A First Look at “Nukenai Seiken-chan”

Since I’m behind due to work, I thought I’d do a piece on a manga title that is…well, so full of double entendre, sexual innuendo, and clearly a parody of hentai situations, all while in reality, being nothing sexual…at least for the main character. And that title is Nukenai Seiken-chan (ヌけない聖剣ちゃん — literally translated as “I cannot do it, Holy Sword-chan”). And at four volumes published as of this posting, it shows no signs of ending any time soon.

The Story, in Brief

The story begins with a young, male swordsmith (or bladesmith) named Tatara Ravenhart. His goal in life is to forge an Imperial weapon, which are living, intelligent weapons that also have (female) humanoid form. As such, he is traveling the world to try to examine as many Imperial swords as possible to help him in his goal.

His first encounter is with the abandoned, Holy Imperial Sword Excelia. She was created over 500 years earlier and helped the “Hero-sama” of the age. In her sword form, her tip is sealed within a pedestal. Her humanoid form is that of a loli elf-girl, and the pedestal form her panties. But because Tatara is not the Hero-sama, Excelia will not allow him to remove her from her pedestal. His interest in removing her from her pedestal is simply professional, to examine her creation methods and maintain her.

During their travels, they find the cursed, Imperial dagger Carmilla in a dungeon treasure chest. Carmilla needs blood and has the humanoid form of an “oppai elf-loli”. She finds the wholesome nature of Tatara to be unique among humans and becomes devoted to him. He finds a way to contain her curse, even though he cannot remove it.

After even more adventures, Tatara, Excelia, and Carmilla encounter the Imperial snow and ice rapier Steelica, who’s “owned” by the fire dragon Ashreck in the heart of a volcano. Her humanoid form is that of a young elf-woman. And he manages to win a competition against the dragon and convince her to join him and the other Imperials on their adventures.

Innuendo and Double Entendre!

In the excellent British comedy series Are You Being Served?, the character Mrs. Slocomb once says, “Everything you say is full of innuendo and double entendre!” And that certainly epitomizes the nature of Nukenai Seiken-chan. Almost everything Kumano-sensei draws or writes is an innuendo or double entendre, usually for hentai related fetishes.

Tatara’s motives are always pure. He has no sexual interest in any of his Imperials in their humanoid form. So his desire to remove Excelia from her pedestal, or to perform weapon maintenance on them has nothing to do with sex. But for the Imperials, they have a sexual reaction ’cause “ecchi”!. 😅

But beyond this, Kumano-sensei takes the group’s normal adventures and adds the innuendo and double entendre. For example, Tatara’s weapon harem enter a food eating competition in order to gain rare crafting materials. So naturally, when Excelia eats a sausage, it is done in a sexually suggestive manner, even though she’s not trying to be sexual.

Further to this, Kumano-sensei likes doing parody elements for hentai fetishes. For example, when Tatara battles the dragon Ashreck for Steelica, it takes the form of an NTR (netorare) fetish, whereby a man steals a woman from her husband/boyfriend. Again, there was nothing sexual in what was actually happening, but Sensei makes it appear that way. 😅

Not Safe for Work!

While there is no actual nudity in Nukenai Seiken-chan, it probably is the most ecchi manga title I’ve ever seen that approaches the line but never actually crosses it. Kumano-sensei gets a kick out of having the Imperials, or even other female characters, have sexualized expressions or poses. So this is certainly not something you’d want to read in public.

However, I found that because Tatara’s actions are always pure, I’m able to set aside the insane ecchi nature of the manga. At that point, it becomes a harem manga series, with the Imperials replacing traditional girls. (Though there are actual humanoid women who fall for Tatara in his adventures.) Excelia becomes a traditional tsundere type. I’m not really sure how I’d classify Carmilla and Steelica.

While the story isn’t deep (how could it be when so much effort is put into the innuendo and double entendre), I do find the story to be entertaining for what it is. Again, the intense ecchi factor has to be shoved aside to get to the story element. I suspect that most folks reading the manga are merely interested in the ecchi though.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In many ways, I’m surprised that Nukenai Seiken-chan hasn’t already been licensed. Ecchi titles seem to get snapped up pretty quickly. However, while I do admit to getting a kick out of this manga series, it is far too ecchi for me to ever want to buy.