Manga Review: Enchanter, Vols. 5-8

Enchanter, Vols. 5-8

By Izumi Kawachi
Published by DMP
Rated: YA (For Young Adults 16+)

On the one hand, Enchanter features a sensitive male character, Haruhiko, who spends a lot of time dwelling on his romantic feelings. He believes there’s one true love for him, which causes much frustration as he’s constantly surrounded by shapely beauties and sexual come-ons.

Yet Enchanter isn’t as tacky as it sounds, mainly because the sexual elements are done for laughs. Indeed, this series is gratuitous to the point where it borders on parody; if I had a quarter for every flash of underwear by Eukanaria – a voluptuous demon and the lead female character – all four volumes I read would have paid for themselves. But I will admit that by the time I was finished, I found I had developed a genuine affection for Enchanter, which had nothing to do with cheap titillation as much as the interesting relationships between characters.

Haruhiko is both a high school student as well as an “enchanter,” a crafter of magical weapons used by demons. In the world of the series, demons constantly contract with humans presumed to have enchanting potential, exchanging them mystical power for their services. These close bonds frequently lead to the two parties becoming lovers, as was the case with Eukanaria and a human named Fulcanelli.

Unfortunately, Fulcanelli met with an untimely demise, leaving Eukanaria searching for a new host for his soul. Haruhiko seems like the perfect vessel, but the rules of soul-transfer require him to have sex with someone first, so Eukanaria is constantly trying to help him win over Yuka, his crush and slightly-older teacher. He claims to only have eyes for her, despite comely demons and fellow enchanters repeatedly piquing his interest. Further complicating the picture is some tension between him and Eukanaria, who bears more than a passing resemblance to Yuka, as does he to Fulcanelli (The personalities between doppelgangers are totally different, of course; otherwise there’d be no obstacle keeping Haruhiko and Eukanaria from simply ending up with each other).

Basically, Enchanter takes high school soap opera clichés – Boy A likes Girl B; Girl C likes Boy A; Boy A takes part in a craft fair to impress Girl B; etc. – and splices them with magic and occasional monster-fighting. Those looking for non-stop action may be disappointed, but the slapstick humor does get kinetic at times. The series actually works better as comedy, since Haruhiko’s raging hormones, romantic uncertainty, and seemingly-relentless fantasy life about Yuka help keep the tone light.

But what makes Enchanter especially interesting is the use of the demon/enchanter contract to reflect the entire spectrum of interpersonal relationships. There’s a demon and enchanter who both have trouble expressing how much they really care about each other; a character who contracts with a demon to try and make Haruhiko jealous (which only results in her constantly berating the demon, who acts thoroughly morose in response); and a diametrically-opposed demon and enchanter couple whose incompatibility literally causes them to bump heads. However, like any storyteller skilled with metaphor, writer/artist Izumi Kawachi knows how to effectively disguise the subtext so casual readers are only seeing cool fight scenes.

I also liked how Eukanaria, who could have been depicted as a mere sexpot, is quite possibly the most complicated character in the series. True, she’s frequently crass, but shows a surprisingly vulnerable side in volumes five through eight, in which we also learn how different her relationship with Haruhiko is from hers with Fulcanelli. Some readers will be impressed by the different sides Eukanaria shows. Others won’t be able to turn their eyes away from the gratuitous panty flash, and that’s probably okay, too.

Volumes five through eight of Enchanter are available now.