Abigaile no Kemono-tachi (Beasts of Abigaile)

Add to My List

Add to Favorites

Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Bara Kangoku no Kemono-tachi

Japanese: 薔薇監獄〈アビゲイル〉の獣たち

More titles

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 4

Chapters: 21

Status: Finished

Published: Sep 5, 2015 to Feb 6, 2018

Genres: Drama, Romance, Supernatural

Demographic: Shoujo

Serialization: Princess

Authors: Naki, Ringo (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 7.53¹ (scored by 1,271 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #2733²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #5702

Members: 3,699

Favorites: 85

7.53

Ranked #2733Popularity #5702Members 3,699

MangaPrincessNaki, Ringo (Story & Art)

Add to My List

Volumes: /4

Chapters: /21

Edit
Synopsis

Tsukishiro Nina has just arrived in the beautiful country of Ruberia, and its charming denizens and lush scenery are like a fairy tale come true. That is until she's beset by a mysterious young man with a steely gaze and furry wolf ears—who promptly bites her! Nina finds herself turning into one of these beasts of legend, and whisked away to the prison of Abigaile where all their kind are sent. Nina must keep her wits about her if she's to learn the secrets of this magical world where everyone either makes her blood boil or her young heart race!

(Source: Seven Seas Entertainment)

Edit
Background

Abigaile no Kemono-tachi was published in English as Beasts of Abigaile by Seven Seas Entertainment from June 27, 2017 to November 20, 2018.

More characters
Characters

Balfour, Roy

Main

Tsukishiro, Nina

Main

Poe

Supporting

Dario

Supporting

Gilles

Supporting

Reviews

Oct 12, 2019

Firechick12012

Recommended

Ah, wolves. They've been used in stories and media since the beginning of time. It's not hard to see why: Wolves are cool, scary, violent, and badass. Why do you think the famous fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood has stuck around for over hundreds of years? Lots of books, shows, and video games feature wolves in some capacity. Some manage to use them well, others...not so much. Regardless, wolves and even Little Red Riding Hood in general are many go-to inspirations for a lot of stories we know of today, Beasts of Abigaile being the most recent attempt to use both for the sake ... of its story. I have to admit, I had low expectations going into this one, and while I do feel some parts could have been explored more or done better, I really like this manga. I kinda wish I had read this when I was in middle school or high school, because it deals with themes of discrimination, classism, bullying, and kindness, something I and many others can really relate to, though whether you're able to handle the often melodramatic and even violent way it portrays them is another story. Yes, don't let the cutesy, sparkly shoujo style artwork fool you, because this manga is straight up violent!

The story centers around Nina Tsukishiro, a young Japanese girl who recently moved to the fictional European country of Ruberia to live with her aunt and uncle for a while. After having endured vicious bullying at her previous school, she's determined to start fresh and make the most out of her new life. But when an escaped convict from the prison fortress Abigaile bites her, she finds herself sprouting wolf ears and a tail! It turns out the convict, Roy, is part of a half-wolf, half-human race called the Luga, once the indigenous people of Ruberia. All Luga are imprisoned in Abigaile, hated, tortured, and abused for their very existence, and trained for a life of slavery under humans. Because Nina suddenly has wolf ears and a tail, thereby making her a Luga in appearance, she's shipped off to Abigaile and treated the same way as the other Lugas. It's a dog-eat-dog world here, and Nina has to do what she can in order to survive in this terrible place, which has plenty of its own ugly secrets under their rose gardens.

If you're expecting Beasts of Abigaile to be a cute, sweet, fluffy shoujo romp featuring cute girls and sexy bishie wolves (Though the manga does have them), this isn't the manga for you. Beasts of Abigaile is extremely dark and violent, both in its themes, atmosphere, and storytelling, especially when exploring the Luga, their hierarchy system, and how they're treated. The characters regularly get abused, beaten, tortured, whipped, ripped apart, or thrown in dungeons for things like disrupting class or even just because you're the weakest and smallest out of them. The Luga all act like wolves and the manga makes no attempt to sugarcoat or romanticize their behavior. The Luga form packs with strict hierarchical ranks, they fight for dominance, they rip each other apart, claws and fangs and all, blood is always shown without the slightest hint of censorship, and the Luga have an insatiable grudge against humans after the latter killed their families and enslaved them ten years before the story begins. All of this forms the entire back bone of the series, and it can get really intense at times. Even so, that's no reason to not check this manga out, because the story is extremely compelling and intense, often leaving you wondering what's going to happen next.

Plus, the art is still pretty stereotypically shoujo, with soft, sparkly, detailed eyes, everybody having poofy hair, the kid characters being cute chibis, and so on. There's lots of large eyes, soft lines and shading, and detailed backgrounds. The manga even has some characters have 70s shoujo style faces and Jojo faces during certain scenes, which make for some pretty cute comedy considering the intense nature of the story. But the mangaka also adds in some fairy tale references in the story, such as having some Lugas wear red hoods and carrying woven baskets when they're out and about picking flowers (Mostly in the first chapter), and there's a lot of rose imagery and motifs. The staff of Abigaile are all evil and predatory in their expressions and body language, and the staff are based on the woodcutter/huntsman in the original fairy tale. The fact that the Luga are subject to the huntsman is a good thematic twist on things.

I'm a little conflicted on the characters. Nina, the protagonist, is thankfully not your typical swooning shoujo girl who's one-note and whose only purpose is to be cute and get with the love interest. Nina is bold, brash, doesn't take crap from anyone, calls out bullcrap even though it gets her into trouble, and isn't going to let people walk all over her. She even willingly fights bullies and abusive teachers with her fists and karate skills. When was the last time a shoujo protagonist actually took control of her own situation and actively tries to fight against her oppressors? She's impulsive and reckless, so she gets herself and others into trouble a lot, which prevents her from becoming a one note Mary Sue. The other main character, Roy, I don't have the same praises for. He's pretty much the typical abusive love interest who hates Nina but at the same time wants to make her into his property, only showing bits and pieces of compassion near the end of the story. Since he's part wolf, it he gets quite physical with her, and I really couldn't bring myself to root for him. The other characters, such as his brother Giles, the omega Poe, and the crossdressing Lugas in Nina's pack fall somewhere in between. Honestly, I think Poe is the best character, and I think Nina should have been paired up with him, because out of all the characters in the story, not only is he the nicest and sweetest, every moment he has with Nina is really sweet, heartwarming, and adorable. Why couldn't he be the main love interest instead of Roy?!

My only other complaints about the manga are that the teachers and prison guards are all stereotypically mean and abusive with nothing else to them, save for one character, and...well, the manga's really short, only four volumes long. I really wanted to read more of this manga and learn more about the world the characters reside in and how the Luga originally came about. But even in light of that, the manga's still very good. The story's always moving at a steady pace, the characters are reasonably flawed but fun to follow, the twists are pretty well done, the art is nice to look at, and it really stands above a lot of the more cliche shoujo manga that plague the industry. I certainly like it.

Overall, if you want a genuinely engaging shoujo manga that doesn't make you want to vomit, try out Beasts of Abigaile if you can.

Open

Gift

Jul 1, 2020

verticalsea

Recommended

This series is only four volumes long which is a huge disappointment. The artwork is very pretty, and the plot starts off very strong. The heroine is everything you want from a strong shoujo heroine. She's thrown into a situation that she doesn't know how to handle, but she constantly does her best to protect others (with some good comedic failings and successes). I really enjoyed the first three volumes because they were well paced and kept my interest in all the characters.

I think the author was pressed to finish up the series too quickly. All the plot lines are hurriedly finished together in ...

Open

Gift

Feb 3, 2023

yuunyanshi

Not Recommended

The art is definitely a strong point in this series: it's adorable, with some funny unexpected style changes at times (shoujo Hokuto no Ken, anyone?).

The story has a good start, but maybe because of how short it is (4 volumes), in the end it falls flat. The first couple volumes are fine, but after that, things start going downhill and the last volume is so rushed it became a chaotic mess with a sorry attempt at wrapping up all plot points at the same time. There's romance, but since there wasn't enough time to develop the relationship between the characters, it feels incredibly forced and ...

Open

Gift

More stacks

Interest Stacks

Adaptations please pt 18

by Idk5008

49 Entries · 5 Restacks

Seven Seas Entertainment Shojo and Josei Manga part 1

by Kaoru-Mori-Stan

50 Entries · 4 Restacks

Adaptations please pt 17

by Idk5008

50 Entries · 3 Restacks

Recommendations

More news
Recent News

North American Anime & Manga Releases for November

Here are the North American anime & manga releases for November Week 1: November 6 - 12 Anime Releases Black Clover Part 2 Blu-ray & DVD Combo Galaxy Angel Z...read more

Nov 5, 2018 2:27 PM by Sakana-san | Discuss (7 comments)

North American Anime & Manga Releases for March

Here are the North American anime & manga releases for March Week 1: March 6 - 12 Anime Releases Bungou Stray Dogs Complete Collection Blu-ray & DVD Combo Bu...read more

Mar 5, 2018 11:45 AM by Sakana-san | Discuss (6 comments)

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion

Poll: Abigaile no Kemono-tachi Chapter 21 Discussion shawnofthedeadz - Nov 23, 2018	3 replies	by Omamori »» Dec 18, 2019 12:22 AM
Poll: Abigaile no Kemono-tachi Chapter 18 Discussion NarsiDevi - Jun 13, 2017	0 replies	by NarsiDevi »» Jun 13, 2017 10:50 AM
Poll: Abigaile no Kemono-tachi Chapter 1 Discussion Stark700 - Nov 12, 2016	1 replies	by xull »» Dec 1, 2016 7:32 PM

Abigaile no Kemono-tachi
Beasts of Abigaile
Edit

What would you like to edit?

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Edit
Synopsis

Edit
Background

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

More characters
Characters

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

More news
Recent News

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Abigaile no Kemono-tachiBeasts of Abigaile Edit What would you like to edit? SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

EditSynopsis

EditBackground

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

More charactersCharacters

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

More newsRecent News

More discussionsRecent Forum Discussion

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Abigaile no Kemono-tachi
Beasts of Abigaile
Edit

What would you like to edit?

Edit
Synopsis

Edit
Background

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

More characters
Characters

More news
Recent News

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion