Kujibiki Unbalance Vol. 1

Rating T+ Genre manga Author Kio Shimoku Publisher Del Rey

Kujibiki Unbalance Vol. 1 is a story all about luck. Unfortunately, main character Chihiro Enemoto is seriously lacking in it. Known for having bad luck his entire life, Chihiro is quite surprised when he learns that he’s been accepted into Rikkyoin High School, an institution where actions are based on luck of the draw.

‘Kujibiki’ is also known as a lottery, and it is through this method that Chihiro makes it not only into Rikkyoin, but also finds himself holding the position of Student Council President while his best friend Tokino draws the position of Vice President. Chihiro is a bit reluctant in accepting his new title because he’s assuming that his winning something is probably some sort of mistake, but realizes later that the kujibiki drawings at Rikkyoin are error-free.

Chihiro and Tokino are then introduced to power-hungry super genius Renko Kamishakujii the Student Council Secretary, and her slave-like assistant Kaoruko Yamada. Together, the team must act together to prevent various forms of evil from attacking the school, using their method of travel as a large robot-like tracking device in which subservient Yamada slips into the front of the machine in order to act as the ship’s engine.

Although I wasn’t bored with Kujibiki Unbalance Vol. 1, I wasn’t thrilled with it either. The story as a whole is decent enough, but it just didn’t pique my interest. The group is presented with a few life-or-death situations but my opinion of it still stayed at neutral. I think that part of the problem for me was that the plot was going in so many weird directions and trying so hard to be unique that I just ended up getting put off by it. The weirdness level was a little too ‘out there’ for me. For example, Chihiro wakes up one morning to find his older sister half-clothed and asleep in his bed. Also, her dislike for her brother’s female friend comes off more as the attitude of a jealous girlfriend than a sibling. Her behavior seems to be a little more than what would be considered sisterly. Also, Renko and Yamada have a bizarre master/slave relationship; with Renko acting as the dominant one while Yamada is more than happy to serve as the somewhat abused, submissive slave. These are some pretty odd things to include in a manga that caters to a teen demographic.

Kujibiki Unbalance Vol. 1 is definitely weird, and some very well may enjoy that type of story. I do as well in fact, as long as the weirdness still makes sense to some extent. However as I’ve mentioned before, this one just didn’t impress me much.