The identity of the Red Santa who visited Miharu as a child is finally revealed as the intense testing to become a reindeer continues.
This volume also includes how other members of the cast were recruited into their current roles at the North Pole and how they relate to Miharu. I’m warming up to this series. It’s pretty fun and has some intriguing lore to keep things interesting. The humor is pretty good, too. I don’t wanna say too much to avoid spoilers. 4 out of 5
Miharu has been working hard at The North Pole in his new role of punishing bad children and while the benefits, salary, and coworkers are miles better than his previous job, his old coworker shows up to throw a wrench in the works.
While Kaiser (the old coworker) and his antics rode the fine line between funny and annoying, the best part of this volume was the latter half when we see Miharu as a child. It’s cute and heartwarming and has some cool (if not predictable) plot points that I will not spoil. It’s all still an interesting premise and it’s a decent volume once Kaiser is set aside. 3.5 out of 5.
Hino Maharu spends Christmas working as his dead end job. He’s desperate for a decent full time job. When he expresses this wish to a dark Santa Claus, he’s offered a new job: working for this dark Santa, Knecht at the North Pole.
I don’t know what to think of this yet. It’s weird, has decent comedy, and has menacing parts as well. The art style allows for some great character designs, especially Knecht. Miharu is a classic sort of protagonist and the surrounding cast contrast around him well. But I can’t say how exactly this makes me feel. It’s decent enough to keep me reading and curious though. 3 out of 5.
In this volume, we meet their moms as the story continues to operate on the concept that all religions are real and the deities can interact with each other on and off Earth with humans.
This series is still decent and has some cute moments but by the middle of this, I was just flipping through the pages. My brain just checked out. I even restarted this book 3 times and still. There just wasn’t enough here to keep me interested and I couldn’t get into it. Perhaps I’ll give this series a revisit later on but for now, I’m gonna drop it. 2.7 out of 5.
*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.
In this answer to the question “What if Jesus and Buddha went on vacation” we have a thoroughly enjoyable and hilarious set of stories about these two powerhouses of the heavens living a normal(ish) life in Japan. If you’re not into ‘slice of life’ stories, this will bore you but I found it endearing and fun! Both religions are treated with respect and the translation notes are exceedingly helpful for some of the side humor. It wanders a little but that comes with slice of life stories. I had a lot of fun reading this volume but it’s hard to see where this would keep going for multiple volumes without getting repetitive. 4.8 out of 5.
