Omamori Himari volume 7
Publisher: Yen Press
Story and Art: Milan Matra
Get ready to get your skeez on boys and girls, with volume 7 of Omamori Himari! Somewhere between Tenjo Tenge and a random tentacle porn lies this little manga that starts to go in the most uncomfortable directions as Matra draws underage girls in ways most folks don’t want to see (or maybe they do, it’s on volume 7 translated so a handful of North Americans must be buying).
To be fair, there is a story here. Yuuto is a male who has finally accepted his role as a demon hunter, as he is under the watchful eye of cat girl/demon slayer, Himari. In typical harem-comedy fashion, Yuuto is surrounded by a group of other girls who are crushing him, much to Himari’s dismay, including Kuesu, heir of the 12 Demon-Slayer families. The volume also haphazardly introduces Hitsugi, a super sleuth/demon slayer, who works behind the scenes with Kuesu, but then has an agenda of her own. Finally, halfway through after a battle with a mantis-like demon, Yuuto and crew go to investigate a hot spring, complete with a snow spirit who has the hots for him, too! This is all good, and they all end up naked in the hot spring together, when Tama, the nine-tailed fox girl, shows up naked, too, wanting a piece of Yuuto and starting a fight with Himari.
I am a HUGE defender on our site here of things that can be pawned off as “guilty pleasure for men only,” or trash comics done well; unfortunately, Omamori Himari is not done well. The writing is sloppy, and everything that could be developed deeper some place switches gears to show us some naked breasts instead. Normally that could be forgiven in some manga, but cannot here for a few reasons. The first is if you’re going to draw breasts at least be consistent. Is Himari a magic cat-girl? Yes. Magic or not, though, it is distracting when her breasts appear to be about six different sizes throughout the course of the manga, and I do not think there is some subplot where her breasts are supposed to keep changing size. Secondly, even if it is a magic spirit or a goddess, to draw a girl who looks like she is nine-years-old and naked is wrong. Don’t use the excuse that she’s not really human; you either make her look like an adult woman (i.e. Tenjo Tenge) or you don’t draw it, because it’s gross.
So in final thought, Omamori Himari, sorry fans of it, not my cup of tea. If you haven’t read it, skip it (unless you actually like all the stuff I wrote above, which in that case, you probably already buy it).
Drew McCabe
drew@comicattack.net
