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.