Saishuu Heiki Kanojo

I hereby present this manga with the award for "The Most Confusing Manga I've Ever Read," and yes, I truly mean it. Saikano caught my attention, so I decided to start reading it since the entire collection was available at a nearby library.

Saikano is about a rude boy who begins dating a seemingly useless girl; their names are Shuuji and Chise respectively. The twist comes when you learn that Chise is a human weapon of mass destruction (pretty obvious from the manga's name) and that Japan (if not the whole world) is in a constant state of war, with Hokkaido—the region where they live—being the only part of Japan unaffected by war, until...

The story often unfolds in mundane scenes like going to class, meeting after school for couple-related activities, sharing moments with supporting characters, etc., while the war progresses and Chise assists the army. I understood the story up to this point. After this, things got confusing. Everyone cries a lot, Chise and Shuuji break up four times, Shuuji survives numerous massive bombardments, and other events I couldn't quite grasp. By the last volume, I lost the will to try to understand what was happening; everything became so surreal that I read the text without processing any of it. Had I understood it better, I might have enjoyed it more.

The art is decent. The landscapes are nice, and characters have three types of designs: one shoujo-esque, another chibi-esque, and another quite detailed.

What confused me most were the characters. I just couldn't understand their motivations and found myself asking questions like, "Why is he crying?" "Why would she say that?" "Why is he doing this?" or "Why does this girl want to get laid even though she is greatly injured and half-dead?" I could somewhat understand Akemi, Atsushi, Tetsu, and Fuyumi, but Shuuji and Chise are a complete mystery to me, especially Chise.

I enjoyed it at first, but it soon became mentally exhausting for me to read. In the end, I didn't understand anything about what happened or what was happening, but that's okay, I guess. I'll need to read some kind of adapted summary to comprehend it.

I can't really recommend it, but I think it's worth reading if you happen to understand it. Just give it a try and see for yourself whether I'm right or wrong.

Let me say, Saikano was one of the best mangas I've ever seen. The story and the characters were incredibly impressive. It had a theme that made me enjoy it immensely; Rei's story made me cry. I realized that life is very short and very beautiful. Time flies! Thank you very much, Takahashi Shin, for creating a story with all your love and passion in drawing.

(Please excuse my average English and any errors.)

tl;dr: A poignant story about a relationship that's persistently painful yet always retains a glimmer of hope.

This manga is deeply emotional, blending happiness and sadness without being an emotional rollercoaster. It maintains this dual state from start to finish. The narrative isn't despairing but consistently leaves readers feeling heavy-hearted. Much of this stems from the relationship between Shuji and Chise. While other characters and themes are present, it's their painful bond that truly resonates. Their relationship has its ups and downs; even in joy, there's melancholy, and even in sorrow, there's a strained sense of hope. Neither the relationship nor the characters were particularly likable, but the way they endured their torment was impactful and powerful. Themes of war's horrors for soldiers and civilians are present but not strongly conveyed. However, the theme of perseverance despite adversity comes through well. The ending can't be called satisfying as it wouldn't align with the story's essence, but it felt fitting—both happy and sad like the series itself. Overall, it was a good ending. The artwork was decent.

Let me begin by stating that Saikano is the finest manga I've ever encountered. It masterfully blends seinen and shoujo genres with sci-fi and drama, exceeding my initial low expectations profoundly.

Story: 10. Many negative reviews about Saikano tend to focus on its narrative. While it's a war drama and a piece of sci-fi, romance is its primary emphasis, where it truly excels. Describing Saikano as a romance epic seems fitting. Initially, I feared it might be just another "Magical Girlfriend" story, but like Evangelion isn't merely a mecha anime, Saikano transcends common clichés.

Art: 9. Personally, I admire Takahashi's artistic style, though I understand it may not appeal to everyone. If you enjoyed the art in the FLCL manga, chances are you'll appreciate this one too. Specifically for this series, two aspects deserve praise: Chise's weaponry design is both captivating and unsettling, visually striking. The sex scenes are tasteful, romantic, and never feel gratuitous, qualities often lacking in similar series.

Character: 10. This is where Saikano stands out among its peers. With average character development, it could resemble shows like "This Ugly Yet Beautiful World." However, Saikano’s characters are undeniably realistic, sometimes painfully so. They don’t seek sympathy; their flaws aren’t contrived for interest. They are portrayed with an honesty rarely seen, reflecting real people deeply.

Enjoyment: 10. I shed tears during each volume of this series. Saikano is profoundly sad. Words can hardly do justice to its emotional impact. Approach Saikano with an open heart, and I guarantee it will evoke deep feelings.

Overall: 10. Saikano is a severely underappreciated masterpiece, rivaling and at times surpassing many of the medium's best works. If you seek a mature, heartbreaking love story, you won't be let down.

Recommended if you enjoy: tragic romances; meticulously detailed plots and characters; stories with a slow, thoughtful pace; apocalyptic tales; humor enhancing tragedy; slice-of-life school dramas; flawlessly implemented literary techniques such as symbolism and foreshadowing.

This manga is a masterpiece, capturing beauty and intensity in an old-fashioned sense. It primarily tells a slice-of-life story but carries a profound overarching theme that I'll let readers discover on their own.

Story: 10

The narrative is meticulously crafted, revealing information gradually while teasing future developments that evoke dread. The mood remains light-hearted much of the time, aligning with the characters' emotions, yet never losing the growing sense that something isn't quite right in this world, possibly nothing at all.

The setting is a dystopian, war-ravaged world sliding towards chaos. However, the story centers around two young people who unexpectedly start dating. When faced with difficulties, they consider giving up but decide to stick together after heartfelt conversations. Their love deepens as they confront increasingly complex challenges, testing their devotion and commitment.

Themes include young love, secrets, long-distance relationships, infidelity, unrequited love, and coping with the reality that your girlfriend has become a cybernetic superweapon.

Art: 10

I debated between an 8 and 10 for the art but ultimately chose 10 due to the stunning background art and beautifully romantic scenes. Takahashi-sensei's character designs are typical, featuring rounded features, wispy hair, slightly stout figures, and cuteness. His use of chibi transformations and exaggerated expressions effectively conveys emotion, while serious moments showcase breathtakingly emotional love scenes.

The standout element is undoubtedly the backgrounds. From intricately detailed towns and cities to chaotic action scenes with explosions and air raids, the visuals are remarkable. Particularly striking is the ultimate weapon, adorned with dragonfly/fairy wings, which becomes hauntingly beautiful when causing damage upon returning to its "normal" form.

Character: 9

The characters are strong and likable, especially when intended. Chisa, shy yet surprisingly strong, gradually gains confidence while becoming less human. Her heartbreaking journey involves longing for simple lies to feel better, despite her loving companions' inability to do so.

Shuji is gruff and honest, except for a few moments. His love for Chisa grows even as she becomes more dangerous. Poor decisions during relationship hardships make him seem less like a "nice guy," but he ultimately prioritizes his superweapon's well-being.

Side characters are strong, notably Akemi, Chisa's best friend harboring unrequited love leading to tragic outcomes. Some soldiers are well-developed too. One character remains unlikable, intentionally so.

A weakness lies in the suspension of disbelief required for Chisa's transformation into the Ultimate Weapon. Her initial blithe acceptance without apparent anger or consent from her parents is puzzling and could have been handled better.

Enjoyment and Overall: 10

This manga is a roller coaster of highs, lows, gut-wrenching twists, dizzying heights, and devastating descents. The ending is phenomenal, profoundly sad, and touchingly impactful.

Well, let's get the disclaimer out of the way first. Generally, I try to avoid spoilers in my reviews, but with this one, I'm really going into a lot of details of the story. If you want a spoiler-free experience, the best I can say is to scroll all the way down, check my last paragraph where I write my overall thoughts, and see if that interests you or not.

I want you to follow my experience with the first chapters of Saishuu Heiki Kanojo, or Saikano, in the official English translation, as I went into it pretty blindly. I knew it was a 2000s manga, and the art style really does feel like straight out of late 90s, early 00s manga. It was written by Shin Takahashi, which I only mention because I like acknowledging the author. I assumed that this manga was going to be your normal teenage romantic drama, and the first chapter reinforced that idea. In this first chapter, we meet our two main characters, Chise and Shuji, as they just started dating and are really bad at it. At the end of it, they get to know each other a little bit better and vow that they will learn to love each other, giving the impression that they don't care about each other just yet. But they both proceed to talk exclusively about the other person for the rest of the manga. However, it's in chapter two that the big reveal happens: our characters are caught in the middle of a bombardment that ruins their town and kills thousands. Amidst all this confusion, Shuji finds out that Chise isn't just a normal high school girl; she is a mechanically engineered ULTIMATE WEAPON. This reveal is so wild that I understand if people don't like it, as it feels completely out of left field when reading. Personally, though, I appreciated how bold it was. These two chapters introduce us to the two main themes of this story: the classic teenage romance and the ambiguous war creeping into all characters' lives. It's a unique and interesting concept, seeing these characters trying their best to have a normal teen life in this bizarre existence. However, it's in its execution that the manga falls apart.

The first problem we encounter is the comedy. Now, I can excuse a drama-focused manga for not having the most hilarious jokes, but the real issue is how they are inserted in the middle of dramatic parts, ruining the flow of the manga. It doesn't help that many jokes are about how the main duo should have sex. This happens more frequently at the start and thankfully gets better as the story progresses. But don't let your sighs of relief out just yet, because now the real problems start to appear. These two characters have ideal roles as "boyfriend" and "girlfriend," and both seem more focused on dating each other rather than loving each other. And that's fine, but suddenly Shuji has an affair with a new character, Fuyumi, a married adult who wants to have sex with Shuji despite her proclaimed love for her husband. Admittedly, they don't have sex, making this the first example of a character doing a lot of sexual stuff with one of our main characters without doing the real thing, supposedly to make everything okay. It's further excused because "they are horny." But that doesn't really excuse them. This is the first example of the biggest problem in the series: a lot of the characters' motives, problems, and solutions revolve around sex, and sex is just TOO much of the focus here.

At a certain point, our couple decides that this relationship is too much to bear and decide to break up, exploring two alternative relationships that I think are the highlight of the entire manga. We see more of Shuji and Akemi, arguably the character he has the most chemistry with from day one, Chise's best friend and also an old friend of Shuji. It's shown that it's with her that Shuji can truly be himself, and I have no idea why this is the side romance and not the main one. On Chise's side, we focus on her in the warfield with soldiers, particularly Tetsu, who is actually Fuyumi's husband. It's adorable and sad to see Tetsu and Chise walking around the deserted and destroyed cities, as he tries to save a bit of Chise's innocence amidst all of this. In general, the parts of the story that happen in the battlefield and with the soldiers are the most successful in the manga. Sadly, these decently built romances have a pretty horrible climax. And I'm not talking about the fact that both Akemi and Tetsu die, which I think is an interesting and logical end to these arcs. No, it's the fact that they both die while thinking of sex. Akemi finally confesses to Shuji, and it's his "duty" to grope her breasts and let her grab his dick until she dies. Tetsu dies confusing Chise with his wife, so it's Chise's "duty" to let him grope her breasts until he dies, which would be slightly better executed if it wasn't for the fact that Tetsu had fingered Chise just a couple of chapters before. I felt this was quite disrespectful to these characters, as in the end, they were only horny beasts waiting for sex until their last breath. Not long after, we get Fuyumi crying and being super sad about Tetsu, just to try to rape Shuji right after.

This is probably the worst segment of events in the manga, but you know what? It's followed by an actual nice "arc." Shuji and Chise decide to run away from people and end up living in a different town, and we get some really nice and touching moments. As the duo lives their lives alone, we finally get some moments where the couple looks like a real couple and has nice chemistry. Too bad we're already on the second-to-last volume. Due to circumstances, however, Chise needs to return to the army, and the city itself is being destroyed, so we're back to having them separated.

We only get to meet each other together again near the finale, where they finally do what they wanted to do since chapter 1... they fuck each other all night long. At this point, it only makes sense, as sex is the main drive and theme of all the relationships, so to end it finally by having the two characters have sex with each other is thematically coherent. Which doesn't mean I personally enjoyed it. Then the ending came, which was not the worst, but it led me to some confusion. See, the war happening is only ever talked about vaguely, we never know the enemies or reasoning for the war, and for the most part, it really doesn't matter. But at the same time, there are earthquakes happening throughout the manga, and sure, we're led to believe it's because of Chise and her enormous power. However, there's also a moment of an earthquake happening while Chise isn't around, which is confusing. So when we finally get the reveal that the world is ending, it makes sense that it's because of Chise. At this point in the narrative, we're so used to seeing the now apocalyptic scenario of Hokkaido that it kinda feels fitting. But here's the thing: Chise, after revealing this, also mentions that things are happening around the world, things we never get to learn about, but it makes sense to assume that whatever it is causing the end of the world. But then it's implied that it's because of Chise. I don't know if I read the ending wrong, but it was all very confusing, and it was with that note that Saikano reached its end.

It was really hard for me to judge this manga. It had a good premise and good ideas, even good moments, chapters, and I'd go as far as saying volumes. But for everything it does right, it also does one thing wrong. The couple and the drama could have been handled better, the comedy as well, but ultimately the nail in the coffin is surely the fact that every single character is completely horny, and we're supposed to accept their sex drive as something driving the drama in the series. With less focus on that and more focus on the romance, or you know, the war, this manga could have been leagues better than what it ended up being.

Saishuu Heiki Kanojo, or SaiKano, was definitely one of the best manga I've ever read. It was beautiful and terrific, incredibly well-written and spectacular, emotional and marvelous. I could go on and on about how much I enjoyed this manga, but I've run out of words to describe it.

How am I going to face any other manga now after reading this? This manga was an emotional roller coaster. I usually don't enjoy drama genres, but there are a few that I genuinely liked, and SaiKano was definitely one of them.

(I apologize if my English isn't perfect; it's because English is my second language.)

P.S.: This manga can be a bit confusing if you don't pay enough attention.

I stumbled upon this a few years back and it still holds a special place in my heart. I'd rate it a solid 9.3, leaning towards a perfect score. Though I could dive into the specifics, doing so would likely result in an extensive three-page review. So, here's the gist of it. The emotions portrayed by the characters are incredibly authentic within the story's context, to the point where you feel them yourself while reading. This emotional depth is what I cherish most about it. The artwork beautifully complements and elevates the narrative, standing out as exceptional on its own. The dialogue, character interactions, and inner monologues feel astonishingly genuine, giving these characters more layers than people I've known for years. In my opinion, this is a timeless classic that everyone should read!