Amidst the dark glamor of host club Velvet Kiss, Juri—also called Juliet—commands a vice-like grip on the number one position. Impressed by this poker-faced beauty's supreme reign, newbie and number-two host Akatsuki decides he must learn Juliet's secrets—and shoot him down from the top of the pack. But Akatsuki's first up-close taste of Juliet's intoxicating charm leaves him craving more than he'd expected. And as he may soon learn, some secrets are better left in their bottles, and the bullet that shoots through one heart might take out more than it bargained for…

Shoot Juliet Down has art and story by Komachi Katsura. English translation is done by Sawa Savage and lettering by Carolina Hernández Mendoza. Published by Vertical (November 4, 2025). Rated OT.

Content warning: sexual abuse

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

Despite what plenty of other stories will tell you, the host industry isn't about love. As Shoot Juliet Down takes pains to make clear, it's about the facsimile of love, about lust and attraction deferred but targeted, and everyone involved in it can be viewed as a victim of sorts. It's a lot to handle, frankly, and the first volume only gets darker as it goes on, showing readers that there's a rotten foundation beneath the glimmering surface.

One of the characters is learning that right along with the readers. Akatsuki hasn't been working at the host club Velvet Kiss very long, but he's already the number two host, second only to Juri, occasionally known as Juliet. Akatsuki isn't entirely sure if he hates Juri or wants to be him, and eventually settles for being his lover, with all the pesky emotions that entails. The story takes great pains to show that Akatsuki and the other hosts see Juri as somehow above them all; rumors spread about him, but no one really believes them because he's just that much better than the rest of the employees.

Even though we know that can't possibly be true, it's still shocking when the veil is lifted about halfway through the volume. Juri's best customer is Mary, a prominent porn star, but the link between them is more than customer and host. They seem to have a shared past in either sex work or sexual abuse, possibly (probably?) both, and while Juri may be working to leave that behind, Mary doesn't look ready to let him. As he backslides at her behest, Akatsuki takes a step towards sex work himself, and it starts to look like “Juliet” isn't just a play on Juri's name, but a warning sign of where this story's headed. When Mary struts into Velvet Kiss and announces that Juliet's Romeo has arrived, it sounds like a knell.

With all of the sweet, earnest BL in this edition of the Guide, Shoot Juliet Down stands out. It's dark, unrelenting, and doesn't feel like a guaranteed happy ending. The art has a delicacy that's at odds with the darkness of the story, but that works. Just like the host club where Juri works, the beauty is only on the surface, and if you trust the rotten boards supporting the structure too much, you just might fall through.