Turns out, if you’re shot through the heart, well, they might be to blame. These cupids give love a bad name… well, some of them do, but it doesn’t work if I elongate the intro.
This is one crazy concept and I was definitely down for something new amidst my litany of regular titles. It seems like online enthusiasm may have saved this and, if so, we’ll chalk that up to social media being good for once in its life.
Cupids exist and are born from those who died without the chance to fall in love. They also use bullets now, ostensibly because faster, but really because ‘looks cooler’. Koharu is the new recruit learning from three others when we meet the gang trying to sort out a love triangle.
With a prize of rebirth on the line for the best cupids, there’s a fair amount of competition amongst them, which winds up meaning gunplay galore. Some of the action here wouldn’t be out of place in Gunsmith Cats or Black Lagoon, in a good way.
Minus ethical concerns about messing around with the love life of humans - there’s a good throwaway about the bullets not working on anybody who wouldn’t normally have interest in the person they see after being shot - most of this plays out like an online game.
Bullets that strike cupids take them out of commission for a few minutes as they get consumed with envy and despair over not being able to fall in love themselves (honestly, this is probably the most wobbly part of the story because some of them seem pretty fond of others).
Either way, however, it’s a hoot. The first chapter reads like a one-shot and could easily stand on its own. Everybody is introduced, shots are fired, Kohaku solves the problem before them and does a great job of it. Fun concept, next please.
Then, and this surprised me real hard, we get the flashback to Kohaku becoming a cupid and it fleshes her story out to such a degree that I absolutely consider it essential to making this work as an ongoing. I don’t say that for many flashbacks, but this one is surprising and effective.
Turns out Kohaku has a real talent for pairing people off, which she used constantly in school. It made her a little too popular, but luckily her best friend Aki was always protecting her by her side. Yes, that sort of ‘by her side’. Naturally, the romance Kohaku never picks up on is her own.
But love comes calling for Kohaku in a very unfortunate spot and, next thing she knows, she’s been reborn and is forced to reckon with her new identity and some real gut punches that put her through the wringer right out of the gate.
There are some exceptional emotional moments throughout all this and some excellent action scenes. It’s a really strong blend of traditional manga action with romance and, yes, more than a little yuri. It really takes a turn and then takes another in a great way.
This really won me over, although I was pretty okay with its premise from early on and I’m super pleased I gave it a try. Even the visuals are well done - besides the good action beats the art style has ears right out of Case Closed, which I rather enjoyed for some reason.
If I had a complaint, it’s that some of the story is a little obvious with where it’s going in the moment. I called the outcome of the opening dilemma and when that construction site suddenly appears in the frame behind Kohaku, well, you don’t need to see Truck-kun to know what’s next. But, that said, it still manages to be interesting even when it goes where you think it will.
Here’s how you lead off a first volume and, the nice thing is, you would be perfectly okay with this one volume. There’s so much more you could do with this, and I hope it does, but this is perfectly self-contained. But, for real, more please. I hadn’t originally planned to give this top marks, but I have been thinking about it a lot after I finished and that deserves a bonus point because it doesn’t happen often.
4.5 stars - a great start with a clever premise, well-reasoned backstory, strong art, and a fantastic lead. It’s so unique and makes a meal of its premise. I want more, but this just kills it as a single volume too. It’s the sort of book I wish we saw more of, based on creativity alone.