Princess Resurrection Vol. 1

princess_ressurection_v01.jpgrating-4.0Princess Resurrection is the tale of Hime and Hiro. Hime is a princess (in fact, Hime means princess) and Hiro is her Warrior Servant. They happen to end up living together with Hiro's sister Sawawa (who is clueless and very well endowed), Android Maid Flandre (who looks all of 8 years old, if that), and finally they are joined by another woman, named Riza.
While this sounds like a set up for a Harem Comedy, it's not. For starters, Hiro dies in the first 10 pages. He is resurrected by Hime, who is a Princess from the Underworld. You see, Hime's blood has turned him semi-immortal, but he can't go more than a few days without drinking it, or he will die permanently. Now it's his job to protect her from whatever nasties come along, whether he wants to or not. She's not helpless, by any means, as she wields various weapons, including a chainsaw, axe, and a crossbow among other things, to help defend herself. Since she is not immortal, she does need servants to help protect her. In fact, she's constantly complaining she doesn't have enough of them. In this volume alone, she is attacked by two werewolves (the second being the aforementioned Riza), an Invisible Man, a Vampire and his minions, and a village of sea creatures, who happen to look like they came from the Black Lagoon. This all seems to revolve around a power struggle within her family, I'm guessing to determine who will rule the Underworld.
The story flows at a good pace, with Hiro dying at least once every chapter. There is a lot of bloodshed and violence, which is definitely why it's recommended for ages 16 and up. Hiro's sister and Flandre do provide some comic relief to help offset the violence.
The only issues I have with the manga revolves around the artwork. While the art is more like your typical manga/anime art style, with big eyes and cute girls, which I actually prefer, there seems to be some issues with proportions. I could swear that Hime's head seems to grow and shrink as you read along. This happens to other characters a little bit, but mostly with Hime. And since I'm not an artist and I noticed this, I'm assuming that it's bad.
That aside, I thoroughly enjoyed the manga. My favorite parts seem to involve Flandre for some reason, who stands half of Hime's height, and can only say 'Hooba', although Hime seems to understand her just fine. Seeing her wield a tree trunk to fend off wolves and throw Hiro through the window of a burning mansion when told to 'Take Hiro outside' just had me laughing out loud.

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