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This is an action-packed, gory one-shot with great art and memorable main characters. The story draws from Japanese mythology for its "supernatural" elements, which gives it a fun flavour. It's very crude and edgy in tone, but in a way that reads more as deliberately playful than embarrassing to me. If you like cool girls with guns (and their normie third wheel guy) hunting gigantic monsters, you should check this out.

The characters might not click for everyone though-- one of the main characters is an unbelievably horny girl into petplay who tries to smell her girlfriend's foot within the first ten pages. I thought ... their back-and-forth was fun, but I can see how it might not be someone's cup of tea.

It's really great so far! The mysteries are fun and largely self-contained, and like any good mystery story they subtly encourage you to try and figure out the truth for yourself before the characters do. They remind me of the original Sherlock Holmes stories, where the main appeal is watching how Sherlock and Watson help someone out of a jam-- it's not trying to be a Holmes adaptation at all, but it keeps that curious spirit that pulls you in.

It helps that the main characters are so fun to watch; between Mitsuko, the determined adult woman who has to navigate 1930s misogyny and Saku, the ... cheerfully charming university student with half a dozen jobs and more connections, watching the characters grow and interact is one of the highlights of this series. You can feel the author's effortless skill bleed through the page, the story keeps a steady pace and touches meaningfully on societal issues like sexism without feeling too preachy. The artwork is also gorgeous, it's simple but pretty with that retro feel. I'm a big fan of the cute, goofy faces the characters pull during gags, too.

It's listed as seinen, but I think shoujo/josei fans should absolutely give this series a chance too. The English translation is digital-only on Azuki as of writing this (I'm hoping this review helps bring more eyes to the series- it deserves to thrive in physical volumes!), and on top of being well-polished it's a lot of fun reading the historical notes at the end of each chapter where you get to learn a little bit more about 1930s Ginza, where this story takes place.

It's surprisingly good! I don't normally write reviews, but I think this manga is a hidden gem. It's about erotic material (I wouldn't personally recommend it to anyone under 17) and I think I'd call it sex-positive but it's not really a "sexy" manga. If you like stories about creating art and writing stories, character studies, and learning about the work of ero-manga artists in the modern age, I'd recommend it!

The tone of the story is fairly down-to-earth without getting stale-- The two main characters especially are memorable and have good chemistry, but everyone in this story really does feel like they could be a ... real person you know. It also has a very sharp sense of humor, so it doesn't take itself *too* seriously, but it knows the time and place for gags and the story/character drama rarely feels like it's getting sidetracked.

The cast are drawn in a less moé and occasionally goofy style, and (I believe) different guest artists are occasionally brought on to act as the different characters' artstyles. Speaking as an artist, I thought that was pretty cool.