Initially I started this series out of morbid curiosity. Another reviewer on this site made it sound like the series pissed in their cereal ate their dog and probably started a generationlong blood feud too. And yet the premise sounded pretty neat a sukeban exorcist ecchi comedy? Sign me up every now and then I love that kinda throw random ideas at the wall...AND ecchi stuff even if its terribly cheesy think Senran Kagura or Keijo. And so I went in expecting The Room with some blonde delinquent fanservice and terribly offensive jokes trusting the reviewers word on it. Did it sound terrible? Absolutely. Did it also sound like itd be a poor mans attempt at doing Kiruko or Black General? Kinda yeah so I thought Id check it out and have a laugh at how bad it is maybe saving some neat NSFW pages for art inspiration as Ive done with many series in the past in an attempt to get SOME of my lost time back. Needless to say I got none of what that person promised. Instead I got a fairly straightforward yet surprisingly touching story about how people cope with reality and trauma with some genuinely entertaining comedy and a surprisingly lovable main cast with unique chemistry. Oh and cool monster design. But more on that later. We start off with a pretty bythebook transfer student weirdo type premise. Except the transfer student is an absolute menace who writes slurs and insults on peoples desks devastates school property intimidates and even beats up men and women alike and so on. But here comes the twist the titular heroine Reina is actually an exorcist and all these antics are her bizarre way of exorcising malicious spirits that not only lurk among the school grounds but also infest other parts of the city. This leads to a lot of dark humorlaced incidents that work surprisingly well as amusing plot twists or how do people notintheknow see this jokes that work surprisingly well. Our second main heroine something of an audience insert at times due to Reinas largerthanlife demeanor warranting a chronicler type character observing her Kokoro or as the main heroine starts calling her later on Bento the backstory behind which was one of my favourite jokes quickly becomes the target of Reinas bullying as it turns out due to her mysterious ability to attract all sorts of malicious or plain inconvenient ghosts and spirits. Before the two end up making peace and hanging out to investigate all the strange supernatural phenomena across the school were treated to a bit of satire on the incompetence of the school system or perhaps its formal limits? with the student council being exceedingly worried about this newfound bullying situation but ultimately doing nothing to prevent it mainly just quaking in their boots about how scary this new delinquent is and virtue signalling about how much bullying worries them. Later on the main cast expands to include a bunch of other characters connected by their relation to the supernatural Riku a pretty straightforward sporty tomboy type and selfproclaimed reporter who dreams of nothing more than encounters with the paranormal Tendou a tough bara dude who shares a body with the spirit of his dead sister Chiichan and Watanabesensei a teacher with a severe Hasshakusamainduced fear of women who gets conned into becoming their clubs advisor. The plot follows the gang investigating various supernatural phenomena ranging from short gags like an anatomical model posessed by an exhibitionist to surprisingly emotional and frankly tears of sadnessinducing plotlines like the explanation of the main heroines devotion to ghost extermination which handled the topic of domestic abuse and trauma surprisingly tastefully for a comedy series jokes are practically absent throughout the duration of that arc in particular which I didnt expect from a series with jokes like bara guy wears a frilly dress and the main heroine forces a pedophiliac ghost to become her maid and live in a doghouse as punishment. https://files.catbox.moe/vepra0.png Speaking of frilly dresses and bara guys one running joke in particular might come off as questionable to some especially considering we live in an age where dark and/or politically incorrect humor is associated less with the likes of Monty Python or the Eric Andre Show where it serves to either point out how ridiculous real life can get or shows that the world will be a better place if we approach ourselves a bit less seriously than boring regulations and societal norms would want us to be and moreso with edgelords on Twitter and Reddit embarassing standup comedy and cheap shock value for the sake of cheap shock value. As Ive mentioned Tendous whole gimmick is that hes this huge buff serious dude but he shares a body with Chiichan his deceased younger sister who died in a tragic car accident years before the start of the series. Due to that we get a fair bit of scenes where the joke is pretty much teehee big buff dude in a tiny frilly dress. I understand it can come off as transphobic to some but much to my surprise Id argue its quite the opposite despite the multitude of jokes about characters being LGBT such as a trio of fujoshi side characters who keep assuming Reina must be a bisexual Casanova and forcing their favourite teacher and Tendou into all sorts of cliche yaoi situations this plotline in particular is handled surprisingly tastefully. https://files.catbox.moe/up1uo1.png https://files.catbox.moe/q5hfqt.png We do get two or three chapters where the joke is just the same as Ladybeardshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladybeard whole schtick its a big tough guy wearing a dress the contrast is amusing because its not something we see everyday and it goes against dress norms in countries as conservative as Japan etc. Its not meant to be offensive or show everybody like that is silly its just a visual gag about contrast between the stereotypically masculine and stereotypically feminine. https://files.catbox.moe/p8sw8v.png I dont think I need to explain how if not handled properly a joke like this can come off as incredibly offensive to LGBT people and anybody supporting them I consider myself a strong supporter of LGBT rights so I do have to admit some scenes got me in a bit of a ooops were going there huh... mindset but I was pleasantly surprised to see the author had the maturity needed to handle a joke such as this. Tendou is not shown to be any less of a man by doing this nor is he ridiculed for it. His parents unaware of his little sisters ghost inhabiting his body do give him weird looks and before learning about the situation and getting help from the rest of the cast hes afraid that hes got a sleepwalkingcrossdressing habit of sorts but its ultimately just an intro to a much more interesting subplot initially unaware of this newfound hobby of his being a side effect of a ghostly posession he begs the main heroine to exorcise it. However when it turns out that its his little sister he gains a newfound resolve to help her live out the life she didnt get to experience Reina herself even points out that its no big deal if a harmless female ghost and a male soul coexist in the same biologically male body hell it could even help said female ghost pass on peacefully which probably wasnt an intentional subtext but which Id argue made for a pretty nice metaphor for coming out of the closet and/or exploring ones gender identity. I mean...cmon in a series all about making peace with yourself moving on from your inner troubles and accepting who you are it would be a weird move to suddenly start getting offensive and saying this dudes less of a man for putting on a dress. Arent trans people and crossdressers wacky and weird and stupid lololol?? now wouldnt it? We get a bit of a sequel to this joke and all its potential to create issues with a subplot involving This Man a superpowerwielding human who traps the main cast in a dream world as a side note most of you will probably recognize what is he based on. Its that EVER DREAM OF THIS MAN? image weve seen used in so many pieces of media ranging from serious horror manga to mediocre analog horror projects over the years which I think is a hilarious piece of tribute to one of the unspoken greats of mysterious and eerie media. https://files.catbox.moe/lyaz8r.png Long story short his arc kicks off because he sees Watanabesensei crossdressing as part of a school event mistakes him for a woman and traps the main cast in a simulation where Watanabe is his wife and everybodys lives are upsidedown. With the main heroine calling him out on being delusional without thinking too deeply about the joke here we could easily assume the authors going oooh MtF people are delusional or something equally horrid. However if we think about it and take into account the core themes of Reinas more serious and emotional parts this is more of a comment on accepting who you are sensei is scared of women due to childhood trauma. According to a bonus doodle included with one of the volumes dressing up as one was one of the methods that his family attempted to make the unquestionably malicious and perverted Hasshakusama stop haunting him as such we can easily assume becoming a woman would be his nightmare as itd force him to be somebody he doesnt want to be. Thus This Man is shown as a delusional person with a god complex whos keen on forcing others into scenarios that fit his own perverse fantasies without taking their feelings into consideration all derived from his refusal to accept that he could be attracted to a fellow man despite doing so just a few days earlier. Id argue This Man is a caricature of the average person online who likens crossdressers and anybody who doesnt adhere to his narrowminded views of genderappropiate clothing standards to traps whining about how they got tricked into believing they were somebody they arent and lives in constant fear of their and anybody elses masculinity being shattered the moment they admit to being attracted to a person of the same gender as them intentional or not Id argue this comes off as the exact opposite of offensive if anything I found it hilarious as somebody who met wayyyyy too many people like this over the years. Moving on from the questionable and into the unquestionably positive like I said the best part of Reina aside from most jokes being genuinely funny the main cast having unique and lovable chemistry and some soulcrushing subplots written with the maturity and emotional weight needed for them to work is its monster design. I wouldnt say its anything to write home about its far from amazing monster design Ive seen in works like Bibliomania Kitaro Keyman or the average tokusatsu entry but it does have some memorable standout designs that Ive found uniquely charming even if they arent the most creative conceptually. Below you can find some of my favourites I do not want to spoil their respective roles in the story too much but theyre worth showing nonetheless. One of the most surprising inclusions which I loved was the Bakuhttps://yokai.com/baku/ here presented as a gigantic monstrous tapir with a sly smirk and his daughter the latter of whom is a mutual of Reina that she occasionally contacts for help. https://files.catbox.moe/slmoei.png https://files.catbox.moe/bdk3qp.png https://files.catbox.moe/pqfewk.png https://files.catbox.moe/7bqf1n.png https://files.catbox.moe/e8v5cq.png Another gag and idea for a ghost that I thoroughly loved and laughed like an idiot over pops up in an arc where the main cast attempts to contact spirits via an Ouja board. First the main heroines are unsure whether ghosts obey their languages laws of phonetics and grammar as somebody who failed my phonetics exam twice during my journey to obtain a licentiate this got a hearty giggle outta me... https://files.catbox.moe/hip6i4.png ...only for the ghost to turn out to be a foreigner that they cant communicate with anyway. https://files.catbox.moe/di5an9.png Id also like to address a complaint Ive seen floating around I was actually terribly disappointed to see that the series did not in fact feature ridiculous amounts of fanservice considering how charming and attractive several of both the adult male and female character designs in this series were. We do get one beach chapter some peeks as Tendous body and a few jokes with the main cast getting naked here and there off the top of my head I remember we get a peek at the main heroine when she walks out of the shower a few times and corners Bento and Riku does end up naked after her transformation into a werewolf is undone but I wouldnt say theyre reduced to eye candy or sexualized to an uncomfortable degree at any point. If anything Id argue plenty of modern shonen could learn a lesson or two from this series. Oh and the main heroine does a Rider Kick at one point. As a huge fan of Kamen Rider thats a very obvious joke that nonetheless gets a smile out of me everytime. https://files.catbox.moe/78kr91.png Summarizing Reina is most certainly a manga that you have to approach with an open mind plenty of its jokes can be easily misinterpreted if you let somebody else dictate how youre supposed to understand them. However if you again keep an open mind and a good sense of humour what awaits is a truly unique blend of comedy tragedy and ghost stories from all over the world which I think isnt some exceptionally groundbreaking piece of media but made for many enjoyable evenings on my end and left a lasting oh yeah this was a cute series impression on me. Apparently plenty of subplots that the author set up were cut short or scrapped altogether due to his serialization getting cut short due to poor sales however I strongly agree with what he says in the epilogue: given the time and page count constraints given he did a satisfying enough job and its a complete touching and funny story and a mostly relaxing manga worth skimming if youre looking for something emotional but ultimately lighthearted and hopeful in its message and themes.