Renai Boukun

Have you ever lain awake at night unable to sleep because a certain question now plagues your thoughts? A question so ludicrous that you know there could never be a definitive solution. So now you are left with no choice but to go another sleepless night without answers. Was the question “What if Light Yagami was a lazy, irresponsible, cosplaying fujoshi with the power to force people into relationships instead of killing them?” If this incredibly specific question has been keeping you up at night then you can now rest easy. Renai Boukun also known as Love Tyrant is here to bringsalvation to your weary soul. Story – 8 I’m not going to lie, this story is absurd. Add every cliché you can about your typical harem, dial its character archetypes to 11, add supernatural powers and casual conversations with God and the devil and boom you have a …plot? Love Tyrant doesn’t take itself too seriously, which is good because the last thing you need to do is bog down the readers with something like that. It starts off slow but the story continuously improves, never drags on and ends EXTREMELY well. It’s so much better than your typical harem manga. It also has so much random nonsense whether it’s an obsessive demon penguin, a demonically created isekai, or an athletic competition between heaven and hell. It’s genuinely difficult to guess what’s coming up next yet somehow still makes sense in the context of the story. *light spoilers ahead* One day our protagonist Seiji Aino is told by a grim reaper wielding a kiss note that he has to kiss someone or he will die. He doesn’t believe her…at first, possibly because she’s kind of lying. Actually, she will be the one who dies he’ll just remain a virgin forever. So all he has to do is choose the guy he likes most and she’ll make them a couple for eternity. Why a guy? Because that’s Guri’s hobby as a cupid. Not doing it for you Seiji. Fine pick a girl than, your crush that has a violently possessive dark side? Why not? Also, Guri thought it would be fun to experience love for herself so she wrote all three of you into a relationship. So begins a love triangle between a cupid, a yandere and a wishy washy protagonist. Art – 7 The backgrounds are sometimes a little bland and there are a couple of wonky transitions when it goes into slapstick style, however overall the art is good. There are plenty of visual gags that you have to take a 2nd glace to confirm what you just saw and some really impressive artwork regarding some very inhuman characters. Of course none of that matters as long as the girls are cute, which they certainly are. Characters – 9 Seiji Aino Your typical, bland, normal, not very athletic or good looking, wishy washy, go with the flow, is somewhat kind so all the girls fall in love with him protagonist. Did I miss anything? You’ve seen this type a million times and as long as harem manga keep getting made protagonists will either be clones of Yuki Rito or Kirito. To be fair to Seiji we probably need a little grounding in this adventure and he plays the straight man well, giving voice to all of us screaming “what?!?!” Thankfully he does progress through the story albeit slowly. Guri Angel or demon, cupid or shikigami, or maybe just a cosplaying fujoshi with a little too much power. Guri is the one responsible for most of the stories hijinks either directly or as a result of someone trying to mess with her. She’s lazy, but motivated by the desire to understand love and to read BL. She can be surprising insightful into others even as she causes absolute mayhem. She’s fun to have around but that fun should come with a warning label. Akane Hiyama A nice, talented, smart, athletic and kind girl, Akane is someone everyone in the school admires. She also carries around dozens of knives to kill off potential rivals or Seiji himself, the damn cheater. She’s a yandere, an absolutely 110% yandere who is obsessed with Seiji and absolutely furious that Guri has essentially forced herself into their relationship. A girl like this would definitely be terrifying in real life but in a harem comedy she’s ….. yep still terrifying. Yuzu Kichougasaki How can you get more forbidden then a BL crazy cupid in Japan? Incest. Yuzu is Akane’s half-sister and has a massive crush on her older sister Akane. Which makes it half-forbidden I guess? She’s kind of a tsundere and becomes fast friends with Guri who disposes of Akane’s admirers by putting them together. Of course that means getting into close contact with Guri so I’ll leave what happens to your imagination. Shikimi Shiramine Akane and Yuzu’s cousin Shikimi is a rather interesting character (I think there maybe something wrong with this family). She’s a sadistic torturer that loves stealing things that other people treasure, whether that’s jewellery or people. Maybe because she’s never really had something she can call her own? She's introduced as an antagonist and by the end of the manga ….. still is? Despite the fact she has quite literally stabbed Seiji in the back, seeing how she comes to understand herself and change was one of the most fascinating parts of this manga. Enjoyment – 8 Coming off the anime which the author felt was a s*** adaptation (I didn’t notice much difference to be honest.) To find the 2nd half of the story through the manga, I don’t know what I was expecting. It’s a wild ride from start to finish and one I highly recommend to anyone bored with the usual harem manga that’s constantly being turned out. Overall - 8 Where Love Tyrant really shines is the character development. They have a lot of the typical archetypes, just dialled up until the meter was broken. What’s really impressive though is how you can see how the entire main cast and even many of the secondary characters develop through the series. These are not your typical paper cut outs. They’re cut outs with heart and you genuinely feel happy to watch them grow. Also EVERYONE gets a happy ending. Not just the MC and the harem, also the many antagonists and even many of the side characters do and it really leaves you with a good feeling at the end. Of course there’s a serious amount of absurd randomness that will leave you scratching your head at times so be warned. If you want an absolutely ridiculous and surprising good harem manga look no further than Love Tyrant.