Just finished the anime after reading the manga. Good translation helps in understanding this. Thank you. I will not go into detail but just capsulized. Haru represents love and the good things that comes with it - happiness, joy, freedom, trust, determination and the sheer power of charisma. But it has also its downside, to which Hanabusa represents - manipulative, selfish and controlling. A queen bee gives life to the colony. A weak queen means the death of a colony. ( can I just leave the details to whoever is interested on this?) Moving on, the students in black class is humanity. Each has a capacity to kill "love" if we give in to our darker side, thus, an assassin. Each has its own reason/s.

The story is pretty stupid for me because I don't know what Haru, the assassins, administrator Yuri, the two professors and as such represents. But when I ironed this out, it redeems the shallowness of the plot by the heaviness of the underlying story (a riddle story on love told by the devil). The devil is the dark, sad, cruel, unfair, abused stories of each assassin. Noteworthy is Chitaru and Hitsugi. They didn't kill Haru but themselves... They didn't kill the love but they didn't also pursue it. So, what's the point of living? The dying only signify that the "old them" must die to give way to a "new them" that pursue and fight for love. Since, the story is heavily-ladened with metaphor, almost all characters represent something.

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I spoiler tagged my interpretation. Others may read the story and doesn't like pre-hand opinion. :)

When you put in that way, their survival makes sense... The "old them" died and the "new them" was born to pursue and fight for love... It makes sense... But... I think the gap between their "death" and the revelation of their survival was so big that I was not able to make that connection (+ my methaforical mind set turned off)

I couldn't watch Akuma no Riddle in the same way I watched, for instance, Yuri Kuma Arashi, where I could make lots of that kind of connections.

When you put in that way, their survival makes sense... The "old them" died and the "new them" was born to pursue and fight for love... It makes sense... But... I think the gap between their "death" and the revelation of their survival was so big that I was not able to make that connection (+ my methaforical mind set turned off)<

Well, the scene between those two were taken from Romeo and Juliet. One theory, actually, on those Shakespearean scenes was the sexual consumnation of their love.

I couldn't watch Akuma no Riddle in the same way I watched, for instance, Yuri Kuma Arashi, where I could make lots of that kind of connections.

The anime and manga filled in each other's lacking. Since the plot has a lot of assassins and one target, a manga would be inadequate to bring these action-packed scenes to the captured clientele. Thus, the anime failed to deliver the beauty of the underlying story of Akuma no Riddle. To which the manga successfully revealed this but failed to hand-in the excitement of the skilled combat between assassins and instinctual will of the target to survive.
For Yurikuma Arashi, I haven't watched nor read it.So, I couldn't make a comparison. :)

Ahhh, I came from the anime, (though its been a while) I happen to notice this had a yuri tag which is strange as Akuma no Riddle didn't seem to have the relationship as the main focus only a gimmick, and thus only used the tag: shoujo ai, (the differences between yuri and shoujo ai being the intensity, in other words where yuri puts the romantic relationship of two or more girls as the main focus or a main focus shoujo ai is anything less then that and doesn't require a romantic relationship only a relationship between two or more girls). So, basically what I'm asking is does this version of the story give more in the Yuri department or does it keep the same as the anime, if it doesn't I must likely won't bother reading it.

EDIT: I feel an obligation to say that the difference between the two (shoujo ai and yuri) might be seen differently by some people, though I believe they are wrong, still think like that a lot, so, if you are like: "but wait they are the exact same thing" or "no, thats not the difference" then I ask you just ignore what you usually think and respond based on what I described the difference as being, I also know I won't change your mind and you won't change my mind (most likely) so lets not get into a pointless debate on the subject please...

last edited at Feb 4, 2018 8:08AM

How can this be shoujo-ai? There aren't any older men sexing pre-teens here.

How can this be shoujo-ai? There aren't any older men sexing pre-teens here.

Excuse me but, thats not even close to what shoujo ai is... I believe what you are thinking of is shounen ai which are two very different things. ^^ One (shoujo ai) is used to describe a relationship between two girls, usually romantic but not having to be. The other (shounen ai) is to describe a relationship between two men, with the same standards.

EDIT: btw, I got the boku no pico joke, funny but sadly not very accurate as that most certainly isn't shoujo ai.

last edited at Feb 4, 2018 10:49AM

How can this be shoujo-ai? There aren't any older men sexing pre-teens here.

Excuse me but, thats not even close to what shoujo ai is... I believe what you are thinking of is shounen ai which are two very different things. ^^ One (shoujo ai) is used to describe a relationship between two girls, usually romantic but not having to be. The other (shounen ai) is to describe a relationship between two men, with the same standards.

EDIT: btw, I got the boku no pico joke, funny but sadly not very accurate as that most certainly isn't shoujo ai.

You've got it entirely wrong. "shoujo-ai" as you use it is an entirely western invention, and not used that way in Japan at all. Over there, it's got a lot more in common with "pedophelia". There's been a lot of discussion about it in these forums, and it's one reason why Dynasty doesn't use it as a tag.

How can this be shoujo-ai? There aren't any older men sexing pre-teens here.

Excuse me but, thats not even close to what shoujo ai is... I believe what you are thinking of is shounen ai which are two very different things. ^^ One (shoujo ai) is used to describe a relationship between two girls, usually romantic but not having to be. The other (shounen ai) is to describe a relationship between two men, with the same standards.

EDIT: btw, I got the boku no pico joke, funny but sadly not very accurate as that most certainly isn't shoujo ai.

You've got it entirely wrong. "shoujo-ai" as you use it is an entirely western invention, and not used that way in Japan at all. Over there, it's got a lot more in common with "pedophelia". There's been a lot of discussion about it in these forums, and it's one reason why Dynasty doesn't use it as a tag.

I see, well if thats the case, then I alter my question. Do you know if the main relationship in this manga goes further than it did in the anime? I really don't care to read it if it's going to be the same thing as in the anime.

The anime and manga filled in each other's lacking. Since the plot has a lot of assassins and one target, a manga would be inadequate to bring these action-packed scenes to the captured clientele. Thus, the anime failed to deliver the beauty of the underlying story of Akuma no Riddle. To which the manga successfully revealed this but failed to hand-in the excitement of the skilled combat between assassins and instinctual will of the target to survive.

I think this is a great point. Without each other as a standalone, both are slightly lacking. I'm a huge fan of both the manga and the anime, but I do acknowledge that each has their faults that the other makes up for.

last edited at Feb 4, 2018 1:12PM

^ Agreed. Some of the differences are just baffling. For instance, the manga introduces that plot point about the secret library book and then completely forgets it. The anime (which, let's face it, has time to kill in Kouko's ep) actually puts that to use. On the other hand, while the manga's Chitaru/Hitsugi plot is abrupt toward the end, at least it makes sense. The anime throws in a nonsensical frame-job by Hitsugi that Chitaru shouldn't have believed for a second. It's nice to have two versions when one is sloppy.

Do you know if the main relationship in this manga goes further than it did in the anime?

It does! Not a whole LOT, but confessions of love happen and there's an extra ending scene. (A couple of the other ships also get a bit more attention: one has a kiss that's not in the anime and another is actually together in the final chapter out of nowhere.)

The Small Riddle of Devil doujins go even further into detail on not only the main couple but the other ones as well. I encourage checking them out after watching the anime and/or reading the manga.

Rereading this lovely manga and it’s as amazing as ever. The world needs more yuri assassin manga. Takechi is my best girl, but I prefer her much more in the anime. More of her sexy sadistic side is shown, along with Haru’s equally sexy scars

I wonder if there will be a spin off series of this in the future when Kouga Yun is done with her other work's.

this is my 2nd time reading the manga and ive watched the anime like 8763427 times and i still dont get why it doesnt have a fukjing comedy tag. the mangas funny as shit and so is the anime

why the author let Jack the Ripper aka Oyota still alive?

Why not ? Not like her death matter in any way. Besides the whole point is that nobody actually die in this competition, which is pretty ironic.

Is the author making sequel, I mean it has been like 4 years

Sequel on what ? I don't see the need of a sequel. All the girls has gone back to their life and Haru and Tozaku live happily ever after.

Is Haru backstory complete?

I don't see how much more you can say about her backstory. She was a queen bee and her alive was a huge danger for a lot of peoples so she had to survive. That's why most of her family die for her

She's a serial killer, I don't think it's a good idea if you think serial killer still alive

You realise that all the girls where assasins ? Beside Tozaku, they all already kill peoples.

How dangerous are we talking about?

Dangerous to the point of wanting her dead. Did you not read the manga ? It's explain nearthe end when they reveal that Haru is a Queen Bee.

Wait, I thought Haru killed all of them

What the ? Haru never kill anyone by herself. It's more she kill them metaphorically since they sacrifice themselves in order to protect Haru.

What job are they both taken? (Haru and Tozaku)

By the look of it, Haru is the president of a compagny and Tozaku is her bodyguard.

What's the clan that Yuri talking about and why is it so important for Haru?

I'm clueless for that one

Great artstyle, interesting plot, and just the right amount of romance to top it all off.

It's a crime the anime cut out all the gay shit.

So. Fucking. GOOD! I was a little over halfway through when I learned that there's an anime as well, gonna watch that next. Adding this to my list of manga I NEED to buy!