Initially I started this series out of morbid curiosity another reviewer on this site made it sound like the author of this series spat in their cereal ate their dog kidnapped their firstborn engaged in this and that with their wife and probably started a generationslong blood feud as a bonus. I went in expecting a total disaster akin to Gal Cleaning or something but instead I ended up with a series thats quickly become an alltime favourite of mine and characters Ive been missing dearly ever since I finished reading it. See the story of Reina is fairly straightforward and for the most part its just a comedy series. But what makes it unique is how seamlessly the author manages to blend comedy and tragedy your mileage may vary when it comes to how much of the jokes will land for you but the series more emotional arcs are where it really shines. We start off with a pretty standard oh no the transfer student is WEIRD premise. Our titular Reina is a dyed blondehaired menace that writes all sorts of slurs and insults on peoples desks devastates school property intimidates men and women alike and so on. As it turns out however shes an exorcist but a very modern one. See theres logic to her crazy antics what else is an exorcism but telling ghosts and evil spirits and such to fuck off? Well she just takes a literal approach to it. Because of this a lot of the series humor relies on showing us situations where Reinas delinquent behavior is witnessed by people not in the know regarding the supernatural. Our second main heroine Kokoro is something of an audience insert at times due to Reinas largerthanlife energy I think it was a great choice to have a sort of chronicler character. Being a model student she decides somebody has to set this delinquent transfer student straight especially after she seemingly becomes one of her targets herself and since her classmates and school faculty are pretty much helpless its up to her to do it on her own. Were even treated to a hilarious scene that comes off as a bit of satire on the incompetence or perhaps formal limits? of various school organs regardless of country the student council does all sorts of virtue signalling about how bullying is bad and somebody should do something about her but ultimately its up to Kokoro alone to do that something. As it turns out the reason Kokoro or as Reina starts calling her following one particularily hilarious side story Bento attracts Reinas attention is because she has an unusual ability something about her attracts all sorts of malicious or plain inconvenient ghosts and spirits. After clearing up the misunderstanding the two end up forming an unlikely alliance and hanging out gradually investigating all manner of supernatural phenomena across the school. In the process were slowly introduced to the rest of our main cast: Riku a friend of Kokoros who comes off like your standard tanned sporty tomboy type but is actually a passionate investigator of the paranormal...and a werewolf Tendou a tough bara dude who shares a body with the spirit of his dead sister Chiichan and Watanabe a teacher with a crippling fear of women stemming from his encounter with Hasshakusama. There are also some really funny side characters like a threeperson group of BLobsessed students who misinterpret any interactions between Tendou and Watanabe as steamy yaoi scenarios and keep assuming Reina must be some sort of bisexual Casanova after witnessing her putting her hand in Rikus underwear and telling Tendou to undress or the schools headmaster who tries to sound like a mentor character from some crappy shounen. 300https://files.catbox.moe/e9ofpd.png 300https://files.catbox.moe/lo6tcn.png For the most part the plot follows our main cast investigating various supernatural phenomena in their hometown often within the confines of their school building. Said phenomena range from short gags like an anatomical model possessed by an exhibitionists soul to surprisingly emotional longer plotlines like a flashback showing us why Reina is so dedicated to exterminating ghosts frankly that arc in particular is quite something. I never wouldve guessed that the same series that has jokes like bara guy wears a frilly dress at night or the main heroine forces a pedophiliac youkai to become her maid and live in a doghouse as punishment would pull off a serious arc tackling the issue of domestic abuse even going into detail about why a victim may not be eager to speak up about whats happening without adding any jokes to it. In fact the inclusion of both this particular more serious arc and a few other less humorous ones never feels forced rather it continues the overarching plot of how evil spirits intersect with our world and why warding them off is vital. 500https://files.catbox.moe/1nwsz7.png On the topic of bara guys in dresses that I briefly alluded to above one running joke in particular may come off as questionable to some especially given we live in an era where dark and/or politically incorrect humor is associated less with the likes of Monty Python or the Eric Andre Show and moreso with social media brainrot cheap shock value made by people who have never held anything dear in their lives and all sorts of grifters. As mentioned Tendous main gimmick is that hes this big buff serious dude but he shares his body with the spirit of his deceased younger sister who died in an unfortunate accident and sometimes she takes over so we get a number of scenes where the gag boils down to teehee big buff dude in a tiny frilly dress and/or acting like a little girl. I understand if it comes off transphobic to some but much to my surprise the way this series uses it is not to ridicule any particular persons identity but quite the opposite in fact. We do get two or three chapters where indeed the joke is just the same as it is with lets say Ladybeardhttps://www.ladybeard.com/ its a big tough guy wearing stereotypically girly clothes the contrast is amusing because its not something we see on a daily basis and it goes against dress norms in countries as attached to their conservative lifestyles as Japan etc. Its not mean to be offensive or show everybody whos like that is creepy and weird its just a visual gag about contrasing the stereotypically masculine wtih the stereotypically feminine. 300https://files.catbox.moe/nhc907.png I dont think I need to explain how if not handled properly a joke like this can come off as incredibly offensive to LGBT people and anybody supporting them I consider myself a strong supporter of LGBT rights so I do have to admit some scenes got me in a bit of a ooops were going there huh... mindset but I was pleasantly surprised to see the author had the maturity needed to handle a joke such as this. Tendou is not shown to be any less of a man by doing this nor is he ridiculed for it. His parents unaware of his little sisters ghost inhabiting his body do give him weird looks and before learning about the situation and getting help from the rest of the cast hes afraid that hes got a sleepwalkingcrossdressing habit of sorts but its ultimately just an intro to a much more interesting subplot initially unaware of this newfound hobby of his being a side effect of a ghostly possession he begs the main heroine to exorcise it. However when it turns out that its his little sister he gains a newfound resolve to help her live out the life she didnt get to experience Reina herself even points out that its no big deal if a harmless female ghost and a male soul coexist in the same biologically male body hell it could even help said female ghost pass on peacefully which probably wasnt an intentional subtext but which Id argue made for a pretty nice metaphor for coming out of the closet and/or exploring ones gender identity. I mean...cmon in a series all about making peace with yourself moving on from your inner troubles and accepting who you are it would be a weird move to suddenly start getting offensive and saying this dudes less of a man for putting on a dress. Arent trans people and crossdressers wacky and weird and stupid lololol?? now wouldnt it? We get a bit of a sequel to this joke and all its potential to create issues with a subplot involving This Man a superpowerwielding human who traps the main cast in a dream world as a side note most of you will probably recognize what is he based on. Its that EVER DREAM OF THIS MAN? image weve seen used in so many pieces of media ranging from serious horror manga to mediocre analog horror projects over the years which I think is a hilarious piece of tribute to one of the unspoken greats of mysterious and eerie media. Long story short his arc kicks off because he sees Watanabesensei crossdressing as part of a school event mistakes him for a woman and traps the main cast in a simulation where Watanabe is his wife and everybodys lives are upsidedown. With the main heroine calling him out on being delusional without thinking too deeply about the joke here we could easily assume the authors going ooh MtF people are delusional or something equally horrid. However if we think about it and take into account the core themes of Reinas more serious and emotional parts this is more of a comment on accepting who you are sensei is scared of women due to childhood trauma. According to a bonus doodle included with one of the volumes dressing up as one was one of the methods that his family attempted to make the unquestionably malicious and perverted Hasshakusama stop haunting him as such we can easily assume becoming a woman would be his nightmare as itd force him to be somebody he doesnt want to be. Thus This Man is shown as a delusional person with a god complex whos keen on forcing others into scenarios that fit his own perverse fantasies without taking their feelings into consideration all derived from his refusal to accept that he could be attracted to a fellow man despite doing so just a few days earlier. Id argue This Man is a caricature of the average person online who likens crossdressers and anybody who doesnt adhere to his narrowminded views of genderappropiate clothing standards to traps whining about how they got tricked into believing they were somebody they arent and lives in constant fear of their and anybody elses masculinity being shattered the moment they admit to being attracted to a person of the same gender as them intentional or not Id argue this comes off as the exact opposite of offensive if anything I found it hilarious as somebody who met wayyyyy too many people like this over the years. https://files.catbox.moe/dxpjg3.png Moving on from the questionable and into the unquestionably positive like I said the best part of Reina aside from most jokes being genuinely funny the main cast having unique and lovable chemistry and some soulcrushing subplots written with the maturity and emotional weight needed for them to work is its monster design. I wouldnt say its anything to write home about its far from amazing monster design Ive seen in works like Bibliomania anything by Shigeru Mizuki Keyman Ayashimon or the average tokusatsu entry have you seen Another Riders in KR ZiO? Or the Magears from KR ZeroOne? They slap but it does have some memorable standout designs that Ive found uniquely charming even if they arent the most creative conceptually. Below you can find some of my favourites I do not want to spoil their respective roles in the story too much but theyre worth showing nonetheless. One of the most surprising inclusions which I loved was the Baku here presented as a gigantic monstrous tapir with a sly smirk and his daughter the latter of whom is a mutual of Reina that she occasionally contacts for help. https://files.catbox.moe/t5cvsl.png Another gag and idea for a ghost that I thoroughly loved and laughed like an idiot over pops up in an arc where the main cast attempts to contact spirits via an Ouja board. First the main heroines are unsure whether ghosts obey their languages laws of phonetics and grammar as somebody who failed my phonetics exam twice during my journey to obtain a licentiate this got a hearty giggle outta me...still does even now that I have a Masters Degree... 300https://files.catbox.moe/hk5r0u.png ...only for the ghost to turn out to be a foreigner that they cant communicate with anyway. 300https://files.catbox.moe/28srag.png Id also like to address a complaint Ive seen floating around I was actually terribly disappointed to see that the series did not in fact feature ridiculous amounts of fanservice considering how charming and attractive several of both the adult male and female character designs in this series were. We do get one beach chapter some peeks as Tendous body and a few jokes with the main cast getting naked here and there off the top of my head I remember we get a peek at the main heroine when she walks out of the shower a few times and corners Bento and Riku does end up naked after her transformation into a werewolf is undone but I wouldnt say theyre reduced to eye candy or sexualized to an uncomfortable degree at any point. Hell we dont even get panty shots in random scenes. If anything Id argue plenty of modern shounen could learn a lesson or two from this series. Oh and the main heroine does a Rider Kick at one point. As a huge fan of Kamen Rider thats a very obvious joke that nonetheless gets a smile out of me every time. https://files.catbox.moe/avk1ej.png Summarizing Reina is most certainly a manga that you have to approach with an open mind plenty of its jokes can be easily misinterpreted if you let somebody else dictate how youre supposed to understand them. However if you again keep an open mind and a good sense of humour what awaits is a truly unique blend of comedy tragedy and ghost stories from all over the world which I think isnt some exceptionally groundbreaking piece of media but made for many enjoyable evenings on my end and left a lasting oh yeah this was a cute series impression on me. Apparently plenty of subplots that the author set up were cut short or scrapped altogether due to his serialization getting cut short due to poor sales however I strongly agree with what he says in the epilogue: given the time and page count constraints given he did a satisfying enough job and its a complete touching and funny story and a mostly relaxing manga worth giving a try if youre looking for something emotional but ultimately lighthearted and hopeful in its message and themes. If nothing else read this manga for this tanned tomboys quest to take ghost pictures. Trust me her subplots one of the best things about this series. 300https://files.catbox.moe/eodii1.png