"Because I can only open my heart to people who don't run away if I hurt them." <- This is a good line. I can relate.

I like this artist. Her works can get fairly edgy with harsh words being stated bluntly to others faces and beautiful yet manipulative girls who hurt others so they can develop a closer connection. The drama feels very shoujo-esque (which is very hit or miss with people). Compared to her other drama works, I think this was the easiest to understand from a single read-through. Both characters in this were fairly well portrayed. There's the iconic *cat who has difficulty getting close to others and there's the more normal girl who, though she's not in complete control, is down to earth enough to understand what the *cat wants and not give her everything she wants.

On a side note, its really nice to see artists I've been following since they first started posting fanart go pro. Very inspiring. Besides this, her recent work in Dengeki Daioh was good too.

*slut

last edited at Sep 9, 2017 11:52AM

Love Magic = Curse Magic

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"What do I have that Reimu doesn't have?"
"I decided to use love magic"

From the start Marisa was obsessed with Reimu. Reimu was the bar for which Marisa obsessively yearned to surpass. Unfortunately Reimu paid her no mind. Marisa cast love magic to grab Reimu's attention.

"In your case I don't have to worry, right, Marisa?"

Time passes. Reimu ended up developing feelings for Marisa. This could be due to either Reimu not having to worry about Marisa becoming a something non-human and having to kill her (thus allowing herself to become closer to Marisa) or the love magic Marisa cast.

"Surely, Reimu won't ever love again."
"An unrequited love my whole life."

Marisa's rejection Reimu's feelings of love can be considered a curse in a way. She stole Reimu's love. The toll was, of course, an unrequited love on her own part.

"She won't come to like me, either."
"I don't need even the slightest whimsical affection."
"And someday I will defeat her."

In the end, Reimu is much more conscious of Marisa and the two of them are tied by their emotions toward each other. With Reimu's feelings out of the way there is nothing stopping Marisa on her unbending path to surpassing Reimu.

I decided, that is (very twisted) love.

last edited at Jul 25, 2017 10:00PM

Kinda wish this artist's works were a bit more coherent but I guess you could call that part of her aesthetic. As usual the art is amazing!

For reference this is a prequel to Kayako's RE series (or at least its implied to be by the RE in the title I don't remember anything stating it flat out). So far there are 5 books in the main series and 2 side stories including this and another involving Yuuka. Only RE 1-2 and the two side stories have been scanned and only this has been translated.