Initially, this manga seemed to have alot going for it. I love BL. Gay angels are a kink of mine. I also have a soft spot for older titles and am usually willing to be infinitely forgiving of their faults. I really wanted to like this title. Despite all this, I was not impressed with Earthian.

The series starts out with a comedic feel to it. Chihaya and Kagetsuya are kinda like the angelic Odd Couple. It rapidly changes into a dark story with a complex, yet vague, plot. The plot never really makes sense . I don't care how silly or weird a plot is, as long as it makes within it's own world. I also want to feel like I understand the world setting by the end, and towards the end I kept getting more unanswered questions. Also, the story ends before any resolution is actually shown. I guess I can assume what happened. We do have a short 'ten years later' story in volume four that sort of confirms my guess. Though, maybe caring about the action side of the plot was me missing the point.

Chihaya and Kagetsuya are angels assigned to Earth. Chihaya is a 'plus checker' and Kagetsuya is a 'minus checker'. If Chihaya can find ten thousand good things about humans, or Earthian, we get to live. If Kagetsuya finds ten thousand minuses, then the angels need to destroy the Earthian.

Chihaya is an angel with black wings and long black hair, except when he has no wings and short white hair or when ... With the old style faces I has a bit of trouble keeping track of who was who, and the variable lengths and colors of hair were not helping. There are a few panels where I honestly don't know which angel is shown, especially when Sayaka is around.



The first three books cover the main plot of the series. Volume four has side stories including the development of Lord Michael's and Lord Raphael's relationship. I did enjoy the backstory of Michael and Raphael. Unlike the main story, it feels complete and the character motivations make sense.

Many of you are familiar with this mangaka from the well known Loveless series. This is a much earlier work. The art is still really good though. The faces are in a old manga style, but the details and compositions are great. You see can her playing with format and pick out elements that are more developed in her later works.

We could play 'compare and contrast with Loveless' for days. In both the plot and the world setting are complex and mysterious. Same as in Loveless, we have an annoying female hanging on one of the main characters who seems to be an idiot and refers to herself in the third person.

Blu published this classic in special editions that cost about 50% more than a usual Blu title. The covers have some sort of special pearlescent finish. They all have color pages; volume four has a ton of them. Also, the first three volumes are really thick. The same material that is in the first three volumes was published as four volumes in Japan. The only problem I had with the publishing of the book was that it was hard to read text near the spine. I often had to pull really hard on the book to read a bit of text.

Censorship: Boy bits are always covered
Mangaka: Kouga Yun
Warnings: Incest, het sex
Disclaimer: Volume 4 was a review copy
Publisher: Blu
MSRP: $14.99