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When manga series involve pantheons of gods, typically we see the mangaka introduce everyone as quickly as possible in order to ensure they can begin playing parts in the story. Merit and the Egyption God, one of Yen Press’ latest shojo manga series, is no different when it comes to speeding through different story elements. However, while it is a cute series, the familiar concept and pacing almost feels like it’s speedrunning its storyline.
Editor’s Note: There are some spoilers for the first volume of Merit and the Egyptian God manga below.
Part of what I’m talking about is exemplified in how Merit and the Egyptian God starts, as the Fuyu Tsuyama and Yukari Sakai shojo manga doesn’t waste any time in getting the heroine into the realm of gods and Anubis’ life. Things begin with Merit at the scales to have her heart weighed to determine what’s next for her. We don’t know how she got there. She doesn’t remember anything. Since Anubis isn’t around and Ammit, the goddess who would eat the hearts of sinners, is hungry, the folks filling in for him just decide to call her guilty. She escapes and finds the actual Anubis, who looks like a human instead of his jackal-headed self.
Thoth appears and quickly explains he’s been cursed with humanity for neglecting his duties. Which he did after hating mankind for turning out to be terrible people. That curse can only be broken by a human. Cue Merit’s appearance. Since Anubis is the only person who can send her home, which he can only do when he recovers his powers, she needs to break the curse and get him back to work.
Naturally, by the end of the first chapter Fuyu Tsuyama and Yukari Sakai are setting the stage for love to be the answer. Though he’s acting tsundere toward her, he’s clearly infatuated in a way and reaching out to assist her even though he supposedly hates humans now. Meanwhile, there already seems to be a fascination on her part as well, and we see her connecting with him, acknowledging he’s been through a lot, and building bridges.
The thing is that by the end of the first volume of Merit and the Egyptian God, we’ve already seen a number of “major events” for a shojo manga. They connect? Check. They kiss? Yup. He rescues her? Multiple times. Other people already pick up on the fact that there seem to be feelings there? Uh huh. Breadcrumbs already suggest how a relationship between the two could be what restores his godly nature and breaks the curse too. It’s a lot going on at once. More than just a narrative means of getting people like Osiris and Horus also introduced. While cute, it’s so rushed.
It makes me wonder exactly where Merit and the Egyptian God is going to go next due to that extremely fast pacing. So many things that would normally take at least two volumes’ worth of events and character development to happen in a shojo manga already took place in the first few chapters here. While the leads and situation do seem cute, I felt like I didn’t have enough time to digest it and take it in. Worse, it also felt like it didn’t give the relationship enough time to genuinely grow and develop. I hope things slow down a bit in the second volume.
Volume 1 of Merit and the Egyptian God is available now, and Yen Press will release volume 2 on September 22, 2026.
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