Shinigami Alice
Alice in Death World

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Shinigami Alice is the story of Masaki, a teenage girl who gets attacked while walking home late at night, and Hinageshi, the assassin who kills her attacker. Although Hinageshi is required to kill any witnesses to her work, she spares Masaki on a whim, and the two of them continue to be thrown together. When Hinageshi’s organization sets out to punish her for letting a witness live, Masaki shelters her, leading to the two of them ultimately protecting each other in different ways.

The setup to how they come together is slightly different than in the oneshot, and i find i prefer the series version. The ... emotions feel more real. Hinageshi doesn’t understand why she chose to spare Masaki’s life, and tries to figure it out. Masaki can’t forget the mysterious girl who saved her life, but unlike the oneshot doesn’t become instantly obsessed. She’s drawn in more slowly, and that gives Hinageshi a chance to develop her own feelings. While both versions ultimately have the same theme, the series does better at expressing that theme, having the time to build up to Masaki’s final line about Hinageshi’s viewpoint.

The characters are pretty great, considering that they only have two volumes to develop in. while Masaki seems like a normal girl on the surface, she carries her own darkness in her heart, which allows her to connect to Hinageshi in a way a truly ordinary schoolgirl would not. (I do appreciate that the author explains why she lives alone, something i’ve gotten used to other yuri leaving unaddressed.) Hinageshi has become an emotionless killing machine through her life as an assassin, but due to her contact with Masaki, she slowly regains her sense of humanity, and i enjoyed watching the two of them fall in love despite their better instincts. The third major character, Camellia, is a yandere. Like Hinageshi, she turned out warped due to growing up as an assassin, but instead of shutting down her emotions, she feels them too strongly. Her obsession with Hinageshi makes sense in the context of their shared past, and i found her wish at the end of the series quite moving.

Normally i don’t like the sort of cutesy artwork Shinigami Alice uses, but in this case i think it gives a lovely dissonance to the dark subject matter. Hinageshi in particular looks like a Victorian doll, and seeing that cute face splattered with blood makes for a great visual.

The author mentions in a note that they were asked to write something with a similar vibe to the anime Noir, and i have to say that they succeeded. It’s a shame MAL doesn’t allow you to recommend a manga on an anime’s page, because as someone who loved both series, i would recommend them to each other’s fans. This is a charming tale of murder and love, and honestly, anyone not afraid of dark elements in fiction should check it out.