I can overlook a shabby story in anime, to an extent. I can even really connect with an anime which has a none-so-good premise if the characters are well-developed. I can even-on occasion- hoot and holler along with a gratuitous anime which is rife with action and fanservice. However, I can’t seem to forgive these trespasses when they occur in manga…
plot summary
Things could be better for Keita Kusakabe; he’s the slowest runner on the track team, he doesn’t have a girlfriend and he lives alone with his dad. Which is why when a classmate offers to sell him a magical box which grants the owner three wishes, Keita doesn’t hesitate to buy the trinket.
But these three wishes come with a price; Keita’s soul! After Keita opens the box, he realizes the price he must pay for his wishes is too high. The devil, Maki, who was released from the box and will grant the three wishes, won’t be so easily dissuaded.
Maki uses all manner of persuasion to con Keita into entering a contract with her but she really has no real experience being a devil and is too naive and sweet. After repeatedly refering to her textbook for notes on how to steal Keita’s soul, Maki decides to give up. However, in an ironic twist, Keita’s good intentions seals the deal and his first wish is accidentally granted.
Two wishes remain for Keita to make before Maki drags him down to Hell. Since Keita can’t decide what to wish for just yet, Maki decides she must live with him until he does.
review
The entire concept for My Dearest Devil Princess is too gratuitous to actually be anything but a fanservice device: Naive, inexperienced (but super nice and gentle) devil-girl must live with boy to collect his soul. Boy’s father is happy dumb-girl-who-randomly-gets-naked lives in his house and doesn’t ask questions as to why she now lives there. Other characters are also attracted to and involved with boy. Chaos, fanservice and hilarity ensues- but mostly fanservice.
There is no plot. I couldn’t help but think that every time there was a panty or boob shot in this manga, which was about every five pages or so. If there is one, it’s more of a veneer of a plot than an actual, planned and well-developed one. So the thought that there is no plot- in the traditional definition of the term- was not off base. Also, the excessive use of fanservice led me to the conclusion that perhaps I wasn’t the targeted audience of the manga…
So who would be the targeted audience for My Dearest Devil Princess, MDDP for short? Would it be those who appreciate the female form? Those who like the excess use of moe? Or maybe those who like a lil’ shonen-ai and touch of tsundere-ness? Well, MDDP has all that and more, yet it doesn’t have what it takes to attract fans of “plot” and “story”.
It’s as if the manga randomly collected a few stereotypes of the medium, rolled them together and then used ‘em in a scattershot manner with the hope it would hit some target. The moe aspect, however, is way too strong to be random. There was indeed a certain, male, audience in mind when Maki was “developed”.
Fanservice aside, there is some interest in the manga in the way of a psychotic, avenging angel of mercy. The battle between angels and demons has always been a good source of new theories and concepts on the subject of Heaven and Hell, Good and Evil and the perceived definition of both. Even MDDP doesn’t completely drop the ball- mainly due to the fact that Heaven and Hell are both such rich subjects which draw out such strong emotions. It’s damn hard to make a completely inane story when using the two.
All the characters in My Dearest Devil Princess, Volume One are all very shallow creatures. No one has yet been given any background or personality beyond what their actions showcase. A character who does a violent act in the manga, can thus assumed to be a violent person until further development proves the assumption wrong. But the fact is, there isn’t any development. I have zero connection with any of the characters on any level; be it humorous, sexual, or emotional. I should at least feel something, but all I feel is the need to thumb through the book as quickly as possible and be done with it.
The art, thankfully, is the one thing about the manga that is well-developed. Maika Netsu was the artist cum mangaka who inked MDDP’s pages and the style is simply fantastic. The work has a light, open feel, yet is filled with detailing and shading. The panels are laid out in a thoughtful manner and makes the manga easy to read if not enjoy (the art is enjoyable, however). Lines are crisp and clean and the shading follows suit and is free from the muddy feel some artists succumb to when they fill in their work.
Character designs are important in a manga and they should have the feel that some effort was put into them. MDDP doesn’t have that feel about it; things are too generic and too stereotypical. The nutso angel, Sheeta however, is the exception. Her character design looked like someone took more than three seconds to decide her appearance and she stands out the most in the manga.
There weren’t any extras in the manga, unlike previous Broccoli manga I’ve reviewed. The paper and production quality were high like previous publications which does count for something since it means the art will look better because of it.
My Dearest Devil Princess, Volume One was too much an overt vehicle for fanservice that it sacrificed the one thing a manga can’t exist without; plot. Minus a plot, MDDP devolved from a manga to a book filled with pretty pictures…
Rating
My Dearest Devil Princess, Volume One gets 1.5 outta 4 gummies!
Now, are those REALLY representative samples of the title?
Did you pick the most vacuous panels to make your point?
(Because if that’s really the manga… wow. Vapid city!)
Here. I’ll just study them a bit longer to see if I’m missing anything.
@Dwight Wannabe, yes, yes those really are representative samples of the manga, and fairly tame ones at that. The ones where Maki is randomly showering and completely nekkid or having some part of her anatomy showing happens every 15 pages, while boob and panty shots are every five.
Yeah. I, uh, despise pointless boob and panty shots. So, uhm, gratiutous and offensive to my Sensitive New Age Male feminist code of conduct.
As a matter of fact, if you were to loan me the manga for say 20 minutes, I could better write a letter of outrage to the publishers.
I agree with you the manga so far has no really good plot but then again it is the first volume so hopefully a plot will appear soon but still its a good book if you want a kick out of it and there is some service for the girls to so its not only for us guys also.
CALM DOWN! i do not agree with this review one bit! Sure therre is a lot of gratuitous fan service but there is a plot! It is very hard to judge a manga just by the 1st volume. This volume serves as a kick start to the rest of the story. Alot of manga do not have an OBVIOUS plot in the first volume. This volume serves to introduce the main central characters and a taste of the plot. don’t be so judgemental when most of you haven’t even read it! I just got done with volume 2 and the plot really starts to pick up. I hate it when people think “Oh, ther’s fan service in this manga! it must be garbage!” Here’s a hint… try to ACTUALLY open your eyes and look hard enough and you’ll be able to se more of a plot.
@Scott, yes there is a plot: Girl gets naked and tries to seduce boy. Boy pointedly refuses girl. Another girl pops up and wants to seduce boy. Boy again pointedly refuses girl. Repeat.
Yes, a lot of manga do skirt around an obvious plot, but they also offer interesting characters and the promise of a more involved story. Those manga usually deliver.
I have read Volume Two of My Dearest Devil Princess and must say it’s worse than the first volume in terms of fanservice and intellectual appeal. MDDP is a harem manga and there’s usually not much plot involved with those.
Ok i agree with a few keypoints made by rachel there is alot of fanservice and the artwork is good but character design is lackying. But i would like to point out Scott is right that we cant judge is fully yet by the first volumes here a perfect example Hitman Reborn, first few (like 10 volumes) really had no plot to it more like a bunch of gaggs to it but know with the ring wars it make for a real good read. also i remember Ichigo 100% was alot of fanservice. So i have no fully given up on this manga yet. Who knows Scott may have a point or you may have made the best call already
@Whitefox, There really are those rare anime and manga which do seem to collect themselves and become fantastic after a very, very shaky start. Witchblade, the anime, was one such series. But if I have the choice, I would skip it in favor of a manga or anime which at least seems more promising.
O.K….where can i by this manga MY DEAREST DEVIL PRINCESS?i would realy like to now thx:D
Ah it seems pretty like a cookiecutter cute-Hentai book.Sekirei is better I’m sure. It at least has a plot and some development of characters.
I’m getting so tired of abundant fanservice. I seem to be disliking alot of female characters as of late because of the ‘omg my clothes fell off/were stolen/evaporated into thin air’ moments that keep poping up. Or the super short skirts. Or the zipper on the jacket that is never properly used.
By mere mention of the boy and his refusing the girl, I am curious. Harem mangas, if that is what this book is, usually tend to have the main male character getting a bloody nose every five minutes. This one does not? A miracle!
The art is pretty, I must admit.
@kittyfo, “cute-Hentai”? Is that a genre? If so, then this might not be it. There’s no “contact” thus far, and I’m praying there never will be.
@DarkAngeKisses. can you imagine if that happened in real life, the “‘omg my clothes fell off/were stolen/evaporated into thin air’“? Zounds, the panic that would create! Yet when it happens in manga, sexiness ensues. Go figure.
I personally think this is a good manga, yet its so perverted. (<—Obvious girl word “PERVERT” so I’m a girl if you’re curious.) of course I am a girl who just loves cute sexy images, and love pointless things. The plot should be obvious; Get Keito’s soul. But does Maki fall in love with him? Is there yuri relationships? WHAT KIND OF RELATIONSHIPS? And yes, the boob shots, panties shots, and any other boy-loving shots get annoying. Good manga’s have good art, little personal part shots (unless its seinen, I guess guys like that stuff) so on a scale of 1-4 I’d have to agree with 2.0. Thats just me.
frankly I find it to be very funny kinda like disgega(also from broccole books) but the upskirts and boob showings are just to appeal to a more ravenous fan base so really you must look past that to the real thing a demon girl who had always been raised in a castle who now has to come to earth to get souls to succede her mother in being demon queen and some unluckly boy is her first victim how can you not possibily love that!!??
i absolutly love this book i bought it at the book store and couldnt put it down i reed the hole think in less than a hour im beging my parents for the second one =] but i think they dont like how its 16+ because im 12 but i LOVE it