- Volume Rating: 3/5
- Series Rating Average: 3/5
Inee's first foray into Manga Serialization starts off with a bang--literally!
An unconventional tale of love involving beings incapable of it who serve humanity's pursuits with the hope of one day being given a second lease on life! While also being at each other's throats when disagreements and misfires cause these modern-day cupids to collateralize.
Koharu is reincarnated as one of these Cupids after a tragic accident leads to her untimely demise after being confessed to by her best friend Aki, having never fallen in love herself and being at a loss up to her death as to how to respond to her friend.
The series has started off quite interesting, though I confess I am not as hooked as so many appear to be. I absolutely respect it as an outstanding first outing, and the artwork is top, but I find myself not on the edge of my seat for more. I can see how the author might weave some interesting stories and borderline-mysteries in trying to deduce fitting matches(since Cupids' bullets only affect someone if there is compatibility), but I also cannot help but find there to be a fair bit of arbitrariness going on(seemingly only one cupid..one team?..maybe group?..but what distinguishes when there is disagreement?..gets credit for the target, so why would any Cupid ever work together other than as allies when there is threat of extermination, or otherwise out of spite?). The first mission we see has four Cupids who are at a stand-still, but their mock battle that ends in the decision being made by Koharu was specifically stated by them to be practice for "the real thing"--what real thing? Did they not just straight up do exactly the thing?
We see that with when we see Koharu's first mission too--Where it was not a mock battle at all, but two cupids having the same target, one elected by the Koharu's senpai(does the senpai get credit for kouhai success? Not stated either), which was also copped by a rival cupid(how did the senpai volunteer herself anyway, and why was that mission not considered sacrosanct?). If cupids can group up to get credit why not always, and if they do not, why is there a senpai/kouhai system? Is only the latter valid? If so then Mission #2 makes no sense.
The arbitrariness with there being compatibility requirement too--Two folks were straight-up in the weeds of divorce but forced back in love by collateral, another was a random business bloke and a random employee. The latter sure maybe, but the former clearly shows that the "compatibility," was surface-level or at least that there was a deeper issue at play, and it seemed no different than traditional force on the part of the Cupids. It seems the rule only applies when it is convenient for the plot, which is not good. Consistency matters.
For that matter, one chewed the other out about collateral since they were only there for their target, but the other character's statement basically echoes the readers': Who cares? They are supposed to be Cupids, so their mission may be X, but if Y happens, why would they give the slightest bit of a care?
The author's note at the end mentioned that they basically put several elements they liked into a melting pot, and as I said I respect the first-try nature of the Manga. But I think it way too overrated. Maybe it can get world-built into making sense, but the first volume should be fairly foundational, and it really just was not.
Once again, great artwork, I respect the first attempt, but I may cancel my pre-order of the next volume and let it be one of my abandoned-works on my bookshelf. If someone else has read it and has a different perspective, please do share it. Maybe I missed something.
