Dictatorial Grimoire: The Complete Collection

by Ayumi Kanou

CINDERELLA, SNOW WHITE, AND RED RIDING HOOD LIKE YOU’VE NEVER SEEN THEM BEFORE! Otogi Grimm, a far-flung descendant of the renowned Grimm Brothers, has always regarded the fairy tales his ancestors concocted as pure fiction. Now, the introverted half-Japanese teen is about to discover that the Grimm legacy is anything but pure. Otogi finds a manuscript that reveals the dark truth about the Brothers Grimm and the secret deal they made with beings known as the Marchen Demons. With Cinderella as his guide, can Otogi Grimm unlock the power of the manuscript and save himself from a horde of living fairy tales gone wild?

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Fairy Tales, Comics

540 pages, Paperback

First published September 8, 2015

Reviews

[Stewart Tame · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit corny, but still kind of fun once you get into it. So Otogi Grimm is a descendant of the original Grimms, of fairytale fame. He moves into an abandoned house that originally belonged to his father, whom he has never met. He finds an old book, the original manuscript of the Grimms' book, and a man who claims to be the original Cinderella ...

So the original Grimms weren't just collecting fairytales, but using magic to capture Märchen Demons (as opposed to 'merican demons, which typically run for office. Sorry.) They are bound into the manuscript by the stories about them, and can be summoned by the keeper of the book. If you've read any manga or seen any anime you can fill in any blanks at this point. Yes, we get twisted versions of classic fairytales, often with gender-swapped protagonists. Yes, as the new kid at school, Grimm has trouble making friends, the other kids think he's weird, etc. Yes, there's an abandoned school building nearby that all the kids think is haunted. Yes, there's a school trip in which Grimm ends up sharing a cabin with the only other kids at school he even knows. Yes, the characters from the book are, more often than not, gorgeous men, and situations abound throughout that seem intended to spark fan stories involving male on male action ... "fic-bait" I call it.

So, yes, everything is more than a bit contrived, but it's still a fun book. I found myself wishing it were longer. We never got the hot springs episode, or the school festival ... I wouldn't have objected to spending more time with these characters. The ending is decidedly rushed. I'm guessing that the series never caught on in Japan, and the decision was made to kill it. It's not a first tier title by any means, but it has its own quirky charm. Do check it out if you've a mind to.

[Heather Hayden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked this up on a whim while at B&N... Read part of it in the little coffee shop and the rest during the road trip I was on that day. I loved it! Great twists on the fairy tales included, intriguing world, and engaging characters. My favorite was Cinderella, though the other fairy tale people were awesome, too.

My only wish is that there were more volumes! There's so much more that could have been explored, and a few ends left more loosely tied than others. Still, it was a good read and I'm so glad I stumbled upon it.

[Layla Crowie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/4.5 stars.

I enjoyed this adaptation of the Grimm fairytales, I was however hoping that there would be more installments as the story didn't quite finish and there was so much more the characters could have given.

If you enjoy Mangas with sweet natured, albeit silly, main characters - then this is for you.

[Erika · Rating 2 out of 5]

we never figure out why cinder, snow and red riding are a different gender? They throw out interesting ideas but never flesh them out. It makes me so frustrated this had so much potential.
The characters dealing with the grim world were amazing including our main character Otogi. But the rest of his classmates especially the girl felt pointless till book 2. The girl was useless until book 3 because of course "character growth" but I did not believe it.
Demons of the grim stories wanted to eat Otogi soul except for cinderella ??
This was all over the place. It really had a lot of potential to be a dark fun and sexy book. But it just ended up being cliche, with bad humor, and trashy tropes and bl/yaoi tease. Like why was snow white, a male, outfit women's lingerie?!?
but the rest I just did not care. A lot of the plot line in book 3 felt rushed too.

What a wasted of money. Thank god I got it on sale. Hopefully, the person I am giving this away to will love this book that way I couldn't

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like "Alice in the Country of Hearts" and "Kyo Kara Maoh!" then you will probably enjoy this manga. I love omnibuses and these days lack the patience to invest in a long-running series, so this was perfect for me. I loved the concept of fairytale characters coming to life... but with it's own demonic twist. The art is gorgeous and the cast is interesting, both personally and visually. (While I don't mind gender-bending characters, it was a little weird calling the males by the names of the traditionally female characters.) I would like to see more of the history and backstory of Snow White, Red Riding Hood, and the others. We get a good portion of Cinderella's story, but there are still a few questions left unanswered. This would make a great otome game (a la "Alice in the Country of Hearts"). All in all, a great, short, entertaining manga!

[Chaos · Rating 5 out of 5]

This manga has been sitting on my shelf for quite a long time. Today I finally picked it up and I'm so glad I did. It was so fun to read. I loved the gender swapped characters like Cinderella and Snow White. Otogi was just thrown into the craziness. I loved watching everything unravel and the story. It was quirky, a bit weird, but oh so much fun. The ending was a bit rushed, but I still loved it. My favorite character is Cinderella by far. He's a little weird and a bit perverted but he made me laugh.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh what a fun little tale, great mash up of Grimm Fairtales and their retellings and originals. Cute story, lots of humor. Loved the fact it's only 3 volumes and all put nicely together in one big juicy read. I loved this manga!!! Would highly reccomend if you love manga, fairytales, action/adventure, then this ones for you!!

[SARAH VAUGHAN · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story while being cliche in some ways was very entertaining and had some good plot twists. It also followed the original Grim tales very well while still making the story the authors own.Although I some points it did seem a little rushed and I really would have liked it if the author had taken their time and done those few parts a little better.

[Adriana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun twist on the heir of the Grimm legacy plot, with cute designs and interesting characters and development.

[Nic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty, cute, and fun. Maybe even 4.5 stars, really. It was unexpectedly sweet by the end, too.

[Hayley Marais · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5*

[Dj · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it

[Sara Hollingsworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly fun. And yea, I definitely see that this was hoping to get the fangirls. The yaoi slash lens was strong here. But it was fun. And I liked all the genderbent fairytales.

[Nami Sky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the takes on the fairytale but felt like it was rushed more at the end and could have been longer. Otherwise pretty good

[LeeahBarrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great manga and I had fun reading all three of them im sad that I read them all but they were really great.

[Nicole Hecker · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was confusing and fast paced at first but as I read things cleared up and it seemed to move at a normal pace and I was enjoying it. The ending however, came rather abruptly. It didn't feel like an ending and it left a lot of things unanswered and didn't tie up any lose ends (meaning they left not only some things unanswered/ not confronted, but enemies were still running around undefeated). This could have been a longer series considering all the different fairy tales they could have introduced, but if they were ending it because it didn't catch on than they could have given us an actual ending rather than something that makes you feel like there's another volume after it.

[D · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story's kind of rushed at parts and also rather cliched, but I definitely laughed at some of the jokes and I like these versions of the fairy tale characters (I loved Snow White in particular, he's such a cutie). 3 stars because of the 'I'll do my best to help everyone and make friends' theme, which might be trite but also everyone needs a bit of that.

The art is also cute! I'm having Loveless flashbacks from some of the characters, but they're interesting enough on their own.

[Madameraziel · Rating 3 out of 5]

more like 2.5