Disclaimer: it may contain minor spoilers. Jimmy Page once explained the music of Led Zeppelin as a contrast of explosive sounds accompanied by contemplative moments and called that effectLight and Shade. Navigating on those extremes highlights their power and it is in that understanding that lies the work of NISIOISINs Shinhonkaku Mahou Shoujo Risuka. Another understanding you might want to have is how the story plays in the context of the Sekaikei narratives of the early 2000s.Pause and Select has an excellent video about Sekaikei.https://www..com/watch?v=dCKZQphDyLYKizutaka Kugi contrasts characters like Shinji Ikari from Neon Genesis Evangelion which is considered the grandfather of that type of apocalyptic storytelling. Though yet to be welldefined its a style of storytelling where grand narratives are replaced with the subjectivities of the postmodern world. What matters is the individual and their actions or lack thereof towards the world accompanied by a sliceoflife element in the story. They usually delegate the action to their empowered female companion who they are in love with or have some sort of moe relationship. In that sense Kizutaka spites that kind of guy and wants to bring happiness to the worldmuch like Light Yagami from Death Note its contemporary. He bears the responsibility and so the action and consequences of making the world a better place albeit his actions are questionable to say the least. But of course hes not the only protagonist in the story. If in Sekaikei stories the girl bears the responsibility of fighting the Other NISIOISIN wont simply go to the other extreme. He wont waste characters. He thinks characters are everything in a story. So Kizutaka shares that responsibility with Risuka Mizukura the deuteragonist. They are a duo and cannot achieve their own goals without each other. Its a stable in NISIOISINs writing. He understands that even with our own individualityor egowe humans are social creatures and need help from others. Though even if you can attribute that mentality to how Japans society is structured the Sekaikei stories posed the problem of people losing faith in that structure. So instead of advertising an extreme individuality he chooses the middle ground. Upon meeting Risuka Kizutaka thinks he can use her as a pawn but soon realize Risuka is too much for him to handle. She has her own goalsto find Shingo her fatherand because of that she can be autonomous. And although that is a crucial element in their dynamic the important aspect for that is the power that Risuka holds. She is simply too strong. That dialect about power is constant in play in the story and it is better exemplified when magicpoweraffects characters. It is also visible how broken the protagonists are because of their circumstances and they end up seeking each other comfort and an understanding of their existences. It is in those contemplative moments contrasting all the violence and pain that NISIOISIN leaves strands of hope. Deep down he is a softie. He can write the most violent and gruesome story out there and yet he wants his characters to find peace happiness comfort in their lives. Upon building the world NISIOISIN uses the concept of magic as a key element for the story. Because of time constraints and the nature of his writing style the Myth of Cthulhu is used to smooth the reader into the Urban Fantasy of Magical Girl Risuka. Additionally NISIOISIN uses the falseness and strangeness of magic as a pillar to construct the world and its people. Theres one character that behaves in the way they do because of that. They dont behave using our realworld logic and that sense of strangeness keeps the reader engaged with the story. Another foundation is the environment and how it can shape people. Thats most noticeable with Risuka herself. Her special ability related to time manipulation is that she can advance or accelerate herself in time until the point shes the strongest at the age of twentyseven and becomes a rude vulgar violent person contrasting her meek younger self who doesnt want to grow up because of how violent she sees the adult worldshe projects that vision onto herself as an adult. The concept for the story is to be about witchy characters. NISIOISIN fuses Mahou Shoujo with Majokko in Risukas character but wont play directly into the tropes related to those genres. He brings a grounded view of some of the tropes. You wouldnt directly point out that the story has a magical girl for example but if you are familiar with the concepts related to those genres you can see them playing out in the story. Organically the world unravels for the reader through the mysteries Kizutaka ends up trying to solve. NISIOISIN uses various shortcuts to solve the mysteries in the storyyou can think of that as how Kinoko Nasu in Kara no Kyoukai handles the mystery in his storyeven jesting the book as a thirdrate mystery novel. The comparison with that work doesnt stop there. The Japanese critic Tsunehiro Uno describes this work as the only smooth transition from Sekaikei to Shindenki. TheNeoFantasticalhttps://blog.psychopopular.com/literature/japanesemysteryhistorywas a genre used to advertise the new type of works Nasu was writing especially when he was writing for the Faust magazine. Its another tobewelldefined genremore than Sekaikei Id say. Nihilist in nature both works share this amorality and neednessof their broken characters. Nonetheless they are insane characters solving impossible situations. Due to its nature of being published in the Faust magazine the three chapters are told in an episodic manner but builds up from previous developments with mysteries twists and a lightningpaced character development that NISIOISIN is known for. Kizutaka is an excellent narrator and even if his edginess can put some people off the absurd of some lines makes the reading a fun experience. At the start of this bloodyviolent tetralogy Kizutaka and Risuka start a journey of selfdiscovery and friendship with guilt and blood in their hands.