Hoshi no Samidare (Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer)

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Wakusei no Samidare, Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer, Lucifer BH

Japanese: 惑星のさみだれ

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Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 10

Chapters: 65

Status: Finished

Published: Jun 30, 2005 to Aug 30, 2010

Genres: Action, Supernatural, Suspense

Theme: Psychological

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Young King OURs GH

Authors: Mizukami, Satoshi (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.31¹ (scored by 22,905 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #298²

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

Popularity: #285

Members: 59,899

Favorites: 3,188

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Wikipedia

8.31

Ranked #298Popularity #285Members 59,899

MangaYoung King OURs GHMizukami, Satoshi (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /10

Chapters: /65

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Synopsis

One day, college student Yuuhi Amamiya is approached by talking lizard Sir Noi Crezant. Crezant immediately launches into a fantastical story: the powerful mage Animus intends to destroy the Earth with his Biscuit Hammer, a huge contraption looming high in Earth's orbit. Earth's only hope lies with the princess and her Beast Knights, whose task is to protect the princess and defeat Animus.

Yuuhi is chosen as the Lizard Beast Knight, and despite his misgivings, is quickly forced to defend himself from a golem created by the mage. He is saved by his neighbor, the princess Samidare Asahina, and swears loyalty to her. However, the princess does not intend to save the Earth at all. She lets Yuuhi in on her real motivations: to prevent Animus from destroying the Earth, only to then annihilate the planet by her own hand. The pair continue to fight off attacks by Animus' golems while the remaining Beast Knights are slowly being gathered and learning to use their powers. As he grows closer to Asahina, Yuuhi will have to decide for himself whether to go along with her plans or to save the Earth. In the process, he must also confront his true self and determine where his loyalties truly lie.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Hoshi no Samidare was published in English as Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer by Seven Seas Entertainment as 2-in-1 omnibus volumes from November 4, 2014, to November 24, 2015. It was also released in Brazilian Portuguese by Editora JBC from June 2014 to March 2015.

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Characters

Amamiya, Yuuhi

Main

Asahina, Samidare

Main

Shinonome, Hangetsu

Supporting

Crezant, Noi

Supporting

Shinonome, Mikazuki

Supporting

Animus

Supporting

Akane, Taiyou

Supporting

Shimaki, Hyou

Supporting

Akitani, Inachika

Supporting

Kusakabe, Tarou

Supporting

Reviews

Sep 28, 2010

Archaeon

Recommended

What makes a good story? For many people the answer to that question is very simple - enjoyment. For some though, enjoyment is only part of the equation. Originality, innovation, technique, development and visualisation are all integral aspects of the storyteller's art, and even though there are tales that utilise themes, plots and settings that are already prominent in manga and anime (school based romantic comedies for example), the application of these techniques can turn something mundane into something very, very different.

Wakusei no Samidare (or, The Lucifer and The Biscuit Hammer - although a more literal translation of 惑星のさみだれ might be Planet Samidare or Samidare's ...

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Jul 3, 2022

SanaeK10

Mixed Feelings

I'm not the biggest battle action manga person, but I do appreciate a good battle series every now and then. The heart pumping action where a group of heroes defeat the impossible and save the world, it's usually a fun romp every now and then. As an anime adaptation was announced for this "must-read" manga, I decided to finally give this manga a read seeing as the PVs for the 15-year late adaptation look dreadful. What did I thought of it?

It was fine. No really, if you like battle shounen (this is a seinen manga btw) or the like, you will enjoy this a considerable ...

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Oct 20, 2024

Manjirin

Not Recommended

Preliminary (23/65 eps)

I generally try to avoid dropping a series, especially relatively short completed works, if for no other reason than being able to conduct a complete end-to-end review and better understand why I didn't like the work if that happens to be the case. This title however did me in. Upon completing the third volume (23 chapters in) I refuse to push on any further. This came after efforts to resist the desire to end the slog, a feeling that I had been fighting since the start of the first chapter.

The manga drops you in totally dazed and confused as to who these characters are, what's ... actually going on, why it's happening and most importantly why you as the reader should care. You are given sparse information identifying the characters by their names and titles but you can't help but feel that you are missing out on quite a lot, like you are starting a TV series from the third season instead of the first. Like somehow 70% of the background knowledge and information is missing or being intentionally withheld from you. I understand some authors want to keep things light on exposition but I feel keeping the reader in the dark to this extent is a bit ridiculous. The world building 20+ chapters in is almost entirely nonexistent. The premise and the main dilemma are left vague and whenever it comes up again in the story no new information is gleaned or discovered. Character motivations are not properly established or conveyed to the reader; so many things that happen just beg for you to "just go with it".

There is practically nothing about this series that is notable, interesting or likeable. The main character is not merely unlikeable, he's totally hollow and undefined. His "tragic backstory" is exceedingly contrived and not properly connected back to the main story and as such does not serve to really explain why he is suddenly swearing unwavering fealty to this princess he just met; the reader is left to imagine his motivations and fill in those blanks themselves in a sort of guessing game.

The FL is introduced as this apparently all-powerful "princess" (also being bizarrely referred to as "Lucifer") and beyond that she has almost no personality other than being very determined and somewhat bossy. Some of the supporting characters have more in the way of personality and charisma but they are repeatedly overshadowed and swept aside by the continuous recentering on the two main characters who you as the reader are still left lost as to why they are important and why they are important to each other.

Towards the end of the third volume characters upon characters are introduced as "such and such knight", one presuming that this is now finally leading to some kind of proper expository setup, transitioning into the real story in earnest from the end of this sort of slice-of-life prologue but what you are presented with is the most stilted, flatly delivered generic speech from the princess which adds nothing to the story and only confirmed my fears that the author kept these pesky worldbuilding details and character motivations vague because apparently either nothing came to their mind and/or they didn't feel it was necessary for the story or reading experience.

I'm someone who generally likes to know why a world ending cataclysmic event is about to take place, what a princess has to do with it, what is she a princess of, who bestowed these titles of "princess" and "knight", what are these knights, why are the various beasts relevant or significant to them being knights, and easily a dozen other gaps in the plot but that's just me.

It's important for me to point out that some stories can overcome these flaws or deficiencies in plot. If you are not going to properly build your world (the act and art of worldbuilding) or write a clear plot then you're going to have to be doing some other things extraordinarily well for me to see value in your work, to care about it and continue to read on. Either the artwork is going to have to be incredible, or the action scenes well-choreographed or particularly creative, or the comedy would have to be very well-written and witty with jokes that land most of the time or the characters themselves have to be so compelling and interesting that I want to read on if only to see more of them even if the story that they inhabit makes no sense. But this manga has none of those things. I have tried hard to play devil's advocate for this series and push myself to reconsider whether I missed something or if my lack of enjoyment was somehow my own fault or oversight. Trying to find the selling points in this series feels like trying to answer a sphinx's riddle; I'm just stuck and lost for words.

I am not exaggerating when I say that to me this feels less like an acclaimed manga from a well-known mangaka and more like a weekend project a high school student would keep themselves busy with. It just feels childish, amateurish, incoherent, vacuous and empty. With most manga that I dislike I can at least understand what the author was going for, who they were trying to appeal to and why that audience would perhaps enjoy it more than I did. I have no idea what Mizukami was trying to achieve with this or who this manga is for.

I can't recommend it but if I have to say a few good things to justify why it's not a 1/10 it would be that some of the beast characters like the lizard and dog come across as being ripped out of a more interesting manga and pasted in here. Some of the banter between the main character and the lizard has the semblance of being endearing if only everything around it was better. By the same token the delivery of some of the emotional or tragic moments is well executed in the sense that the author can pull off the last step well but is missing all the others that serve as buildup for the payoff. I would liken it to trying to draw realistic shadows around stick figure people.

There are a few other Mizukami titles that I intend to get to and while my intention is to give those titles their own fair shake it will be hard not to keep this particular series in mind as far as poor first impressions go.

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Poll: Hoshi no Samidare Chapter 42 Discussion Kojiro_S - Mar 22, 2010	7 replies	by marxaac »» 9 hours ago
Poll: Hoshi no Samidare Chapter 41 Discussion crazyspinz - Mar 29, 2011	11 replies	by marxaac »» 10 hours ago
Poll: Hoshi no Samidare Chapter 40 Discussion crazyspinz - Mar 28, 2011	6 replies	by marxaac »» 11 hours ago
Poll: Hoshi no Samidare Chapter 38 Discussion Kojiro_S - Mar 3, 2010	12 replies	by marxaac »» Yesterday, 5:02 PM
Poll: Hoshi no Samidare Chapter 37 Discussion renjikuchiki1 - Mar 1, 2010	16 replies	by marxaac »» Yesterday, 4:45 PM

Hoshi no Samidare
Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer
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