The year is 1998, and second year middle school student Hajime Kanou is a Magic: The Gathering fanatic who spends his days playing his favorite trading card game with his pals and butting heads with Emi Sawatari, a model honor student who looks down on both his childish hobby and his inability to top her in academics. But one day while visiting a specialty card shop in the next town over, he catches his self-proclaimed rival mopping the floor with the shop's regulars in a game of Magic.
Worried that the flawless reputation she built up for herself at school would be ruined, Emi is less than thrilled that her annoying rival has discovered her nerdy little secret. But all it takes is one match with Hajime to realize how much fun it can be to have someone her age to enjoy the game with. And so begins the story of how a card game turns a rivalry into a genuine friendship, and perhaps something more.
Written by Katsura Ise and illustrated by Takuma Yokota, Destroy all humankind. They can't be regenerated. (すべての人類を破壊する。それらは再生できない。 Subete no Jinrui wo Hakai Suru. Sorera wa Saisei Dekinai.) is a coming of age manga based on a one-shot of the same name, which began serialization in Monthly Shōnen Ace in 2018.
This romantic drama set at the end of the 20th century revolves around the famous trading card game Magic: The Gathering, featuring all the rules, cards, terminology, meta shifts, and epic card duels that were prevalent in the late 90's. Never played Magic before? Don't worry, everything is presented in a way that makes it simple for readers not familiar with the game to follow along and enjoy.
The series contains examples of:
- Atrocious Alias: Downplayed. When Hajime tries to hide his identity from Emi by introducing himself to her as †Cloud† using the lowest voice he can muster, the regulars smirk and call him a middle school second grader.
- Beach Episode: In Chapter 7, Ito takes Hajime and Emi to have fun at a local water park since the card shop was closed for the week. Emi learns to swim using Magic lingo and Hajime's feelings for her start to bud.
- Cast from Hit Points: Hajime trades with Emi for Hatred, a card that allows a player to convert their own life points into one of their monster's attack points for one turn.
- Chekhov's Gun: When Emi trades Hatred for Hajime's Catastrophe, she throws in City of Traitors to make it a fair trade. This card wins Hajime the game in his duel with Kurushima over Emi's affections.
- Chuunibyou: Hajime loves acting smug and melodramatic whenever the topic of Magic or mono-black decks is involved. The narration likes to follow up by stating that the term "chuunibyou" hadn't been coined yet.
- Class Princess: Emi is known by the entire school as a kind, beautiful honor student who always ranks first place in each exam. While she is admired by most of her grade, her efforts breed jealousy among a few of her friends.
- Color-Coded Wizardry: The cards of Magic are divided into five different colors, each representing a different type of faction and mana. Most characters are associated with a deck corresponding to one or two of these colors but don't dress the part, except for Hajime since he thinks black is a badass, manly color. Both Hajime and Yakumo are mono-black players while Emi runs a mono-white deck.
- Friendly Rivalry: After bonding over a game of Magic, Hajime and Emi drop their hostile relations at school and form a secret friendship over their favorite hobby. However, Hajime is still determined to one day best Emi at both academics and Magic while Emi works hard to stay on top.
- Friends Turned Romantic Rivals
- When Hajime's best friend Kurushima finds out that Hajime has been in contact with Emi, Kurushima declares to him that he broke up with his girlfriend and plans to declare his love for her. Hajime, who has started to develop feelings for Emi, doesn't stand for it, so the two have a Magic duel over the rights to ask her out. After losing their duel, it's revealed that Kurushima never broke up with his girlfriend and it was all just an excuse to have a friendly, heated match with Hajime.
- Emi and Yakumo quickly become friends after meeting at the tournament in Shibuya, but their friendship eventually turns into a rivalry when they both realize that they have feelings for Hajime.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The title of each chapter starts with the word "Our".
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: During their first encounter at the Shibuya tournament, Hajime mistakes Yakumo for a guy since her hat was covering part of her hair and face. He doesn't recognize her at all when he sees her on a school trip wearing a skirt and no hat, not even after going on to spend the entire day with her. He only catches on once Yakumo leaves and calls him by his nickname Cloud.
- Loads and Loads of Rules: Magic: The Gathering is chock full of rules that are explained throughout the series, and each new expansion pack gives the characters access to cards full of new abilities and mechanics to play around with.
- Love Triangle: Both Yakumo and Emi eventually develop feelings for Hajime, but Hajime only has his sights set on Emi.
- Mundane Made Awesome: Each duel is portrayed as if the players are real life spellcasters summoning giant creatures to their side, interacting with field effects, and taking physical damage from opposing monsters and spells. In reality, they're just sitting down at a table playing a card game.
- Once More, with Clarity: The story opens with Hajime and Emi watching the sunset from a bridge while discussing the Nostradamus doomsday prophecy. Emi asks Hajime for a favor, but we don't find out what she asks for until the scene repeats itself in the next chapter. She asks Hajime to be with her when the world ends...as a joke.
- Secret-Keeper: Emi is desperate to keep her Magic pastime a secret from both her overbearing mother and everyone at her school, fearing that it would ruin the reputation she built up for herself over the years. While Hajime thinks it would be better off if she just acts like herself, he understands her situation and helps hide her hobby from the rest of the cast.
- Shout-Out:
- The title is a reference to "Destroy X, it can't be regenerated", a common ability description found on Magic: The Gathering cards where X can be anything from a creature, typing, artifact, enchantment, or any combination of the above.
- Several late 90's Japanese cultural references are referenced throughout the dialogue, including commercials, TV shows, and video games that were popular at the time. The most prominent one (aside from the countless nods to Magic cards) is Final Fantasy VII, as the game indirectly introduced Hajime and Kurushima to Magic and inspired them to pick the sorcerer names Cloud and Zack.
- Shrinking Violet: Yakumo is a shy, nervous girl who has trouble reaching out to others. Despite being a powerful Magic player, she hides part of her face under her hat and stutters while playing her cards.
