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I'm probably too woke for this but I'll leave my thoughts anyways for future reference.

Accidentally picked up volume 1 in a thrift shop kids aisle during 5th grade and I've been traumatized ever since.

The story basically follows the Japanese equivalent of a Grim Reaper (Lapan) going to Earth to reap a soul but winds up trapped there AND in a girl (Alice)'s body..which causes plenty shenanigans due to the dude being a total pervert.

PROS:

Nostalgic 2000s artstyle, sick as hell body horror artwork, decent action scenes and lore at times, and a somewhat fun dynamic between Lapan and Alice. Alice was genuinely such a fun character ... to follow despite how stereotypically girly she was.

CONS:

Lack of proper content warnings (not even labeled as 18+ or anything..just "for Older Teens"), rape-y idealization, cultural appropriation (a character was portrayed very stereotypically Chinese despite being raceless or just Japanese I believe?), and blatant transphobia (If my media literacy is in tact, I'm pretty sure there's a canon t-girl with he/him pronouns that constantly gets called a crossdresser and slurs???), and tons of torn out pages in my copy (just a me issue :p)

So, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone except the extremely curious, 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂, and/or sick in the head individuals!

But that's just my opinion from reading vol 1 alone!!

If I had a nickel for every time I accidentally picked out an ecchi manga thinking it would be a regular, cute story with good lore, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's strange that it happened twice.

Just bought the omnibus around 2 months ago on a shopping trip with my mother thinking it was gonna be a cute read about the serious topic of gender expression and exception but it ended up being total smut…with very few genuine romance scenes, despite the book being advertised as a romance.

Before I go over the pros and cons, I have to mention that I ... only picked it out because there was barely any warnings and red flags that would’ve told me it was nsfw. The front and back cover art? Normal and cute looking (imo), with the back being a little suspicious but I just thought the dude liked eating ribbons!!! The one content warning? LITERALLY JUST SAYS “17+, may have explicit content” WITH NO OTHER CONTEXT SO I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST GONNA BE OCCASIONAL JOKES AND IMPLICATIONS, NOTHING *ACTUALLY* SHOWN..

That really needs to be changed because if I, a dumb individual, didn’t notice that warning, then who’s to say an impressionable child would pick it out as well….☹️

PROS:

Stunning art, cute romance when it’s ACTUALLY love and not lust, decent portrayal of androgynous gender expression and the mentality of someone with BPD (unintentionally though..I’m just projecting.)

CONS:

Lack of proper content warnings, lack of communication and boundaries at times, trope-y one dimensional characters, pathetic female lead, weird fixation on the belief that the body defines masculinity, and the lack of a proper story and light scenes.

Overall, it feels like a read aimed for horndogs that just want something to turn their brain off and goon to.

I was definitely not the target audience and I’m aware of that but I guess I was able to get some enjoyment out of it during the NORMAL scenes.

I guess I’d recommend it to 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂 people but NOT ANYONE ELSE.