Day12:  Murciélago by YOSHIMURA Kana  

 

Yen Press brought Yoshimurakana’s 2014 gritty and mature series “Murciélago” to the masses earlier in January.

When strange lawbreakers with uncanny abilities plague Japan, the government take a risky chance by recruiting mass murderer Kuroko Koumori as part of their taskforce. According to the police, she slain 715 people before her arrest and with her new job as a state-appointed executioner, the bullets are not going to stop flying. To keep her in check, Kuroko has the student Hinako as her assistant who is always cheery and equally reckless. The duo appear to always have a way to take down their targets no matter how messy the process, but only time will tell when a formidable foe with an equal amount of skill and unpredictability will step up against them.

Yoshimurakana makes his leading lady Kuroko a unique anti-hero for she has little care for anyone that isn’t a beautiful young woman but uses all of her heinous expertise to remove criminals from the public. She mentions having little remorse for those she killed before her capture, however finds the new chance to be able to feed her lustful desires enough to take the job. The innocent-looking Hinako and some of the comedic situations she gets into provide a lighter side of the story but they cannot balance out the amount of gruesome action on the pages. It is strange to see this book as part of the yuri (girls love) genre because it stands out compared to many other published books that are romantic slice-of-life. Interested readers should have discretion when picking up this book. “Murciélago” deserves the Mature rating from Yen Press because it contains many graphic scenes of violence and sex.

“Murciélago” Volume Two will be hitting shelves later in May and then Three in August. For more information, visit Yen Press’s page.