Gorgeous Irene is a short manga by Hirohiko Araki created for Shonen Jump. It stars the teenage assassin Irene Rapona, a girl hailing from a long bloodline of killers that decided to use her inherited techniques for good. Aiding her on this mission is her uncanny Master of Disguise ability: with some makeup and her stellar acting, she can convincingly take on any role in order to reach her target. Putting on "battle makeup" in particular warps her body into the cruel, cunning persona of "Gorgeous Irene", her fight-ready assassin self.
The manga was released as two one-shots:
- "Lauper's Palace":note A deceased tailor's son asks Irene to help him avenge his father's muder by taking out Lauper, the criminal mastermind who killed him.
- "The Girl in the Slums":note After an old rival of Irene's father sends out an assassin to kill her butler, she's forced out into the slums of New York. She gets by with help of the punk Michael, but she's pursued by that same assassin, who intends to finish the job.
Due to only being two chapters long, the manga was collected into a volume along with several other one-shots by Araki: the pilot of Cool Shock B.T., Say Hi to Virginia, Poker Under Arms, and Outlaw Man.
This manga provides examples of:
- Achilles' Heel: Irene's assassin put repellant all over her body, save the inside of her mouth, to stop the fire ants she houses from eating her. When Gorgeous Irene marks her with her lipstick, the hypnosis makes the woman keep her mouth open while the ants are still climbing on her, leading to her death.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: Madam Lauper buries cats up to their heads in flower pots and feeds them scraps, just because she can. When one accidentally scratched her, she tore the cat apart with her bare hands.
- Barehanded Blade Block: Gorgeous Irene stops Lauper's chainsaw from hitting her by grabbing it during her Danse Macabre. In "The Girl in the Slums", regular Irene is able to stop Michael's knife just by pinching the sides.
- Bullet Catch: Gorgeous Irene manages to catch several bullets in her hand when a group of Lauper's goons catch her by surprise. At the end she reveals she could do it because she replaced everyone's bullets with blanks while disguised as the old woman.
- Character Catchphrase: Gorgeous Irene's catchphrase is "I'm quite cruel, you know."
- Cold-Blooded Torture: In "Lauper's Palace", Madam Lauper and her henchwomen torture the tailor's son until he reveals who the assassin hired to kill her is. Unluckily for her, the boy was only willing to talk to distract her from Irene, who had already infiltrated the hideout and was setting up an attack.
- Chainsaw Good: One of Lauper's weapons is a massive chainsaw she uses to fight Irene.
- Dance Battler: One of Gorgeous Irene's tricks is the Danse Macabre, which makes her movements flowy and hypnotic to watch. Combined with the perfume she throws out while she's fighting, this has the effect of hypnotising her target into doing whatever she wants.
- Epigraph: The manga begins with a montage of Irene putting on makeup set to the words of John Cocteau: "She lies with her body better than the mind can grasp the artifice of the set."
- Evil Is Petty: Lauper interrogated a local tailor over why a dress couldn't immediately be made for her. She assumes it's either because of her massive size or because the tailor refuses to serve her, but either way, her reaction is to cut the man's face off and send it to his family.
- Finger Firearms: Gorgeous Irene has a set of false nails that she can shoot off of her fingers.
- Finger in the Mail: What kicks off the plot of "Lauper's Palace": Lauper sends a tailor's family a box containing his cut-off face, causing the man's son to seek revenge.
- Guile Hero: Irene may be a capable fighter in battle mode, but she has an equally as sharp wit to match and is not afraid to play dirty to accomplish her goals. Her fight with Lauper was an elaborate set-up to keep her eyes focused on her long enough to get hypnotized by the Danse Macabre, and both chapters have Irene rig part of her battles well in advance (nerfing everyone's weapons in chapter 1 and covering the floor in mines in chapter 2).
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: When not in battle mode, blonde Irene comes off as a sweet, good-natured girl who's a bit gullible. Her hair notably turns darker when she turns into her crafty alter ego.
- Harmless Lady Disguise: A same-gender example. In order to infiltrate Lauper's hideout, Irene goes deep cover as a meek old lady that Lauper's goons then kidnap. She spends a few days acting as an unassuming servant and setting up her trap before revealing herself while the tailor's son is being interrogated.
- Improbable Weapon User: Madam Lauper uses a special type of chewing gum that becomes as hard as metal when it gets cooler than body temperature. Her strong spitting, in addition to learning to mold the gum into what shapes she wants, allows her to spit out pieces as sharp as needles and as fast as bullets.
- Incapable of Disobeying: Once Lauper is hypnotized, she can only move on Irene's suggestion. Irene makes her face a mirror and draws "gruesome death makeup" down the middle of her reflection, compelling Lauper to tear herself in half with her chainsaw; she can't put it down no matter how much she protests, and only screams as she brings it closer to her face.
- Klingon Promotion: Madam Lauper took over the crime syndicate running Swing Town by taking out their boss.
- Lady Land: No man is allowed inside Lauper's hideout without a good reason: she staffs exclusively women otherwise.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Until she met the tailor's son, Irene only had her butler for company. While she does attract attention from other kids, it's usually because they find her gullible and easy to trick. In fact, she doesn't even ask the tailor's son for payment when he asks her to help: only his friendship.
- Loveable Rogue: Michael is initially introduced as a common thug mugging Irene for her wallet, but quickly grows to look out for her as she survives the New York slums.
- Master of Disguise: Irene is able to completely change her looks and personality with her makeup, as it causes even her body to contort to match her identity.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Irene's assassin's arm tattoo turns out to be an actual extra arm she masquerades as one, and it telescopes when she needs an extra hand in the fight.
- Older Alter Ego: When Irene puts on her battle makeup, her body changes into an older, more voluptuous form that allows her to kick ass and look good doing it — the titular Gorgeous Irene.
- Pest Controller: Irene's assassin hid a colony of fire ants in her tattoo that will eat through a person alive. She unleashes them on Irene, but Irene's battle makeup makes her skin repel the ants.
- Shout-Out: Madam Lauper is named after Cyndi Lauper.
- This Means Warpaint: Irene's battle makeup is a literal example: applying it to her face before a battle gives her combat-ready abilities and a body to match.
- Totalitarian Gangsterism: Under Lauper's rule, crime in Swing Town got so bad that innocents were starting to get caught in the crossfire and drug pushers were openly operating in the schools.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: "The Girl in the Slums" ends with an epilogue stating what happened to Michael and Irene.
- Michael found out the racing stub that was sold to Irene as a subway ticket was secretly a winner and used the money to start a music career. His debut single, a best seller, was dedicated to her.
- Irene disappeared and was never seen again. However, a notorious rich man was found dead, having apparently stabbed himself in the throat, and his secret identity as a crime boss that had plans for many of his rivals' assassinations was revealed.
