Weekly Shonen Jump’s newest series is Ghost Reaper Girl, a manga from Akihisa Ikeda, the creator Rosario+Vampire. Interestingly, Ikeda has specifically requested that western releases of Ghost Reaper Girl are published from left-to-right instead of right-to-life as is traditional for manga. As someone who liked Rosario+Vampire, I was interested in checking out this first chapter. Let’s dive in.
The first chapter opens up with ghosts escaping into the world. It then jumps to Chloe Love, who is trying to make her way as an actor. She had previously starred in a horror movie that received, well, minimal notice. A male producer sees her as a perfect mark—she looks young, she’s beautiful, and she’s not well known. He begins to sexually harass her, which then turns into a whole bunch of ghosts coming out of his body begging to be inside Chloe. No, literally.
The ghost creatures keep following Chloe in the form of the producer as he rounds up more friends to try to harass and sexually assault her. Enter Kai Iod.
Kai admits that he’s into young looking women (Shonen Jump translates what he says as “lolicon”). He then tries to protect Chloe from the oncoming ghost creatures. The first chapter ends with Chloe letting Kai inside her, merging with him physically, so she can battle against the ghosts. It turns out that she is a conduit for spirits and they are desiring her body to be able to enter into the mortal realm. By making a covenant with Kai where he becomes her servant, she is able to fight and protect herself (and maybe the world…maybe), while also trying to become a famous actress.
As it’s from the same creator as Rosario+Vampire, I’m expecting fan service from Ghost Reaper Girl. Yet, unlike that series, this looks to be less harem-esque and more a supernatural battle series. And the sexually harassing men turning into literal monsters begging to be inside a young woman—could these metaphors be any more on the nose? I’m definitely intrigued by this metaphor for how women are treated in the world. It reminds me of how the supernatural was used in Buffy the Vampire Slayer as metaphors for what teens were facing in the real world. I’ll definitely be checking in for the next chapter in a few weeks.
You can read Ghost Reaper Girl at Shonen Jump. The most current chapters are always free.
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Lolicon? That’s literally just a pedophile. Why is shonen jump promoting pedophile mangaka?
The character is a lolicon, not the mangaka.
It’s running in bi-weekly Jump+, not Weekly Shonen Jump.
We’re referencing the Shonen Jump brand in English by Viz Media, not the Japanese publications.
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