Himoto Sora is a transfer student with a sense of justice and dreams of becoming a knight. Upon arriving at Utopia Gakuen, she learns of a virtual reality-like game played by the male students in which they use girls as weapons in battles for status and treat them as commodities. Seeing one of these girls being abused she steps in and through some sort of error unwittingly becomes the first female participant of the game.
Republished in 2017 in a 3 volume omnibus
- Shitsurakuen - Hangyaku no Otome no Shou
- Shitsurakuen - Shinai no Otome no Shou
- Shitsurakuen - Rakuen no Otome no Shou
6 Volumes (Complete)
3 Volumes (Omnibus)
I was actually kind of interested in the setting this manga provided. It was a somewhat unusual take on fairy tales involving princesses.
However, as it goes on, the manga becomes more and more confusing. The plot lines get convoluted and start contradicting the main premise of the story. And eventually it all results in a confusing finale.
The girls are literally abused throughout the manga and then by the end the story tries to explain why that was somehow needed?
And what's worse, the guys who abuse all the girls are then somehow forgiven for everything they did for no reason (or at least the reasons they give are pretty shallow).
I just don't understand how this manga managed to shoot itself in the foot all the way up to the end.
Maybe I'm the dumb one. Maybe there was some important symbolism that I missed along the way, but even though I binged the entire thing from start to finish I can not for the life of me understand how everything got to the end the way it did. It's THAT confusing.
Seriously, this is probably not worth your time.
... Last updated 8 years ago
Now, I was actually really excited about this one. It seemed incredibly interesting. And I still thing the premise is pretty good, and it could've worked. But it falls apart immediately. It makes no sense. It's confusing as hell, especially since the art does very little to show what's going on in the action scenes. Regardless of that, some parts of it were not terrible; some were even enjoyable to read. But all the torture and rape and stuff is awful, and it really makes it less enjoyable. If they had just stopped publishing it after, let's say, 20 chapters, it would've been fine. I might have given it 5/10. But the ending. Oh god, the ending. It's the worst thing I've ever read. Like much of the rest of the story, it makes little to no sense. But this takes the cake. It is so confusing. I still have no idea what the hell was going on, even after going back and reading the last few chapters again (which believe me, I didn't want to do). First, why did everybody have to end up with guys? I mean, whatever, if that's your thing, fine, but it's incredibly insulting to call something Shoujo-ai and literally not do anything with that until the end, and even then only with two characters. If I wanted to read about a bunch of heterosexual stuff with one lesbian pair, I'd read Sailor Moon. It actually has a plot that for the most part makes sense. But that's not even my biggest problem with the ending. My problem is actually with the lesbian couple itself. Why the hell was it the childhood friend? That's so overdone. Literally any of the others would have been way better. I legitimately might have enjoyed it more if they all ended up in straight relationships. But the childhood friend girl (forget her name, not going to bother looking it up because I don't want to ever be exposed to this series again in any way) is the worst character in this. Don't get me wrong, I hate all the guys as well. But the childhood friend is boring. There's nothing interesting about her in the slightest. None of the characters are compelling, obviously, because this series isn't nearly good enough to do that, but at least there was something to like about the others. There was never a moment after the initial introduction that I didn't hate her. So of course they decided to make her the girlfriend of the main character. Like in countless poorly written fanfiction. So yeah, I would not read it. There's not nearly enough good in the rest to make up for that ridiculous ending.
There's no two ways around it, this manga has a terrible ending. I went from being totally into the story to almost breaking my tablet in anger. I just have no idea what the hell the author was thinking and it kind of makes me want to punch him in the throat. Yes I know that this isn't exactly a well written and objective point of view or anything but this ending just makes me upset. Way to piss away any good feelings I may have had.
Ok to be fair I think this has a decent setup for a manga, even if there was some logical hiccups plot-wise pretty much from the first chapter. Some of the action scenes are alright as well, and I honestly liked our main character and her harem of ladies for the most part. But ultimately, where this series drops the ball is story. I have read this manga twice, mostly just to figure out what the heck is going on in the end. I still kinda don't know. Even if this story didn't make me mad enough to hit things it just sorta gives up on making sense in the last few chapters.
I just hate this manga, and I suspect that it may have been made specifically to make me angry. Like me personally. I do not recommend. Or I dunno you might like it. Whatever.
Just remember, you can rape and beat as many women as you want as long as you feel really, REALLY bad about it.
... Last updated 9 years ago
Honestly this manga was good up until the last 3 chapters, then it turned to a horrid confusing mess, not to mention the ending. It was not worth the read when everyone are completely stupid.
... Last updated 9 years ago
The story was great - strong female lead wanting to abolish the chauvanistic male system...and then finding out that it's not only one gender that suffers from this but all of humanity.
But...
WTF did she have to ended up with that crazy beeswax of a childhood friend?! WHYYY IT"S ALL RUINED ANY OTHER GIRL WOULD HAVE BEEN PERFECT WHYYYYY
And what's up with all the other pairings being hetero at the end except for the main couple? Will having one more gay couple mess up the system or what?
... Last updated 9 years ago
The beginning was very good and it has lots of potential, but it end up being very confusing at the end. The art is very good, very pleasant to the eye. The characters (the main character and her companions, that is) are likable, although some characters have low self esteem and can be irritating sometime, but that can be forgiven due to the experience they went through. The story is somewhat cheesy. It's one of those story where the bad guys turn out to be good, or there's always some goodness in the bad guys. It also doesn't explain the story clearly, such as what the symbol's for and how did the main character defeat the system.
Overall, it's an enjoyable read.
I enjoyed the series, thought that it was an interesting premise and even found the protagonist growing on me. Although she is ditzy, her moments of being very knightly do redeem her.
However, I found it all a bit rushed. There were lots of truly beautiful moments and you were skillfully manipulated along the same path and feelings of the protagonist- it really involved you.
However, the pairing at the end seemed abrupt, the romance underdeveloped and the story seemed wrapped up too easily.
It would have been nice to have had a little more to explore it all a bit deeper.
This series is good, I mean it.
The plot came from a simple beginning, and move on to more depth with all the characters having their own 'reasons' to do that. And then tie all the problems into single conclusion, which told us the truth.
Actually, shame for me, I've already set my mind as I read the first chapter and think that this series will have the same ending as Revolutionary Girl Utena, which the main char end up with the girl. But as I continue to read it (before the true end), I change my 'mindset' with "maybe the main char will end up with the Devil King", and got shocked, because she 'may' end up with red haired guy.
But as I haven't recovered, the true end comes up with, "she end up with her childhood friend".
I'm not offending such a yuri genre, in fact I like series like Kanaduki no Miiko or Mariasama ga Miteru, but deep in my heart I want the main character to end up with the Devil King or the Red Haired Guy.....
Hahaha so that's all in my mind after reading this series until the last chapter.
was expecting this to be a good series, don't care about it being the same as utena or not as long as it can bring out the 'interesting' thing in this kind of plot, but after reading it through the end, well even before reading the last volume I had already lost a bit interest of it since it looked like a half-ass story to me.
Worst thing is the last volume which conclude any interest left in me (although Tsuki is cute) seeing everyone mainly the boys were actually a good person just like how the saying of "blame the system not the person" works.....
Honestly, up to chapter 7 I was like "huh, I hate all those guys but what I find the most stupid is the thing as a hole". Then, after reading three or so more chapters, I was like "Goddammit, just hurry and give me the next chapter!" because it actually started making sense. I've never read something that made me have such a turnover. Maybe it's thanks to the fact that mangas are done chapter by chapter, but anyway, it got good as hell. I could even appreciate the first chapters knowing what would happen later on. The last two chapters were what a lot of last chapters aren't : Good. A good ending for a not-so-good start. Seeing as most endings for manga or anime are fucked up, this adds well to me. also, the art is great.