Romantic Killer, Volume 1

November 10, 2023
Grades 8-12 Anzu has no interest in love. Rather, she'd spend her days playing video games, eating chocolate, and petting her precious cat, Momohiko. Suddenly, her peaceful life is derailed by a fairy, Riri, who tells Anzu that Japan's declining birth rate is putting fairies across the land out of business, so Riri holds all of Anzu's loves hostage until she falls in love with a human boy. Just to make it easier for Anzu, Riri sets three hot guys in her path and uses countless magical mishaps to give Anzu plenty of opportunities to fall in love. This is a delightful comedy that uses many of the tropes of shōjo manga to its advantage, simultaneously poking fun at the situations while using them in hilarious ways. Anzu is an entertaining main character, and readers will most likely become invested and pick out one of the hot guys they think Anzu should fall for. The coloring is a nice touch in this adapted web comic, but the art itself draws its strength more from the outlandish and comical design of characters. Momose leans into over-the-top cartooning when necessary to accentuate the funnier moments. This shorter series will be a hit with shōjo readers, and may draw in a few shōnen readers who stay for the jokes.

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