Reading Manga - Kaibutsu Oujo
"That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die." - H.P. Lovecraft, The Nameless City
Manga Name: Kaibutsu Oujo (Monster Princess)
Alternative English Title: Princess Resurrection
Back when I was in middle school, I would go around Barnes & Noble, Waldenbooks, Kinokuniya... I'd always save my lunch money (Don't tell my dad) so that I could buy manga. In time, my shelves would be filled with Bleach, Dr. Slump, Black Cat, Yu-gi-oh! and so on.
However, this one peculiar book cover caught my eye.
"Welp, I'm sold." I thought to myself.
After looking around some more, I bought it. Went home, opened the plastic cover, and waded in this enjoyable pool of a story.
Did you just say... Waded?
Yep. Right off the bat, we're treated to a cold opening. Blonde woman with a tiara bites her finger at what seems to be a morgue. Bodies around her on gurneys with their faces covered in cloth. She drips blood carefully over the top of one of the bodies, over said cloth.
Then, it switches. Off to our innocent and frail-looking Hiro Hiyorimi. His sister has been working as a maid in Sasanaki City for a while, and Hiro decided to move there as a result to be with her. He must really have a great relationship with his sister.
Then, it...
Ah, that explains the first two pages.
Hiro gets hit pretty hard, blood gushing out of his head like a really juicy fruit gusher. The slender blonde from earlier remarks about this. To her compact robot maid companion, Flandre, who seems to have caused this accident... by... pushing the van? Making it swerve? Alright. This is getting strange.
Our male lead gets up at the morgue. He's about as confused as a recent college graduate in the SF Bay Area. I digress, he goes out and about, noticing that the mansion that his sister was working at isn't abandoned like he thought. He starts walking up the hill there, only to find that blonde princess and Flandre are fighting a werewolf and his pack of wolves. Wildman, the werewolf, makes it clear that he was out to kill them.
Flandre swings a tree that she was holding (solidifying her freakish strength), making quick work of the wolves. Wildman swings and parries the tree, shouting something like, "I have no time for small fry!" What. Flandre just swung a tree.
Anyways, he goes after the princess, almost successfully smashing her with his gigantic paws. But what happens? Hiro gets in the way and gets impaled straight through the chest instead. He protects her, despite looking like he could barely lift a kiddie dinner plate at a Hometown Buffet. The svelte princess prepares her rapier to counter Wildman, gracefully perforating his brain matter.
So what's this about?
The princess reveals herself as Hime, princess of the Royal Family. As one of the daughters of the Great King, she may choose and create blood warriors by giving people her blood -- making them effectively immortal as long as they receive her blood when in need. These blood warriors are important, as Hime herself isn't immortal... yet?
Turns out, she and her siblings are stuck in a battle for the throne. The sole survivor will be the one to win. Though, it seems like Hime couldn't care less for it. It leads to some elaborate schemes and intricate relationships later on down the line.
Now I won't spoil it, but the story continues with a mix of mystery-solving and defending themselves from attacks from Hime's siblings. Along the way, they pick up a few more companions: the honor-bound, midriff baring werewolf Riza; the flirtatious, pure-blood vampire Reiri; and quite a few others.
... But I'll be honest, you'll probably see a lot of this.
Finish your thought about the "waded" thing?
I used the word "waded" because stories have depth to it. Pools and lakes make for good analogies. "How wide is it?" would be like, "how vast is the established universe?" and "How deep is it?" would be "How intricate is the story?
Using bodies of water as an analogy, this manga tends to be shallow. We often hear that with a negative connotation. Is that the case here? Not at all.
Because it's shallow, we're able to get closer to the main cast of characters quicker. We're treated to more interactions from them. We get to see not just the big, climactic action scenes or pivotal, character-defining events, but even the small talk and sequences. Granted, there isn't a lot of it with all the small story sequences, but there's enough that it's notable.
By the time you're well into the story, you should have a solid understanding of everybody's personality types. There's another strange allure to it all, but maybe that's just me.
What About the Anime?
The anime is produced by veteran studio Madhouse, in collaboration with animation director Masayuki Sakoi. It's particularly lower budget, and it shows in the general design of things and lack of grand animation sequences. However, it stays very true to the manga, and the voices are perfect for the characters. They really bring the manga to life.
I adore the music. Both the opening and ending themes are made by ALI PROJECT, and they are absolutely fantastic. I mean, what a great pairing. Their Japanese aristrocrat style image as well as their dark, mysterious tone are perfect fits for the anime.
One of the main gripes with the anime is that it was in production while the manga was still being developed, slated only for one season. This means it never gets finished. Thankfully, the anime didn't get Soul Eater'd, staying true to the original story. It just cuts off after 24 episodes with a few extra OVAs released afterwards. It'd be nice to get it finally concluded.
Pre-score notes: The big, double-page Crowning Moment of Awesomes are always fun to see, and they're really, really well done compared to the other panels. With that said, the other panels are usually oddly drawn or simplified. Would like to see more of that cool art we're teased with every once in a while. Also, more character development for certain characters in the middle of the story, as opposed to a lot near the end. I enjoyed it a lot.
Final Score
Design: 7
Plot / Character Development: 9
Personal Preference: 10
Overall: B+
