Fudo Aikawa is the leader of the Gelato 5, a.k.a. the Red Gelato. That means he and his team must face off against the secret organization known as Gekko, led by a scantily clad villain donning a skull design known as the Reaper Princess — her full name, Desumi Magahara. While the rest of the gelato team takes on the numerous mob characters of the Gekko organization, Fudo and Aikawa square off, where no one can see them…
…act cute, adorable, eat, or act like boyfriend or girlfriend. Wait a minute…
Love After World Domination heavily leans on the usual tropes of Super Sentai works but spins it as: what if the leaders of each organization fall for one another? Which is what happens, thanks to Fudo’s one-track mind and his professor’s foolishness. The professor tells Fudo, who originally did nothing but lift weights or train all the time, to just go and not bottle what he’s feeling as he’s still young — might as well enjoy life. What the professor doesn’t realize is Fudo’s secret is that he loves Desumi, who happens to be the terror that his group must defeat. When he invites Desumi to a secluded place and admits this, she’s very much confused and also slightly charmed. Due to some comments from people who don’t understand her she has a negative view on finding a relationship, but she’s willing to do so for Fudo.
It’s just their situations are so extreme they have to keep it a secret, and that’s where the hijinks ensue. One of the Gelato 5 shows up? Fake getting beaten and then watch as your boyfriend does an interview that also reveals publicly that he’s single (which is not true!). Antsy after not seeing each other for just a few weeks? Well, take advantage of a weapon being built by the enemy and begin an infiltration mission. Do I even want to bring up Desumi “leaking” the next target of Gekko so she could go on an amusement park date with him?
This is very much the main interest of this manga: how much more can these two take their relationship by hiding their true feelings from everyone else, and who on either side will catch them in the act. It flips the usual romcom antics by having these two be together immediately, but it still follows tradition by having their general occupations limit how often they’re together. Like even hand-holding turns into locking hands in a fierce way once one of the gelatos spots them.
Since it’s more comedic bent, how this series develops will be how it can stretch its premise and whether it’ll evolve into something serious. Like for now, the Gekko organization wants to use negative emotions from people in order to create a monster and take over the world — will this actually be a major plot point or no?
The organization also has a supreme leader and multiple other princesses that lead their own teams, though each have their own goofy sensibilities, so it’s likely not all serious. As long as the tone remains the same, then it’s hard to see this as anything other than a fun, sometimes wacky romp as Fudo and Desumi somehow ride the roller-coaster in disguise with no one recognizing them, or Fudo and his meathead brain has Desumi go do the type of fun stuff he likes (go to the gym) without realizing that what she’s wearing (a skirt) means that he should’ve considered the time and place.
The other characters will also play a role in these two’s development. We don’t fully know everyone on the team, only getting to know Misaki (Yellow Gelato) and later on Haru (Pink Gelato). Misaki will be the one to be most curious about as her actions and what she knows of Fudo implies she likes him so how would she react to knowing the two’s secret, but Haru will be the one to take note of, as she ends up suspecting something about the two…until Fudo’s meathead brain blunts her investigation. Chances are we’ll get more characters that’ll affect these two, including one in Gekko, so the humor will change as the series goes on.
But at least for now, Fudo and Desumi’s relationship is quite nice. As each have to navigate their usual jobs they also have to continue on with life outside of that, so we can find out what happens when Desumi gets jealous at one point later in the volume and also what happens when Fudo ends up giving Desumi his number…and his mom picks up. Love After World Domination certainly has my attention, will definitely see where it goes from here.
