Gorgeous Irene

"This is the story of the unbeatable assassin. The girl so pure and gentle... Yet ultimately dangerous. She becomes whoever she disguises as, and leaves nothing but the blood of her targets in her wake. That is Irene."

- Gorgeous Irene Chapter 1

Gorgeous Irene (ゴージャス★アイリン) is a two-chapter Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. It was first published by Shueisha in the Autumn Special of Weekly Shonen Jump on October 1, 1985, later followed by a second chapter in Issue #1 of on December 29, 1986. It narrates the adventures of Irene Rapona, a young girl who makes a second life as an assassin characterized by her makeup-based techniques.

It has been compiled with other early Araki works such as his debut: Poker Under Arms, and B.T. "The Wicked Boy", the pilot chapter of Cool Shock B.T.

Lauper's Palace
Irene Rapona is a teenage girl with a youthful face and gentle personality. Despite being really gullible and innocent, she is secretly a professional assassin who is able to transform into any type of woman using special makeup. Due to her personality, she is bullied by her classmates.

A young man is taken to Irene by her butler. He hires Irene to assassinate Lauper, a female gang leader in Swing Town (スウィング・タウン). Lauper replaced the former leader and killed the young man's father. Murders and the crime rate increased, and even children and the elderly were not spared. Lauper began selling drugs in schools and only keeps female slaves with her in her gang.

Ten days later, the man is caught by Lauper as she discovers that he hired an assassin. Irene reveals herself disguised as an old woman who was hired in the gang. She uses her Battle Makeup to transform her appearance and enhance her killer instincts. The gang fire their guns at her, but Irene had replaced all their bullets with blanks while working with them. Irene then fires her fake nails at each gang member and kills all of them, aside from Lauper.

Lauper attempts to attack Irene with a giant chainsaw, but Irene dodges it and sees through Lauper's movements with her special Death Dance. Irene's Heart Magic allows her to take control of Lauper's body after Lauper smells the scent of her perfume. Irene then manipulates Lauper into cutting herself in half with her chainsaw by using her Execution Makeup. Irene expresses sorrow that the young man spoke about her to Lauper. She lets him live because she had promised to and then leaves.

The Girl in the Slums
Irene's butler is killed by an unknown tattooed assassin. As he dies, he tasks a squirrel with warning Irene about the assassin. It is revealed that Irene's father was a killer born in the underworld. He was loyal to his boss, but eventually he and his boss were killed by another organization. Irene had inherited his killer instincts and deadly skills.

Meanwhile, a young man named Michael relaxes in the slums of in. He sees Irene walking by and is shocked to see a young girl on her own. As the butler's squirrel finds Irene and informs her of the assassin, Michael attempts to rob Irene, only to find that she only carries makeup in her purse. Angered at Irene's dazed expression, Michael takes out a knife. Irene simply grabs the knife with two fingers and hugs Michael. however. Some nearby thugs ask Michael to share Irene with them, but Michael beats them up.

The two go to a bar and meet a drug dealer who offers to make Irene rich as a film star. Irene agrees but Michael elbows the man in the face, warning Irene not to trust everyone she meets. They leave and reach the subway, where a man sells Irene an old racing stub. At first Michael refuses to take care of Irene, but he relents upon hearing that she has nowhere left to go and takes her to his house.

The next day, after Michael and Irene rob a store for money, the tattooed assassin who killed Irene's butler meets with the drug dealer. The man says he saw Irene recently, though she was wearing a disguise. That night, the assassin breaks into Michael's house. The assassin attempts to stab Irene with her phantom tattoo ability. However, Irene had already planted mines on the floor, and one of the mines blows off the assassin's foot, waking Irene.

As Irene prepares for battle, the assassin summons vicious fire ants from her tattoo which latch onto Irene's face and attempt to burrow into her skin; the assassin herself only remains unharmed via the use of a special repellent. Irene transforms using her Battle Makeup, and uses the muscles in her own face to force the insects out of her skin. Irene then dances and draws on her opponent's lips using her Execution Makeup, preventing the assassin from being able to close her mouth. Realizing too late that she has not applied the insect repellent inside her mouth, she falls through a window as the fire ants crawl into her mouth and devour her from within. Irene apologizes to Michael for lying to him and gives him a kiss before departing into the night.

Michael later discovers that the old racing stub that Irene bought was a big winner, and moves to to start his music career. He eventually releases a debut single about a mysterious girl, selling over 600,000 copies. For her part, Irene vanishes, never to be seen again. It is later reported that a mafia boss named Tony Bormont committed suicide in his Chicago estate by stabbing himself in the throat, though the police continue to suspect homicide.

Publication
The series was originally published as a two-part story, chapters 1 and 2 being released in the Autumn Special of Weekly Shonen Jump on October 1, 1985 and in #1, 1986 (December 29, 1986) respectively. It was later compiled in tankōbon format along with various other Araki works made before JoJo's Bizarre Adventure in 1987. This volume, The Gorgeous Irene, was later republished in aizōban (collector's) and bunkoban editions. In Italy, said compilation was published by Star Comics as a part of the Il bizzarro universo di Hirohiko Araki (Hirohiko Araki's Bizarre Universe) collection in 2019.

Gallery
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Trivia

 * Araki came up with Gorgeous Irene ' s plot while pursuing physical power. He named her "Irene" because he thought it sounded cute and started to draw her to see if he could actually draw girls. In the end, he admits that he thinks he couldn't draw girls.
 * Several of the characters in the manga bear a resemblance to characters found in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
 * Lauper's gang members have headgear similar to the Pillar Men.
 * Michael has a strong resemblance to Jonathan Joestar.
 * The man in the bar's hairstyle is similar to Stroheim's.
 * The concept of using makeup for extreme appearance changing would later be revisited with Cinderella.
 * Despite the popularity of Gorgeous Irene, Araki decided not to have it serialized as a weekly manga. In that time period, he felt that something was off and believed a female protagonist would not fit into his work. Years later, he revisited the idea with Jolyne Cujoh, the first female protagonist of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

Cameos



 * In Chapter 1 of Phantom Blood, Dio Brando is seen reading a book bearing the title "Gorgeous Irene" as a self-reference.
 * In, the cafe where Joseph Joestar fights Straizo is called "Irene's Cafe". JoJo's Pitter-Patter Pop! includes the cafe in its New York furniture.
 * Gorgeous Irene is mentioned on a TV channel when Joseph Joestar uses Hermit Purple on a television in.
 * Rohan Kishibe's bookshelf in I Want You, the ending theme of Diamond is Unbreakable, has Gorgeous Irene alongside Baoh the Visitor and other works of Araki.
 * Eyes of Heaven contains a reference to Gorgeous Irene, as the title of an opera advertised in the Naples Station stage.