I wasn’t going to review anything today. In fact, I was supposed to be on the way to my sister’s wedding. But the universe decided to cover my immediate area with snow and ice and instead, I am here at an ungodly early hour writing about crap.

So, first, although she will likely never see this, let me wish my sister and her husband a life of joy together. I hope they have as much fun playing house as I do with my wife.

Secondly, since I’m pretty much ready to destroy the world myself after a series of really wretched weeks, I think Scape-God suits my mood perfectly.

This “sci-fi yuri violence action divine romance” begins with two things.  An introduction to the existence of “Extraneous” beings; gods and demiurges and other creatures that inhabit the universe – and who wouldn’t mind destroying all humans, and; a confession of love from one girl to another. The recipient is very apologetic and gentle as she says that she’s honored, but has to refuse – she likes a guy. The confessor walks away from school, disappointed, and walks right into an attack by the “extraneous” god Anubis, and his hordes of vicious dogs.

The girl is knocked over in the ensuing rush and finds that she’s just too scared to move. As an ugly death becomes closer, a ram-horned girl pops up and in a stunning display of power takes out Anubis with a giant sword to the chest.

The human girl, Makihara Midori thanks the creature and, in return offers a place to stay, eat and get refreshed. The creature has no name, but Midori dubs her Hitsuji on account of the horns. Hitsuji immediately makes herself at home with Midori.

Almost immediately new extraneous beings pop up, this time bearing with them the head (sans body) of the girl Midori confessed to earlier.

Midori, who is not particularly convinced that humans *should* be saved, decides that if Hitsuji is determined to save them, they ought to make a buck doing it. So she opens the website “Hitsujiya” and offers Hitsuji’s powers for sale.

In the US, Hitsujiya piques the interest of the President and his three closest advisors. They send operative Blake Newman to gather info. What she finds, mostly, is that both Midori and Hitsuji are slobs, and crappy neighbors. On her last night in Japan, forced to listen to the two of them argue – again – about there being no food, she brings over some stew and offers to share. As it hadn’t escaped Midori’s notice that her neighbor is a hot American blonde, she decides to help herself to a little souvenir of some sex with Blake. The next day, Blake is a little regretful, but glad to be going home, when a plane comes crashing into the terminal of the airport with an “extraneous” on it. She calls Midori, and Hitsuji comes to a very public rescue.

The next two years are filled with fame and fortune for Midori and Hitsuji…and their top employee, Blake Newman. Life is a fun-filled romp of adventure and money, until one day it all comes to a crashing end. The US government took Blake’s info and has crafted a creature that looks like Hitsuji, if she looked 20, not 10, and has all the same abilities. She is the “anti-extraneous” and she takes on Hitsuji in every way, from battling extraneous deities to photo shoots and album recording.

When all the extraneous beings have been eradicated by Hitsuji and Hitsuji, the US version turns on the other, announcing that there’s only one extraneous to go. The battle is cataclysmic, but our Hitsuji prevails.

With no reason to stay, Hitsuji tells Midori that it’s been fun, and they part – but not before Hitsuji give Midori a bottle of godhead to drink, so she can have Hitsuji’s child. Hitsuji also leaves behind her big-ass sword, which Midori carts off as a memento.

Meanwhile, back in the US, the President’s advisors are all chuffed that their mission to remove all extraneous has worked and that both Hitsuji are gone. At which they reveal themselves as the deities Bastet, Nike and Valkyrie. Joke’s on the President, now, isn’t it?

The final chapter takes place 17 years later. Yo, Midori and Hitsuji’s kid (get it?) is gorgeous, princely and is ready to take on the world. And so she will. Her three closest friends reveal themselves as Bastet, Nike and Valkyrie, and Yo wakes up as the ultimate god. She brainwashes the entire plant to be her sheep (get it?) and ultimately commands all the humans to die. Which they begin to do. Until her loving mother drives her father’s big-ass sword through her chest.

They part tearfully, and the manga ends as Hitsuji returns the world to normal and joins Midori for more who-knows-what-adventure.

This is not great literature, by any count, but it’s not as trashy as it starts off. The author clearly had no idea if it was going to continue from chapter to chapter, but once the plot gets started, it was actually quite good. The end was a bit reset-y, but totally palatable.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 6
Characters – 8
Yuri – 7
Service – 7 (non-consensual sex, lolicon, bathing, gratuitous breasts)
Violence – 9

Overall – 8

The violence quotient is quite high, so if large gouts of blood and beheading don’t appeal, you might want to skip it, same if bathing loli scenes, or random drunken misbehaving desperate lesbians bother you. But then, if that’s true, why are you reading Okazu? ^_^