Litchi☆Hikari Club
Lychee Light Club

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First off, since you're on this manga's page you probably already know what you're getting into. If that isn't the case, I highly advise that if you have not had any experience or prior knowledge of the ero-guro (erotic grotesque) and yaoi genres to NOT READ THIS MANGA.

Yes, it is very, very explicit.

Litchi Hikari Club is an adaptation of a theatrical play of the same name that was performed at the Tokyo Grand Guignol Theatre in 1985.
(For those who do not know, the original Grand Guignol was located in Paris, France, and became infamous for it's horror-themed performances that involved large ... amounts of violence and gore. It was later closed in 1962, due to World War II and the Holocaust making people realize that violence isn't exactly hilarious.)

Plot: 10
Litchi Hikari Club tells the macabre tale of the club of same name, which involves a boy named Zera and his eight followers attempting to create the ultimate Artificial Intelligence. And then everything goes horribly wrong. This may sound a bit average, but it's executed so well that it even breaks away from the genre it's supposed to be. This isn't just porn and gore, there's drama with twisted romance, as well as friendships, betrayals, and a plot that's built off of both ancient and modern philosophy. All in one volume, to boot.

The beginning of the manga took a little bit for me to get into (the German dialogue surely didn't help, aside from creating the creepy mood), but after that the ball dropped and didn't stop rolling until the last page.

Art: 10
If there's one thing that should stand out with Litchi Hikari Club, it's the artwork (which surely you must have noticed by now). To put it simply, it's incredible. Usamaru Furuya's ability as a mangaka is quite remarkable, and any fan of manga artists such as Tajima Sho-U (MPD Psycho, Galerians) and Obata Takeshi (Death Note, Bakuman) will easily be drawn in by his style. While many of Furuya's older works have a rather average to mediocre style outside of his more detailed fine-art inspired panels (take Palepoli for example), he draws the characters of LHC with large amounts of detail, as well as creating backgrounds that define the industrial-dystopian-esque wreck they live in.

And sticking true to it's roots, the gore is drawn equally as well. It's intense, enough to make any fan of horror and the grotesque look away (but then they'll have to look back again, it's so painstakingly drawn to detail.)

Character: 7
For the most part, the manga adaptation of Litchi Hikari Club sticks with the original, aside from what looked like one name that was changed. Although the majority of the characters dress in a similar school uniform, each has their own unique personality quirks that separate them from one another, from Zera's sick and twisted Elagabulus-esque complex to Kaneda's constant thumb nomming.

However, due to the length of the manga, most character development is cut short on the secondary characters and left to the protagonists. This is kind of forgivable in my eyes, since it's still part of the horror genre, which usually leaves out developement and sticks with stock character types, but I would've liked to have known a little more about the less important members of the club.

Enjoyment: 10
Litchi Hikari Club does everything it should do for a series of the ero-guro and yaoi genres, and more. It's shocking, twisted, and leaves such an impact (the final chapter comes to mind instantly) it's near unforgettable. As I've said before though, if you're not interested in a series built on violence and lewdicity, you may want to check out something else.

Overall: 9
Litchi Hikari Club was able to carve itself a bloody niche in my manga-loving heart. It was made with such panache that it could actually give a positive light to the ero-guro and yaoi scenes.
If you need a good scare, a devious plot, or just want to look at some great artwork, Litchi Hikari Club is the manga to pick up. It's a guilty pleasure that's worth the time.

To be honest with you guys, I have read this manga a while ago. However, because of the content and how disturbing it is, I had to mull it around the brain for a little bit.

The art is gorgeous and rightfully disturbing especially in certain scenes of the manga. The artist sure knows to add in those extra details when it comes to the human body – especially through the eyes of a young, disturbed, Japanese middle school boy.

From the get-go, you can tell this manga is one of those black comedy types with a lot of gore and B-movie type science. The idea of ... the club is these boys don’t want to grow up to become “filthy” adults with a goal to create a robot with the ultimate AI technology who runs on lychee fruits. There’s a leader who is worshiped as a God (because of a passing fortune when he was a little younger) nicknamed Zera.

During the course of the manga, it’s revealed that, originally, the Light Club was formed between three friends but over time, they invited other boys – who never seemed to fit in within their classes – and eventually Zera took over the club and uses the boys as his personal soldiers. And, if any of the boys messes up, they get punished – very violently.

The story itself isn’t very good, once you remove yourself from the gore, disturbing images, and the beautiful bond between Litchi (the robot) and Kanon (a girl they kidnapped and decided to worship as a goddess).

It’s a typical story of a ruler gone mad with paranoia and obsesses over the possibility of a traitor. The whole traitor spiel started because Litchi wasn’t just built to become the ultimate “thinking” robot – they wanted to kidnap girls because they were curious about them and since they had already killed a teacher (in a very brutal way), they wanted to find a girl to worship as their goddess.

The betrayals start when Zera finds one of his black chess pieces broken. They end up killing one of them right off the bat by breaking his spine in half. This was when murmurings of ending Zera’s rampage started to go across. Soon, the kids start dropping one by one. In fact, after Litchi had kidnapped some other girls (due to programming trial & errors), they put them in a cage. One of them releases them and had their sister raped as a result.

There’s even a scene where one of them catches Zera having sex with another boy – but the boy who caught them is in too deep with his loyalty for Zera. Sadly, loyalty means nothing and he is eventually killed off as well.

The only survivor was Kanon because Litchi developed feelings (truly, the ultimate AI) for her and killed itself to protect her, after he killed most of the remaining members.

Now, is it good? A lot of other reviewers would tell you it is because of the art and because of how dark and gruesome it is. This manga is really not shy about showing off genitalia (even though the boys are way underage), human innards, burnt humans, and so much more other disturbing images. They would also tell you that the author took the idea of Nazism and turned into something even more messed up than it already is. Someone might even chime in that the original story came from a play the author has seen in his youth – it’s theatrical!

Okay, but does that mean it has to have a very weak plot? After they captured the ideal girl, Kanon, they kinda threw both Litchi and Kanon aside till the last few chapters and built them up to have this “forbidden” romance. I put those in quotes because, in the end, everything was kind of predictable. You knew that there was going to be a betrayal within the ranks. You knew there was going to be something disturbing happening – especially in the first few chapters with the teacher and the random student.

But because of the singular volume count it has, it’s clearly rushed. However, that’s not really an excuse for a weak plot. This type of story is clearly fit for a way longer volume count than the one it has. There’s hardly an impact to be made here, at least for me.

I’m having a hard time remembering the key points in the actual story – but what I do remember from it is the art and that’s it.

I barely remember the characters’ names and had to re-research who they were and what their actual significance was. And the only reason why I even had to mull it around in my head were the lingering questions: “Do I really want to recommend this to anyone?” “What do I actually like about this?” “What do I actually not like about this?”

And here are my answers:

Do I really want to recommend this to anyone? No. I really don’t. This is not something for everyone, as I’m clearly bothered by it. It’s very explicit and it does not hold back on disturbing images. If you’re someone who can digest this better than I can, by all means but don’t read this while you’re around other people who are not to your level of tolerance.

What do I actually like about this? Despite my feelings towards it, the art is beautiful and unique. It goes with the theme of the story and, as much as I don’t want to admit it, the characters intrigued me. Perhaps if this went longer than one volume (as in, I get a feel for the characters, the ranks, and how things operated) I would be a lot less critical of the weak plot. I really did like looking at it even if it meant something disturbing on it – because the author intended it to be very disturbing. He got my reaction of being disgusted, disturbed, and other negative feelings. But that’s about it.

What do I actually not like about this? Besides the plot issues, I didn’t like how it was disturbing because “Wow! Look how disgusting this is! Look how shocking! Shock! Shock!” After a while, it doesn’t get as shocking as it once was. After a certain point, I felt feeling very “meh” and I just wanted to finish this. Maybe it’s good in that case that this is only one volume because, like I said, I was getting really bored. The shock did wear off for me after a while. The plot is, once again, very predictable and didn’t seem to different when get down to it. The story is very bland. The characters are bland. Again, nothing is memorable.

Overall, this manga is kind of overrated. People seem to praise it for how disturbing it is and how the art is, but take that away – what are you left with?

Based on the Tokyo Grand Guignol play of the same name, Litchi☆Hikari Club is a twisted black comedy about teenage-hood.

Giving off a strong vibe of Lord of the Flies crossed with A Clockwork Orange; LHC is ironic, explicit, violent, over-the-top, sexist, and terrifying. Not entirely unlike the inner turmoil of an average testosterone fuelled and sexually confused boy toeing the line between what is taboo and what is acceptable, testing the waters before swimming through the shallow waters of puberty and out to sea... I guess you can call it a coming of age, except with more dangling innards and megalomaniacal zeal for death. ...

The Light Club itself is both a metaphor for society at large and for the cruelty of one's teenage peers. To submit or to perish. The comedic blind pursuit of beauty and youth, and the overwhelming innocence shown by the boys is complemented very nicely by a good dose of sexual violence. They capture and trap girls but are ultimately unsure what to do with them. They raise their chosen doll-like girl onto the pedestal to worship and neglect at the same time. They blush at the prospect of being in the presence of girls yet feel nothing as they strip and gut their female history teacher. It may just be me, but I felt the Light Club perfectly and strikingly illustrated the dichotomy between the treatment and view of women in society.

The story of the boys is contrasted by the story of Litchi (or Lychee), the eponymous AI monster designed by Zera which foreshadows his Frankensteinian fall. Litchi is the blank slate taught to kidnap, to hurt, and to kill by the Light Club. Without spoilering too much of what is already a short story, Litchi's growth and maturation is I think a highlight of the manga.

Another one of the stand-out features of this manga for me is the theatre-like atmosphere and lighting used in the illustrations. This particular framing allows a degree of suspension of disbelief over the outrageous activities happening on stage whilst not detracting from the shock and aesthetic value. It's only a play and we are only viewers. Thus giving viewers the permission to indulge in the heinous acts in the name of art, which in turn mirrors the actions of the boys in the manga itself.

There is no subtlety to be found in this manga, the metaphors are glaringly obvious and the actions of the characters are dramatised to the extremely. Litchi☆Hikari Club reads exactly like a grotesque play about the harshness and fragility of teenagers, and I loved every page. It's only a short manga, but definitely worth reading especially if you're a fan of Anthony Burgess' Clockwork Orange.

Lychee Light Club – Spoiler Free – Not Recommended

TLDR
Story – 2/10 – 2 x 0.275 = 0,55
Art – 8/10 – 8 x 0.2 = 1,6
Characters – 3/10 – 0,675 x 0.225 =
Enjoyment – 4/10 – 1,2 x 0.3 =
Total: 4,025 -> 4

Story – 2/10
Lychee Light Club is just a mess. It focuses so much attention on shock value and being graphically explicit both in its gore and sexual elements that it just doesn't make sense in the overall story. Sex scenes are just stuffed in without any context or reason whatsoever. From one moment to the other, we are suddenly lost within the ... infighting of a secret club composed of high schoolers who want to kidnap young women for the cult, who somehow have access to sleep-inducing drugs like it's nothing; oh, and it makes people sleep for days on end.
For this purpose, they program a robot to do the kidnappings. For some reason, emotions are then inserted into the robot, and the robot, which is fueled by lychees – yes, the fruit – suddenly wants to become human because of a beautiful woman that he kidnapped.
The infighting within the group is also too sudden and has no background whatsoever, just being an abrupt plotline that makes no sense.
Things take a turn for the worse for no reason whatsoever, and it becomes so violent for, once again, no absolute reason that it doesn't make any sense.
One thing, however, is well done: the atmosphere of a secret cult.

Art – 8/10
The art style is the only positive point of Lychee Light Club. It is detailed, it has some personality, and it is very easy to understand what's going on, although the cadence of the panels isn't necessarily the best. The character design – not concerning the part that we are able to tell each other apart, but the design per se of the wardrobe and characters – is also well done. The twisted and perverted humans are also seen easily in the rendition of the characters' faces, which is a point of notice.

Characters – 3/10
Characters are just as bizarre as this story: they are the members of the cult, the robot that suddenly wants to become human, and the women they kidnap, and that's it. The infighting is terribly made in the perspective of the characters and in their development – which doesn't exist –, and the lack of any character arc is atrocious in its conception. There are some quirks in the main character that give him some type of personality, but that's it. Not to mention that it is quite hard in a one volume manga to thoroughly develop the characters.

Enjoyment – 4/10
In such a bizarre story that makes no sense and has in its DNA shock value and sex scenes that play no role in the narrative, other than showing the reader some somewhat censured genitalia, it is no wonder that the enjoyment is so low. Moreover, this story wasn't in any shape or form a joy to read or go through; its only saving grace is the fact that it is very short, but definitely longer than it should be. All these reasons only make possible a not recommended.

Zera is my toxic Sigma male "literally me" character ngl... Now, I came into Litchi Hikari Club as a fan of Japanese Angura and Eroguro Kei and shock material in general, so I had a semblance of what was going to happen, though LHC turns it all up to an 11. If you don't know what Eroguro usually entails, then be advised that this manga has ultra-violence/extreme gore and explicit sex scenes. I only recommend this work to readers over 18 and those who enjoy dark themes and shocking material. Albeit, Litchi Hikari Club is so much more than mere shock material, trust me.

The art ... style is fantastic. The art style has a very strong Angura aesthetic, with Shironuri (white face makeup) and Gakuran (black boy's school uniforms) complimenting the dreary monochromatic background of their Shouwa-era, worn-out, industrial town. Despite each member wearing the same clothes and having the same hair/eye colour (not typical in anime/manga), each boy has a unique look to him and stands out, from Kaneda's half-hidden face to Raizou's effeminate gestures. Colour is used sparingly, and when it is, you can FEEL it, despite the comic being in black and white (that's how effective it is).

Though the leader gets the most screen time, LHC doesn't have a main character and mostly focuses on the Club as a whole. Zera is their leader, a calm and calculating young man who obsesses over aesthetic beauty. He demands order in the club and commands calmly, but with an iron fist. The members seek his approval and follow him in his goal; to give life to their robot Lychee, and have him successfully kidnap a human girl. His members include his right-hand man and lover Jaibo, a sycophant with sadistic tendencies. Tamiya, the somewhat disgruntled former leader. Niko, the ultra-dedicated "#1" of Zera's. Dafu, who is fairly quiet yet dedicated in his own right. Dentaku, a highly intelligent young man in charge of programming Lychee. Kaneda, whose nail-biting habit reflects his anxious spirit. Raizou, a highly effeminate and spirited young man who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty in the club's business. Jacob is the youngest member and is the most innocent of them all, however, he is still very much complicit in the club's heinous activities. Other major characters include Lychee the robot, and Kannon the kidnapped girl (despite being in captivity, she has agency and plays a major role in the plot).

While it is comparable to Lord of the Flies with its isolated and self-governing male-centric, barely pubescent cast, I feel as if LHC reaches a separate logical end conclusion of LotF's more open-ended themes. Mirroring Japan's own extremely group-centric society, LHC functions with far more social cohesion and centers around the constant battle of appeasing (not rebelling) leader Zera in order to gain power... Well, except for what happens later, but that's a spoiler. Not to mention that it breaks down NatSoc (we know it as Nazism) into a smaller, digestible scale and shows how it influences the club's power structure and culture, that being of brutality and aesthetic worship (Nazis heavily used pleasing aesthetics to advertise their regime). As you would imagine, a large group of the same sex does indeed create sexual tension, which is shown in Zera and Jaibo's relationship and the resulting "power-couple" dynamic that is equal parts a shockingly NORMAL depiction of a gay relationship and a spiral of bad influence that emboldens each boy to embrace his negative character traits. This may be me reading into it too much, but I feel like, despite its dated setting, LHC still applies to the modern day with how our post-industrial society is creating dystopias where increasingly isolated men/women seek echo chambers and borderline cults in order to feel a sense of belonging. It also offers a mild character study of Zera, who slowly devolves into a mess of paranoia as his club devolves into chaos, his personal anti-thesis. The greatest theme, I'd say, is what it means to be human. I won't spoil it, but the end shows that humanity is earned and not begot by simple existence.

What if you asked an AI system to write a manga after feeding it data like a classical story about the fall of a ruler after becoming paranoid and insane, nazism, cultism, "machines have feelings too", ultraviolence etc. Litchi hikari club is what you get.

Story: Its a 'story' about a 'ruler' going crazy and paranoid because of possible betrayal, which eventually leads to his own downfall. It also involves a bodyguard robot that thinks it is human and is only devoted to hikari club's nonsensical motivations and who is 'turned into a human' by an innocent girl. The story consists of many such themes/ideas/situations that ... have already been done many times. These themes are conveyed by a story that doesn't make sense purposefully and its pretentious. If those themes were new and though provoking, and had the author managed to invoke feelings of mystery, thrill, sadness, creativity etc through an utterly nonsensical story proving that story isn't relevant after all, I would've like this a lot more.

Character: Themes of loyalty, jealousy, paranoia, lust, scientific achievements etc. were associated with various characters or members of the cult. Almost every character had their arc concluded meaningfully. The characters however weren't particularly interesting. Just a bunch of crazy cultists teenagers for whom i didn't care about in the slightest. They remind me of A clockwork orange's immoral teenage characters but the latter were more interesting. The interaction between the innocent girl and the robot was more interesting than that between lychee club members.

Art: The art is really good looking portraying a bleak industrial world and some of the scenes are drawn perfectly especially the climax panel.

Enjoyment: Reading this manga was almost a drag. It does not have anything that can be considered enjoyable.

Overall: The manga just wants to shows how scenes can be powerful and how themes can be conveyed despite how nonsensical the story is. Although the themes were pretty simple and have been done many times before, I did like some of the scenes and the atmosphere thanks to the art but that just isn't enough. Also it can be an uncomfortable read since it involves lots of violence and sex and there is not a shred of decency in this manga.

"Litchi☆Hikari Club" is a work by the renowned manga artist Usumaru Furuya, promising an immersion into a dark and complex theme. My journey through its pages was marked by mixed feelings and profound reflections. Undoubtedly, Furuya's artistic style stands out as a pinnacle of the manga. His meticulous aesthetic manages to capture the narrative's essence, serving as one of its foundational pillars. Furuya's drawing delivers an atmosphere of sociopolitical horror, effectively alluding to Nazism. However, this is executed satirically and responsibly, exaggerating and ridiculing the group, providing a biting critique to the plot.

The manga is notable for its "nazi chic," a controversial element that, in ... many contexts, can be misinterpreted. Yet, Furuya deploys it in a satirical and theatrical manner, acting as a subversive reflection on the rise of fascism in Japan. Through a group of youths led by a charismatic but manipulative leader, we witness a sharp commentary on the mentality of "just following orders" without questioning. Despite its promising start, the character development falls short of expectations. It would have been enriching to know more about the group, their origins, familial backgrounds, school environments, and the socioeconomic dynamics of the city they inhabit. Such elements could have added more depth and understanding to the characters' motivations and actions.

The story kicks off with an intriguing premise: a fascistic group of youths that, due to its inherent dysfunction, is on a path to self-destruction. This core plot is captivating and well-constructed. However, the introduction of a secondary narrative in the latter part of the story disrupts its balance, becoming a detraction that compromises the initially established pace and focus. "Litchi☆Hikari Club" is a work that shines in its aesthetic and sociopolitical critique, but, at times, strays from its potential. The manga could have benefited from a deeper exploration of its characters and a more centered narrative. Still, it offers moments of reflection and stands as a valuable addition for those seeking a read that transcends the conventional.

I read the the first two paragraphs of LaBrosephine's review. Heed their warning. I didn't.

I read this in one sitting, and I'm feeling disturbed. The intense gore and small amount of yoai I could tolerate, just, but there are a few scene that didn't sit well with me. So if this straight away doesn't seem appealing skip it.

I feel any criticism I give will be kind of redundant as what I didn't like about it was the aim of the material. Gore was to intense for me, the characters are terrible human beings and unrelatable to me.
The secondary characters I felt were a little undeveloped, ... but it's only 9 chapters long, and the romance subplot (the one with the girl) I found cliché.

The art was extremely well drawn though, so gore fans should be impressed.

I mainly checked this out because of the up coming anime adaptation and I have to say I'm not going to watch it. I'm a little surprised that it got a show, I expect a lot of censoring or off camera implications.

So really just realise what your getting into. I guess I could recommend it as a dare read.

I went into this manga expecting filth, gore, lots of yaoi and horrible rape scenes. But...honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it could be. I'm used to seeing gory things--it comes with the genres I like--and Litchi Hikari Club delivered.

Story - 7:
Without giving too much away, Litchi Hikari Club is about a deranged group of students who aim to make the perfect, or at least a functioning, AI robot. They worship their number 1, Zera (Tsunekawa) as a god, and he compares himself to Elagabulus, a Roman emperor who came into power early in life.
The story had a simple concept and I ... really liked the ending. It was completed really neatly in one volume of manga, without any loose ends to ponder over. I enjoyed this manga because it didn't need me to think at all. However, the twist at the end didn't really seem to fit. It was like reading a crime novel and finding out about every other character except the killer (example - "A Rare Interest In Corpses" by Ann Granger).

Art - 7:
Nothing super. The blood is drawn like tiger stripes over everything when the people are attacked. Sometimes it just feels like thick paint instead of blood. Maybe that's just how it flows. The backgrounds didn't sway me, all the same, but not bad.

Character - 7:
In terms of character development, it's only 1 volume of manga, so you couldn't expect too much. It was sad seeing the generation of the Hikari Club, and what it came to be, and how that affected all the characters. As you were dealing with quite a few characters in a short manga, the difference between each was little. They all said pretty much the same things until the climax in the manga.

Enjoyment - 6 - 7:
Easy to read, no thinking. Blood and gore incited no feelings of disgust or otherwise. It was satisfying to reach the end and see what had come to be, and I did get a little teary.

Overall - 7:
Yeah, seven. Might read again, might watch the series. Probably won't remember the details of it next week.

"Litchi, Li Litchi, Li Li Litchi 〜♪"
MAN!!!! This Manga is just something else man..! I'll just say it off the bat, this manga gets a solid 10 from me.
Almost every aspect of this manga gets a 10 from me except characters. I'll explain that first.

Characters: 9
The reason why its not a 10 is simple; Not all characters are able to be fleshed out well enough, because of the short length of the manga. But, because the manga cuts short on focussing on the secondary characters, the main characters that the story focusses the most on, are outstanding. They are by far not the ... most complex or deep characters ever made, but they are compelling enough to get you very much invested in their story. The way Zera falls into a deep insanity trying to figure out who is the traitor, Jaibo confessing...you know.., Litchi falling in love with Kanon, and vice versa,,, you know the drill. Out of the four characters, all but Zera's ultimate drive is Love. And I find that so absolutely stunning, considering the plot and gore and every gut wrenching feeling you get after reading each chapter! I also love the contrast between Zera who is becoming less and less human by the minute, and Litchi, a robot, becoming more human and learning the importance of love and life.
(ALSO, One thing some people may find hard to understand, is that liking a character is different to condoning their actions!!! I hope the readers of this manga are intelligent enough to understand that Rape/Murder/Violence is bad, and also understanding that simply liking a character is different to thinking everything they did is okay!!)

Story: 10
This is no jolly fun tale of nine 13 year old boys and their secret little club, oh no no no. It's a Psychological drama falling more and more into insanity as the story progresses. I'd like to call this story a secret love child of "Lord of the flies' and "beauty and the beast"
As I said before, a lot of it focusses on the fact that Zera is losing his humanity, and Litchi gaining it. Its interesting seeing the boys in this cult-like Nazi club all worshipping Zera and trying to keep hold of their innocence aka beauty. Zera turning into a twisted monster each chapter and the mysterious sexual connection he has with Jaibo would be enough to be a stand alone interesting concept, but what makes this story So outstanding is the other story happening at the same time; the story of Litchi and Kanon. It is beautiful and heart-warming. I am somewhat of a sucker for the "beauty and the beast" genre of stories. The contrast between the two intertwining stories is what makes this story so mad but beautiful at the same time.

Art: 10
One look at the art, and its ingrained in to your mind forever. In a good way. An amazing way. The dark atmosphere, accentuated by the use of lots of beta/black, and the imagery of the dark and gloomy factories in the background. Sometimes you get just a panel depicting the factories, giving off even more of the depressing and dark tone of this manga. The atmosphere created by the art is what got me sold for this manga in the first place. Also, who could forget, the depictions of the characters. Each of their faces unique, and unforgettable. The way their movements are drawn, are human like, and their facial expressions are telling and so so powerful.
The art probably is the selling point of this manga, and I get it. This manga wouldn't be as perfect and loved without this unique art style and the atmosphere it brings with it.

Enjoyment: 10
So yeah, I loved it, as you can tell by now. Some people might get thrown by people calling it a BL or Yaoi. I mean, there is depiction of a sexual relationship between two boys, but its important to the story. Its not some kind of useless fan service they throw at you. The story would be incomplete with this relationship. Please do not shake this manga off because someone called it a Yaoi. It's not. It's really not. Even if you dislike Yaoi, I assure you you'll get a kick out of this manga.

Overall: 10
Do I even need to explain myself even more?? I recommend this manga from the bottom of my heart to anyone ready for this Psychological madness of a manga with lots of gore. It only took me an hour and a half to read, so if its cold and dark out, and you're craving some horror and drama, and you have some spare time THIS is the manga for you. I'm sure this manga will suck you in with its unique atmosphere and unique story telling, just by the first chapter. Oh, and I'm gonna warn you, It sure is gonna be hard to stop turning the pages.

(I'd also like to add that I think its the best if you read through the whole thing in one shot. :)

EDIT: Honestly though looking back at this review, I make it sound like this is the most incredible one-of-a-kind mind-blowing manga, but it's kind of more like a manga you blast through in an hour and a half and get a huge kick out of it and thats it. It's like a roller-coster. It's short, and not that deep, you could even say it's been already done a million times over, but just sit back and enjoy the ride. And you know what, I still love it lots and def recommend it to anyone looking for amazing art, an intriguing but short story and great gore.

Lychee Light Club is a horror manga written and illustrated by Usamaru Furuya, and was serialized in Manga Erotics F from 2005 to 2006. Furuya based this manga loosely upon a 1985 play of the same name directed by Nozimizu Ameya.

Story: 9/10
This manga is pretty short (only 9 chapters), so what Furuya could do with the story was limited. The story goes like this: nine students from an all boys middle school belong to a "club" called the Light Club, and they're working on creating an AI for the purpose of kidnapping beautiful girls, due to their leader Zera's obsession with youth and beauty. They ... later succeed in creating the robot Lychee, and everything starts to go to shit. The plot also has some philosophical ideas, though you would mainly want to read it for the really disturbing aspects.

Art: 10/10
Furuya is an amazing manga artist. This should be expected though, as he graduated from an art school and worked as a high school art teacher years before writing this series. Furuya is great at drawing human characters. He also did some amazing mechanical designs, backgrounds, and gore scenes in this manga. There is a lot of gore in the later chapters, and it is all really well drawn. The sexual content might be off putting for some though, as all the characters are around 13-14 years old.

Characters: 9/10
The amazing thing this manga does is make a robot made for kidnapping and murder easier to sympathize with than a group of middle schoolers. Most of the Light Club members are horrible, disgusting people. I can't really say how twisted some of the characters are without spoiling parts of the plot. Lychee and Kanon though are pretty likable characters. Despite being a murder robot, Lychee grows to be a likable and actually very human character. Kanon was alright, I mainly liked her for the friendship she developed with Lychee.

Enjoyment: 10/10
I honestly enjoyed every moment of this manga, the last few chapters especially. The violent moments, the comedic moments, the emotional moments. Furuya did an amazing job making an amazing horror manga. I just wish this manga would've gotten a proper anime adaptation, because it would be so great with sound and color. I can see why it never got animated though, because the sex scenes and extreme gore.

Overall: 10/10

Maybe I'll read more of Furuya's work in the future. I might finish the anime series at some point and review it. I might read the prequel manga and review it too.

With this type of story I think it would be more productive to not look at it literally. If you take the story literally it becomes nonsensical and kind of random. It's more interesting to examine what this gore, cruelty and all types of violence supposed to represent. What is hiding behind them.

Boys in Hikari club are both disgusted of adulthood and are terrified of growing old. Pubic hair, more mature bodies, having jobs or even applying make-up are all viewed as signs that you've entered adulthood. For them it is better to die young than to become adults. This type of thinking is what ... I can PARTLY understand. All of your childhood you keep hearing from adults about how much harder you're going to have it once you become older. Whenever you look there are adults gloryfing childhood to an unhealthy degree and villainize bodies of adult people. Usually women.

Edginess runs through their veins. The whole club is structured like a religious sect with Zera as Jesus figure. Better comparison would be nazism. Historical aspect of Japanese uniforms aside, they remind me of the nazi uniforms. Not to mention the boys like to speak german and Zera has build some sort of cult of personality around himself. Their devotion to Zera is absolute and cannot be questioned while everyone fights for his attention and love. Zera once even got compared to Hitler by a seer. He was capable and manipulative enough to take over the club and encourage vile behaviour. Much like nazis, these boys also don't know anything about women.

In their mind women are only a means to a pleasure. Once Litchi kidnaps Kanon, they immediately deify her by putting her on a throne. She becomes an object of worship. Of course they could not even be bothered to ask her name. That is because her name does not matter. Only her beauty. Only that gives her a value. One of the characters trying to explain beauty to Litchi points towards classical paintings of Botticelli or pre-Raphaelite brotherhood. Some of those paintings show women with fair skin, long silky hair, surrounded by flowers in a garden as if they themselves were just one of the flowers. When the boy has to explain what beauty is beyond pointing at those paintings he starts sweating and talks about curves. For them those paintings are an equivalent to porn magazines. They never had any meaningful relationship with women so they cling onto artistic ideals. Anything below that is unacceptable. Only character that manages to make some sort of human connection beyond lust is Litchi himself. His cold demeanor that was installed into him is being melted away by emotional connection that the boys could never give him, for they do not know it.

In the end intrigues, lust, obsession, inability to be honest with their feelings and desire to cling onto power is what destroys them. It's not just toxic obsession with women. Even Jaibo's obsessive love and lust for Zera was equaly damaging. The problem was not the whenever they are obsessed with men or women. Problem was not their sexuality but rather sheer disgust, fear of adulthood and caring only about their own feelings and desires.

This I genuinely one of the worst if not THE worst manga I have ever read. The story makes completely no sense and I hated zera with a passion.The violence isn’t even the main reason why I disliked reading this. The romance between the robot and girl was probably the most unrealistic and appalling thing I have ever seen. This manga is full of plot holes. Why kidnapping girls was the main motive of that club? How come the police didn’t do shit even after so many people were killed? Why was jaciob obsessed with zera? How did a simple club turn into such a ... dark cult? I could go on and on about why I hate this manga. I genuinely wouldn’t recommend this to anyone even if it’s just 9 chapters long. But in the end of the day if you like this manga it’s fine but I despise this.

Being used to the level of obsurdity these kinds of manga can get into, I wasn't particularly charmed or delighted by this. It's not for the easily disturbed and disgusted, but I wouldn't say it's for the people who like it either. You're going to see child death, sa/cocsa, and gore.

COULD the manga have worked without underage relations? Yeah it really didn't need to show me ... THAT. The main plot(?) and Zera's belief probably couldn't work in the same way if they were aged up at least to being 18, puberty and all that, but it could have at least been something else. I ... don't really know. I didn't enjoy that part of it. The gore was pretty typical, art is fine, and I enjoyed the idea of what makes something human.

This manga is a hot mess. If you want to read it to say you read it, sure whatever, but it's nothing to write home about.

Despite the superb art and the original plot Hikari Club was not a very fun or an engaging read. I decided to partake in the mission of reading this because I really liked the artwork and the mangaka's previous work Suicide Club (which I enjoyed much better).
Somewhat erotic, Peter-Pan meets Frankenstein, with a hint of Lord of the Flies... That's what Hikari Club is about. A group of somewhat gay boys make a robot and kidnap a girl... From there on a struggle for power and a forbidden star-crossed lovers romance takes place in this short graphic novel.
Personally, I found it slightly boring, ... and weak plot wise, however, it was very original.
Read it if you're looking for something with a touch of erotica mixed with some mecha and psychotics.

My advise: don't take the mark or other opinions siriously, read it first for it is the kind of manga which will be different for each reader.

Litchi Hikari Club is a great manga from and author everyone should check at least once. The manga itself is based on a play from the Tokyo Grand Guignol in which even Suehiro Maruo worked. Usamaru Furuya has said that he always wanted to enter in the Grand Guignol but failed to build up the courage so he drew this Manga instead years later.

Art: The art in this manga is outstanding, the use of inking and beauty of some ... of the panels is incredible, while maintaining the creepy feeling all over the story.

Story: this is the best part of the manga, it feels a little bit like cheating as it is based on a succesful play but Furuya does it just right, it is a story about beuty, love and the struggle to become adult all within a format meant to shock the reader.

The Grand Guignol in itself was meant to scare and shock its audience with the violence and terror depicted in it. So i'd recommend this manga to almost everyone except those who are very sensitive. People who liked other Furuya manga or who likes horror and erotic manga will love this. But even people who haven't read anything of the sort is in for a treat as they will have a very different experience of what they are used.