As you can tell from the cover, Kirenu Hai nado Anmari Nai! (shortform "Kirenuhai") is a thrilling story centred around the half-human half-phantom Youmu. But as it weaves the various Gensokyo humans and youkai and gods and fairies into the manga, it becomes even more-so a story about mahjong itself. The MAL/MangaDex synopsis makes the manga seem more suspenseful and "high-stakes," but really Kirenuhai is both action-packed in many parts and wholesome in some. Readers familiar with Touhou (even if only a few games, like myself) will also enjoy cameos and dynamics amongst different characters who have appeared throughout the franchise. Besides the obvious Youmu-Yuyuko pairing,the author also puts Youmu together with Aya for a player-commentator dynamic that is very much appreciated throughout the manga.

A notable barrier to address before reading this manga is the reader's understanding of riichi mahjong. Thanks to author notes, several plays and strategies are adequately discussed to let people know a general idea of what is going on. However, if you are going into this manga without any prior knowledge (like myself), you may want to search up some key terms as you read. Nothing to worry about, as I found the story and games to be very fun and interesting regardless of my understanding!

Circling back to my introduction, Kirenuhai mostly dives into a Gensokyo-wide tournament at the Hakurei Shrine to decide who is the best mahjong player. Which explains why this story isn't necessarily about Youmu, but about Gensokyo collectively and how each person tailors mahjong strategy to their own style, powers, and way of life (or afterlife)--almost like the concept of spellcards in the official games. You can imagine the interesting ways that mahjong is played; I found the author's interpretation of several characters' powers to be quite intuitive and creative. The most interesting thing from all this is how the juxtaposition with Youmu's seemingly generic swordsmanship skill compared to the powers of Satori, Keine, and many others has led to surprising turns and changes in the tide of war (or yaku).

About the characters themselves: I find the author developed only some individuals throughout the story (mostly Youmu and her own mahjong skills), although such development can be relatively shallow and broken down to something as simple as fantastical people wanting to play mahjong "the normal way." Touhou fans may see Kirenuhai as more-or-less fanservice for their favourites (as is a common theme for most fanworks in general, not just exclusive to Touhou), so readers looking for life-changing, philosophical moments won't see much of it here.

Ending off with the author's art style, I find it to be pretty clean. The characters' designs are both faithful to their original designs while also keeping the author's own unique style. Besides Youmu, I am particularly fond of Akyuu and Marisa's designs in the manga. Though, the B&W panels can be quite limiting, as some moments rely on tile colours to illustrate certain yaku. But overall, the manga is well-polished and expressive, which is made clear in both the manga's backgrounds and the characters' facial expressions.

Kirenuhai conveys a fun story that has a clear purpose throughout each chapter. Even if you aren't too familiar with riichi mahjong nor the Touhou franchise, this is a pretty solid read that incorporates interesting twists on the luck-based tile game.