A Lot of People Aren't On Good Terms With Reality

See, I tend to think I look unfriendly, because with my hearing issues I will look at people to make sure I'm not missing anything they might be saying to me, and I figure I look like I'm glaring. In reality, I probably just look like a squinty goober.

Jin, who is the writer/artist for the manga Precarious Woman Executive Miss Black General (that's an excessively long title), seems to mean "precarious" in the sense she's unstable or easily prone to collapse, which, yeah. Either that, or he's conflating it with "perverted". She's obsessed with the hero Braveman, and decided the best way to get close to him was join an organization (with a total of 9 members by the end of volume 1) committed to world conquest. She tells him she's a virgin two pages into their first encounter like it's an important piece of information, misinterprets his early attempts to defeat her as foreplay (then passes out), takes a hostage to get a hug from him, you get the idea. She does actually completely demoralize him at one point*, except that wasn't her goal.

That side of things is a mixed bag. The variety of Braveman's reaction to dealing with her hijinks can be funny. He's outraged or disgusted a lot, but gradually moves into mockery or just trying to ignore her. The General claims to be a villain, but admires him so much she gives a pep talk when he appears to have lost heart, or gets outraged when her Boss hears her reports on her first couple of fights and concludes Braveman is really just a pervert. She has the outward trappings and style of a villain, but really she's a stalker doing a poor impression of a villain. The volume is a lot of fairly short chapters, most of them revolving around some half-assed mission of the day. An attempt to use a new weapon, or trying to recruit new members off the street by handing out pamphlets.

There's a lot of fan service, a lot of focus on boobs or characters getting knocked upside-down so we're looking up their skirts. That gets tedious, because it seems to be happening constantly. To the point when they recruit a scientist who created some tentacle plant monster (that phrase will probably do wonders for random people finding my blog through internet searches), the General wonders if the book has become a sex manga in the span of two panels. I was thinking it was a little late to worry about that now.

It isn't like Jin can't do other comedy. I enjoyed the RX Organization, with its total of 3 henchmen, a boss who is kind of a nerd, and his mostly calm, but terrifying Secretary. They do have an HQ, the matching outfits are a nice touch, but that's as far as it goes. That side of things, the way they look impressive at first glance, but are really a complete joke, reminds me of ACROSS from Excel Saga. The General herself reminds me a lot of Excel, actually. Hyperactive idiot obsessed with a guy that wants nothing to with her**.

There's enough variety in their personalities in the broad strokes for them to play off each other well. The General is accompanied by the 3 henchmen on every mission, who offer up a constant stream of commentary about the General's outlook or goals, the difference between reality and her perception of it. Some of the mundane problems, like being short-staffed because one henchman has a cold, or not respecting people's labeled food in the break room fridge. There's a chapter that follows Braveman in his civilian identity, where we learn he has a frightening face that causes him a lot of problems. That made me laugh.

If I thought the fan service would decline in frequency, I'd be more likely to by volume 2, but for right now, not so sure.

* So maybe the Penguin should try this with Batman. It couldn't go worse than his usual schemes. Wait, does the Penguin even scheme to take down Batman any more?

** Although in Excel's case it was her boss. At least she had enough sense to join his organization to try and get close, rather than place herself as his adversary.