DearS Review: An Alien Slave Comedy That's More Earnest Than Its Premise Deserves

An alien species arrives on Earth offering servitude. One of them finds the one boy who didn't want to be waited on. This is somehow very funny.

Quick Take

• Peach-Pit's pre-Shugo Chara work: a sweet alien comedy that's warmer than its "slave" premise sounds
• Complete at 8 volumes, which is a perfect length for this kind of story
• Better appreciated as character comedy than as anything with deeper ambitions

Who Is This Manga For?

• Fans of Peach-Pit's other work (Rozen Maiden, Shugo Chara) who haven't read their earlier series
• Readers who enjoy alien-comes-to-Earth romantic comedies
• People looking for something lighthearted and complete without heavy drama
• Fans of the early-2000s Dengeki aesthetic

Content Warnings & Age Rating

Age Rating: T (Teen) Content Warnings: Servitude/slavery framing (played for comedy and gently deconstructed), mild fan service, romantic situations

The "slave" premise is addressed in the story — the question of what Ren actually wants versus what she's been programmed to provide is where the real plot lives.

Yu's Rating

Category	Score
Story Depth	★★★☆☆
Art Style	★★★★☆
Character Development	★★★☆☆
Accessibility for Non-Japanese Readers	★★★★☆
Reread Value	★★★☆☆

Story Overview

An alien species called the DearS has arrived on Earth offering to serve humanity. They are genetically programmed to be devoted servants — warm, willing, efficient. Japan has agreed to accept a limited number of them into society.

Takeya Ikuhara is a high school student who wants nothing to do with the DearS craze. He finds them unsettling — the servitude premise bothers him in a way he can't articulate. Then he finds Ren collapsed on the street, having apparently fallen off a transport, and brings her home.

Ren declares him her "master." He refuses. She follows him anyway.

The comedy comes from Takeya's principled discomfort with the master-slave dynamic and Ren's completely guileless pursuit of him anyway. The romantic arc develops from that tension: what Ren was built to be versus who she actually becomes through contact with someone who treats her differently.

Peach-Pit is good at creating alien/magical characters who learn humanity through proximity to specific humans — they do it in Rozen Maiden and Shugo Chara as well. In DearS, the learning is Ren's, and it's the warmest thing in the story.

Characters

Takeya Ikuhara — Grumpy, principled, and gradually unable to maintain the grumpiness in the face of Ren's complete sincerity.

Ren — The alien girl who was labeled defective by her own people and turns out to be the most genuinely curious and emotionally honest of the DearS. Her process of deciding what she wants rather than what she's supposed to want is the story's core.

Miu — A DearS who is more representative of the species' design — compliant, programmed — and serves as a contrast to Ren's development.

Art Style

Classic Peach-Pit: clean, soft, expressive character designs with good comedic timing in the layouts. The DearS have distinctive visual features (the ribbons especially) that make them recognizable. The art is professional and suitable to the tone — light, warm, occasionally dramatic.

Cultural Context

DearS arrived during the early-2000s trend of alien-or-supernatural-being falls in love with ordinary Japanese boy stories. The "slave" framing was more common in this genre than it would be in contemporary publishing — the story is somewhat aware of the ethical questions it raises and addresses them through Takeya's principled resistance and Ren's developing autonomy.

What I Love About It

Ren trying to understand what she actually wants, independent of what she's been built to provide, is the story that the "slave comedy" premise is hiding. The moment she articulates something she wants for herself — not for Takeya, not for her role — is small and completely earned.

Peach-Pit writes characters who are performing roles they didn't fully choose (this is true in Rozen Maiden too) and finds the humanity in the space between performance and self. DearS is the lightest version of that, but it's still there.

What English-Speaking Fans Say

Remembered by Peach-Pit fans as their earlier work, appreciated for its lightness and charm. Not as beloved as Rozen Maiden or Shugo Chara, but fondly thought of. The complete English release at 8 volumes is consistently cited as a virtue — it's a complete story.

Memorable Scene ⚠️ Spoiler Warning

The arc where Ren has to choose between what her programming tells her to do and what she's learned she wants is the payoff the whole story was building toward. It's not dramatic in an operatic sense — it's a small choice made quietly. But it's the choice that makes the whole premise retroactively meaningful.

Similar Manga

Title	Its Approach	How DearS Differs
Please! Teacher	Alien woman/human man; secret cohabitation	DearS is lighter and more focused on the alien learning humanity
Absolute Boyfriend	Manufactured partner developing feelings	DearS deals with an entire species rather than an individual and is more comedic
Rozen Maiden	Non-human characters learning to want things	Rozen Maiden is darker and more dramatically elaborate; DearS is warmer and simpler

Reading Order / Where to Start

Volume 1, straight through. Eight volumes is a good length for this kind of story.

Official English Translation Status

Tokyopop published all 8 volumes in English. Complete and available.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Complete at 8 volumes with a satisfying arc
• Ren's character development is genuine and affecting
• Peach-Pit's art is consistently charming
• The comedy works and doesn't overstay its welcome

Cons

• The "slave" premise requires tolerance for a setup that modern readers may find uncomfortable
• Takeya can be abrasive in early volumes before his character softens
• Supporting cast is underdeveloped
• The story's ambitions are modest — this is comfort reading, not deep storytelling
• The DearS society worldbuilding is somewhat vague

Is DearS Worth Reading?

As an 8-volume complete story, yes — if the premise doesn't put you off. Warm, charming, with a genuinely affecting central character arc. Good comfort reading.

Format Comparison

Format	Pros	Cons
Physical	Soft art reads well in print	May be out of print
Digital	More accessible	—
Omnibus	No omnibus available	—

Where to Buy

Read the first volume. If it doesn't hook you, put it down. It'll hook you.

Start with Volume 1 →

---

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.