High school senior Akiharu Abe is tired of working through the summer at his family's temple. Desperate for some help with his chores, he accidentally invokes a spell from his deceased mother and summons... the demon Satan?!

Now, instead of catching a break, Akiharu is stuck with a clueless demon wreaking havoc at home and at school. And not only that, but Satan needs Akiharu to 'feed' him divine power with steamy kisses…

Better the Devil You Know Than the Devil You Don't Know has a story and art by KAPPE HOSHI. Translated by Katie Kimura and lettered by Vibrant Publishing Studio. Published by Tokyopop (October 20, 2026). Rated M.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

The winner of this manga guide's “Longest Title That's Not a Light Novel Adaptation” goes to…Better the Devil You Know Than the Devil You Don't Know! I'm not sure if it's actually the longest title, but it certainly is one of the most awkward; at the very least, that second “know” doesn't need to be there. But that's a bit symptomatic of the issues with this book as a whole: it's not entirely sure what we need to see on the page versus what we don't.

That is, however, an excessively negative way for me to start this review of what is, in general, a perfectly nice little supernatural BL love story. Akiharu Abe, whose last name and family shrine give away the fact that he has supernatural powers, accidentally summons Satan to help him with his chores. The very bemused devil agrees for the low, low price of Akiharu's life energy whenever Satan gets hungry. The two stumble towards falling in love, grappling with problems like “Satan can't do housework” and “Satan transfers into Akiharu's class.” (Hilariously, he does the latter with the name Satan Lucifer, which no one bats an eye at.)

Every time Satan gets hungry, he and Akiharu engage in some French kissing, which, as you may recall from the previous paragraph, drains Akiharu's energy. The decisions the two end up making in their quest to be together are sweet, but the major issue with the book is that it's only one volume. There's no real time to develop Akiharu and Satan's romance beyond the basics, and while it really is sweet, it could have been more given space to blossom. I'd also have liked to get more information about Akiharu's deceased mother and the family history, because that's key to the entire “accidentally summoning Satan” plotline, and the dribs and drabs we get aren't quite enough.

I'm not sure why I keep going negative with this review, because, again, it's a perfectly nice story. Hoshi has some trouble drawing Satan's wings (they look like cardboard), but he loses them soon enough in order to blend in, and the rest of the art is pleasant. By the end of the book, I really do want Akiharu and Satan to find a way to be together, and I love how chill Akiharu's dad is and that his friends are perfectly okay with Akiharu and Satan being a couple. I enjoyed reading this, but it really could have been more than just “nice.”

Bolts
Rating:

There's something really funny about a story that establishes a character is seemingly gifted with untold power, and yet he chooses to use it in one of the most mundane ways possible. When protagonist Akiharu Abe accidentally summons a demon, and he treats their presence with the same amount of convenience as hiring a new person to work at his shrine, I can't help but smile. There's a really nice sense of casualness to this setup despite the fantastical implications, but I think that's to the story's benefit. The best part about Better The Devil You Know is when the two leads are just sitting down talking. Even when they're opening up about darker things that they have to deal with, the relationship writing mostly stays clear of melodramatic territory. The best way I can describe a lot of the character moments in this book is by comparing them to those moments where I'm just hanging out with friends and we'd occasionally reveal something deeper about our past or families.

The problem with keeping things so casual though is that there isn't really a strong sense of stakes or conflict outside of the occasional bits of stubborn personality clashing. This means that the narrative will feel the need to ramp up the stakes out of nowhere for the sake of having a big emotional climax. The problem is that the shift in tone is not handled gracefully, happening way too quickly with very little buildup that would've justified it. Thankfully, the story establishes that more simple connection as a full-circle narrative point by the end; it's just an unnecessary fumble in an otherwise solid story. If you're a fan of demon boy romances, then I think this is a solid time for the most part. It might not get everything perfect, but I would give it more than a passing grade.