Creative Staff:
Story & Art: Joji Manabe
What They Say:
Makunouchi is a rough town, and it takes a tough detective like Ryou Genba to survive amidst the gangs, drugs, and guns. So why does the arrival of a beautiful new recruit, Rei Mikura, throw his world into chaos? What does she have to do with the mysterious leather-clad thief Ryou discovered crawling throughout the city during night? Action, mystery, and romance abound in this series by hentai master, Joji Manabe!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Joji Manabe, the so-called hentai master (I don’t read enough hentai to know if ANYONE is a master), is at it again. This time with crime drama Makunouchi Deluxe. The Someya Syndicate and the Black Dragons are two warring factions in what is essentially the largest red light district in the history of ever, Makunouchi. It’s a quaint little city that proclaims to be Japan’s largest pleasure district.
We begin showing exactly what Ryou Genba does for a living. He’s a detective that works above and below the law for crime syndicates big and small. Though, obviously, his business is run from the regular business from folks like the Yokozawa. Yokozawa, it seems, is just as large as Someya and Black Dragon, but they’re touched on once.
The focus in the comic is on Someya, who seem to be the worst of the worst, and the Black Dragons, because they pick up the Black Dragon’s leader’s daughter, Pai-Yin. Pai-Yin has bigger aspirations than taking over the Black Dragons. She wants to take over the entirety of Makunouchi and make it her own. A pleasure district as big as Tokyo and ten times as powerful, I imagine. And who wouldn’t want that?
Integrated into this is mystery girl Rei Mikura, who nightlights as the leather-clad burglar Cat Scratch. It’s in her tight leather that she learns she loves Genba. Their interactions are actually quite genuine, if not explicit. But hey, this is hentai. It’s interesting, though, how she uses the mask. It’s not just something to protect her identity, but to give her confidence in who she is. I imagine down the line, she’ll toss the mask away.
We’ve got another mask-wearing girl in the comic, though, and that’s Pai-Yin and she goes by the name Poison Panda. Her persona seems to be for her own enjoyment, as she doesn’t fear in revealing her identity. When she says her name, she says it like an AKB idol, not Catwoman.
These two girls provide the impetus for a large portion of the story. Rei Mikura is the woman who could make or break Genba. He can bring him great prosperity, whether that be emotional or money is yet to be seen, or bring the worst upon him. This is learned through a fortune teller that, of course, tells fortunes through sperm. Pai-Yin, meanwhile, wants to partner with Genba to take over the town. Who better that knows every secret that could bring the town to its knees?
The artwork in the comic is great, by the way. I haven’t read any other Joji Manabe, but I’m told that he’s one of the best hentai artists working right now. The character designs are very reminiscent of 80s or early 90s-era designs and it’s very appealing. The sex scenes use little backgrounds, likely to not distract you from the…erm…action. But calmer scenes don’t slouch on drawing out fairly detailed backgrounds of the city.
In Summary:
Basically whenever I pick up a hentai manga for review, I don’t know what I’m getting into beyond that it is hentai. I find them hilarious to read in an absurdist kind of way, and it only draws me to more. But there’s also something to be said about trying to parse out the important pieces in something that’s largely porn, and I find that really fun. In this one, I expected to get a one-off detective story every chapter, but I’m caught up in a war between syndicates and I’m excited to see more of it.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 18+
Released By: Project-H
Release Date: December 11th, 2013
MSRP: $17.95
