STORY
The premise is actually pretty simple (and kind of cliched IMO) : an orphaned, extremely poor yet smart and ambitious guy, Fuji Yoshitoo, met an Oniwaban/undercover agent, Shibuya Sabimaru--who claimed that he is a bodyguard sent by Yoshitoo's father to protect him. Turns out Yoshitoo's the sole heir of one of the most influential business group in Japan, the Inukai family. Thus, many assassins are out to take Yoshitoo's life, for they all don't want to let the fortune of Inukai family goes to the hand of an illegal son that is none other than Yoshitoo.
I don't expect a dark, action-filled manga when I bought this book--and it's exactly that: less on the angst/tragedy part, and more of a comedic, light-hearted slice of life. Yoshitoo's constant annoyance towards Sabimaru's...overly loyal/wanko-ish personality, the inabilty of Watanuki Takarou to kill Yoshitoo because one thing and another, Sabimaru and Taka's banter regarding Yoshitoo...
ART
...of course, this also has its own portion of angst-drama, and SHII Haruka-sensei is really very good at drawing those emotions. My heart breaks every time I see Sabimaru crying, but even more so when Yoshitoo is. NGL, I even cried several times because...those expressions man, those expressions, even the expressionless one's dejected face feels like a stab to the heart. Everything was drawn really well, both boys and girls, even the backgrounds. Panelling feels nice and easy to read as well. Of course, during the comedic moments, the way sensei drew those rageface.jpg of Yoshitoo and bulliedwanko.jpg of Sabimaru expressions is simply priceless. And don't forget that dreamy fanboy face that Takarou had everytime Yoshitoo's being kind to him.
CHARACTERS
There's no one I dislike, even though Yoshitoo and Aoi--Yoshitoo's half-sister--both were pretty annoying at first, they both slowly grew out of their own selfishness and gradually became a more tolerable (and admirable) characters. In my opinion, there's no one that feels like unimportant (Ok, maybe Yoshitoo's generic classmates). Aoi's Oniwaban Shiroko, Takarou's Oniwaban Mozu, the Landlord of the run-down apartment in which Yoshitoo cs live, the chief of the Oniwaban village, even the now-enemy Kurohiko who used to be Sabimaru's mentor... Everyone has their own unique characters which I can't bring myself to actually dislike anyone.
Probably one thing I like the most is the relationship between the characters, particularly Yoshitoo and Sabimaru's. I'm extremely curious about what happened in their past together. Aoi and Shiroko's master-servant banter is almost like Yoshitoo-Sabimaru's, but I can somehow really feel for the way Shiroko relates herself to Aoi, as the two of them had the same kind of...complexity. Takarou and Mozu's tiny bit of flashback is quite nice, though I wish it could be longer. We also can't forget the fanboy feeling Takarou has for Yoshitoo, Sabimaru's childhood friends, Kiji and Hachi who showed that they care for him (in the weird way), Landlord's kindness, etc. Can I just say I really love everyone in this manga.
...I will also say here that my favorite character is Sabimaru.
CONCLUSION
If you are a fan of comedic slice of life with a bit action, and don't mind getting your heart ripped by feelings and cutecutecuteccute bromance, then I strongly recommend you to read this! It's such a great manga, too bad no one's scanlating this...you're missing out so many kokoroclutch.jpg moments. And a wanko.
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