Manga Review: Shinryaku Ika Musume

Title: Shinryaku Ika Musume
Author: Anbe Masahiro
Release: Weekly
Status: Ongoing
Genre: Slice of Life, Comedy
Art: B
Originality: B
Story: C
Characters: B
Humor: B
Action: C

Impression: This is about a invader from the seas who has come up to the surface where the land dwellers carry on with their daily activities unaware of the oncoming threat that takes the form of a sentient and mighty tentacled being with every intention to crush human civilization firsthand. However, this threat has to work and pay off a debt she incurs in the very first hour of her arrival and her reckless, airheaded personality doesn’t really help with that. That was a pretty fun synopsis to write but I do have to say that the actual series itself is just about average for a slice of life series. The best point of this series is obviously the main character herself, an adorable anthropomorphic moe squid girl with a tomboyish personality and just enough knowledge to make her a squid out of water, both literally and metaphorically. Seriously, this is a fun series to write about and I’m not even recommending this one. As for the major downside of this story, I have to say that it progresses at a snail’s pace when it comes to in universe time and the setting is mostly limited to the beach and the not so interesting side characters. The 1st volume failed to strike any chords with me except for maybe the incredible potential Ika-Musume has as a mascot.