Of course, most of the josei we got this took the form of smutty ladicomi from Seven Seas such as this series, which itself is part of a wider trend of creatives trying to reframe the myth of Hades and Persephone into something more romantic and equitable.
DON'T HOLD BACK, LORD HADES (Gamanshinaide, Hades-Sama. Reikoku na Meiou no Junai wa Sokoshirenaihodo Fukakude, Omoi ), written by Foxies Busho with art by Clione. First published in 2022 and first published in North America in 2025.
PLOT:
Persephone is the youngest of the Greek gods and goddess, an eager-to-please newbie tasked with maintaining the gardens of Olympus. On the rare occasion a flower in this divine realm dies, it is whisked away by Hades, lord of the dead. This is how these two meet, and it is during this encounter that Eros plants his arrow into Hades at the command of Zeus himself. Hades hides himself away inside his dark realm to contain his overwhelming desire for Persephone. He could have never expected that she would take it upon herself to travel to his realm and offer herself freely in the name of ending his suffering.
STORY:
I'm all for creators taking Greek myths and giving them their own spin, and doubly so for the (surprisingly old) myth of Hades and Persephone. It's just that Don't Hold Back, Lord Hades spins the story so hard in the name of smut that it's barely recognizable.
The most obvious change is with Persephone herself. Here she is not the precious daughter of Demeter but merely just a newcomer who seemingly approaches everything with the attitude of an eager puppy. She takes to Hades mostly because he was the first person to pay her any attention and be nice to her, and in turn she more or less imprints on him even before the love arrows get involved. This has the happy side-effect of making her a actively consenting partner in this whole affair, even if in true ladicomi fashion she is also a virgin with zero concept of sex or desire all so she can be swept off her feet (literally and figuratively) in bed by Hades.
In comparison, this version of Hades is a gloomy dullard. There's some vague hints of some long-standing beef with his brother Zeus, but beyond that his character ends up revolving almost entirely around Persephone. You know he's poorly written when he is not the one making the case for Persephone to stay in the underworld but instead having Thanatos and Hypnos serving as his identical twin wingmen. It also gets kind of annoying how often he grumbles about not wanting to "sully" her purity, even when he's knuckle-deep inside her or Persephone actively wants to grab his dong and do some things for him.
So if there's no kidnapping and no Demeter to complicate things, what is stopping our lead couple from being together? The answer to this is twofold: cheap drama and dumb misunderstandings. For example, Persephone asks soon after their first coupling if she can return to her job, which leads Hades to throw a big pouty tantrum until his subordinates tell Persephone how nice he is, the two actually talk to one another, and then bone again. Then Zeus decides to try and sexually assault Persephone (never mind that in the actual myth, he's her father) while sealing off the only entrance to the underworld. This moment seemingly exists so the iconic image of Hades bursting through the earth to snatch Persephone away can be reframed as an act of romantic heroism instead of violence (which of course ends in - you guessed it - more sex). The second half of the book really does lay bare that Foxies Bushio put more thought into the smut than the story, and this imbalance throws off what should be nothing but fun, sexy vibes.
ART:
Some might call Clione's art lush and ornate, but personally I find this look obnoxious and overdesigned, the sort of thing I associate with the most indulgent excesses of gatcha games and otome visual novels. You can see it in the character designs, particularly those of the men. These are some good old-fashioned bishonen, complete with androgynous handsome faces seemingly locked in permanent half-lidded glances and tall, well-built bodies barely covered by the scant bits of fabric clinging to their torsos and hips. Even Eros gets in on the act, with a look that is heavily femboy-coded. Persephone's design is modest in comparison, with the face of a shojo heroine to contrast against a body built for sin.
You certainly see a lot of that body over the course of this book! While Clione avoids drawing anything racier than the suggestion of some folds, she's all too happy to splay Persephone's body all over the page at every angle possible as she blushes and writhes in ecstasy. We see far less of Hades's body, since he only seems to ever get fully naked for penetrative sex and is reluctant to let Persephone do anything to his body beyond one late, brief, cursory blow job. Even when the cast is not actively screwing, they are sensuously posing all over the panels, arching their backs and sinuously twisting their limbs and necks.
Clione refuses to leave even a little bit of negative space in this book. Any space not taken up by a body is full of flowing hair, vaguely Grecian patterns, plenty of squishy sound effects, flying fluids, and lovingly detailed flowers that tend to blossom during the most flirtatious or romantic moments. After a while it becomes overwhelming, a chaotic jumble that kills any potential this art ever had of being genuinely sexy.
RATING:
If you're in it just for the smut, you'll probably be fine. Otherwise, I would be more inclined to recommend the other Hades/Persephone comic published by Seven Seas.
This series is published by Seven Seas. This manga is complete in Japan with 4 volumes available. 1 volume has been released and is currently in print.
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