Destiny Lovers is an extremely good ecchi manga that actually uses its ecchi in an enjoyable manner, and cares so much about its story. Opening up with the main character in a prison cell surrounded by five other males, they all seem to be suffering with some sort of short-term memory loss. None of them know why they might be there, until they find out that they all have one thing in common. Their Purity. Furthermore, a group of 5 women are trying to rob them of it. It’s the kind of opening that is a red flag, yet the story pulls off the plot in a manner of extremism, creating ridiculous scenarios, hilarious circumstances, and some actually good and real characters in the process. It’s a series that works due to the irony, and extremism, almost not taking itself seriously, yet still builds up an actual mystery that works and happens in the background.
What drives the story is the question why the characters are in a facility, combined with the malicious intent of the girls, and a chance to escape to outside world. Hints have been dropped why they are in such situations, but nothing big enough, and the story perfectly balances action and thinking times. Each “episode” is followed by “theory time”, as the characters bring up small details and hints that they discovered. Subplots are developed, and while the story acts like prison school in its tendencies, care and attention are deliberately placed outside of the ecchi, creating a compelling story to go along with it. The ecchi scenes are also really well done, as they are creative, develop the characters for future scenes, and reveal information that we learn in “theory time.” Furthermore, the length of the first arc is perfect, just long enough to develop and establish the whole circumstances and mystery while staying fresh and never having a repetitive section. The first arc is exactly 50 chapters, each roughly 12-15 pages long (compared to the weekly 20-22 pages long), and ends on a low high note. However good things never last.
I rated Destiny Lovers a 9 at first, but the last arc was so bad, that it dragged the manga completely down. While I recommend the first half, the second half should be ignored.
First, the second arc is bad at the core, not to mention the external factors. As I previously mentioned, what made the first half so good was that the story was necessary, to the point, and used a tale of extremism so as not to ruin and ruin the immersion of its borderline dumb and ecchi story. However, the second arc has literally no reason to exist, a massive flaw that bites it in the back. While the first arc at first could be argued the same way, it used a subplot, mystery, and stakes to divert that train of thought, and focus on other parts of the storytelling. However, the second arc has none of that, with a start that starts as mediocre as the beginning but never uses anything to actually bring retention. The mystery and intrigue that the story contained disappear when no mystery is present anymore, exposition dumps by their “captors” telling them all they need to know. The story also ruins the ecchi by making ecchi moments between the people mandatory to survival, creating ecchi and not so kind scenes, adding the unattractive older male tag with one who acts, looks, and works in that manner. Combine this with a completely new cast of characters that the author never explores(except for the unattractive older male) and the story falls into pain that contains only few decent moments, and a plethora of bad scenes.
Finally, the ending has much to be said or rather ranted upon. Pulling every Dues Ex Machina that was possible only in the extremist half and then taking it seriously, hurts the storytelling and finale as a whole. Furthermore, it pulls the offscreen solution card, fine in other cases, but not in the situation that the story ends. Not with the number of plot threads that the second arc opened up and never explored nor mentioned when after they were used as cheap plot devices.
Overall I would rate it a 4. The first 4 volumes were absolutely stunning and amazing, a hard ecchi series with care and detail put in its plot and characters. I do recommend reading the first half, as it is a solid 9. However, the second half not only ruins what makes the first half so good, but takes place in a completely different environment creating both a completely different style of story, and completely destroys the world and characters that the first arc made. Its almost infuriating, and I would recommend just reading spoilers, or a synopsis of what happens in the second arc, rather than actually reading it. Its that bad getting a rating of 4/10 from me.
