Manga 15396 Dansai Bunri No Crime Edge

tl;dr: A manga with a unique implementation of standard concepts, though an implementation that's only decent.

This manga is one that isn't particularly unique in terms of it's general concepts, such as a killing game or romance that's centered around the guy protecting the girl. However, it is quite unique in terms of what it used to implement these. The overarching story is about a game where the goal is killing the main heroine. However, the story is actually centered around the protagonist protecting her. And furthermore, all the players in the game including the protagonist basically have powers. Thus, while it does feel kind of ... like a killing game, it also feels quite a bit like a battle manga, essentially being a hybrid of the two, which was definitely interesting.

However, that does lead to some issues. In standard battle manga style, the protagonist pretty much never kills anyone and everyone he defeats and spares ends up on his side to some degree eventually. But at the same time, this is about a killing game, so people are killed including by the characters that join up with the protagonist. It's pretty standard for characters to be forgiven too easily in battle manga, but it feels especially strange due to the tone that also being a killing game creates. For example, in one case it shows a character easily forgiving someone that killed someone who was important to them and it just feels incredibly off even if it was how I would prefer for things to go since I liked both characters involved. The plot also ends up getting a bunch of random twists in the last third or so, wherein some of them feel like they very much weren't planned out. There aren't any major inconsistencies as it explains them all away, but some of those explanations feels forced, though the most prominent example of that was hilarious so it's not all bad.

In terms of romance it's primarily between the protagonist and the girl he's trying to protect. However, their bond originally comes to be due to the protagonist having an extreme fetish and the heroine having a curse that matches that fetish really well. Thus, their relationship is bizarre from the get go, and due to how the protagonist's fetish actually plays a pretty important role in the plot, it's one that stays pretty bizarre. That's certainly not a bad thing though, as it makes their relationship really interesting. Unfortunately, while it was interesting, in terms of how well it was developed I would way it's only decent. And the relationship development between the protagonist and two of the side heroines I guess you would call them, was pretty terrible and felt unneeded.

In terms of characters, pretty much all of the main characters are weirdos, so that makes them interesting, especially due to how they stand out due to the more normal side characters. In terms of character development, the protagonist and main heroine are solid, but everyone outside of that felt weak. In terms of actions it was pretty unique to have everything centered around serial killers, and the general mechanics were pretty well designed for each fight having a solid number of psychological elements as one would expect from a killing game. However, just in general the battles felt kind of rushed and mostly didn't flow very well making them generally not that satisfying overall as would be the case in battle manga.

The ending plot wise was pretty random, in that it isn't clear at all where the manga is going or how it could possibly end until things just happen super quickly and essentially everything major gets resolved. The part after that that was focused on the characters was longer than the epilogue in most similar manga though and managed to flesh things out quite well for a pretty satisfying ending. The comedy in general in the manga was only okay, but the extra chapters were mostly really amusing. The art overall wasn't that good, and though it better at the end compared to the beginning and the colored pages were generally good, it still overall didn't feel that high quality due to how it just felt off a lot of the time.

I discovered this series by accident, and it appears that the chapters come out rather sporadically (the most recent one being in Jan. 2013, and the one before that was released in 2011)

STORY - 9: The story is totally unique, and I have never seen anything like it. Basically, there is a cursed girl whose ancestor was called the "Hair Queen." Long ago, there was a "game" of sorts to kill her, and those who attempted the killing were "authors" (users) of "killing goods" (weapons and other tools). The protagonist is the ancestor of one of those killers, but as the "game" resurfaces, he instead ... vows to protect the new Queen rather than kill her. The concept of a boy using his powers to protect a girl that he has a special bond with is nowhere near new, but the way that this series goes about portraying it has never before been done.

ART - 8: I really like the way that mostly everything is drawn, but some backgrounds seem to have less work put into them than others. I also did not feel that the art provided anything different that set it apart from other manga. Nonetheless, although I am not the biggest fan of this style, I thought it was well done.

CHARACTERS - 7: The designs of the characters are very well done. Each character looks different enough that you can tell who everyone is and what sets them apart from each other. The relationships are evident enough draw you in to see how certain characters will react with each other, but the depth of some characters as individuals was not shown too well. I'm sure that as the story progresses, I might feel differently, but for now, it was nothing special.

ENJOYMENT and OVERALL - 8: I enjoy the series overall. It causes you to want to read more, and the story is interesting. I did not think that such a concept would attract me at first, but I was pleasantly surprised after I began reading. I would definitely recommend this as something to add to your list of series, especially because it only has 16 chapters so far. The only downside is that it seem as though it takes a long time to be updated.