Seigi no Mikata ("Ally of Justice") is a Josei manga by Chiaki Hijiri. It was serialized in Chorus from 2004 to 2008.
Pity poor Youko, who's spent 17 years being tormented by her demonic older sister Makiko. As our story opens, she suffers her latest humiliation when Makiko tells Youko's hot new boyfriend that she suffers diarrhea, causing him to dump her. But this is par for the course for a woman who cheerfully maces the neighbors dogs, and permanently scares off all the patients at the health clinic she's just started working at. Youko can only hope and pray that one day, Laser-Guided Karma will finally hit its biggest target.
But what's this? Youko's new boyfriend was planning to dump her as soon as he got some sex? And the dogs were terrifying the neighborhood? And the clinic was operating without a license? Why does Makiko keep getting civic awards and recognition in the newspapers? Could she actually be an... ally of justice?!
Does not relate to Seigi No Mikata for PlayStation 2.
Tropes:
- Accidental Hero: Makiko, big time.
- Arc Words: "My sister is a demon."
- Asshole Victim: If whoever Makiko torments doesn't end up benefiting from her behavior, they'll usually turn out to be this.
- Babies Make Everything Better: Makiko's pregnancy resolves the fight that she and Naoki had.
- Berserk Button: Do not bug Makiko when she's eating. Or, in any way, get between her and food. Especially when she's hungry.
- Big Eater: Makiko is mentioned to usually be able to eat for 10 people.
- Chain of Deals: Makiko wants to go on vacation. The whole charade begins with a new employee asking her to reserve a seat for the flower viewing and gives her a branch of cherry blossoms. On her way home, a woman asks her to lend her the branch to show to her bed-ridden relative - Makiko gives her the branch and receives a bag full of organic vegetables. She leaves the vegetables with a colleague of hers, receiving tickets to a play for helping her colleague to get her picky kids to eat vegetables. When trying to cash the ticket in, she's approached by men who want to buy the ticket off of her for a famous woman to view the play and the woman gives her a rare, limited edition bag. Said bag later gets given to the vice president of Makiko’s company because a friend of hers wanted to buy such a bag but it was sold out, and she gives Makiko tickets and a reservation for a 10-Day Luxury Trip abroad.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Okamoto-kun's girlfriend Moriyama shapes up into this when Youko is striking up a friendship with him.
- Decoy Protagonist: The manga is from Youko's point of view, but she's not really the main character.
- Defiant to the End: Makiko refuses to bow her head to anyone, saying she'd only do it to Son Masayoshi
, the richest man of Japan. - Demoted to Extra: Naoki does hardly anything after the Time Skip, despite being relatively important before then.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Makiko's specialty.
- Embarrassing Cover Up: Makiko does these for Youko repeatedly, even when nothing is wrong with her. Including telling her boyfriend that Youko is late cause she's taking a shit or using Youko having hemorrhoids as an excuse for having to stay at her parents' for a while.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Makiko called Youko 'Kumako' as a child and still writes the name on her notebooks. Unfortunately, this made Okamoto-kun think it really is Youko's name.
- Free-Range Children: Jun has a habit of running off on his own. On one occasion, he nearly runs across a busy road, and only Makiko yelling at him stops him from running out and getting hit by a car.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Makiko. Tiny things can bug her, leading her to use one of her (in)famous revenge tactics on someone.
- Hypocrite: Makiko torments a coworker who has to leave early to pick her child up from nursery school by playing a recording of their colleagues gossiping about her and saying she should quit her job. Makiko is pregnant at this time, but has no intention of quitting her own job.
- In the Blood: Youko frequently worries that she is becoming her sister, because they share the same blood. Her rudeness in dealing with Takanashi's motive for helping her study even causes some of her classmates to think that she is, indeed, a demon.
- Karma Houdini: Karma appears to be actually reversed for Makiko: Her vicious pranks and acts of petty vengeance often end up as good deeds.
- Kick the Dog: Makiko makes a habit out of this. To give just one example, when she visits the new hair salon in town, the staff go out of their way to pamper her, up to having the manager himself wash her hair. In return, she lies about the quality of the service they gave her and has them shut down.
- Nonstandard Character Design: A visual hint that there is something off about Makiko is that she is drawn in a different style from everyone else.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Youko herself admits, at times, that she can be just as horrifingly evil as her sister.
- Omniscient Morality License: How Makiko acts. Even when there is no way that even she could know her actions would help people.
- Only Sane Man: Youko is one of the only people who sees Makiko for what she really is. However, she eventually comes to have a grudging admiration for Makiko as a free spirit unchained social norms.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Makiko being listless and not eating a ton? What's going on? It's first thought to be because of the fight she and Naoki are going through. Turns out she's pregnant.
- Romantic False Lead:
- Youko lampshades that, since she hangs around Okamoto despite him having a girlfriend, that she is one of those characters whose sole purpose is to get shoved aside in the climax when the hero and heroine hook up. Ironically, after not seeing Okamoto for several years, she meets him again, with his former girlfriend nowhere to be seen.
- It's also played straight with Takanashi, who seems to have some chemistry with Youko in college, only for her to realize that he doesn't feel that way about her and is helping her study only because he finds failure pathetic. Then Okamoto comes back.
- School Play: Youko's school play was Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. She lost out on the part of Snow White, but was cast as her evil stepmother and everyone says Youko's evil queen was amazingly frightening. Her inspiration? Makiko.
- Sudden Name Change: The author decided on a name-change during the run of the series, resulting in Sumiko and Takeshi being changed into Makiko and Naoki.
- The Chikan: Makiko tells Youko how to make them avoid her... by making her look like an idiot.
- Time Skip: Once Youko goes to college, a few years skip by, and Jun grows from an infant to a kindergartener.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Youko auditions for the role of Snow White and is rejected because of her sister’s antics, but still manages to land the role of the evil stepmother.
- Too Kinky to Torture: Variant that does not involve torture, but Makiko gets a supervisor whose proclivities have earned him the title of “Sexual Harassment King” to cease his deviant ways by pretending to be turned on. She tells her female coworkers that these gropers want women to be squicked out, so pretending to like it will make them go away.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: The manga contrasts Makiko's wacky antics with Youko's comparatively much more banal quest to get a boyfriend. Thankfully, she grows out of this after the Time Skip.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: When the unthinkable happens and Makiko vomits from eating too much, it's thankfully not shown and is specifically mentioned to have been cut because it was a 'pitiful scene'.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Youko likes to imagine herself as the protagonist of a shoujo romance manga, but thanks to Makiko, she isn't.
