In Volume 1, we met Haru who is being targeted by her classmates who are all assassins and Toukaku, the assassin who becomes her bodyguard. In Volume 1, none the questions we have were answered. This continues to be the case in Akuma no Riddle, Volume 2 (悪魔のリドル).
I have not done a word-by-word comparison of the manga and the anime, but they are extremely close enough for me to say, this is a manga adaptation of the anime, rather than a story on it’s own.
By the end of Volume 2, we have little insight into the school, the class, the reasons for targeting a student or Toukaku’s motivations. We do, however, have a few more poignant stories which highlight the motivations of the classmates targeting Haru. Some stories are ridiculous, others melodramatic, but this manga is never about Haru, just as dog racing isn’t about the rabbit. We’re supposed to be paying attention to the hapless assassin members of Class Black and feel bad for them.
Ratings:
Art – 9
Story – If you like sympathizing with killers – 7, if not – 4
Characters – 7 The violins are heavy here
Service – 2
Yuri – 1 We are told that this is a “Yuri” series but, like the anime, it’s hard to see
Overall – 7
In actuality, the only character I feel bad for is the teacher. He’s a simple creature and all this confuses and upsets him.
I will continue to buy this series even if it shows little promise, as always to be supportive. Sometimes I remember that there was more yuri in Loveless (I do not like BL) with yuri kissing, a happy ending for the yuri couple (even a drama CD for them) than in the anime or manga for this series. Both sad and amusing at the same time. Naturally, if this was a BL series there would be yaoi everywhere…
It shows exactly the same promise as the anime, so we know Haru and Toukaku end up together although ‘why’ will forever remain unclear.