Well, now. If you thought Assistant Denki Keika, (アシスタント伝奇ケイカ) Volume 1 was odd, you’d be right. Volume 2 is off the rails.
Tamae is in a match to see who is the best person for an assistant mangaka position. Her competition is a normal guy and some freaky alien who communicates by placard and says her name is Omugai Shoujo. After they all participate in a round of Kokurri-san (think Ouija board and you’ll get the point) they call up a vengeful spirit who chased them all out of the house. Relaying this to Keika, Tamae learns that Keika’s afraid of scary stories.
Tamae and Keika fight off an evil presence in their apartment, which turns out to be their boss…only it’s not really…wooooohhhhhh~~~
They hit up a sex club in order to “do research” and Tamae ends up with some good ideas for Keika, if not her manga.
And then the story gets weird.
Attacked by the forces of evil, Keika is saved by Omugai Shoujo, who Keika recognizes as her older brother (this is not a typo. Brother.) Omugai Shoujo says that they’ll never meet again as they part. Bets?
Tamae is attacked and saved by the motorcycle riding woman from the previous volume. The upshot – Tamae gets a new sex toy to try out on Keika.
After a chapter in which we follow the little cross-dressing guy from the first volume, and which ended rather happily ever after, the war really kicks in. The forces of evil gun after Keika hard, involving nearly every single character in the book so far, and they are saved by…Omugai Shoujo. Seriously…not even gone two whole chapters!
We get a break and follow Keika and Tamae to a hotel with the loudest people in the universe. They don’t get much work done because of the noise, and then they don’t get any work done as they become the source of the noise – if you get my meaning.
An apparent climax (herhn herhn) approaches as Keika is abducted by the evil baddies only to be brought face to face with their leader – her father. Oh yes. This war against assistant manga artists is a father’s disappointment in his daughter’s choice of occupation. All the characters from all previous chapters rolls out to save her from a fate worse than fate. The final pages finds Tamae, now an established mangaka, and her assistant, Keika, working harder than ever.
I really don’t even know what to say about this. It’s…strange. Strange in a totally strange way. Strange in a no-matter-how-hard-I-try-I-can’t-picture-an-editor-and-artist-having-this-conversation way.
Aside from strange, it’s kind of fun and kind of disturbing. Keika and Tamae are definitely, positively a couple. I like that. I’m having a hard time with the rest of it. ^_^;
Ratings:
Art – 6
Story – 5
Characters – 7
Yuri – 9
Service – 10
Strangeness – 154
Overall – 6
Today’s review marks a first! Today, we thank Okazu Superhero Ariel D. for being the first ever person to sponsor a review from the Amazon Japan Yuri Wish List! For that act of crazy generosity, Ariel, you go right on the Superhero list – I’ll email you your badge asap. Thank you, thank you!
