The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to Be Archenemies

by Cocoa Fujiwara (Creator)

She’s a magical girl, sworn to fight for peace, love, and justice. He’s a lieutenant, born into a military family that serves an evil empire. And yet, it was love at first sight... From Inu x Boku SS creator Cocoa Fujiwara comes a four-panel comic about hostile enemies who won’t kill (and love) each other!???

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Romance, Humor

408 pages, Paperback

Published August 27, 2024

About the author

Cocoa Fujiwara (藤原 ここあ 藤原 ここあ Fujiwara Kokoa, April 28, 1983 – March 31, 2015) was a Japanese manga author and illustrator from Fukuoka Prefecture. Her debut was with a work called Calling, which she made when she was only fifteen. She chose not to go to high school so that she could draw manga. Fujiwara was a fan of RPGs such as Final Fantasy, which shows in her works. She was also good friends of Jun Mochizuki and Yana Toboso.

Fujiwara's works Watashi no Ookami-san and Dear have both been published in Square Enix's Monthly Gangan Wing. Two drama CDs have been made of her work Dear. Fujiwara's manga Inu x Boku SS was adapted into an anime series by David Production which aired in Japan between January and March 2012. At the time of her death, she was serializing her manga Katsute Mahō Shōjo to Aku wa Tekitai Shiteita. in Square Enix's Gangan Joker online magazine, leaving the series unfinished.

Works (in chronological order)

Watashi no Ookami-san [わたしの狼さん。] (2001, 2 volumes)
Dear [ティア] (2002-2006, 12 volumes)
Ojō-sama to Yōkai Shitsuji [お嬢様と妖怪執事] (2009)
Inu x Boku SS [妖狐×僕SS] (2009-2014, 11 volumes)
Katsute Mahō Shōjo to Aku wa Tekitai Shiteita. [かつて魔法少女と悪は敵対していた。] (2013-2015, 2 volumes)

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This goes a little beyond what the anime covered, and it won't be as comfortable as its adaptation for all readers - it's explicitly stated that Byakuya is around sixteen while Mira is twenty-seven, and the male gaze (or sexualized elements, since Fujiwara was a woman) is much more evident. But it's also still very funny and a little bit sweet, and I'm sorry that with Fujiwara's passing, we won't ever get any more.

[Aliix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nunca creí que tendría el manga en físico, después de diez años se hizo una realidad
Gracias YenPress por traer el legado de Cocoa




Te amo para siempre Cocoa sensei

[Carolina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Empecé por el animé que está ahora en emisión y me re enganchó. Me fui al manga, que por cierto está muy bien adaptada su versión en animé, y ya me lo terminé. Es una pena que haya quedado inconclusa por el fallecimiento de la autora, su obra me resultó divertida de ver y leer. Mi única crítica es que de a momentos tiene roces con lo rancio y la chica mágica no es mayor de edad en el manga pero entendí en el animé que sí lo es? Al menos en el manga dice que es menor porque no puede tomar alcohol, y no nombra el ir al colegio como parte del relato de su día, pero usa la ropa de gimnasia y nombra el uniforme en otra ocasión. Quisiera creer que al menos tiene entre 17 y 18.
Rip Cocoa Fujiwara, hoy en día seguís llegando a nuevos lectores 🩷

[Susanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a lot like Mr. Villain’s Day Off in idea and form. Evil non-humans rule the earth, opposed by special humans, magical girls, that are appointed by angels. Chapters consist of page long strips of the two main characters interacting, the evil character being rendered helpless by the cuteness of his opponent. It’s not quite as cute as Mr. Villain, but it’s a bit naughtier.

Mira, a cold-hearted lieutenant of the Evil King, is tasked with capturing Byakuya, a magical girl Glass Happiness. She’s clueless about the world and a bit simple, so she’s exploited by her angel (they’re not nice creatures), and made to have several part-time jobs, of which being magical girl is just one. She’s also a hostess, not that she understands what that means.

Mira is totally smitten with her, and spends his days making sure she’s well fed and defending her against her angel. Other evil lieutenants are starting to suspect he’s not truly trying to capture her, and intervene a couple of times, only for him to save her again.

The chapters aren’t long and they’re chopped to page long strips. There isn’t really much development in their relationship and she’s as clueless of his feelings at the end as she was at the beginning. The volume is long, and the chapters get a tad monotonous, but other characters and situations are introduced every now and then, so it doesn’t get boring. But even though it’s long, the story doesn’t get any conclusion and just ends. I hoped there would be more, but the author passed away almost a decade ago, so I presume this volume is the entire collection of these strips.

Illustrations are clean-lined and good. The main story takes about 90% of the ebook. The rest is fillers.

I received a free copy from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

[Ya Boi Be Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

If it wasn't for the gross age gap it would've been much higher most likely a 4/5 but I can't in good conscience really rate it that high consideration the age gap and the atrocious fanservice.
I normally dislike 4-koma but this one I enjoyed. Part of it I think is that it gives a single 4-koma to each page rather than two allowing the art more space to breathe and be shown off. It also makes sure to have at least (but often enough more) moments that are done not in 4-koma style which again helps allow the story to have moments that fit better outside of the 4-koma pacing.
It's got great comedic sensibilities. The dynamic between Glass Happiness and Mira is well done ans the rest of the characters only add more great dynamics into the mix such as the Golden Retriever Fomalhuat, the loud mouthed and aggressive Hibana, and the TL-loving Bellatrix. As it goes in it leans more and more into the romance side which was admittedly a cute romance aside from the clearly terrible age gap. Its sad the author passed away especially as they just got into the groove of their manga with the later chapters showing more of the Evil Organization's cast and having better cute moments and romance.
I do wish there was less ecchi towards the magical girls. Its not always immediate but when it is there it is extremely offputting such as the interrogation chapter or the chapter talking about Byakuya living with the Angel.
In regards to art Fujiwara has great art. It often goes into this light novel-esque ephemeral look with dreamy far-away looking placid eyes and softer tones and inking that I enjoy. At all times it has a high quality with no corners cut (aside from backgrounds but those can end up making many 4-komas look cluttered I find so I didn't mind). It definitely has that one specific moe-VN-influenced high quality shonen art style that I don't know how to describe and it's done well here.
It ends with what I believe is Fujiwara's first published oneshot which shares a few similarities to the series it's placed within with similar names and some tenuously similar concepts. I found it pretty eh to poor with its pacing and writing hard to follow and very acquired 90s art style but as a sendoff to Fujiwara passing it was sweet as a sentimental inclusion by the publisher.

[Ellyn → Allonsythornraxx · Rating 3 out of 5]

22/12/2025
3 ⭐
This started off SO WELL with major Mr Villain's Day Off vibes, but the moment I realised our Magical Girl was a minor and the Evil Lieutenant clearly isn't, it went from cute and goofy to very, very icky, and that's not even mentioning how sexualised the poor girl is. I mean, she's basically in lingerie for the entire volume. If you put that aside and ignore the absolute nastiness of Byakuya's situation, this is a pretty fun volume with a lot of silly hijinks. But let me tell you, it went from a 4-star read to just barely a 3 when I read chapter 13. I was so disgusted by what was happening and the fact that it's clearly a daily occurrence that it made me feel sick. Also, the author uses the words " sexually assaulted " every single time, so it's not like they don't know what they're writing. I would love to know the reasoning behind the blatant sexual assault of a minor in this book. You can write a naive character easily without assaulting her daily on page and having her just brush it off as normal, like she doesn't understand or care what's happening to her. Just so unforgivably gross.

✨ 186/100 read for 100 Graphics in a Year Reading Challenge ✨ + also read for the graphicsathon round 16!

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[Alexandra Freire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hermosa historia, lástima que inconclusa. El legado de Cocoa Fujiwara continúa a pesar de no estar con nosotros...
Amo a Mira, y Byakuya siempre tan pesimista xD Hehos el uno para el otro

[Laura A. Grace]

"I've never cared for your defeatist attitude. You need to dare to hope more."

I'm unsure of what to say about this manga, and that's mainly because I LOVED the two leads and their interactions, but there is a cat/angel/thing that I absolutely hated. He singlehandedly ruined this manga for me because every time he came on page (at first anyway), I was irked and irritated, but not so much that I would stop reading.

However, that changed around halfway when we saw how he treated our magical girl and AT LEAST three times sexually harassed her!! (And the words "sexually harassed" are used!) It's even implied that this is on a day-to-day basis! I've never felt so relieved to see a hero and I have the same exact reactions of pure rage! Maybe it was wrong, but when the evil lieutenant took out this cat/angel/thing I cheered because GET THAT FREAKING CREEP OFF THE PAGE!!! UGH!

There were some moments outside of that character that I wasn't super fond of, but nothing was as hard as a deal breaker as that character. As soon as I was finding my footing with the main characters and happy over their cute moments, that character would show up and all my enjoyment would just vanish. (Unless the evil lieutenant was doing something to take the creature out because why is our evil lieutenant the only one who seems to call out that pervert and actually care about what's happening to our magical girl?!)

Concerning a different character though, Fomalhaut was easily one of my favorite characters (besides the two leads)! I know he was more of a golden retriever/dog kind of character, but he was so kind, sweet, and outgoing! I was easily a hook, line, and sinker from the first page when I met him! LOL!

Going back to the leads, I really really did like them both! I know this would be considered an age gap kind of story, but it was always so respectful, and deeply admire how the lieutenant always kept it as such. I definitely would have loved to see where the story went and see their romance bloom more!

Overall, I won't be keeping this story in my collection, even though the physical quality of this manga is top-tier. I realize that's a weird thing to point out, but you can tell a lot of thought and care went into making this a premium manga.

I'm just sad that I didn't connect more with the story because of certain side characters. I think if you don't mind a character like I shared above as well as a character who loves to (actively) fantasize about her workers' (and her own) "sex life" (and a character who seems to only run around yelling "F***"?) then I think this could be a cute story to enjoy?

The romance between our magical girl and evil lieutenant definitely made me smile more than once and will choose to remember that moving forward since it was my favorite part of this manga!

[Ray Rappisi · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely hilarious and tender love story done in 4-koma style. It’s a shame the mangaka Cocoa Fujiwara passed away before she finished this series because these two characters are the sweetest couple I’ve read in a long time. It so abruptly ends it leaves a hole in your soul mainly because you won’t know how these two end up. I can easily imagine them staying together forever, but unfortunately we’ll never know. One thing you must do while reading each page is read the side chapter titles AFTER reading the page, it’s like icing on a cake and SO appropriately funny. This omnibus will leave you wanting more, it’s that good!

[S.Q. Eries · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Summary
This magical girl parody could be a cute rom-com with the evil lieutenant fighting to maintain appearances even as he falls head over heels for his cute nemesis. However, the fan service is fairly excessive, and cussing magical girl Hibana and Byakuya’s gangster-ish familiar add enough crass elements to put at least half the humor into crude territory. So although the actual relationship between Mira and Byakuya can arguably be characterized as chaste, the title does warrant its Older Teen rating and its Language, Nudity, Sexual situations and Violence labels.

The Review
Mira is the Evil Organization’s mastermind. Infamous for his cruelty, he’s laid waste to many a nation. But when magical girl Glass Happiness appears, he’s rendered powerless – by love at first sight!

The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used To Be Archenemies is a magical girl parody. To start, our heroine Byakuya, a.k.a. magical girl Glass Happiness, has the look of a magical girl, but all the other stereotypes get turned on their heads. Instead of fighting for love and peace, this hard-luck orphan views her magical girl role as a job. Moreover, it doesn’t pay all the bills. Even with multiple part-time jobs, she lives a hand-to-mouth existence. Most of her problems can be tracked to her angelic familiar, a cat-man who is more yakuza than angelic. He is verbally abusive, sexually harasses her, and takes all her money like a callous pimp.

Then there’s Mira, the lieutenant known far and wide for being cruel and heartless. Well, turns out he actually does have a heart, which he immediately loses to Byakuya. So instead of scheming against his magical girl enemy, he’s forced to use his wits to justify his actions towards her, which generally fall in the category of bringing her various treats and bailing her out of lewd situations that the cat-man’s coerced her into. And because Mira treats her far better than anyone else in her life, Byakuya regards him only with respect and gratitude.

I’ve honestly got mixed feelings about this title. Enemy-to-lovers is a favorite subgenre of mine, and the story does a lot of fun and playful things with this trope. I also have a soft spot for stoic, serious tsundere, so Mira is an absolute delight.

However, the manga reeks of fan service. Byakuya’s costume is pretty much lingerie; one scene even has Mira questioning the appropriateness of her outfit – if you can call it that. Whether in battles against the Evil Organization or unsavory gigs arranged by the cat-man, Byakuya ends up in situations with lewd overtones. Moreover, Bellatrix, Mira’s chesty colleague in the Evil Organization, is prone to smutty fantasies so there’s those images as well.

On top of that, there is the weirdness that is the story’s other magical girl, Hibana. In addition to contributing to the fan service with her own lingerie-type costume, she’s a hellion that attacks allies, friends, and enemies alike. Her dialogue is almost entirely F-bombs, and she prefers brass knuckles to her magic staff. Hibana definitely breaks the magical girl stereotype with her behavior which is sort of funny but mostly bewildering.

By the way, the format for the illustrations alternates between four-panel columns (each column picking up a single page) and regular manga panels. There doesn’t seem to be any particular pattern to when the styles switch. Backgrounds tend to be very simple, but the characters are well rendered, and their expressions and emotions leap off the pages.

The book is hefty – over 400 pages. From what I can tell, it includes the entirety of the series (20 chapters), plus the standalone manga Beauty and the Beast. The artwork and story for Beauty and the Beast is nowhere as polished as The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant, but readers might be amused by the fact that Fujiwara-sensei recycled a couple key names from that earlier story.

For those familiar with the anime, the manga covers the same general territory as the TV show, but there are variations. For example, the manga has Byakuya telling Mira about the slime video in the park, not in a hostess club. There is no equivalent for the anime Christmas episodes in the manga, and the manga also contains material not in the anime.

Extras include seven bonus illustrations printed in color and sketches.

For more manga and book reviews, drop by my blog Keeping It In Canon!

[Zephorah Dove · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was such a smart idea to have the English translation release as the same time the anime did. I loved being able to read and watch the same scenes. I felt thoroughly spoiled.

I adored the premise and liked the episodic nature of the story (although it did take me longer to finish). The lieutenant was hilarious and it's always nice to see someone down bad for someone else. I need to download screenshots of his reactions so I can use them when professing my love for something. The over sexualization of the FL at times was over the top but was also hilarious because although the lieutenant stood up for her, she just breezed through it so straight faced.

The only thing I disliked was the ending - it felt a tad too abrupt and then the last 30 pages is a different story? I discovered that the author unfortunately passed a few years ago at such a young age. I'm grateful we were able to receive this translated version and get to enjoy one of the last things they wrote.

Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for the chance to read this gem!

[Anthony Wendel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those series which helps you remember why you started to explore a genre. The manga focuses on a magical girl who has experienced a hard life and is just trying to do the job of being a magical girl to make ends meet. The Lieutenant of Evil organization falls in love at first sight and soon comes to love the kind hearted heart the magical girl possesses. It's a simple story, cute, and has comedy which hits its mark. Unfortunately, due to the death of the author the entire series is collected in this one edition. It won't give you the ending you were hping for but at least its not left at a terrible cliffhanger. It leave you wanting more and wishing to honor the memory of the creator. Farewell, Fujiwara-sensei. Know that people are still enjoying your work even after you have crossed the rainbow bridge.

[devynreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly extremely entertaining. I loved both main characters, although of course the FMC was very infantile and helpless. There were some problematic elements (she's 15 and he's a grown man??), but when aren't there in manga? Byukuya was very sexualized, and every now and then there'd be some dialogue edging close to victim/slut-shaming, but it wasn't a crazy amount. Super funny and ridiculous!

Until I looked up her author page halfway through the manga, I had no idea the author had passed, and at only 32 :( I hope the other books in this series will be translated to English because I would love to read more!

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I debated what I was going to give this while I was reading it, but honestly the latter half seemed to be a lot more interesting than the former.

I am, however, sad to find out that Cocoa Fujiwara actually passed away while in the middle of writing this so the last chapter may have not been the intended last chapter for the story? Disappointing. :c

I wish that I could have known what the intended ending was, if that was not it.

[Nicole Nieto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite what I was expecting, but I did end up having fun with the story in the end. I’m sad to learn that the author has passed away, but that definitely explains why the comics basically end in an abrupt spot. The overall concept was pretty fun though and I’m looking forward to checking out the anime.

[Z · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered this manga when I started watching the anime only to find out that the author sadly passed away... want them to know they delivered a master piece in mahou shojo (idc what others say). Byakuya Mimori and Mira will always be THAT couple (ILOVETHEMSOMUCHKKDB)🥹🥹🥹

[Jem · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is so random but I can't stop reading

[Lea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a cute and funny manga. Such a shame Cocoa Fujiwara passed away before finishing it.

[Shae · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not for me

[Sassy Blue · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yea I just felt so uncomfortable reading this. If I get into a reading slump I'm blaming this manga.

[Brianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

It ended so abruptly???