Steel Angel Kurumi

(ADV Manga, 2004)
™ and © 2004 Kaishaku

This entry in the manga genre I like to call “King Jerk and his Harem” presents such odd and demeaning concepts with such a straight face I’d like to believe it’s intended as a intentional parody, but Steel Angel Kurumi isn’t even primarily aiming at comedy.

Its central plot is a fairly serious fight between good and evil stunningly proportioned female automatons, but mostly “the girls” are there to fuss and fight over their obviously neutered “masters.” It’s true that dressing a super-powered female in a frilly abbreviated maid’s outfit is no more silly than having their American counterparts wear low-cut Spandex, but it certainly is demeaning to make them take part-time jobs waiting tables.

The art is stunning and never fails to provide its core audience the gratuitous panty shots it craves, but it forces the viewer to ask, in all seriousness: Are the majority of Japanese boys so terrified of girls they dream about what amounts to anatomically correct household appliances?

— S.A. Bennett

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