Lychee Light Club

Nocturnalgloria May 15, 2011

9

 There is something to be said about a manga that manages to combine extreme guro with psychological motivations: Litchi Hikari Club does it brilliantly. It is a story of betrayal, insanity and obsession and as such it is hardly pretty and yet the artwork is gorgeous and entrancing. Here lies one of the strengths of this very original manga: its polarity of beauty and ugliness juxtaposed with artistry.  The plot strikes one as bizarre and perhaps even quirky, a group of middle school boys gather in a club to build the ultimate thinking machine. It could be comedy, indeed there are some moments of dark comedy, but instead it is a descent into an abyss of sorts. Such a premise could not be sustained without a solid cast and here Litchi provides an array of characters that for all their mannerisms come across as very real. From Zera, the not too sane leader to Litchi himself, the robot that wants to be human, without forgetting Kanon, the girl that ends up being the indirect trigger of disaster: the characters are well rounded and bring home the horror of it all. It is only disappointing that with nine boys a few end up falling through the cracks.  The setting is that of an industrial inferno with smoke darkening the sky and tall factories blocking out the sun. It establishes the environment perfectly as a dystopia. The manga draws from many sources for its foundations. It hints at the seminal sci-fi movie Metropolis, it wraps it all up in not too subtle Nazi undertones and there are even biblical allusions along with symbolic imagery from ancient Chinese literature. The result is impressive in scope for this adaptation of a the Tokyo grand guignol theatre play.  Sexual mania is brought to the forefront with overt male on male sex that is perfectly in synch with everything else. It is rare for a male mangaka to venture into such domains but Furuya know how to use shoujo asthetics to his advantage, the character design of his pretty boys attests to this, and to employ it for such purposes conforms with the spirit of the manga. The very beautiful is close to the horrendous.  Along the way there are twists, intrigue, violence galore and a climax to take one's breath away. The prequel, 'Bokura no Hikari Club' is currently being published and will probably reveal more about the boys and what drove them to become what later would be the Lychee Hikari Club. 

nathandouglasdavis Nov 17, 2020

6

Chapter one in many ways feels distinct from the rest of the series. It is connected, and it acts as an introduction to this world and these students' cultist club, but it also gives off a very different vibe--one of torturing outsiders as opposed to in-fighting. Zera is the charismatic leader of this club, but fe gives in to paranoia about being betrayed. Is there a traitor, are there multiple traitors, or is it all in Zera's head? That's a prime point of intrigue. In addition to that, the story also has a large focus on the robot named Lychee, who was programmed to self-identify as human. This led to Lychee being able to intuitively recognize Beauty (a theme of the manga, especially the early chapters) and eventually experience emotions. The story could've definitely been better, but I can appreciate what it was trying to do and it was a pretty engaging read. I don't exactly understand Kanon's actions in chapter 7 (couldn't fe have come back with adults for a rescue operation?), and the yandere aspect also felt cheap.

Catsy Jul 21, 2013

7

I went into this manga expecting filth, gore, lots of yaoi and horrible rape scenes. But...honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it could be. I'm used to seeing gory things and Litchi Hikari Club delivered, at least in that department. Story - 7:Without giving too much away, Litchi Hikari Club is about a deranged group of students who aim to make the perfect, or at least a functioning, AI robot. They worship their number 1, Zera (Tsunekawa) as a god, and he compares himself to Elagabulus, a Roman emperor who came into power early in life.The story had a simple concept and I really liked the ending. It was completed really neatly in one volume of manga, without any loose ends to ponder over. I enjoyed this manga because it didn't need me to think at all. However, the twist at the end didn't really seem to fit. It was like reading a crime novel and finding out about every other character except the killer (example - "A Rare Interest In Corpses" by Ann Granger).Art - 7:Nothing super. The blood is drawn like tiger stripes over everything when the people are attacked. Sometimes it just feels like thick paint instead of blood. Maybe that's just how it flows. The backgrounds didn't sway me, all the same, but not bad. Character - 7:In terms of character development, it's only 1 volume of manga, so you couldn't expect too much. It was sad seeing the generation of the Hikari Club, and what it came to be, and how that affected all the characters. As you were dealing with quite a few characters in a short manga, the difference between each was little. They all said pretty much the same things until the climax in the manga. Enjoyment - 6 - 7:Easy to read, no thinking. Blood and gore incited no feelings of disgust or otherwise. It was satisfying to reach the end and see what had come to be, and I did get a little teary.Overall - 7:Yeah, seven. Might read again, might watch the series. Probably won't remember the details of it next week