Romantic Killer Vol. 1 wasn't quite for me, but I can see its appeal.

Anzu Hoshino lives a simple and fulfilling life in contemporary Japan. Her family, cat, favorite snacks, and video games are all she needs! But when a magic fairy named Riri appears before her and tells her she's the chosen one in a new magical initiative, Anzu finds herself caught up in a mess of magical bureaucracy and her happy life is instantly turned upside down. Now, she's forced to find love, something she's never been interested in, and live in a world without her family, beloved cat, chocolate, and video games. What's a high school girl to do?

I didn't enjoy watching Anzu lose everything she loved. If a premise is strong enough, I can suspend my disbelief in romcoms and stories built on fantastic, magical premises, but that wasn't the case for me and Romantic Killer. Riri's explanation was so brief and nonsensical (and Anzu made it clear that she wasn't okay with the sudden change) that I could not get behind this premise that ultimately stripped Anzu of her agency.

Additionally, Anzu and her main love interest Tsukasa Kazuki do not have chemistry, and that's usually the main draw in a romance.

Wataru Momose's art is lively, and the colors are plain but serve the story.

Story and Art by Wataru Momose
Translation and Adaptation: Adrienne Beck
Touch-Up Art and Lettering: Inori Fukuda Trant
Design: Shawn Carrico
Editor: Nancy Thistlethwaite

Thank you NetGalley and Viz Media for the ARC! Romantic Killer sounded like a fun read. A game-obessed girl (Anzu Hoshino) ends up with her own harem of pretty boys just like an otome game. And the book does deliever with comedy and heart. Turns out Anzu, do to her game obessed ways, is the prefect candidate (as in they need her to stop doing what she's doing) to match make in order to save (or help to save) the decline in the population. Volume one introduces her first option, Tsukasa Kazuki, a popular boy in school, who just might get Anzu to see beyond the games. It's fun and full color and worth a read.

Anzu is an interesting character, she's into gaming, her cat, snacks, and that's about it. Romance is NOT a factor in her life, so imagine her surprise when a magical creature alters her reality and dumps her into a shojo/otome storyline. Now without games and her cat, and living alone after her parents abruptly move overseas, Anzu finds herself getting into increasingly cliché interactions with resident 'hot guy' at school, Tsukasa. This volume is packed full of tropes, though that's not necessarily a bad thing, the plot is light and largely comedic, and the tropes are used well alongside Anzu's desire to completely mess up this romance story. Surprisingly, this volume is in full color, which is rare for manga, but I did like the coloring. The art style felt hit or miss to me, the cover art was fantastic, but the interior art felt inconsistent (though I highly appreciate abrupt style changes for comedic effect!). I also felt it moved too fast, but the end matter mentioned that the series is only four volumes long, so the pacing actually makes sense. Overall, an easy read, nothing fancy or overly exciting, but i'll check out the other volumes when they come out.

A spoof on shoujo tropes, Romantic Killer is a pretty fun read on a kind of weak premise. Young people aren't dating as much and having babies, so fairies have to force people into romantic situations? I'm not sold on it, but it's an otherwise fun read. I love how Hoshino calls out the tropes being attempted and takes steps to avoid them. It's also very funny in its self awareness, even when it doesn't make sense (like that twist at the end???). The art isn't the strongest I've seen, but I appreciate the full color manga. That takes a lot of time and the colors are done well.

5/5 stars for the manga itself
1/5 stars for the 20th anniversary edition

So I'm a huge fan of Bleach and was very excited to see that Viz Media was releasing a 20th anniversary edition of the manga. Sadly upon reading this volume I discovered that the only difference between the original and 20th anniversary edition is the cover. Typically I would have expected to at least see a new forward from Tite Kubo or a few color pages, so I was more than a little disappointed by this.

The manga is still great, Tite Kubo's art is still some of the best out there and the story holds up 20 years later.

Thanks to NetGalley and Viz Media for this advance reader copy!

4.5/5

Follow the story of Anzu Hoshino, a first year high school student who only cares about 3 things: video games, chocolate, and her cat. However, due to the declining birth rate, a magic fairy has chosen Anzu to be the guinea pig in a scheme to get girls like here to fall in love.

Talk about relatable. I loved the main character! She was hilarious and actually quite smart. I loved her facial expressions as well. It reminded me of Heroine Shikkaku (one of my fave mangas of all time).

The art was great, but even better was that it was completely in colour! Every panel, every chapter! Very rare in the manga world, so that was really nice and refreshing. The pacing is quite decent and the plot is hilarious so far.

I’ll be honest, I still don’t quite understand what the fairy is trying to accomplish. Hopefully there’ll be a recap or a different explanation in volume 2. That being said, I am excited to continue reading this series.

Also! This is Wataru Momose’s first published work!! So it’s very exciting to be reading new novels from new authors.