Her Majesty’s Dog Vol. 1

Kisses can be powerful things. They evoke deep, primal emotions between two people. Whether it’s an affectionate peck on the cheek or a passionate lip-lock, kisses have always been a primal exchange of emotion. One could even say that a kiss from someone they love dearly would be a gift of great power.
Enter Amane and Hyoue. At first sight, they’re quite the odd couple: Amane is quiet, reserved, and a bit eccentric while Hyoue is the high school heartthrob. Odd indeed… Especially when you find out their public displays of affection aren’t simple kisses. It turns out that Hyoue is a beast and Amane is his master, and her kisses feed him her life force. Feeding off of her releases his true power as a koma-oni, or a guardian demon, and he works to protect his master from all kinds of supernatural dangers. Amane’s not totally helpless, though. She’s a manatsukai, or a master of names, and can control others so long as she knows their true name.

I was expecting something dark and a little sexy when I picked up this novel. While I definitely got the dark, and the sexy is in there to an extent, it’s really more “cute.” Hyoue and Amane make a very interesting little couple – if that’s what you can really call them. Hyoue seems to have convinced Amane that the only way to share her life force is through kissing, but over time, one begins to suspect that his feelings for her are more than just that of a guardian.  So naturally, there’s that level of animosity that you see between any male/female pairing in an action adventure. Their nature with one another reminds me a lot of Kagome and InuYasha, only make InuYasha an insatiable flirt. Even the similar owner/dog analogy is there – a fact that’s stressed in every chapter.

While the focus remains relatively on the main couple, I’m impressed with the fact that nearly each story in the volume introduces another character and expands on them, if only a little bit. No one, other than the “monster of the week” of the chapter, is a throwaway kind of character. That makes for a very solid first novel – nothing seems excessive and everything has its place. I can’t say if this holds up throughout the series (I would hope it doesn’t, lest we end up with a million-man cast like Bleach), but I am left with a good feeling about it. As for the tones, the comedy comes and goes in appropriate intervals and the serious, dark drama feels comfortable amidst the kookiness. I enjoy the art, too – it has appropriate styles for beautiful romance, random slapstick, and dark horror without transitioning too harshly.
My only gripe with the book is that there’s no over-arching plot line introduced. I suspect it’s built to be, as I mentioned previously, “monster of the week”-ish, so if you’re not into that kind of series, you probably won’t stick with this one. There’s a couple plot lines dropped here and there that could be expanded on though, so I’m hoping to see those later down the line.

It’s a little gory here and there and there’s definitely a horror aspect, so I wouldn’t recommend this for small children. The 16+ rating is pretty appropriate, but keep in mind the supernatural violence and occasional sexual innuendo. I was definitely left intrigued at the end of everything, so I’d suggest giving it a look, especially if you’re a fan of odd romances and supernatural tales. Her Majesty’s Dog is probably going to hang out on my “see if the next volume’s out” list for a while.