I Hunger for Endo Yasuko

One day, penniless high school student Makioka Shizue happens to see Endo Yasuko doing...something to another girl.  As she tries to get away, Yasuko corners Shizue and does the exact same thing to her.  Yasuko proclaims herself "a crazed killer" and that Shizue tastes good, leading them into a food-for-food agreement (that is, Yasuko pays for Shizue's meals if Shizue gives Yasuko her blood now and again).

But, before Shizue agrees to their "commitment kiss", Yasuko goes to prey on another student by the name of Akari Agawa.  The terrified Akari then goes on to hire a cheap American vampire hunter named Ashley Nelson to exterminate Yasuko.

And, while all of this is going on, several girls from the school have gone missing and a dippy detective is running around asking questions.

But, don't go getting me wrong: this manga is nowhere near as serious as the preceding Spartan summary would have you believe.  It has its funny parts, both within the main story and (much more frequently) in the bonus 4-koma that we see after every chapter.

All of the characters have really unique designs and the art is good.  And it has a nice dose of realism to it.

It's never explicitly said that Yasuko is a vampire, just heavily implied.  For a while there, it looks like she just might be a normal human, until a blood hunger causes her to grow into a giant.

Speaking of Yasuko, I love the fact that this supernatural love interest (Yes, it's a yuri!) is by no means an "Ace" character who's good at everything, nor is she completely stupid like Youko Shiragami from My Monster Secret.  (Although, to be fair, she is just as slapdash as Shiragami-san.)

And, on Shizue's side, when I first started reading the manga, I initially thought she was a boy.  She has short hair and doesn't look all that feminine or attractive, so you can forgive me for thinking so.  Shizue reminds me of Haruhi from Ouran, not only in terms of appearance, but also because she initially decides that the vampire feeding she witnesses is none of her business and tries to run away.  (Though this is also tempered with a nice dose of everyday-Joe cowardice.)

Akari Agawa, by the way, is more of a nuisance tsundere than a true threat to our heroes.  Plus Ashley can't speak Japanese, leading to her learning it, which is one of those nice touches of realism I mentioned earlier.

But what really drew me into this manga, before I even knew it was a yuri, was how the back blurb was written.  It mentioned the missing girls (if I recall correctly) and questioned whether or not Yasuko was a vampire.

This intrigued me.  I came in fully expecting a lot of cryptic sentences and avoidance of the topic, leaving us to wonder for quite some time until the big reveal (which there has not been yet).  But wouldn't it have been something if Yasuko was just a freak with a biting fetish or your run-of-the-mill everyday serial killer.

What if there was no vampire at all?

But it's still pretty cryptic and interesting, so I'll keep reading. (Plus, we're given a scene of Shizue taking her top off to feed Yasuko, and the next volume promises a bath scene.  And who can honestly say no to yuri, vampires and sweet, sweet fanservice?)

Kenka Banchou Otome Review

Hinako Nakayama and Hikaru Onigashima are long-lost twins, separated at birth.  While Hinako was raised in an orphanage and learned to fight for her own survivial, Hikaru was brought up as the heir to a powerful yakuza family.

Unfortunately for him, being the next head of said family means Hikaru must take control of a high school full of thugs as their top fighter, as is family tradition.  But Hikaru hates to fight.  That’s where our protagonist Hinako comes in.  Her brother uses their family ties to guilt the dutiful Hinako into posing as him and going to his all-boys high school (while he, of course, does vice-versa).

This is the basic story of “Kenka Bancho Otome” or, in English, “Love’s Battle Royale”.  (I have no idea why it’s called that.  I speak Japanese and, more literally, it would mean something like “Battle Squad Leader Maiden”.)

Right up front, this story pings several shojo manga and gender bender tropes.  What do you want to bet that we’ll soon run into a pretty girl who either wants to fight Hinako, learns her secret or else falls in love with her?  Or a guy who thinks “Hikaru” is cute and suddenly starts questioning his sexuality?  (Oh, wait: we might already have that.  I forget.)

And, of course, Hinako was saved in her youth by a mysterious hottie, who just so happens to be fellow student Rintaro Kira.  Although one problem I have with this series is that Rintaro looks a little bit too much like fellow hottie Takayuki Konparu.  This became a problem early on, as I quickly got the two of them mixed up.

Also present is teen idol Yuta Mirako, who instantly sees through “Hikaru’s” disguise and has a dark past.  (Ooh, shocker!  Right?)  And then there’s Totomaru Minowa, the strongest and hottest guy in the school, who we all know will eventually end up with Hinako.

One downside to this series is that we never see any of the real Hikaru’s adventures playing pretend in the girls’ school.  And, let’s face it, that would probably be more fun.  I mean, changing clothes for gym, upskirt shots and tons more female eye candy than we’re currently getting.

Apparently this manga is based on a Spike Chunsoft video game dating thing.  And I think there’s an anime.  Maybe it’s better in one of those incarnations (or possibly both).

On the upside, one interesting thing about this manga is Hikaru’s servant Sakaguchi.  He’s a man, and yet he bows and scrapes and drools over Hikaru as if he were a pervy old man after “the young mistress.”

You definitely don’t see that every day.