A quick note at the start, I have only read 10 chapters of this manga up to this point as that's all that I can find currently. So this will be more of a first impressions rather than a review. That being said lets begin.

Shitsurakuen is a rather strange manga that I've had a hard time deciding whether I actually like it or not. The premise is pretty original (in a ways) and the characters seem likable enough, but something in the back of my mind keeps telling me I shouldn't be liking this. It is kind of hard for me to put my finger on what this nagging feeling is but if I had to sum it up in one word, I would say sexism (but not really...). Let me explain... This manga is aimed at men, and one can easily buy that. There is a quite a bit of sex appeal (and a slight air of lesbianism), a lot of action and fighting in tow. But, at the same time, the book also does everything it can to make men look like scum, and you kind of wonder how men can read this without feeling a little offended. I'm serious, I take some offense to how this manga portrays men. I know its not a huge deal, but every single man except for a social inept loser and a tall quiet guy, are completely evil sadists. Now Shitsurakuen does a pretty decent job of setting up the pretense that men have been brought up into this life style and that anyone would act this way in the given situation, but I always find it annoying when the one guy I am supposed to relate with is completely devoid of a social life. That aside, I really don't care too much about the depiction of men because it could be easily replaced with an evil empire and it would work exactly the same, Men are just used as a plot convenient evil for the protagonist to overcome. Thus the manga isn't especially sexist, it just uses it as a strange way of creating conflict.

Ok, well with that rant out've the way, the story really isn't that special. As I said, it's essentially a lone hero vs. a huge evil organization (men), all in the name to protect and save the weak and less fortunate that the organization tries to abuse (women). Its a simple shounen plot thats easy to get behind and enjoy, so its worth it for the most part to read on that aspect. The characters are interesting enough, all pretty cliche in their own right, but enjoyable to watch. Sora, the protagonist, is probably the most interesting of the bunch as she is essentially the stereotypical male protagonist of this kind of manga, only in a woman's body. She's kinda like a female robin hood, if robin hood were a bit more of an idiot and bit less witty. Again, like the plot, the characters are decent but pretty forgettable in the long run.

Now, as far as I can tell, this is the author's (Naomura Tooru) only work and as a first time project I can say that its pretty well done. The plot and characters are all straight from the book, with only a slight twist that the author added, but that's probably how one should always start writing, and I can commend them for that. This manga isn't great, but it has promise and i think with a bit of hard work out of Tooru, we may see some good things come out of it.

Overall, as an action manga, it isn't exactly great. I doubt many people would ever put something like this in their top ten, and really can complain about a lot of things. But overall if you like basic action as a whole, this will be familiar ground, and still enjoyable enough to check out. So I will end with saying, check it out, but I won't blame ya if you give it up after so long.