Gakeppuchi Reijou ha Kuro Kishi-sama o Horesasetai!, Volume 1 / 崖っぷち令嬢は黒騎士様を惚れさせた has a great title. Honestly. ^_^

Gakepucchi means “on a cliff’s edge,” that is to say, someone pushed to desperate straits. And so, we meet Clarice, the eldest daughter of a failing minor noble household. Her sister Charlotte is ill and her parents have sold everything they can to pay for her treatment. In order to save her family and her beloved little sister, Clarice accepts an offer of marriage from the infamous Black Knight Frost.

And this is where I really kind of like the way the English and Japanese play in the title. Because Frost is a Marquis or Marquess (depending on your language of origin,) which is to say a ruler of the March…the very edge of the land. So when Clarice goes to Frost’s home, she is literally on the very edge of the civilized world, where she finds that the edge is not that civilized after all.

Frost is a huge, black-armored creature who, when a monster attack during their wedding, dispatches it with ease, but seems antagonistic toward Clarice. Clarice is not a shrinking violet – she has committed to this relationship and she’ll be damned if she fails. When she discovers that Frost is a still-huge, angry and fearsome creature, she is also a very attractive woman. While Frost shuts her out, Clarice rallies the few maids left in the household and brings Frost the best dinner she can muster and seeks to win her heart.

Frost clearly has some ancient trauma she is avoiding, so is spending her energy keeping Clarice at a distance, but her new wife is energetic, dedicated and a really kind and competent person. When a visiting merchant is attacked, Clarice defiantly saves the merchant and his daughter, proclaiming herself the wife of the famous Black Knight, Clarice von Galeria!  By the end of volume one we are merely waiting for Frost to…defrost, if you will. There’s a lot of road to travel before that will happen, however, Clarice is showing herself to be a very determined heroine. I really like her!

The art by sometime, creator of Superwomen in Love! is fun, energetic and provides us a lot of near-naked, Frost bulging with muscles and covered in scars, both physical and emotional. suoh’s story is adapted well buy this veteran artist.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – Clarice is 9, Frost needs some work
Service – 1 Mild semi-nudity only
Yuri – 4 Actually, very little as of yet. Something tragic in Frost’s history, but it’ll be there in a bit

Overall – 8

Of the several fantasy stories running in Comic Yuri Hime, this one, along with Muryoku Seijo to Munou Oujo ~ Maryoku Zero de Shoukansareta Seijo no Isekai Kyuukokuki (~無力聖女と無能王女～魔力ゼロで召喚された聖女の異世界救国記～) are my favorites, with this one leading, simply on the force of Clarice’s personality. ^_^

Welcome to the wrongest way to read a series, part 3. ^_^ This series began in 2023, when I was wooed by the repeated appearance of girls with swords on book covers at Japanese bookstores and eventually picked up Volume 2 of one series and Volume 1 of the spin-off. I naturally began with the Volume 1, which was the Volume 1 of a 2-part spin-off of a 3-volume series. Oni to Yoake Yuzuikyo (鬼と夜明け 夕月夜) had me up all night reading about the Bakumatsu, the civil war at the end of the Edo period in which the Shinsengumi “patriots”, supporting the Shogunate, fought the pro-Imperial Shishi “rebels”. The more I read, the more I was convinced that both sides were awful. But, as we are reading about the souls of these shitty people reborn into the bodies of high school girls and playing out the factionism and fighting on the scale of high school kendo matches and hallway bickerings, it’s no less confusing to me, but much more interesting. ^_^ Interesting enough that I picked up Bakumatsu Joshikousei – Oni to Yoake, Volume 1 (幕末女子高生 鬼と夜明け　一) to figure out what was going on.

And, here, at last, Bakumatsu Joshikousei – Oni to Yoake, Volume 2 (幕末女子高生 鬼と夜明け　二) I kind of understand. ^_^ Quite irritatingly, the beginning of the book this time was better at explaining where we are in all this, so all that work I put in previous volumes was summed up in cliff note fashion. Sakomoto (who holds the soul of Sakamato Ryouma) and Hijikata (with the soul of Hijikata Toshizou) are still in love, but the rules of the school are firm – to avoid faction fighting, no relationships are allowed. However, with each regional clan in charge of different committees in school, factions still jockey for power and then…

Yoshida-sensei (who carries the soul of Yoshida Touyou) is brutally attacked by someone at night in the library. A letter is left that states this is “divine punishment” for the school, but no one claims the act. Yoshida-sensei is technically a  Choshuu domain member, but is beloved by the students and the attack sets everyone on edge, especially Takasugi (the bearer of the soul Takasugi Shinsaku), who is, frankly devastated by the act. 

Hijikata has the nagging sensation that they all are being pushed towards the Ikedaya Incident (CW: Some serious shit went down, torture and violence, so maybe only read it if you really want to know). These souls have been through this again and again and they are tired of it. Hijikata approaches Takasugi and asks, simply, if she wants to change this school. I have never been invested in a story of the Bakamatsu as much as I am now that they are going break this stupid cycle. (See my complaints that Kairo did not destroy the Aikata System with prejudice in Galette magazine.)

This series was massively popular on Twitter and Pixiv with Japanese fans and was nominated for Pixiv web manga awards, but missed the international acclaim of other series, presumably because westerners know nothing about the Bakumatsu unless they played one of the several games with related content. But I do like Ikuta Hana’s art and her commitment to the bit. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – Now that the real Bakumatsu rears it’s very ugly head, 7
Characters – 8
Service – Not really
Yuri – 5

Overall – 8

For American readers, imagine a story where Ulysses S. Grant and his generals and Robert. E. Lee and his, are all high school girls and the battle is still real, but they are in love with one another. ^_^;

You can read the comic for free in Japanese on the Michikusa Comics page or on Pixiv. Keep Wikipedia open while you do. ^_^