I'm 27 when I write this, and I'm a seinen kind of guy — I've read a bunch of classic shounen titles, but they didn't really deliver, and claims of their depth issued by adolescent aficionados only make me smile. That said, I've found Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer to be an immensely enjoyable read camouflaged as shounen, but screwing up the genre conventions to great results. The series has all the required clichés — a magical treat to the world, a bunch of chosen ones, a Bildungsroman-type pair of leads, even a magical princess — but it treats those clichés in such a delightfully oddball way I'm still amazed (and delighted) they serialized it at all. It's a bit like Ciguatera's take on 'everyday school life' or Dangu's approach to the old and beaten revenge theme - i.e. the author picking a stale, formalized genre and showing how it would _really_ have worked.
Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer is not actually realistic, but it's got delightful imagery (starting with the Biscuit Hammer thing), a lot of psychological depth, willingness to take on serious issues without all this beating around the bush that's so irritating in teen manga (people actually die in this series), and, most importantly, a great deal of irony — a lot of popular titles are well-known for their self-centered angst and bloated self-importance, but this one provides a wonderfully fresh respite from all of that. I'm not sure whether Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer would be enjoyable for shounen fans, as it messes with the genre rules rather than simply packing the chapters with magical battles (the pacing and mood are pretty relaxed, almost slice-of-life here), but if you're into seinen, you probably don't want miss out this one, cause it's basically a shounen series tailored for seinen taste.

... Last updated on March 20th, 2010, 11:24pm

You wouldn't believe that at first as I surely did not after several chapters. Yet when I kept at it 1-2 volumes, things flowed really naturally and just got better and better.
It's fun yet deep enough to attract seinen readers...enough said.

... Last updated on March 9th, 2010, 5:53pm

and i mean, from the get-go. i don't usually find myself laughing in the first couple panels of a story, and now i wonder if all seinen are so good. this is my first. but if the rest are so witty, it certainly won't be my last.

hurrah for action with lively, intelligent dialogue, intriguing characters and rapidly improving art! it should be an anime!

... Last updated on October 24th, 2009, 6:20pm

This a good example of an underrated manga, It as a very good history(at times epic) an art that match the history and characters,and a good storytelling, but even with this people dont whant to give it a chance and read it, maybe bacause it is a Seinen and not an shounen manga packed with lots of unreal fights and ecchi shots every page.
If you are tired of all of those shounen stuff, if you want to read a manga where the history is the important thing, and where characters feel like human beinggs and not like pieces of cardboard
this your option, a manga where you will laught, enjoy,think and even cry, wondering what will happen next to characters that will grown on you.
Come on and give it a chance, Im sure you will be not dissapointed.

... Last updated on April 7th, 2009, 4:35pm

There's a lot more to this manga than you might think at first. The premise may seem unoriginal, the characters may seem generic, unrefined or even sloppy. But I thoroughly recommend you to read through the first 3 volumes at the very least, before you form any kind of opinion, since they are more or less introductory, and the real story starts from thereon.

My opinion is definitely biased, I'm a big fan of Mizukami Satoshi's works, but I'm sure that everyone will find something in this manga that they like, since it has so much, great comedic parts, great drama, character growth, perfectly well executed interaction between characters and compelling storyline.

This manga boasts a cast of more than a dozen characters and each of them is living their own life, each of them has their own motives and reasons to fight or not to fight, and it never feels that some of them are redundant, and that the story would be better without them.

If I were to sum up what this manga is about in one sentence, that'd be



It's repeated many times throughout the story, and I believe it's the real leitmotif in this work, and I personally believe that the author provides enough evidence to prove that it really is so. You're the judge, and you make the decision.

... Last updated on April 16th, 2009, 8:09am

I'd most certainly say this is not a normal manga. The whole premise is both ridiculious and amazing at the same time. Samidare's first (second, for those of you that caught it) appearance was simply amazing. Also, the characters are neat. Seriously, I need more of this.

i'm not in the mood to go into detail about whats so geat about this manga, but anyone looking for something different, anyone tired of the same ol' "hey i'm the goofy hero, i'm here to save the day!" or that tired ol "i wont let you hurt my freinds!" bullshit, then pick this manga up now, because you definitely wont find it in here

it's very funny and very interesting and has a very new feel to it, and i think i love it...

If nothing else, Hoshi no Samidare is certainly original. Reading it is akin to a breath of fresh air- the premise is goofy and fun, but has a bit of serious edge with its character development. It's well-planned, and although the art isn't much of anything to talk about, it doesn't detract from the story. I've gotten a few good laughs out of this one, it's definitely worth the read.

it is one of best ive read completly off track from a normal manga or what you would call a normal manga cough* naruto cough*. It has the FLCL feel to it all over the place. Deffenet pick up

Nonstop awesome right from the start. HnS reminds me a lot of the FLCL anime, in terms of letting go of the status-quo and just telling an awesome story for the sake of telling an awesome story. Although this isn't as insanely strange as FLCL.

I'm really enjoying the storytelling and artwork. The character artwork looks a little odd at some times, but it seems like it's more deliberate than lack of artistic talent. It goes well with the slightly odd plot, without really being too distracting.

This strikes me as either a very well thought out story, or a brilliant storyteller (or I guess it could be both). Regardless, this is an incredibly enjoyable read that I could highly recommend to practically anyone.

Also, I'm not sure what the "ecchi" in the genre is for. All I've seen so far is some panties, and it wasn't even really presented in a sexual manner, rather as part of a joke, which strikes me more as innocent fun, rather than the boner-popping, borderline porn found in lots of other "ecchi" titles.

Anyways, go read this now! And enjoy the awesome!

... Last updated on February 24th, 2009, 9:20pm