shown only through the phantoms and their scary design. Our main antagonist, Senjudoji, is a real threat. Being someone who almost killed Iori before also adds to that menacing aura and status, especially since we know how strong Iori is. That and her desire to merge with living flesh for some unknown reason add to the air of mystery and dread surrounding this villain. Senjudoji is the mad scientist/mad God type, and her followers reflect that perfectly. This villain’s potential is immense, but we never got to see her plan fully manifest, and we never find out why she wants to merge with a living human.

Why Did Phantom Seer Get Canceled?

As always, the most promising series introduced in the Shounen Jump magazine gets axed due to low popularity and declining reader rankings. Shueisha editors are ruthless, especially so before the new editor took over, so if your new manga wasn’t getting some crazy numbers, it’s over, you’ve lost. And the readers remain forever frustrated, but there’s nothing you can do. The rankings in Japan dictate what survives and what dies. That’s how we lost Phatom Seer, who at least got a bit more life than something like No\Name, that died very soon after it launched.

We don’t have any way to support the author from overseas, so most of them get their work cut short. The Phantom Seer manga had potential; it has a good set-up for the story and its main villain, it has gorgeous art, and most of all, Iori and Riku are two super entertaining protagonists.

This is an exorcism shounen with the perfect amount of explosive action, organic humor, and very solid world-building and character progression. Compared to today’s exorcist series that are STILL RUNNING (I’m looking at you, Nue’s Exorcist,) which are, by all standards, absolute fast food shounen trash, the axing of Phantom Seer just doesn’t make any sense. But when did any of the axes make sense in this magazine?

Where To Read the Phantom Seer Manga?

As always, the Manga+ app offers a very cheap subscription that lets you read many of its axed titles. You can read a couple of chapters of Phantom Seer on your browser as well, but the rest of it is only available through the app. Check out more of our manga reviews here, and if you’re looking for some anime recommendations, we have those as well.