Creative Staff:
Story/Art: Iida Pochi
Translation: Sheldon Drzka
Lettering: Phil Christie
What They Say:
Yuu has had a rough life. After losing his parents in a car accident when he was five, he found himself bounced back and forth among relatives, with no place to truly call home. Plagued by a constant feeling of loneliness, all he wants is a little companionship, and he’s about to get way more than he bargained for! Her name is Chiyo, and she’ll grant Yuu one wish. The only problem: She’s a demon of unimaginable power!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Iida Pochi’s Ane Naru Mono: The Sister of the Woods with a Thousand Young, as the author and artist tells us in his brief end note at the back of the volume, was first intended to be a doujinshi, a self-published work. Instead, the first complete volume, even if it is a short volume (barely around 130 pages), was released in 2016 by Kadokawa through their ASCII Media Works division. Now, Yen Press has brought out an English licensed edition under the title The Elder Sister-like One. We’ll be seeing some more of Iida’s artwork in coming years as Yen Press have also licensed Dachima Inaka’s light novel series Tsuujou Kougeki ga Zentai Kougeki de ni Kai Kougeki no Okaa-san wa Suki Desuka? (Do You Like Your Mom? Her Normal Attack is Two Attacks at Full Power), which he illustrated. Here though, we will be taking a look at both his artwork and his writing.
Technical
Yen Press have done, as we have come to expect, their usual quality job with this work. While the background color of the cover (pictured to the right) might seem a touch dark, the colors are firm and clear and match the slightly dark nature of the work well. Inside of the front cover is a fold-out, full-length version of the cover showing what was likely the full drawing of the cover showing the demon we meet in this volume who becomes protagonist Yuu’s “sister.” Following that is a full color cover page with the title and a picture of Chiyo (the name she adopts) in human form, with the table of contents on the back. The back cover has the usual technical information, catalog copy, and a sweet and sexy image of Chiyo in human form.
The rest is in black and white and the printing is done very well. The blacks are dark but there is no smudging when rubbing the pages (good quality paper stock suitable for black and white printing is used). The artwork is properly centered on the pages and there are no instances of printing errors. The binding is good and solid.
The translation is clear without stilted language or any confusing sections. Lettering is crisp and well placed. Original Japanese sounds effects are retained, with the kana texts always transliterated, with a translation in parenthesis at the first appearance of a sound effect.
From an artistic standpoint, with Iida’s background in doujinshi, including many of the more erotic sort, it comes as little surprise that Chiyo is quite enticing, especially if you favor women of the slightly broader-hipped and large bust variety. Yuu, in comparison, might feel a touch generic, but that’s not because Iida has skimped on personal details meant to distinguish him and make him recognizable. It is simply that this type of character, the teen boy, is so ubiquitous in manga and anime that they do tend to start blending together at some point unless they are given a very idiosyncratic appearance. That is not the case here as Yuu is meant to be fairly “normal” in appearance, even if he is not entirely so in other respects. Perhaps it’s also owing to the artist’s background in erotic works, where the male “protagonist” is often deliberately made generic, to act as a stand-in for the mostly male readership. The artwork overall is quite nice, with outdoor and indoor backgrounds having quite a bit of detail to them, though the author does make things a touch easier on himself by having many panels focus only upon Chiyo and Yuu speaking to each other, whether against a plain background or just some screen tone to set a mood or atmosphere.
Story
When it comes to story, The Elder Sister-like One is hardly original. It is a variation on the very common theme of the poor, unfortunate protagonist (often male, as is the case here), having suffered through life because of bad luck or bad karma, being given by the beneficence of the Universe (the whim of the author, as always) the help of a supernatural being, usually female (as in this case), who will help to ease the protagonist’s pitiable situation. Perhaps the best known is Ah! My Goddess, but there are any number of these stories, varying between goddesses and angels and aliens girls and such coming and providing companionship to a boy who is in all other respects “a loser” at the game with great graphics but terrible game mechanics we call Life. What makes one of these type stories readable or not rests entirely upon the execution.
14-year old Yuu (I didn’t catch his last name during my read of the book and can’t seem to find it even after spending some time searching the volume again—there is a nameplate on the residence he lives in, but it’s probably not his surname as I’ll get to in a moment) has had a pretty sad existence: his parents died in a car accident when he was five, after which he was passed around by his relatives, none of whom took a liking to the somber child. Finally, he was pushed onto his late mother’s younger cousin who had a large house and didn’t mind letting Yuu stay there, so long as they both minded their own business and Yuu didn’t go into the old storehouse on the property.
Things take a turn when his “uncle” as he calls him falls ill and is hospitalized. Yuu, going back home to get some things for his uncle, ventures into the storehouse for the first time and happens upon…a strange assortment of things that are located in a secret chamber underneath the storehouse. Odd signs, lots of books and what is pretty recognizable to most of us, but unknown to him (Yuu is a very ignorant boy), as a summoning circle. It is entirely predictable what will happen next. Yuu even thinks about turning around and pretending that he didn’t find the stairs downward, but then we wouldn’t meet our lovely demon on the cover, would we?
Stumbling into the room, he brushes up against the summoning circle and there appears this eldritch horror…well, horror is unfair. The horns on her head, the goat’s legs with hooves, the hair that seems to be closer to Medusa’s snakes (though they’re more tentacle-like in form) than human hair, the horror part, are all attached to a beautiful female torso and an “angelic” face. Ignorant young Yuu asks her if she is an “angel.” While the demon’s initial reaction seems to be anger, the almost worshipful face that Yuu makes at her seems to immediately soften her heart (would a real demon actually be like that? We’ll give it a pass; this is pure fantasy after all). Her change in attitude seems to come from deciding that Yuu has no idea what he has summoned and the novelty of having been called “an angel” for the first time ever (she was more used to “demon” and “evil goddess”).
Is it time for the boy to ask her to become his magical girlfriend?
This is where we do have a very slight, but again not new, tweak on the old formula: when asking him what his wish is, Yuu wishes for her to become his family, the big sister he never had. His wish is granted.
With the two main characters set in place, what follows is much lighter in tone and content. The demon takes on human form and calls herself “Chiyo” (“a thousand nights,” to match Yuu’s name which refers to “dusk”) and sets about acting like an elder sister to him…though she’s going to have learn what that actually means. For Chiyo did not really have much contact with humans other than their either worshipping her and making offerings or falling down onto all fours and imploring her or screaming in terror at her appearance. It is fortunate for Yuu that Chiyo is curious by nature and watches lots of TV and reads many books in the house in order to learn more about human society. There are, of course, funny misunderstandings, such as when Yuu’s fear of thunder and his comment about being afraid of the thunder god almost make Chiyo leave the house, in full demon form, ready to attack the heavens.
The comedy is light and not terribly original, mainly of the slice of life variety, but at least it’s amusing enough and neither tiresome nor irritating. The other, and possibly bigger, draw of the title is Chiyo’s sexiness and her clear lack of understanding about what a sister is like. There is no sex (this isn’t an erotic manga), but there is plenty of ecchi material, some of it walking up towards the line that should not be crossed, but never actually crossing it.
As a variation on the supernatural/magical girl who helps ease the loneliness of an unlucky boy story, The Elder Sister-like One is not bad. For being an extremely powerful demon (and presumably evil in nature, but you won’t notice that here), Chiyo is quite likable. Yuu is kind of bland, but at this point that’s to be expected in this kind of title. There are some fairly funny bits, especially the end of volume omake section called “夕 Tube” (Yuu Tube, ha ha), where Chiyo tries her hand at cooking a seafood salad that looks closer to one of Elsie’s (from The World God Only Knows) demonic concoctions than anything a normal human should ever attempt to eat.
In Summary:
Yuu has not had much luck in life. Losing his parents at age five and then being shuttled from one relative’s house to another, never being accepted by any of them, has made him a shy and quiet loner. But when the uncle with whom he’s currently living is temporarily hospitalized, he stumbles upon a secret in the old storehouse: a powerful demon summoning circle. Yuu accidentally summons the demon…and makes her his older sister. Wait, what? Yes. These are the carefree and fun days Yuu spends with his new “elder sister.” The premise is not new. The comedy and elements of horror are not either. The execution, so far, is good enough to make this readable and Chiyo, Yuu’s new “elder sister,” is a knockout. Ecchiness and light humor are what is mainly on offer here. The “magical/supernatural girlfriend”-type story may be done to death at this point, but if it still appeals to you, this one is quite enjoyable.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A
Package Rating: A-
Text/Translation: A-
Age Rating: Mature LNSV (17+)
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: April 10th, 2018
MSRP: $13.00
