Koi wa Hito no Hoka

Koi wa Hito no Hoka is about a girl named Sayo who doesn't remember that as a young child she'd made a contract with a demon.

Honestly, I'm surprised this one isn't rated more highly. There's a ton of shoujo manga with the exact same beginning premise, and the vast majority of them are very shallow wish fulfillment. This one, however, stood out to me for several reasons 1. Despite the premise, this one was clearly not about setting up wish fulfilling titillating scenes of the demon seducing the girl by dominating her, which is the norm. 2. The focus was instead on the plot, which is pretty straight forward, but serviceable. 3. Sayo is an actual badass protagonist. Though because it's shoujo, of course she's inevitably the one being saved some of the time, she's also doing quite a bit of the fighting herself rather standing on the sidelines as one woman cheering section, which is also the norm. The author did a good job of never making her depend on Yoh so much that she becomes powerless, which is also common.

I suppose if you came looking for another one of those girl makes a contract with a demon wish fulfillment manga you may be disappointed though. And of course don't read it you're rather bothered by the idea of a girl being forced into a relationship, because that kind of thing is unavoidable with this trope. I think maybe it also could have benefitted from being longer, with more details, and more fun character interactions, but in summary, I'd call this one unexpectedly solid.

Oh, I suppose one other thing I should note is that this manga is quite fixated on the idea of demons eating humans, humans eating demons, and so forth. This will make more sense if you know that in Japanese one way to talk about sleeping with someone is to literally say you eat them. Although the demons literally mean eating, the reader is also probably supposed to have the more sensual interpretation in mind, especially when applied to Sayo and Yoh.

Considering that the only review concerning this manga seems to have been written for the wrong one, I wanted to re-establish a little fairness here in favour of this manga.

First, concerning the story: Sayo made a promise with some kind of spirit-monster, and ends up being able to summon him. But it turns out that he only wants to eat her in order to get stronger, and that's where the story begins, before it becomes a real adventure.

Next, for the characters: Sayo is quite a nice character, she is very devoted to her brother and will do all she can to save him. Our male protagonist is quite nice too, and his attitude towards Sayo evolves very nicely during the story.

The art isn't incredibly special, and I would rather give this manga a 6.5 than a 7. It's not extraordinary, but it's not bad; I would recommend it of you have a little time to spare for a short story.

Koi wa Hito no Hoka Manga Review
By: Minami Maki
Dated: December 28, 2019

Plot:

Is there a world we cannot see? Creatures living the same place as us, breathing the same air and seeing the same things. They, who we don't know suck on human lives in order for theirs to get longer. Living in a world like that is girl named Sayo who only have her eyes on his sick younger brother. After meeting the demon whom she exchanged promise to in her younger days, the peaceful life she thought they have will turn into a mess. The secrets of the past will be open, and the world invisible to the eye will be seen.

Characters:

Girls with principle and strong character is rare in any story. And that's what makes it one of those stories that I like. Her will to get powerful for her brother and her courage to fight even if she's in a pinch is just admirable. Added that she looks like Hikari of Special A. The most interesting character is the villain who is really unexpected.

Art:

I love how the arts were made on this manga. It was rough and not that polish, its background most of the times are only in plain view, but that is what makes it great. The way the mangaka turn his art into something soft and rough is cool. And what's make it also great is how the eyes of each character displayed the emotions, with exaggeration if needed, so that the scenarios make it more fun to read.

Enjoyment:

It would really be a great story if only it was longer. The origin of the villain, the twist of the story, the love story that has that potential to grow, has been limited since it ended right away. I do love how the story goes, and it makes me want to ask for more.

Ending:

Like most of the stories, the endings are where secrets are being revealed and in this case, it is not an exemption. However, there are those questions that will leave you hanging. Though its not really that important on the story. Or maybe, it's alright that it was left unanswered. But yeah, it will still be more awesome if this manga is long so that every case will be tackled and there are more thrilling adventures that can be read.

Moderator Note: This review was originally written for Haru no Ame, but has since been merged into Koi wa Hito no Hoka.

I gave this manga a 3 because the art is nice, but seriously... is there even a story here?

Yuina doesn´t know why her boyfriend has started avoiding her since the very moment they started dating. The story basically consists of revealing the reason for his behavior. The reason, however, is not only absurd, but also lacking in originality.

Needless to say, there is no character development. I didn't expect it either. Short one-shots work differently. They obviously don't give space to get deep into the characters psycology. They only allow us to get a glips. That´s risky. If there is no overwhelming or charming feature in any of the characters, if there is nothing special about the plot or the art, there is a great risk that the manga will end up being absolutely forgettable.

I don't think the author expected this manga to be unforgettable, though. I guess the aim of the manga was to depict a funny scene. I didn't find it funny. Doesn´t mean others won´t.

In any case, the manga is only 9 pages long, so -if you want to read it- even if you agree that it is bad, at least you will not waste too much time reading it.