Murcielago Volume 1 – 20 Question Manga Review

What’s the manga? Murcielago – Volume 1.

Oh? Sounds exotic. You’re a straight white dude; everything remotely foreign sounds exotic to you.

Quiet you! What’s it about? Well first of all, let’s get a big ol’ TRIGGER WARNING up there, because I know it’s bound to trigger someone, cause it sure as heck did me! (Note: For the sake of a more pleasant reading experience for all, images of extreme gore or sexuality are not imbedded in this post.) 

She… has some issues to work through…

You? Triggered by something? Wait, don’t tell me, was it sport? No! Trigger Warnings are about content not genres.

‘Kay, so what is it about?! So Kuroko is a serial killer, she’s got 715 names to her belt to date, so what’s a girl on death row to do? Why join the Japanese Police Force as a ruthless hired assassin, to clean up the worst filth on the streets, yes worse than herself! She’s partnered with bright and bubbly Hinako, a driver who gets where she needs to go by any means necessary.

She’ll get where she needs to be no matter what it takes or how improbable!

Serial killer who kills serial killers, huh? Sounds a bit ‘Dexter’, yeah? I don’t know what that is.

Well anyway this certainly seems like a change of pace from the things you’re usually into. Don’t you hate violence in anime and manga? I don’t hate violence, I just don’t really care for it. And this manga is no exception to that, well except…

I cut this panel short for a good reason, you don’t want to see the state of the dude she’s talking to…

Except what? Kuroko is just so f**king cool! Like I know its in our stupid f**king DNA as a species to idolise serial killers for some dumb reason, but seriously Kuroko is one of my favourite main characters in anything ever.

Elaborate. Well, she’s a deranged serial killer but she has a sense of right and wrong, she’s got a twisted sense of humour, she’s unconventionally attractive like a Tim Burton heroine on steroids and she’s smart and savvy to boot. Oh, and did I forget to mention she’s a perverted, horny lesbian who’s super into cute girls?!

Even in the middle of high speed pursuits of ‘bad guys’ she still takes the time to chat up cute girls!

So basically she’s you except not a serial killer and also not a girl. This manga made me want to be a fictional cute girl just so I’d get the chance to be in the same room as her.

In the same room and doing? *blush* a lady never tells!

Okay that’s weird, even for you. Judge all you want! Your words are but scuffs in my armor!

Hinako provides an accurate incident report to her superiors.

Right, so enough of this creepy hero-worship. What’s the manga like? What kind of things happen in the first volume. Have you ever seen the movie ‘Crank: High Voltage’?

Uh, I don’t know, probably not, more importantly—why—have you?! The why’s not important, but basically take that film in all its cartoonish, gory violence, its rampant libido, its fast-paced story and its off-kilter humour and supplant Jason Statham for a Kuroko, a lesbian, sex-obsessed, serial killer!

Just casually discussing what to do after work while chasing down a subway carriage. No biggie!

O…kay then? So what about that trigger warning you gave to yourself and others like you? I take it’s not related to the sexual content of this manga. As much as I love this manga, some of the violence and gore is just relentlessly confronting. Maybe I’ve just got too much empathy but even seeing a nameless background character torn in half with their intestines spooling out behind them was enough for me to need to take a breather occasionally.

That bad, huh? It’s graphic and unforgiving, but I kinda get what they were going for, it’s the whole ‘it takes a monster to defeat a monster’ kind of thing.

Her facial expressions are gold.

So how do you go about recommending something like this? It seems dependent on the individual’s tastes a lot. Yeah, I mean there will be those who are the opposite of me, for whom the gore is no problem but the sexual content is too confronting, there’s all sorts out there, but I think in this particular instance the setting and situations and especially the characters make it an easy sell, as long as you’re in the mood for something very subversive. In fact, just so you know what you’re getting into I’ve prepared some super NSFW images from the manga below, click at your own risk!

CLICK HERE FOR AN EXAMPLE OF THE GORE IN MURCIELAGO

CLICK HERE FOR AN EXAMPLE OF THE SEX IN MURCIELAGO

Should we be worried about conflating sex and violence like this? There’s already so many troubles in the world. Disclaimer: This is a product intended for adult audiences only; if you are young and impressionable do not read Murcielago.

Yeah… that’ll work… Well what do you expect me to say, this a review for entertainment purposes, I’m not responsible for what susceptible individuals make of someone else’s content.

Meeting girls online is tough. If you clicked the ‘sex’ link above this was about 2 pages before they did the deed.

Fair ‘nuff, so final score and recommendation? If graphic, disturbing and explicit violent and sexual content is not your thing, then this isn’t the manga for you. If, however you like things a little more wild, a little more dangerous and yes, a little more perverse, then Murcielago may be just the book for you! Personally, despite being “triggered” a couple of times due to the violent content, I was enraptured by this world, this story and especially the protagonist Kuroko who is the perfect anti-hero. 91 out of 100.

20 Question Weekly Review Week Ending 25th February 2018

It’s been another week, huh? Yep. Time sure flies when you’re IMPATIENTLY WAITING FOR THE SPRING 2018 ANIME SEASON!

Yikes! What’s got you so wound up? There’s just so much good stuff coming out in April, I can’t wait!

Yeah well you have to wait, so shut up and let’s talk about what you watched this week. The usual is the usual, I’m not going to bother to post every show I’m watching week by week, it just feels lazy, click here if you want a show by show run down of the newly airing anime I’m watching.

Fair enough, but any highlights from those shows? Indeed! Citrus Episode 8 was particularly good, probably the best episode yet in fact, so much drama, it feels like Cruel Intentions except if every character was female and also if it was actually good and not some trash 90’s movie.

Take that movie nobody cares about in this, the year 2018. What else? Ms. Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles Episode 8 was so good I blogged about it here. Slow Start Ep 8 was adorable as usual, even if they didn’t continue the juicy plot line they established in the very special episode 7. Pop Team Epic 8 was funny. Darling in the FranXX continued to be heavily flawed and borderline trash. The rest was just the rest for better or worse, mostly better.

Koizumi-san brought some boys to the proverbial table this week and the show was all the more interesting for it.

Cool. And any other shows you started watching? Of course! It’s a big wide world of anime and I’m trying to take it all in!

Heh, so do go on. I watched 8 episodes of Yuru Yuri! It’s phenomenally good, like I’m in awe of how likable they made literally every character on this show, its mind-boggling. Plus it’s just plain fun from beginning to end. And then there’s Vatican Miracle Examiner [SPOILERS FOR THIS SHOW FROM HERE TIL END OF NEXT QUESTION], which I watched 4 episodes of and can sum up with four simple words, ‘Hitler Semen Immaculate Conception’.

What? WHAT!? Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever reacted so animatedly to an anime before, it’s a wild ride and I can only imagine where they go from there considering we had literal Hitler in the first 4 episodes of this show!

Wild indeed, but wow, I await your full review. It’s kind of spoiled now, but whatever, I’ll probably still review it!

Is that it for anime? No, I started ‘A Sister’s All You Need’, continued with ‘Teekyu’ and embarked upon the tit-tastic third season of ‘High School DxD’.

Great, and on the manga front? I got a lot in the mail! eBay sales continue to fund my addiction!

In case it wasn’t apparent, I have a thing for monster girls.

Yep, that’s a lot. But what did you read this week? I read volume one of ‘There’s A Demon Lord on the Floor’ which is cute like Blend-S but super sexy like Yusibu, it’s pretty derivative, I could pretty much call out all the similarities to other manga and anime as I read it but I still enjoyed it a lot.

What else? Finally got around to ‘Bloom Into You’ volume 1, and I’m almost sorry I waited so long, it’s a yuri manga but where the protagonist isn’t really into her love interest and it’s dense and complex but still fun and interesting. But this week’s true MVP is ‘Murcielago’ Volume One, which is a super twisted, violent and sexual manga about a notorious female serial killer who becomes the Japanese government’s assassin, tasked with taking out other serial killers who threaten the piece. She’s also a lesbian and total pervert, and while I’m the first to admit the gore in this anime is off-putting, the characters are terrific, the storylines intriguing and the sex scenes are genuinely erotic. Expect a full review of this manga soon!

I can’t wait? Why the question mark?

No sure if can’t wait. Hmm.

Anything else you wanted to talk about? The 2^nd Annual Anime Awards aired over the weekend. I didn’t watch it because I assumed it would be cringe and I didn’t want to get angry at all the wrong decisions that’d be made, but turns out for the most part the anime community has really good taste and pretty much voted the way I did. Which was a pleasant surprise. Very happy that My Hero Academia, Made in Abyss and my personal favourite show of 2017 Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid got recognition!

Froppy was robbed! Total best girl. But Ochako is okay too I guess.

Cool. And something else? Yes, I’ve had Discord mentioned to me a couple of times and I’m considering it the only thing is and this is embarrassing to admit, but I’m not actually sure what it is, I know it’s something people use to talk with other people but is it like text or is it voice? Or both?

I don’t know, I just assumed it was like MSN Messenger. How old are you?

Don’t pretend like you didn’t have it too and had a totally edgy user name with xx’s either side of your name. You don’t know me!

Well this kinda went off the rails. How would you rate the week ending the 25^th of February 2018? Good, just good. Nothing particularly remarkable happened in the real world, anime was great; blogging was great but otherwise pretty ordinary. Thanks for reading!