Dei Ecchi Ei

Dei Ecchi Ei is a humorous manga that manages to combine school life, harems, romance, echii, and demons vs. angels together. At its best it’s quite hilarious and cute but it does end up being a bit repetitive after a while. That being said it’s a title that is sure to be enjoyed who like harem romance comedies with a side of echii naughtiness. The story begins with our young heroine Ai Shiratori, who longs for classmate Hikaru Kamishiro. Little does Ai know that soon her quest for Hikaru's love will mean the survival of life on earth! The archangel Rafael approachesher and tells her she must protect Hikaru from falling to the seven deadly sins of Greed, Lust, Sloth, Envy, Pride, Gluttony, and Wrath or Lucifer will be reborn in his body. To combat this she is given a magical bow and arrow that can prevent him from falling to a sin and tells her she must consummate her love with Hikaru in order to save him and the world. What’s a shy girl who can’t express her feelings to do? Admittedly I found the story pretty cute and funny right off the bat. Ai is quite lovable and her angst about her feelings and all the embarrassing things she ends up having to do to save her love. Each of the sins is represented by cute girls of various ages. They were all likeable and amusing despite the whole wanting to end the world thing. The story unfolds pretty episodically as Ai has to thwart the plans of each girl as they try to make Hikaru fall. It’s predictable and it isn’t tremendously interesting all of the time but still manages to maintain the humor. The echii content is pretty high with many sexual jokes and a lot of nudity but it isn’t obscenely naughty. Even though it’s not really a long story it is well developed and has good pacing. The end is slightly rushed in feeling and I get the feeling that it probably should have gone on for at least three or four more chapters. It’s still satisfying and sweet so this is a minor complaint. Ai makes for a hilarious heroine. In most manga of this type the guy is usually the hero so I thought it was original and interesting for the girl to be the focal point. While Ai is not a complicated or deep character she is a lot of fun. Her arguments with Rafael whom nobody else can see are funny and though her angst does get annoying sometimes its still is cute. (Just say what you feel already!) The love interest Hikaru is not so interesting however. I guess he is supposed to be the "anti" antichrist but he comes off as weak and way too good to be true. I don’t know about the rest of you but I don’t want to be around anyone that pure. Though later on in the story he does get a bit deeper as a person and not so much of a goody-goody. The seven deadly sins are the ones who steal the story though. All of them get their spotlight chapters as they conspire to bring down Hikaru but unfortunately fade into the background once their moment has passed. This is disappointing because some of the girls are really hilarious and the story suffers with them not being as much a part of it. Artistically the manga is very good. I loved the character designs and all the girls were quite cute and detailed. The artist does a nice job drawing the action and expressing the comedy as well as drawing a very pleasing female form. The artwork was consistent throughout though it’s never spectacular. Overall this is a manga I would recommend to those who like this genre. Chances are if you are a fan of Oretama (My Balls) this should be right up your alley, though this is far less sexually explicit. It’s nothing that’s going to amaze you but it’s fairly short and is unlikely to disappoint anyone.