From the creator of Heaven's Lost Property comes another story about a young man having a chance encounter with an angel-like being! However, unlike Heaven's Lost Property, we seem to have dialed back on the fan service in exchange for having more comedy and potentially more dramatic moments down the line. That is far from a bad approach, and if we are strictly talking about comedy, then Excellent Property is actually a pretty strong read.

Much of the volume's comedy comes from the dialogue and panel framing, particularly between our two leads, Yuugo and Hamniel. Their interactions embody the airheaded failure and clever asshole dynamic pretty well. Hamniel is a failure angel who wants to do a good job but is perpetually put into a lose-lose situation at a residence where everybody can barely get by on their own. I liked her exchanges with Yuugo because he admits that she is entertaining to tease, often deflecting her very reasonable questions with morally righteous speeches that, at first glance, seem to persuade her. But it's all just thinly veiled bullshit when you think about what he is saying. My favorite bit in the manga is where Yuugo tries to hide that he doesn't want to share his food by going on about how eating other creatures is a sin but then just eats behind Hamniel's back when she's not looking. There's a rhythm to the comedy where we get some good dialogue like this and then a silent bit of slapstick as a follow-up.

The manga switches between a more natural anime style and a simplified chibi style to great effect. I loved Hamniel's design, and you can tell she got the most attention during the drawing process. Everybody else's designs are a bit more on the generic side. But things work a lot better when we get to the funnier parts with everyone in chibi form. Whether they're the mature adult, the quiet schemer, or the bumbling airhead, everyone seamlessly falls into their roles.

The problem is that, based on this first volume, the comedy and drama of the story don't always mesh well. I'm not always a big fan of stories that will often have a character act rudely for the sake of a funny bit, only for a scene right afterward to try to frame that same character as a kind and understanding guy. There are a lot of attempts at framing Yuugo as some tragic character jaded by realism. While I think his dialogue is very well written, and I have no doubt that he has reasons for being as jaded as he is, I would've liked a few more scenes where he was more genuinely kind back toward Hamniel. You could argue that he has no reason to be kind to her because he still needs to look out for himself, and by the nature of the story, she is more or less freeloading off of him. But if that's the case, then I don't need the book to use Hamniel as a mouthpiece for how kind of a person Yuugo is. I think it would've been more natural if Hamniel hadn't been so quick to see Yuugo as a good person until later in this first volume or the story.

The book tries to have his cake and eat it, too, by creating a specific comedic dynamic based on rudeness and cruelty between our two leads while also trying to have the story set up for something more profound. Maybe it'll be handled more gracefully in later volumes, but for right now, it is undoubtedly clunky. The artwork is nice, and the comedy is strong, so I wish it had leaned more into that. I'm sure the ball will drop at some point, but the journey there needs to be established on a better foundation. If I were to judge this series outside of its pedigree, then I would say you don't need to rush to the bookstore right away to check it out. Maybe wait to hear if things get more interesting down the line.