Manga Review: Geobreeders Book One

Manga Review: Geobreeders Book One by Akihiro Ito

It’s Yoichi Taba’s first day on the job at Kagura Security Company, and he already wants to quit. He entered the workforce just as the economic bubble burst in Japan, and has had bad luck with employers folding on him. So when a recruiter offered him a job at a small firm with a decent starting salary, Yoichi signed on without asking many questions.

Naturally, it turns out he should have asked more questions. Like “what does the company do?”, “what would my duties be?” and “at any time will I be required to battle supernatural beings?” Because it turns out that Kagura Security’s purpose is to battle the Phantom Cats, beings that can switch between feline and humanoid forms, have bizarre powers, and are hellbent on killing humans and disrupting Japanese society.

The other employees are all attractive young women. President Yuka Kikushima, computer expert Takami Sakuragi, firearms specialist Maki Umezaki, accountant Eiko Rando, and driver Yu Himehagi. They’re all rather eccentric, but they usually get the job done…eventually, with massive property damage and Yoichi constantly endangered.

This short manga series was by Akihiro Ito, who’d previously worked in eromanga (dirty pictures) and straight-up action stories ala John Woo. This was him branching out into comedy, though elements of his previous work are obvious.

In this volume, the Phantom Cats act like terrorists, striking apparently random targets with no visible organization or end goal beyond causing mayhem. However, there’s a being that calls itself “Black Cat” that claims that it represents the “true” Phantom Cats and has a mysterious agenda, as well as ties to a shady government agency. Black Cat is weirdly friendly towards Yoichi, and seems to know him from somewhere, but not vice versa.

There are some genuinely funny bits, and exciting action scenes.

The art style does, however, make the main characters look like teens rather than twenty-somethings, which makes the “sexy” bits unsettling.

Content note: Bloody violence with multiple deaths that are largely passed over. Quite a few male-oriented fanservice shots of women’s undies and cleavage. Yoichi’s fellow employees sometimes make inappropriate remarks about him.

This series was popular enough to spark an OVA anime series, but is somewhat lacking in staying power. Recommended as a quick read for action-comedy fans.