With powers beyond imagination, once again, an evil organization has risen up. The goal? World domination! But standing in the way are heroes intent on defending Earth. In this long-fought battle of good versus evil, will the ultimate villain finally manage to take over the world?
…That would be the plot if The Champions of Justice and the Supreme Ruler of Evil’s heroine Mia had written a fanfic or doujin manga starring herself. Because the actual “evil organization” is a single high school student, the heroes are police officers who’d rather not work overtime, and evil schemes involve cleaning up after scared citizens run away.
Oh, and the Supreme Ruler of Evil has her weakness exposed in her first battle: just block her lips. An exploit that one perverted Champion of Justice takes advantage of.
So, yeah, not exactly Sailor Moon or Power Rangers.
Unsurprisingly, the story has elements of both the magical girl and sentai genres. The Crow Rangers each have their own color (and personality quirks), and Mia is the only one in the story who can use magic. Like in both genres, love and friendship are key. Mia first appears to be as inept as Team Rocket capturing Pikachu, but she doesn’t want a ruined planet or a frightened populace. It’s a contradiction her enemies notice right away, and as they reach out to her, she changes from a girl dedicated to her duty to finding her own desire.
Speaking of desire, as mentioned earlier, one Crow Ranger, Ren, kisses her to stop her powers. This isn’t the sole solution either; he could use his hand to cover her mouth. Plenty of other romances have edgy-bordering-on-problematic relationships, but this one raises the stakes by making Mia 17 and Ren 26. The fact he’s a police officer adds another element that can make readers queasy, and readers (but not Mia) will pick up on raunchy jokes and other risque content. Despite the title, this is a light novel for mature readers — and ones who can stomach sexual assault, even if it’s meant to be comedic or romantic.
It’s understandable if that concerns you, but if you are open to The Champions of Justice and the Supreme Ruler of Evil, you will be rewarded with a fun, fleshed out tale. The story follows Mia’s various evil schemes which, to no surprise, end in failure. But the author does a splendid job of explaining why everything plays out this way: why the human Crow Rangers can track Mia, why the city doesn’t panic when ice shards start flying, and even why Mia fails as a villain. The whole thing is a delightful adventure involving after-school dinners, broken-up engagements, and kidnappings where the script gets flipped. Plus it’s nice to see a romantic lead with feelings just as strong — perhaps stronger — than the heroine’s.
Also surprising is the format: unlike most of Cross Infinite World’s releases, this one has twelve hefty chapters plus an epilogue. The ending may seem a bit safe and corny considering the sexual content of the rest of the story, but if there was anything I could change, it would be the lead up to Mia’s final decision. Everything just spills out at once, and right after we (but not Mia) have learned the truth about her father. I think some slight rearranging would have heightened the drama.
The translation does a good job keeping Mia’s old-fashioned, villain-esque speech idiosyncrasies, but a few things stood out to me that I suspect are errors rather than a way to reflect speech patterns. For instance, Mia introduces herself in Japanese name order at the beginning, Western order for the rest, a character with an accent says “just deserts”, and a couple of comma splices.
Still, if you don’t have a problem with reading about a police office making out with a minor, I doubt a few typos are going to bother you. The Champions of Justice and the Supreme Ruler of Evil is not for everyone, but personally, I had a hard time putting it down. It is comedic without becoming a parody of sentai, yet still a coming-of-age tale befitting the magical girl genre. The author has written even more mature, smuttier content, but if they’re as good as this one, I hope to read them someday.