~Dokuhime
Previously I recommended Deka Wanko as a Lolita manga series. It is silly, sweet, and cute. Today I have a completely different type of Lolita manga to recommend. Dokuhime, also known as La Princesse de Poison or Poison Princess, is dark, slightly twisted, and quite Gothic. The Poison Princesses wear beautiful frilly dresses, but are actually assassins meant to kill with the poison in their bodies.
Scan of the front cover of Vol.1
Shikka, the servant, and Lycoris, the second Poison Princess we meet. Her story goes much more in depth than the first Poison Princess, which I think was just an introduction to how the Poison Princess assassination is supposed to work.
Artwork of Lycoris and Belladonna, the first Poison Princess
I don't want to give away any plotlines or too much of the stories, but the setting is in a medieval-ish world (so no hi-tech stuff) with different kingdoms and rulers. One such kingdom raises orphans as Poison Princesses (described in the quote above) to use as assassins against opposing kingdoms. It is really quite interesting. Lycoris fails to assassinate her victim and instead finds some really strange deceptions going on in that kingdom while she is being held prisoner. There are also little side stories that tell the background of other characters such as the 3 princes in the kingdom Lycoris was sent to destroy. OK, I think I said enough already ;)
Read scanlations here! It is only done through Chapter 13 right now, and I can't wait for the next chapter!!
I am pretty sure that the concept of Poison Princesses would not work in real life. It might make them build up a tolerance to many poisons, but I don't think that the girls would actually become poisonous. In the manga, their touch, their blood, their tears, etc. are all toxic. That is stretching it a bit far!
If you read this series, let me know what you think!
