Soul Rescue (ソウルレスキュー) is a Japanese fantasy action manga series written and illustrated by Aya Kanno. It was serialized in Hakusensha's shōjo manga magazine Hana to Yume from 2001 to 2002, with its chapters collected into two tankōbon volumes. Soul Rescue was published in English by Tokyopop; however, the rights to the series reverted to Hakusensha when Tokyopop closed its North American publishing division in 2011.

Plot

Renji is a rogue angel who seems to know only how to fight. God banishes Renji to earth for his recklessness. He can only return on one condition – if he is able to save ten thousand human souls. God sends an elite angel, Kaito, to watch over him and help him with his mission. Renji's abilities are dampened before his mission because his power would be too potent for earth. In order to save the ten thousand souls, God has granted Renji the power of Soul Rescue. This power enables him to relieve souls of emotional damage and heal physical damage. The power of Soul Rescue lies hidden somewhere within Renji, and he must find it in order to use it.

Characters

Volumes

Reception

Casey Brienza of Anime News Network gave the first volume an overall grade of C+. He noted that the series is "more shounen in its manifest narrative structure than it is shoujo", observing that this extends to the artwork, too, with "asymmetric panel layouts [that] are pretty cramped by shoujo manga standards and generally highlight the dynamic over the aesthetic." A. E. Sparrow of IGN agreed, stating that Soul Rescue "treads that fine line between shojo and shonen, providing plenty of bad boy angel prettiness with some rough and tumble action scenes." Sparrow concluded that while the first volume "doesn't really break any new ground in terms of art or the basic plot", its "likeable characters and solid writing and dialogue" make it a worthwhile read.