Demon/Devil x Human
Manga Review | My Demon Cry Baby, Maria by Yukihiko Sano
Title: My Demon Cry Baby, Maria
Satoru is in mourning. His unrequited love, Jun Mariya, has passed away before Satoru ever got the chance to talk to him, much less confess to him. In the throes of sorrow, Satoru crumples up and marks all over the love letter he had intended to give to Jun someday before throwing it aside. Then, he lies there, expressing his want to die. Out of nowhere, a voice calls out to him, offering to take his life. It is a fluffy little black smoke cloud, claiming to be a demon, having been summoned from Satoru’s inadvertent scribbling of a summoning circle.
Satoru is surprised, of course, but intrigued, as the demon offers him a wish in exchange for his life span, which the demon will steadily feed on for the remainder of Satoru’s life. Satoru can only think of one wish: to see Jun. The demon takes this opportunity to lure Satoru even further, suddenly shifting into Jun’s exact likeness. Satoru is shocked but is more than happy to make this deal so he can be with Jun. Similarly, the demon is delighted to make such an easy deal.
What the innocent demon doesn’t realize is that Satoru has some depraved plans for this demonic lookalike, and he has every intention of acting on them until his dying breath.
Manhwa Review | Confessions of the Night by JIHA
Title: Confessions of the Night
Enoch is a priest. He has been struggling recently after the death of his lover, Ray, who passed away from illness. Though his faith is a comfort, it does little to assuage his loneliness. All of these feelings come to a head when he begins to see his dead lover, Ray, amongst the congregation in the church. At first, it’s like he’s nothing more than a ghost or a shadow, appearing out of nowhere but not interacting with anyone or anything. But then this echo of Ray starts talking to Enoch, and Enoch discovers he is the only one who can touch or speak to Ray.
The intensity of the interactions only grows and grows until Ray is openly trying to seduce Enoch. Can this man of God avoid temptation? Or will this imposter of his lover be too much to reject?
Manhua Review | Monstrous Heart by SYball
Title: Monstrous Heart (Tapas) | Ogus’s Law (all other platforms)
Johnathan Su is a human. Yet, he has been accepted into the prestigious monster academy: Augustine Academy. Why would a human be able to apply to such a place, and why would he even want to attend such a place when many monsters‘ primary source of energy and sustenance is humans? Johnathan’s mother is drowning in debt. While he could easily move on in life and leave her to deal with it, he would never do such a thing. Unwilling to let his mother go into further debt, putting him through college, he can attend Augustine Academy for free and allow the monsters there to learn about humans through his presence there.
There are safety precautions in place in the form of laws that prevent the monsters in the academy from harming human students, but that doesn’t mean the danger is gone. Still, Johnathan finds the risks worth it and attends all the same. Within just a few days, he’s assaulted and attacked by various monsters. Eventually, he learns about the Pal system, where a human partners with a monster. This partnership opens both individuals up to more opportunities, including the ability to leave campus, and requires the monster to become an unofficial bodyguard for their human.
Johnathan initially intends on becoming the pal to a bunny demon, but the bunny turns out to be a serial killer, having murdered numerous humans and demons alike in revenge for them abandoning him or bullying him. Johnathan, after coming upon his latest kill, ends up being his next victim. Before the bunny can successfully kill and consume Johnathan, Lucian Yu, the infamous black fox demon, swoops in and kills the bunny. Unfortunately, Johnathan’s wound is to his heart, and he’s facing death. Despite his better judgment, Lucian hands over one of his three hearts to Johnathan, keeping him alive while also intrinsically tying these two together for the foreseeable future.
It’s hard enough being a human and a blacklisted species of monster, but beneath the pristine veneer of Augustine, numerous plots are stirring that could alter the monster world forever.
Manga Review | Midnight Stranger by Bohra Naono
Title: Midnight Stranger
Roi is a goat spirit born from the wants and desires of humans. While the purpose of his existence is to protect and heal humanity, his looks scare all of the people around him. Unwilling to trust in this being, the humans end up sacrificing Roi in a fire to the gods, hoping they will gain favor for their offering. Instead, they end up calling upon the god of fire, Xiu. Xiu is far from impressed by the human’s offering, scaring them off with his power. Now that Roi has been sacrificed to Xiu, Xiu has no intentions of letting the goat spirit go, instead rebuilding his form into something cute for Xiu to enjoy.
Centuries pass, and the importance of gods in the modern world has faded. Xiu and Roi are still hanging out in the human realm, with Xiu becoming an idol to pay for their lifestyle among the humans. On the other hand, Roi continues to work for his master, Xiu, whom he cares for much more than a servant should. But as much as he loves Xiu and follows his every command, Roi can’t help but still be drawn to the humans who betrayed him so long ago against Xiu’s advice. So, during the night, in the cute goat form, Xiu made for him, Roi goes out to rid humans of illness and spirits.
While this is Roi’s purpose for living, would he be able to live if Xiu found out he was still protecting humanity?
Manhua Review | My Delicious Dream Boy by Xiyuer
Title: My Delicious Dream Boy (Less Censored) | Watch Out for the Dream Demon (Censored)
Joel Lin has had a lonely life. His family did their best to keep him happy and occupied, but nothing could replace the fun of school and public places. Unfortunately, Joel has suffered from an undiagnosable chronic illness that weakened him to the point he had to be homeschooled and kept out of any excitable public places at the risk of his life. He was nearly at the end of his rope when he and his mother visited a purveyor of magic called the goddess, who gave Joel a talisman to keep in his home and a charm to carry on him that successfully staves off most of his dire symptoms. Still, the nightmares he has been subjected to every night persist.
Being healthier now than he has ever been leads to the first time in his life that he can physically attend school for his first year in college. There, he meets a popular pink-haired man named Mara, who latches on to Joel immediately and solidifies himself as Joel’s first friend outside his family. Incidentally, his new best friend is very similar to the main villain in his nightmares, a pink-haired monster with wings, horns, and tentacles who captures and threatens him until he wakes up. This has to be just a coincidence, though, right?
Mara, though, has an ulterior motive for befriending Joel. As it turns out, Mara is a dream demon, a supernatural creature that feeds on human dreams. The most delicious of dreams are nightmares, and with his powers, he can determine how healthy his targets are and how likely they are to have nightmares. As it turns out, Joel has a 100% chance of having a nightmare every single night, and Mara is determined to have this delectable feast. But no matter how hard he tries, he can’t seem to taste Joel’s dreams, and he has no idea why. But the more he tries, the closer he gets to Joel, and soon, he wants to taste much more than Joel’s dreams.