It would be remiss of me to say I didn't get exactly what i expected out of this manga- it was one I picked up on a whim, after seeing the My Dress Up Darling episode this week, i decided to peruse the great world of Manga to find anything similar to what they were parodying finding it an immensely interesting concept
That is how I stumbled upon what I say in no exaggeration or recency bias tainted hyperbole, was something somehow surprisingly good.
The author upon closer research is certainly not one with too much pedigree, perhaps his most famous work to a western audience would be the doujin I see memed every so often about the German girl saying it's a German custom to bathe with close ones. So, naturally one might not expect too wonderful of a story to be told by someone who's most notable work is to put it bluntly shoddily written hentai.
Of course, hence the score I do not think that was the case. Shachiku Succubus no Hanashi successfully pulled a bait and switch on me that most anime or manga claiming to be ecchi never really do. In the short time I had with the manga, it only being 22 chapters and with initially just 5 pages per chapter due to its origins as a webcomic, the time we had together certainly wasn't the longest yet despite that it performed the wonderous feat of engaging me in its hilariously ordinary yet unordinary world and acquainting me with its hilariously ordinary yet unordinary characters.
Shachiku no Succubus no Hanashi follows a story primarily of two individuals
Lily: an overworked yet kind-hearted succubus.
Kuroki Tsutomu: an ordinary office worker unable to find companionship or fulfilment within life.
Perhaps that strikes you as ordinary, I know for me it certainly did, it sounds basic and formulaic yet its through that routine daily life in which this story truly shines. Everyone can relate to a character who isn't finding fulfilment in their life whether that be through employment, education or any other external factors. Life is hard, and it is exceptionally hard for a Japanese salaryman who has lost sight of why he began in the first place. Kuroki at the first time we meet the character is the caricature of the overworked Japanese busybody employee we're all acquainted with and it's only through the intervention of something unordinary that he can truly be gratified with the life he leads.
I dare not spoil too much of the plain and day-to-day plot of this manga, for I'd like you to read it for yourself, but let me at least tell you that its presentation of what it means to truly find a purpose in life and to realise what it is that keeps you going is something that can be truly special- mind you, I suppose that might only be if you're in the correct mindspace to receive that message but nevertheless its a warming one.
Seeing the hijinks between these two so vastly different characters and how they add to each other's lives is great and is truly something that most romance manga and anime fall short of, yet I find myself baffled by how a 22 chapter webcomic with the sole premise of a succubus and a salaryman who doesn't wish for erotic dreams because he's so obtuse to be capable of delivering a genuinely compelling narrative on finding special people to you and the struggles of finding a reason for one's existence to be able to do so is a very welcome surprise. But perhaps its greatest achievement beyond being a fun and enjoyable manga I could pick up and finish in a single night is...
It made me smile
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