James Nicoll Reviews

Kaiju Girl Caramelise, Volume 3 is the third tankōbon of Spica Aoki’s comedic kaiju romance manga. Titled Otome Kaijū Kyaramerize in the original Japanese, Kaiju Girl Caramelise has been serialized in Monthly Comic Alive since early 2018.

Despite the crippling social anxiety caused by her unique medical condition, occasional kaiju Kuroe Akaishi has won the heart of handsome Arata Minami. The relationship having survived the couple’s first date, Kuroe now focuses on her next worry.

What will happen when students learn Arata is dating one such as Kuroe? Will the mob turn on him? Will they turn on Kuroe?

[beware spoilers]

A swift knee to the back from popular Rairi suggests the second alternative: schoolmates are turning on Kuroe. But appearances are deceiving. Rairi is simply correcting Kuroe’s terrible posture. Once this is established, Rairi displays her good nature by giving Kuroe an impromptu, unrequested makeover.

Rairi has earned her top social position thanks to her prodigious talent with makeup. Rairi is no mean girl. Rather, she mentors all who ask and some who do not on appearance-enhancement techniques. She is beloved and respected because she is so kindhearted and helpful.

Like Kuroe, Rairi has a secret she is determined to conceal. What will happen if this is revealed? Kuroe is one of the few students who can truly grasp Rairi’s concern because she also has a secret. It’s unfortunate that Kuroe will unwittingly expose Rairi.

~oOo~

If I ever write an article about parents who don’t share necessary info, Kuroe’s mother will be featured. She manages Kuroe’s condition without any questions as to why Kuroe suffers from it. This would suggest that Kuroe’s mother has information she is not sharing (like the mom in RuriDragon, who does eventually share).

Rairi’s secret is that she is spectacularly simian in appearance. Her skill with makeup came because, following a humiliating experience, she wanted to reinvent herself as a pretty girl. Having done so, her desire is to provide others with similar issues the means by which to change themselves.

The difference between made-up Rairi and original Rairi is so implausible that it broke my suspension of disbelief. I even seriously considered not reviewing this manga. Then it occurred to me that I was reading a manga whose lead character periodically transforms into an office building-size monster, whose rampages somehow only do property damage and don’t hurt any humans. I was being unduly harsh; if students can turn into monsters, why can’t makeup have transformative powers?

The point here seems to be that fear of social disapproval can be unfounded. At least sometimes. Arata genuinely likes Kuroe. Rairi only wants to help her. In turn, Rairi discovers that her own anxieties are unnecessary; her friends are true friends and when they learn the truth about Rairi, they are simply impressed by her mad makeup skillz.

While this manga s not the kaiju story Dostoyevsky might have told, Kaiju Girl Caramelise is fun. It is all cheerfully good-natured, a romp through a world where nothing is as bad as the characters fear it might be.

Kaiju Girl Caramelise, Volume 3 is available here (Amazon US), here (Amazon Canada), here (Amazon UK), here (Apple Books), here (Barnes & Noble), and here (Chapters-Indigo).