Lovely Uchikoshi-Kun!!

Lovely Uchikoshi-kun!! Volume 5 Cover

The Summary:
I was looking around my bookshelf for something to write about (as I'm not quite finished reading the manga that I was going to post about next) and I came across one that's been collecting dust for like 5 years, so I figured I'd wipe it off and expound its many virtues. 'Lovely Uchikoshi-kun!!' (ラブリー打越くん!!), by KUWAHARA Shinya is a classic seinen from the late 1990's (it was also recently republished a few years ago) that follows our hero, Uchikoshi, an errand boy for the Tennis Club as he gets beat up by the upperclassmen and made fun of by his classmates... that is, until Maki Shinobu finds him. Maki has been searching the world for the one who shares the blood of a fallen companion, and she finds that blood flowing through Uchikoshi. After murdering the upperclassmen that bully him, Maki makes it a point to let our young hero know that he belongs to her, and no one else, vowing to kill any woman who attempts to lay claim to him. This starts to get a little messy... and, you know, there are so many gray areas in the whole like/lust spectrum that eventually Maki just decides to kill every woman. You know, just in general. (Did I mention that Maki's a vampire?)

In order to protect the women around him, Uchikoshi finds sudden spurts of strength, speed, and inhuman cruelty... he fears this strength, knowing that he could hurt someone close to him in one of his fits of rage. This fear of himself is what has led him to take a subservient role in his club and school life.

And just in case anyone with a weak stomach or an aversion to boobs was thinking about reading this, it's both bloody and booby. The beginning more so than the rest, what with all of the decapitations and vampire dry humping, but it stays mature throughout the full six volumes.

So, this is worth reading why?

Every woman? At least leave the Swedes.

Lovely Uchikoshi-kun!! is actually quite fun. At the core, it's a comedy about a boy who has a weak personality and a lot of moral fiber that's surrounded by extremely strong female characters who do their best to protect him. Maki protects him by decapitating anyone who gets near him, and the other girls do it in a more subtle way, while avoiding Maki as much as possible. The concession here, and the reason some people may not like this manga, is the excessive tits and ass shots. They are absolutely everywhere... so yeah, keep that in mind.

Anyway, as for the manga, the art work is decent... some angles are a little odd, and you can see some of the inexperience in earlier volumes, but Kuwahara has a good style and gets his point across well. The pacing is fast, the humor is solid, and the characters, while odd as hell, have some good dialogue opportunities that do not go to waste. As far as the story elements go, it's not a secret that Uchikoshi has some sort of hidden potential having to do with his blood, as Maki has been hinting at it from the very beginning of chapter 1, but the reveal is still done well with less unnecessary hoopla than you'd expect in a manga from a young artist. It could be better, but it's good for what it is.

Manga Facts:

• Ran for 2 years starting in 1998 in Comic Uppers from Kodansha, lasting for 6 volumes.
• This is seinen and has lots of almost sex and nudity, as well as blood and gore. Viewer discretion is advised.

Snoopy's Recommendation:

I really enjoyed this... it's not the best manga I've read (by far), but it's fun and has no real flaws to speak of. The audience for this is decidedly male, it has a harem aspect to it, as well as a lot of nudity, but other than that, it's a vampire love story. If you have a thing for vampires, seinen love stories, or unique characters, then this is worth looking at.