“The God of Destruction’s First Errand”
What They Say:
Story: Kei Kamiki
Translation: Christine Dashiell
Lettering: Erika Terriquez
What They Say:
The God of Destruction Magu Menueku has been summoned by the Chaos Cult. Humanity’s last hope is the honorable Holy Knights! The battle to save mankind…took place hundreds of years ago… But now a girl out in the country named Ruru releases the legendary god of destruction who had been trapped in a magical jewel! Will the natto-eating, destruction beam-blasting Magu-chan fill the world with complete chaos? This heart-warming, destructive comedy series is ready to explode onto the scene!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Ruru gets to wake up in the best manner. Magu-Chan has gone through the troubles of destroying her alarm clock so that she could sleep in peace. But she is so unappreciative of what Magu-chan is doing to win her heart. To make matters worse, Magu-chan eats the pudding that Ruru was savoring all day. She was going to give him one of them but he couldn’t help himself. Magu-chan has to walk the road of shame and gets hanged with a sign saying “I ate all the pudding.” He runs away and ponders what he could to make Ruru happy. This was a moment where the art could have been used to highlight Ruru’s pain. Facial expressions are this manga’s weak points. So much could be done with that space but its a shame to see it not being utilized.
Naputaaku the Mad has become Naputaaku the Hungry. He still has 100 hermit crab army but he blames them for his misfortune. Adding to his pile of misfortune, he dares to challenge Maru-chan until he is blasted away. Magu-chan quickly takes over his army and has them search for a store that sells pudding. Naputaaku is probably going to be this series go-to guy when it wants to use slapstick comedy.
Maru-chan is led by the hermit crab army to a store that sells pudding. Ren Fujisawa conveniently shows up at the store but does nothing for the story. Maru-chan takes his PE clothes and pretends to be a human. He attempts to walk out of the store carrying a couple of pudding cups without a care in the world but the clerk asks for money. Maru-chan is initially confused by the concept of money. He randomly pulls out a bunch of treasure and uses it to pay for 5 pudding cups.
Everyone ends up happy with the power of pudding. There is even a pleasing artwork to accommodate these feelings. Ruru and Maru-chan are reunited after a short fight and things return to normal. Naputaaku’s crab army has a pudding cup as an offering to Naputaaku and his long journey for food ends. It was a satisfying end to this chapter of sadness and despair.
In Summary:
The relationship between Ruru and Magu-chan is the most enjoyable aspect of this manga. Their relationship is growing at a steady, natural pace. They care for each other but still end up fighting like a sibling relationship. The fighting seems more one-sided as Ruru beats up Magu-chan for his actions. The comedy aspects are great. But this manga is going to run those jokes to the ground pretty fast. One of the jokes being used too often is when Magu-chan pulls out his book of servitude to make others do his bidding. Ren didn’t have to appear in this chapter for the story to progress. The art in this series is continuing to be this series weakest point. It doesn’t do any favors for the story. The last page in the chapter proves that the artist is capable of producing beautiful images if they want to.
Content Grade: B-
Art Grade: C
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: Teen
Released By: Shonen Jump
Release Date: July 12, 2020