Ain't She Cute?

This, ladies and gentlemen, is Ms. Kuroe Akaishi, the heroine of today's reviewed manga "Kaiju Girl Carmelise".

But don't let her looks fool you-she can transform into a massive, city-destroying beast.

And I'm not talking figuratively!

You see, for some unknown reason, whenever she becomes stressed, Kuroe here begins a slow transformation into a giant, scaly, Godzilla-esque monster.

Sadly, when Kuroe was little, she confessed her feelings to another little boy and her hands turned into claws, leaving both her and the boy in question with serious trauma.

Since then, she has become a bitter and lonely shell, "Psycho-tan" to her classmates.  In this respect, she reminds me very much of Tomoko Kuroki, the socially-awkward heroine of "Watamote".  But all of this changes one day when she catches the attention of local high school modelling pretty boy Minami Arata.

Minami used to be overweight back in the day, so he knows how it can feel to be judged solely on the outside.  He, naturally, sees into the broken heart of Kuroe Akaishi and begins to arouse certain feelings within her.

You can see where this is going...

This series was written and drawn by the great Spica Aoki, creator of "Beasts of Abigaile", another great series I liked.  But this series has its share of differences to her previous work.

For example, as of the end of Vol. 1, Kuroe (or "Harugon", as her monster form is known, because the location it first appeared was Harumi Town or the Harumi river, I forget which) seems to be the only person in the world at this time with such a problem.  There is no community of other non-human monsters here for Kuroe to find solidarity and support with.

There is also a tad more humor present in Kaiju Girl Carmelise, from the oblivious Kuroe, caught up in her own lovey-dovey world of imagining Arata-kun, accidentally destroying buildings and getting shot by the army (and not knowing!) to the crazy kaiju fangirl Manatsu, in love with "Harugon", who even sleeps in a bag shaped like Mothra's larva form.

When she/it first appears, Kuroe worries that she/it has come to do battle with her!

And, for those pervs out there like me, we get a lot more fanservice here than we did in "Beasts of Abigaile", Kuroe's clothes never coming along for the ride when she transforms.  And her clothing still runs the risk of damage whenever she transforms, not only when she goes full kaiju.

For example, when she grows a tail she has to hide, we get a gorgeous glimpse of her naked butt cheeks when it sucks back into her, having ruined her gym shorts.

While the series thus far does seem to be running a little thin on plot, such is almost beside the point at this point.

Long story short, for all its well-written characters, its unique premise, and, yes, even the fanservice, Kaiju Girl Carmelise is the first manga series in a long while that I not only want to follow, but actively want to own!  It's in my Amazon Shopping Cart!

But is it in yours?  Let me know!