Pumpkin Scissors(manga) Vol 1

[meganbmoore]

 Alice Malvin is the heir to one of the Thirteen Appointed Families, the nobility of her world, a station that makes her a princess. Her family has a long tradition of military involvement, a tradition Alice intends to continue. On the day she graduated the academy, however, a cease-fire was called on the current war. Three years later, Alice leads Section III-aka, Pumpkin Scissors-a section that seems to be mostly comprised of random misfits and be sent on seemingly risk-free tasks. Probably in hopes the "sheltered princess" won’t get herself killed. Unfortunately, Alice is far too gung-ho about justice and righteousness for that to ever work.

On one such mission, she meets Randel Oland, a large, quiet, and gentle man(shall we just call him a walking tank?) who turns into an unstoppable machine in battle. After seeing him single handedly take on a tank, she decides to keep him. After seeing her risk her life against absurd odds to try to stop terrorists, he decides he should probably let her.

Like a lot of these series, most of the first volume is spent establishing the leads and setting up the world, which rests somewhere unsteadily between wartime and peacetime, with people still stinging over any military mistreatment, and the military and nobility think the common people should be grateful to them. Alice, meanwhile, is adjusting to the idea that wanting to help and do well by people doesn’t mean you understand them or know where they’re coming from, especially when your own lifestyle is completely alien to theirs. The general dynamic of the pumpkin Scissors unit actually reminds me somewhat of Roy Mustang’s squad in Fullmetal Alchemist. Not the characters themselves, who are very different, but the overall feel.

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[kingcrankycat.livejournal.com]

Granted, granted.