I could say Demon Love Spell is a
supernatural romance and we could all go home. It has sexy
otherworldly guys,girls attuned to that kind of thing and hints of
danger. However that's selling it short in a way. The first volume
really does show some promise, drawing me in with some okay characters and trying to stand out. Does it maintain this dubious level of quality or go
downhill? I don't know and for this post that's not the purpose,since
volume one is all that matters.
The story opens up with Miko,a shrine
priestess accidentally sealing Kagura due to thinking that he's a
demon. Luckily for her he actually is one and after fighting a demon
the pair form a relationship mostly because Miko forgot how to unseal
Kagura. Other than that the plot goes on about as one would
expect,they get into hi-jinx involving demons of the week and start
to form a more romantic relationship. Getting there is where things
get a little more interesting.
Miko's defining traits for the volume
is being accidentally awesome and having a stupid name. It makes for
great comedic bits with Kagura and other demons as the can't believe
they've been defeated by a girl who can barely see them. After a
while Kagura and her father do more of the heavy lifting so to speak
as a way to curb the shtick and allow Miko to lay down ground work
for her own character development. It would fall into chickfication
but it's more taking her pure luck and turning it into talent for
latter volumes. Also she is a shrine priestess whose name means
shrine priestess,that's like if a plumber was named Piper. It's
possible its a nickname for Mikoto but the book never indicates as
much so we're left with a really stupid name.
Kagura is an incubus and gets to bypass
the genres normal love for girls with that sexy blood and instead
has him feed of sexual energy. It's still a Macguffin substance but
it fits with the incubus
aspect better. He can really get it
from any girl and while it's hinting that Miko's energy is special
it's more about forming a deeper bond that her actual energy. Being
sealed leaves him to be the butt monkey for Miko and her parents
which again leads to some decently funny moments. He's going through
a slight character arc here and given time to flesh out his back
story as the strongest demon it may have a bit more impact.
It does seem to be keeping with Incubus
lore to an extent,making it more than just a simple palate swap for
another creature. Such as the aforementioned feeding of sexual energy
to survive and being able to enter dreams. Many scene in the book
involve Kagura visiting Miko's dreams to garner by making her love
him at a subconscious level. It is rather creepy and is treated as
such and Miko does put up barriers to prevent it allowing her to
decide how much she actually cares for him. The use of his limited
powers and Miko sharpening hers could lead to some interesting
conflicts.
The only real problem that I see at
this time is that the rest of the cast is rather weak. Miko's parents
are the only real stand outs by being funny and seem to be
subjecting Kagura to humiliating tasks for no real reason .Again more
on Kagura's past and possibly Miko's father could help this problem.
Her classmates are just sort of there right now with no real defined
personalities yet. On the demon side of the cast,we have no one
really, most of the demons are just cannon fodder and the only real
other creature is a fox spirit that seems to be setting up a love
triangle with our leads in the final chapter of the volume.
For a first volume,it put it's best
foot forward. The main relationship is rather fun and has potential
for some interesting power dynamics. The story is nothing special but
it works well enough to keep me interested. Is it going to draw in
people who would never read this type of story...probably not.
However if you're a fan of the genre then you'll probably enjoy it
especially if you enjoyed Kamisama Kiss.
Till Next Time: Stay Positive
No comments:
Post a Comment