Tenshi na Konamaiki
Cheeky Angel

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

The story of a boy's mind stuck in the body of a girl and a spell transformed him from an energetic little boy to the most wonderful woman in the world. He has but one dream, to become the most manly man that ever lived, even if he has to live out this dream as a woman. In his/her search for the book that might return her manhood she goes to a normal high school and makes an entourage of male friends of all shapes sizes and... colorful personalities. In the countless battles and other experiences she has with her new friends she begins to ... better understand what it means to be a great man and a great woman.

Story:
At first I wasn't that impressed, there are plenty of other "gender bending" plots out there that have been better done (ranma comes to mind). The "message" behind the story is too repetitive for 20 volumes and not all that impressive, and the conclusion of the story was a bit of a let down... BUT it is a plot that grows on you. Some of the arcs are pretty well done and emotional or intense, but almost every arc ends with pointless brawls, the protagonist looking cool, and the protagonist's love interest boasting his own "way of the man." Probably would have been a more effective story if it was a few less volumes.

Art:
I almost dropped this manga at the first chapter because I was petrified by the horrible quality of the art. After the first few volumes though the artist shapes up and it is acceptable, at least not painful on the eyes. The battle art isn't all that original though which is kind of a shame since they fight so much in this series.

Character:
The characters, while not too deep, original, or developed, were interesting enough. The main character Megumi, does undergo alot of changes in the series (though I don't want to give away too much.) Personally I felt that Genzou (The stupid love struck punk) and Hitomonji (the serious Samurai) were the jewel characters of the series. There is a large cast of side characters that are relatively memorable as well, so where the story fails the characters make up for a little bit.

Enjoyment/Overall:
While not the best comedy, or best romance, or fantasy, this series had its good points and was a decent read to cure the summer boredom blues, but don't read it with very high expectations.

When I read the description, I was thinking that this is some kind of "gender bender" type manga, but then I read into it, i was happily surprised that it is not like that. Most "Gender Bender" manga focusing on the idea that main character transforming from boy to girl or from girl to boy, in most awkward moments for comedy sake. And later on, those moments become very repetitive and boring. But this manga is different.

This manga is about girl named Megumi who wants to be boy because she was a boy long ago but evil spirit turn her into girl, so years ... after her transformation she still wants to become a male again. Even if she act like girl she still likes all boyish stuff(like fishing) and so she has no interest in opposite sex, but problem is that she became very beautiful and attractive. And so she starts to getting attention from all sorts of fellows.

I would describe it as "harem manga in reverse". So it is not about one worthless guy and many cute girls, its about one cute girl and many worthless guys. Megumi herself is very interesting character, so you cant clearly say is she really a man in female form, or she just a girl which trying to be a guy. The story is very good, but i have a couple of complaints. First of all it is still technically a comedy manga, and i found most of jokes and humor in general kinda weak. I also love Nishimori Hiroyuki art, he got his own unique style, but i found it a little bit lack in detail, so that some characters may looks very similar to others.

Overall it is very good manga, give it a try.

Tenshi na Konamaiki (Manga) 8/8/8/8/8

First things first. My "reviews" system is explained on a blog entry. Which can be found through my profile.
------

✦Story
Another of "gender bender" stories that isn't gender bender. But approach on this aspect of the story was done rather superb. Other than that it was rather funny and very adorable storytelling. Plenty of twists, character developments, changes and so on. Adorable relationships and shipping moments and rather solid flow of the story. Also having a satisfying finale was also a great touch.

Probably biggest weakness to the story was repetitive on certain things and as well eventually obnoxious acting on few characters.

... ✦Art
Old but good. Enough said.

✦Character
Plenty of enjoyable stereotypes and surprisingly plenty of progression and development. Although main girl personality got rather obnoxious at times but overall she was adorable.

✦Enjoyment & Overall
All things considering it was adorable romance Manga that had surprisingly fun flow of characters and plot points.

I always bring this manga up when people ask me for recommendations. It's the anime's first episode that got me to read the series, and I always mention how the anime's ending is so much worse than the mangas ending, which was suspenseful and satisfying. Haven't read Ranma, people tell me it's good, but after experiencing Tenshi na Konomaiki i'm more inclined to try it out.
bushi is a trope but a fun one, exceedingly normal guy is a funny character, and Megumi easily qualifies as BAE (before anyone else)
side note, the all womans competition was done well enough in the anime, but i recall ... having a blast reading it, which enhanced my viewing experience, expecially the scene in the old hotel LUL

TL:DR
Decent romance, likable characters and a surprising amount of action

Story: 7/10
First things first: this is not a weird fetish manga like I was expecting from the genderbending premise. Surprisingly there's also no fanservice. In fact, the genderbending premise is played very straight rather than as the butt of jokes. I think it's a quite interesting exploration of the meaning of masculinity/femininity and challenges conventional gender roles as you may expect given the premise. Nothing especially challenging or new for the modern western reader like myself, though I imagine it was very new for 1999s Japan.

One thing to get out of the way, the relationship between ... the main couple starts of very antagonistically. I thought it was going to be a fantasy about being with a “bad boy” but that characterisation is quickly ditched and the main love interest becomes more likeable. The romance it self is well paced and develops naturally. There are no moments were it feels like there relationship is being forced forward by the author but instead they get to know each other better as they are involved in the events of the manga.

The way the friendship of the main group develops is good. They start off as perfect strangers and they slowly develop a bond. Initially there relationship all revolves around Megumi but after hanging out so much, the male cast develops a relationship between each other. It's a very realistic depiction as ultimately they had nothing to do with each other before Megumi arrived at their school and would be somewhat distrustful of each other initially.

There's a surprising amount of action. Really, it gets seriously intense. It made what could have been a fairly rote romance into a something a little more unique. There are some real stakes to these fights too. I wouldn't say I consider this an action manga but I actually wish that the fighting was toned down a little to focus more on the romance and characters.

Related to the above but I think that the manga may have gone on a little too long. There was definitely some stuff that could be cut out without hurting the rest of the manga but overall it doesn't overstay it's welcome.

Characters: 7/10
Initially the characters seem quite simple but the manga reveals that they each have hidden depths over time. I won't say they're amazingly complex or unique but they're memorable.

Megumi, the main character, gets the bulk of the character development and has a fun personality. Due to the whole genderbending thing, her arc is more complex than the other characters. I would say she's the best character in the cast. However she does have that typical violent reaction to everything syndrome that afflicts female love interests in manga. I wouldn't say she's a tsundere exactly, she's pretty friendly but it can be irritating.

The other members of the main cast can be pretty squarely fit into boxes: Genzo the punk, Hitomonji the knight (well, samurai - they are Japanese after all), Ichiro the normal guy, Miki the princess, Yasuda… we'll get to him. That's not to say they're boring or repetitive, they well written and each have their role within the main friend group. It creates a fun dynamic that makes for an enjoyable read.

Genzo starts off as the archetypal “bad boy” archetype but he quickly mellows out and becomes more likeable. I think he grows the most after Megumi and he is one of my second favourite characters.

Hitomonji is the least realistic character, I think it's unlikely that a teenager would actually behave like he does. However, that's not to say he's badly written, I think he's one of the stand outs in the male cast.

Ichiro leans more into cliches, he's the “average guy discovers his inner strength” type of character but I think his arc is well paced and he never changes more than is believable.

Miki is Megumi's foil and is a major character but I don't think she really does much by herself. I would have liked to learn more about her, as it is she's one of the least developed characters.

There is actually a recurring antagonist but he feels a little half baked. He has a believable motive but his actions seem wildly inappropriate to actually achieving his aims. He feels more like an excuse to raise the stakes rather than a character in his own right. His actions are nonsensicle and he's a black mark on an otherwise well written cast. However, the story arcs he initiates are enjoyable and bring out the best in the rest of the cast, even the minor characters so I wouldn't say he brings the manga down too much. The few other one-off villains aren't really worth talking about, they were fine, nothing too memorable but not bad.

The only character that stands out as particularly bad is Yasuda, he is the worst sort of character: the designated pervert. Yes he has his moments but pretty much everything he does in the manga can be boiled down to “look I'm a pervert, isn't this funny?”. It is not, it never is and it's really annoying. Genzo has this trait to a lesser extent but makes up for it with the rest of his character. Yasuda grows the least out of the cast. He's not really that important to the rest of the manga and he only gets two actual cool moments, both in the last arc of the manga but they don't really feel earned considering how he's depicted the rest of the time. It's like the author decided on his one joke and nearly forgot to give him character development so just rushed it at the end. At least he's easy to ignore as he's usually in the background and sometimes his antics were funny. He's irritating but at least tolerable.

There are a few other recurring characters but they have little screen time and aren't as important. I do like some of them though.

Art
The art is a real highlight. The artist combines expressive and attractive shoujo character designs with cool shounen-esque battle scenes. The manga manages cute and cool when it wants too, sometimes both at the same time.

Overall: 7/10
Cheeky Angel is a unique romance manga combining copious action with sweet romance and some comedy topped off with a strong cast to round it out. A thoroughly enjoyable manga. I liked most of the characters and the romance aspect is well done but it makes a few fumbles. Overall, it's not a masterpiece but it is certainly worth a read.

Recommended for: romance fans who want some spice