Back to flyingpardin's Profile flyingpardin's Profile

One of the most underappreciated police/mystery manga in my opinion, despite being of very high quality and adding so much to this genre. Here is why.

It may be essentially a police manga, but two main characters have serious connections to the underground business, one ranking high in the yakuza. Their motives are not strictly pure and innocent, what drives them is hatred and revenge. As a result, the borders of what is just and legal are explored and played with. Problematic aspects of our society are attacked at the sidelines: unfair company hierarchies, corruption, abuse of power, sexism... you name it. Who exactly is the ... bad person? Police are good and criminals are bad? Oh, you can never quite know.
Plus, in the end there also is plenty of action, epic scenes and suspence for those willing to show some patience for the more dialogue-focused chapters.

Story 9/10
The plot can losely be divided into the seperate crime cases that the main character Ryuzaki takes on. These cases are usually not connected to each other, but they span over various chapters and are complex. More often than not they take unexpected turns. What spices them up in particular is getting an insight into the minds of the criminals and the involvement of Danno, Ryuzaki's partner from the yakuza, with whom he solves the cases together. The plot is not difficult to follow but still interesting, no case so far was boring at all.

What connects these cases and gives purpose to the story is the main objective of our protagonist: to find the culprit who was responsible for the loss of their mother figure, and who is hiding somewhere among the police force: "Gold Watch". This is arguably the best part of the story, as it proves to be a very dangerous and risky process and leads them deep into police corruption. Their constant drive to uncover this crime and the identity of Gold Watch gives all other plotlines meaning and provides its own plotline that follows throughout the entire manga.

Art 8/10
The art leans more towards a realistic style and is definitely not bad. In the end it comes down to preference. I personally did not love it, but I also don't have any complaints and once in a while a panel really impresses me. Characters are all distinct from one another, not only through different hair but also different facial features. Action shots are kept realistic, but they don't take away from the excitement and it is pretty clear what happens. Backgrounds are detailed.

Character 10/10

The protagonist Ryuzaki seems honest, naive and a good person down to the core. The young, successful detective also comes across as a bit of an airhead, so it is a pleasant surprise when you get to see how he can change when the situation requires it. He tries to stay true to himself, but above everything he wants to find Gold Watch, and when you have a strong ambition like that it's not always possible to restrain your actions to what is good and just. All in all a very interesting character.
Danno is his long-time partner and friend, although it is never explicitly shown to what extent this friendship goes. You see them joking around, teasing each other but also share dead serious moments. Their interactions never get boring. He is the exact opposite of Ryuzaki: calm, collected and you can immediately tell he is sharp; he secured a high position in the mafia with incredible speed. But he is really something of a mystery. Uncovering more about him is one of the greatest joys of this series.
Thirdly, Hibino-san plays a central role as Ryuzaki's female partner. She is certainly the character who so far received most character development. Her father is a high horse in the police and she is a woman in a workforce dominated by men, two reasons why she doesn't have it easy. As the series progresses, she becomes less willing to accept defeat and increasingly badass. Look forward to it. Her relationship with Ryuzaki also has its ups and downs, as they both learn from each other.

It is safe to say I grew to love all three main characters, gradually becoming more interested in them as they became more and more developed. Secondly, I have to praise this mangaka for how they handled side characters, there is a limited number of recurring side characters, mostly in the police force, so that it's easier to remember them. There is a good mix of likeable and detesteable characters, and those where you just can't tell. One-off characters, often the criminals and victims, are also developed nicely, memorable and intriguing. Despite the amount of cases there have been I can remember a couple of side characters after only having read the manga once.

Enjoyment 9/10
Plus points for the awesome action, some clever crime set ups, insight into the underworld as well as the police force, and exciting interactions.
Minus points for sometimes being too heavy on dialogues, although they are also necessary for the plot and keeping it realistic. Minus points also for the slightly repetitive nature of the manga, due to the case-by-case structure. A lot of things are thrown in to changing things up, which creates excitement and surprises, but occasionally you notice patterns. It did not take away much from the manga for me, however I know it might for some people.

I overall give this manga 9 out of 10, great recommendation for all fans of police, mystery, mafia, action and shounen manga. I would however not recommend it if you're looking for action before anything else. The action scenes absolutely deliver, however they don't make up the majority of the manga. Thanks for reading, and maybe give this manga a chance, I'm glad I did.

(My first review, but i was shocked that this manga doesnt yet have one!)

Story:
Typical case of boy-meets-girl...? Not quite.
Already the way they meet shows us that this isnt going to be an ordinary shoujo, its better than that, at least in my opinion.

Without much of an introduction the reader is being thrown into the story and meets Miiko - a young priestress who seems to have no talent whatsoever. By chance she manages to exorcise Kagura, a demon disguised as a (quite handsome) boy and turns him into a small/chibi version of himself. As it turns out Kagura is probably the strongest of all ... demons, and he gets his power from touching girls (yes you heard right). Now this contrast between the naive and innocent Miiko and the perverted Kagura creates a story with a lot of hilarious moments in it and romance in its weirdest form!

The only downside to this, is that the conversation sometimes gets a little confusing. At first this almost made me drop the manga, but i'm GLAD i didnt do it.
Also, sadly its quite the short story with only 4 chapters out.

Art:
WONDERFUL. Its been a long time since a manga character made me drool like Kagura does. The switch between his handsome and his cute self kept me fangirling.

Characters:
Kagura is your stereotypical perverted male main character... with the only difference he actually NEEDS to touch girls to survive! So this makes his motives almost seem justified from time to time, even though we know he greatly enjoys it. The things he says are even funnier when he is in his chibi form.
And we have Miiko, the exact opposite, or do it seems. Its refreshing that she is not a typical shoujo heroine. She appears clumsy and innocent, but in her dreams we see another side of her. Also she realises her feelings she develops for Kagura instead of denying them pointlessly.
The characters arent standing still either, you can see a development going on.
The minor characters are pretty one-sided but they do serve their functions. The different demons that usually come to beat up Kagura are actually quite funny.

The characters arent deep, this whole manga isnt very deep... but its easy and nice to read, and it has a simple flow to follow.

Enjoyment:
Girls won't be dissapointed with this manga! It has a super handsome bishie who turns into a cute chibi once in a while, you have great comedy and you have romance, real explicit romance. I guess this manga can me considered "smut" too.
But i guess everyone has to decide for themself if this is the kind of manga you want to read.

To resume it:
I liked this manga because it was different from your usual shoujo mangas:
1 It had a supernatural touch to it.
2 They actually SHOWED the romance instead of implying it.
3 The comedy that is created since the boy actually had the size of a doll most of the time.

But remember that this still is a shoujo manga, no matter how untypical it may be. So if you aren't interested in them, you shouldnt read it.