manga: Omukae Desu Vol 1

[meganbmoore]

While studying for university entrance exams, 18-year-old Madoka sees his neighbor being chased by a man in a bunny suit. Then he remembers that he just attended the neighbor’s wake. Then an adolescent girl crashes into a pole.

Soon, he learns that the man in the bunny suit is Nabeshima, and shinigami who comes to fetch souls who aren’t crossing over on their own, and the girl is his partner, Yuzuko. Their company, GSG, has theme months, hence the bunny suit. They carry souls to the afterlife on a motorcycle. Since Madoka can see ghosts and let them temporarily inhabit his body to carry out their last wishes, without losing control of his body like most do, Nabeshima decides to hire him as a part time worker. Madoka isn’t given much choice in this. Later, Nabeshima assigns another human part timer, Aguma, to be Madoka’s partner. Mostly because Aguma is (A) violent, (B) has a crush on Nebashima, and (C) he’d rather Madoka fall victim to the violent aspects of her personality crush that Yuzuko and himself.

Somehow, despite the shinigami in a giant pink bunnysuit who carts souls off to the afterlife on a motorcycle, Omukae Desu manages to be saner and calmer than OMG insane monkey love badass tomboy who looks 10 with eternal crush on slightly perverted childhood friend and ninja idol detective mother and badass grandma and it is our precious and we loves it, yes we do! Pearl Pink, the other Meca Tanaka manga I’ve read. And the only other one that’s been licensed.

Which should not remotely be read as Omukae Desu not still being funny, cracktastic, and interesting.

The last third of the volume isn’t actually Omukae Desu itself, but two surprisingly tame and normal shoujo romance oneshots, both of which were cute, but not groundbreaking, though I did really like the combative “and now you like someone and I must judge him worthy and are you crazy, he is not worthy of you!” friendship between the two girls in the first.