Shojo A Go-Go: The Demon Prince of Momochi House

First Impressions are somewhat important,especially with books if you want anyone to give your book the time of day. The first impression I had with The Demon Prince of Momochi House was Kamisama Kiss rip off. I know you aren't supposed to judge a book by it's cover, literally or metaphorically, but I mean look at the image to your left. It's clearly Tomoe,same smug look and fox ears but a kimono lifted from Miketsukami. However once I started reading I was wrong to judge it as such. I mean I was not really blown away by anything however it did prove the cover was a liar.

The Demon Prince of Momochi House is unsurprisingly a supernatural romance. It's ground well trodden in this column and this one looks to be no different. I'll give it this it is trying to be different from books like Demon Love Spell, and Black Bird with a jerk with a heart of gold male lead. The titular demon prince is Aoi,a human who transforms into the Nue. The guy is bordering on male moe and his kindness knows no bounds. His love interest and our lead is Himari,the 16 year old rightful owner of Momochi House,whose attempt to claim the house kick starts the plot. She's a generic shojo protagonist,i.e thick headed with a sweet side and a weak constitution. She's saved from being the weakest character by Aoi's demon companions who may as well not really be here for all they do. Shoujou is the hot headed one and Amazuchi is the guy destined to be an uke for the inevitable yoai doujins.

The only person I really care about at this point is Aoi and that's just because he seems to have the most going on. How he got here and his status as the Nue are the only things I want to know about about. It helps that he is fairly likable and his child like antics are amusing. The rest of the cast could probably be interesting if they had any character but while we get little for Himari and her loneliness issues the remaining cast is left lacking.

We have three chapters that serve to paint us a picture of the world and it does this competently . There is a house on the border of our world and the spirit world that's protected by a supernatural being and shenanigans between the two realms ensue. It's enjoyable fun that serves to showoff Aoi's powers and a bit of back story on Himori's connection to the house. Nothing wrong with it and it adds an air of mystery with the question of who sent the will that brought Himori to the house and that person's intentions. An interesting twist that is brought up near the end is that Aoi can't leave the house.

This has the possibility to open up two paths. Either this becomes the major focus for now pushing the mystery of will to the back ground or it's an easily solved problem and this opens us up to a school setting like every other supernatural romance. The latter can open us up to probably more bland characters and the school tropes related to that. However the former has the potential to a hopefully more intimate manga that allows the characters to grow as they search for answers.Not that they wouldn't grow regardless of the path but it'd be more of a focus as we're limited to that small cast and the house itself.

There is a interesting undercurrent lurking here that indicate this manga may go places. Aoi's genuine sweetness is nice in a genre clogged with misunderstood jerks even if the everyone else is just sort of there. The plot is not offering much right now but what is here is written well enough that I'd probably continue for at least a few more volumes to see where it goes.

Till Next time: Stay Positive.

Shojo A Go-Go:Demon Love Spell

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