Shadow Lady by Masakazu Katsura

Art and story (c) Masakazu Katsura

Shadow Lady by Masakazu Katsura



            Genre: Shonen (bordering on Seinen)
            Length: 4 Volumes - 24 Chapters and one special


            Same mangaka that made I''s and, apparently, did the character design for the anime Tiger and Bunny, just in case you wanted to know. Art is fairly polished. The character designs and faces are actually very similar to Trigun in a lot of respects. Hair is angular and what used to pass as 'anime hair' in the 90's meaning people with awkward looking bangs and gravity deifying spikes (think Yu-Gi-Oh and Cloud from FF VII). I often find such hair off putting personally. Body proportions are a little chunky, this being a sexy manga the main character is often shown with as little clothing as possible so you see a lot of poses that don't look sexy even though they are supposed to be. If you disagree, I suppose you can blame the fact that I'm a girl, but this isn't an improper body image problem it is legitimately the way it is drawn. The backgrounds come and go, sometimes they are blank, but the city shots are usually good so the blank ones seem less obvious than they are. Clothing is, for girls, cute and girly with proper flow and drape, actually anything that’s not a magic suit is usually fairly modest, and it is generic shirts 'n' jeans or suits for the men. Shadow Lady's outfits are very, very tight but, except for a few unflattering wrinkles in the skin tight leather, are still designed well and are fun to look at.
            Aimi is painfully shy she can't even look a person in the eyes when she is speaking to them, even towards people she knows she turns bright red and rushes away quickly when dealing with them. But Aimi has a secret waiting at home for her, a secret that allows her to leave behind her stuttering personality and be free. At night the thief known as Shadow Lady prowls Grey City, and this outgoing and shameless thief is actually Aimi in disguise. Thanks to her magical compact of eyeshadow, Aimi can take to the night whenever she wants to steal whatever she wants and the police can do nothing to stop her. But when Aimi falls hard in love for a man will she give up Shadow Lady for the normal life?

            One part magical girl manga, two parts phantom thief manga, and five parts upskirt shots, Shadow Lady has its charm; a charm that keeps you reading despite the many many panty shots. The humor helps a lot, too, as it is almost making fun of it's own genre while just being plain silly. Shadow Lady herself is just a ball of fun while she commits her crimes, but there is a plot, of a sort, that deepens through out the four volumes. Truthfully, it could have been longer (not its fault since it was canceled), but you do get a fairly good ending even if it isn't as satisfying as it could be. Really, I don't know what to say about this manga beyond that. Its simple and fun to read what more does anyone need to know? Even though my copy was a Dark Horse comic version that flipped the pages so I kept reading the panels in the wrong direction, I enjoyed it. The special at the end is a bit like a re-telling of the story with slightly different character designs, its not amazing but it gives its own twist to the premise that’s fun and light. Doesn't add anything to the main story, just to warn so you are not disappointed.



4/5 Recommended, don't mind the buttocks.