Change 123 - HiFuMi are all great! But I do prefer Motoko as personality overall.

Change 123 (ちぇんじ123) is an action/romance manga series written by Iku Sakaguchi and illustrated by Shiuri Iwasawa. It is complete with 12 volumes released between 2005 and 2010. The author is also known for the Yami Kariudo manga series, which has had a few entries over time. I have read 9 volumes so far.

The story follows Kosukegawa Teruharu, a high school student who loves series like Kamen Rider, and Motoko Gettou, a seemingly normal high school girl who is suffering from multiple personality disorder. Motoko was orphaned at an early age and raised by her three foster fathers, all of whom are martial arts masters.

Due to the extreme training she was subjected to, Motoko became stressed enough to generate three different split personalities that refer to themselves as Hibiki, Fujiko, and Mikiri, collectively known as HiFuMi. Each personality is skilled in the specific martial art of her respective father.

Kosukegawa unwittingly discovers her secret and is forced to promise not to reveal it, as Motoko wants to live a normal life as a high school girl. As the story progresses, the two get closer and eventually develop romantic feelings for each other (technically, Kosukegawa ends up in love with all the alternative personalities too).

This, combined with the presence of a mysterious "Zero" personality that is excessively violent and bloody, makes Motoko want to hold off on pursuing a stable relationship until she can completely merge back into a single personality. Kosukegawa helps with this while getting involved in various conspiracies orchestrated by external actors who want to use Motoko for their own ends.

The thing that surprised me most is how Motoko's design changes completely depending on which personality is currently in control of the body. Honestly, it reaches the point where some of them don't look like her at all in terms of facial features. They try to explain this in the story, but it is quite a weak explanation that requires a significant level of suspension of disbelief.

The series has a generous amount of fanservice, mostly focused on the main heroine Motoko and her various personalities. As I mentioned before, their personalities and even physical features are so different that it feels like you have four different heroines, so you don't really get bored with it.

It also sports quite a bit of violent action between Motoko and the other characters, which can sometimes feel a bit too direct for my tastes. On the other hand, Kosukegawa is way too focused on justice and being fair. This can get annoying at times, but I guess they wanted to show the stark contrast between the action-heavy heroines and the more peace-loving protagonist.

There are various factions that seem to target Motoko for their own purposes, ranging from thugs to the military forces of certain countries. It is a game of escalation where our characters are faced with increasingly complicated situations. Some of these factions want to awaken Zero and make it the base personality.

Over the course of the series, many characters also become friendly toward Motoko and start helping to protect her. However, they never move away from the side character role, leaving Motoko as the only real heroine of the story. This fits fine considering she is a "4-in-1" package.

If you like action-focused manga with a good share of fanservice, this is a good pick. I will continue reading this over the course of the next few months and will make a few more posts about it.