No matter how bad it is, people love to make assumptions about everything. Despite not knowing anything about it, people will say stuff like "it is bad" or "it is good". Reviewers need to try to keep these assumptions at a minimum, no matter how difficult it is. I made assumptions about Lucifer and The Biscuit Hammer, and was dead wrong.
Lucifer and The Biscuit Hammer (Hoshi no Samidare in the original Japanese) is a fantasy manga series serialized between 2005 and 2010. It is written and illustrated by Satoshi Mizukami.
Amamiya Yuuhi used to be a disconnected college student, however this changed when the Lizard Knight Noi Crezant, literally a lizard, appeared in front of him during a normal morning. He urges the young adult to find the Princess Samidare as she is the only person able to stop the Biscuit Hammer, a literal hammer that is positioned to creack Earth open. When Yuuhi finds the Princess Samidare Asahina, Noi Crezant is shocked to discover she is not as noble as he had hoped. The pair starts to work together to fight The Mage and stop his Biscuit Hammer, while still working on their own plan.
At first glance, Lucifer and The Biscuit Hammer seems to have a fairly traditional save-the-world storyline, that even was the assumption I made before starting to read it. But, as it goes on, it evolves and becomes much more than that. It is first few chapters are on the slow side and don't make any hugely excitable decisions, but, after this bad beginning, a lot of small twists are introduced, which keeps things surprisingly fresh.
In the last stretch of the story, it is revealed that there is an anime of time-travel/alternate dimensions to it. But it doesn't feel like an asspull because a lot of hints are dropped since the first chapter.
But the main draw of Lucifer and The Biscuit Hammer, without a doubt, is its characters and their development. There are a lot of them, close to fifteen important characters, but they all receive the care they deserve and have to deal with their own problems.
It is very hard to point a stand out in this aspect, as everyone is incredible. Much more developed than the characters of longer-running manga, all of these character have their own personal arc, a quirky personality and a sense of being.
However, the one I personally sympathised the most was Yuuhi. He is originally a person full of hate and very disconnected from the rest of the world, as a result of the way his grandfather raised him. Through the people he meets and the situations he has to overcome, he changes. He becomes happier, more sociable and an even a bit light-hearted. This is not an exactly new character arc, but the magic here comes from the way it was told.
The art is much more simplistic, however. With hints of childishness and a bit of originality, while not having much in terms of details, the visual style of Lucifer and The Biscuit Hammer is instantly recognizable. The character designs are, likewise, neither flashy nor incredibly detailed, but create a real sense of personality to each of the characters.
All of the small twists in the manga made me continue reading after the unassuming beginning, but what truly made me enjoy this story were the characters and their interactions, which were completely brilliant.
I would recommend Lucifer and The Biscuit Hammer to anyone who hates the lack of originality in action manga or to someone looking for great characters.
