Getting Some Strange – ‘Interspecies Reviewers’ Volume 1 Manga Review

What’s the manga? Interspecies Reviewers, Volume 1.

Hmm, okay, and what’s it about? Guess.

Sorry, what? You want me to “guess” what this manga is about? I mean, this is you we’re talking about so something perverted no doubt… is it about reviewing the attractiveness of monster girls? Good guess, and pretty close to the correct answer. Specifically its a fantasy series about a group of guys who go around to the various red-light districts in this fantasy world and partake in the pleasures of the flesh and then post their ‘reviews’ of the unique girls they sleep with on a bulletin board. Basically, its trip advisor for a fantasy brothels with an emphasis on the particulars of the girls employed in said brothels.

Paradise.

That’s somehow more perverted than I could have imagined. You musn’t have much of an imagination then…

Wait, isn’t “reviewing” women kinda, pretty sexist? I mean that’s a surface level interpretation. All the women who get “reviewed” are prostitutes who are providing a service, are being paid for it and benefit from being “reviewed” not only by exposure but by getting a more tailored clientele as the result of said reviews. It’s not like this is scummy classroom ranking list of the ‘hottest girls in class’, our reviewers take their job seriously!

Gives a new spin on “tentacle play”.

Right. So what’s the appeal of this manga then? Is it just a smorgasbord of fan-service related to non-human looking women? You’d think so but visually this series is pretty tame, all things considered. I mean sure it’s got a smattering of nudity (mostly towards the end of the volume) but the majority of the ‘erotic’ content comes in the form of the dialogue and situations. Our protagonists aren’t afraid to talk about sex and the various physical differences between humanoids and the various fantasy inspired women (and sometimes men) they sleep with. Truth be told this series is a lot denser than I expected both in the sheer volume of content per manga volume and the elaborate detail and world-building it employs. I’ve read full-blown Isekai that don’t commit this much time to character building and that in-of-itself is impressive.

One eyed people do it differently, apparently.

I… I’ve got so many questions, I don’t know where to begin… Well try because I’m willing to answer any and all.

Okay. So what about the protagonists then? We have a sort of rotating roster of male protagonists who journey together to one particular establishment per chapter usually four at a time. Though the three prominent figures in the series are the human Stunk, the elf, Zel and the angel Crimvael. Stunk being the human acts as the audience analogue to terrific comedic effect, especially early on as we see him exit an elf brothel having slept with a cute and spritely elf girl, only for his friend Zel to admonish him for sleeping with “an old hag”. It’s at this point we learn the differences between priorities when it comes to desirability in a sexual partner. Stunk (and the audience) sees a cute elf girl as a cute girl and therefore desirable but Zel, a fellow elf sees that she’s actually 500 years old and therefore stinks of “rotten mana” and instead preferences a 50 year old human woman, remarking how “humans are the best because you’re never going to find one over a hundred [years old]”.

An example of the review format. Lots of these in the first volume, lots of reading.

So it’s a comedy then? Didn’t I make that clear? It’s absolutely a comedy first and an ecchi (or whatever) second. I’m not the first to make this comparison but it’s got more than a little bit in common with the anime ‘Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt’ in that its main characters are perverted and crude and obsessed with sex. The only difference is that ‘Interspecies Reviewers’ 100% commits to format and contains pages and pages of detailed descriptions that almost makes it feel like overkill.

I wanna meet these Limim.

Do I sense a negative incoming? Not a “negative” but rather an ‘unexpected’–in that I didn’t expect to be reading so much in a sex-comedy series. It’s all good stuff, it’s all interesting and entertaining but there’s a lot of it so just prepare yourself for it. That’s all i’m saying…

Anything else you wanted to add? For me the most interesting character is Crimvael the angel–not just because of the idea of a fallen angel frequenting fantasy brothels is inherently funny to me–but because this character actually possess both genders (something the other two protagonists don’t know about) and so his experience with sex is very different to the almost painfully heterosexual Stunk and Zel. There’s a great scene where the three of them go to a brothel that has a spell that turns its customers into the opposite gender and while Stunk and Zel decide to go for purey lesbian experiences, Crimvael picks a hyena woman who we later learn are a species who have penises (and ones larger than hyena men for that matter!)

Who knew “chub” could be a sound effect!

Right, so a bisexual trap character? I mean, sure, if you want to put it that way.

What? What’s wrong with that I said? Probably a lot, but what I mean is that this series highlights just how ridiculous the fact that gender and sexuality is something some people consider to be absolutely binary. It’s not, and the sooner people realise that gender and sexuality is fluid the sooner we can get rid of pointless labels that are used to persecute and minimise those who are perceived as “different”.

Some women have dicks, deal with it!

Well this review took a turn… Yeah, they tend to when I’m involved…

Anyway, final review and recommendation for ‘Interspecies Reviewers’ Volume 1? While almost entirely focused on sex, its presented in such a cartoon-y and “rounded” visual style that I think even people who aren’t traditionally “into” ecchi manga could enjoy this. Yes it’s still sexy but it’s also silly and funny but with an exhaustive attention to detail that draws the reader into the world. Certainly not for prudes, as there’s discussions of genitals and orgasms and sexual fluids aplenty but likewise it’s never truly gross–it’s just honest. But then maybe I’ve spent a bit too much time reading actual hentai doujins so this just seems quaint by comparison…

I want to learn more about this ragtag trio of snake person, fairy and sentient lobster who all enjoy orgies.

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Darling in the FranXX Episode 21 – Anime QandA Review

What’s the show? Darling in the FranXX, Episode 21.

Ah, doing episodic reviews of this show now are we? As much as it pains me to admit it, I just can’t stop thinking about this show! Specifically how I’ve seemingly 180’d on the whole damn series–like this never happens–I’m notoriously stubborn and for a show I initially disliked to be now among my most anticipated each week is nothing short of sorcery! Sorcery I tell you!

It’s something all right… so what happens this episode? Well as you may recall aliens exist–also they want to blow up the world, also this is still very much a love story above all else, come fight me if you disagree!

Settle down there big fella, let’s start with the ‘aliens wanting to blow up the world’-thing and go from there. The Klaxo-sapiens were an ancient but highly advanced civilization that lived some 60 million years ago (take that, creationists!) one day while minding their own business some alien jerks who’d evolved beyond physical bodies “invited” them to join their ascended order. The Klaxo’s declined and war broke out, it lasted a long time ’til what remained of the race either assimilated into magma energy or evolved into battle creatures.

Sure… and then? Present day–Last remaining Klaxo-sapien (the Princess) is dying, strangled by the bad aliens’ failsafe on the ancient mega weapon Star Entity. Meanwhile, Hiro and Zero Two still exist–don’t forget about them! This is a coming of age drama/romance after all… all this silly alien robot stuff is just the garnish.

Are you being sarcastic? Quite the contrary actually. With the help of the rest of Plantation 13’s rambunctious robots and their BFF pilots, Zero Two makes it to Hiro’s side amidst the corrupted interior of Strelitzia. But she’s too late! Hiro is dead! Or is he?

Is he?! Of course not, through the power of love (and the Klaxosaur princess giving up the rest of her life force) Hiro is awakened! The alien’s evil fail safe–and world ending capabilities–are neutralized! Strelitzia evolves into the uber powerful Strelitzia Apath which blows the alien fleet out of the sky and sends the remnants of Papa scurrying off like some Saturday morning cartoon villain–swearing vengeance upon their inevitable return!

This… this really doesn’t read like a positive review at all. It sounds like you’re making fun of the show. Listen, I’m not going to sit here and pretend this wasn’t an exceptionally goofy, over-the-top, melodramatic and conveniently concluded episode of an anime. But you know what it was? It was ~exactly~ the kind of wacky, gorgeous, emotion driven, character filled nonsense that I’ve come to expect from this series–except against the most ludicrous of backdrops thus far. And judging it by that criteria, I have nothing else to say.

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Previous Darling in the FranXX Reviews:

Episode 1-15 Review
Episode 16-20 Review

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It’s All About Love… & Robots – A 20 Question Review of Darling in the FranXX (Episode 16-20)

If you haven’t already please read my post: Puberty & Robots – A 20 Question Reassessment of Darling in the FranXX Episodes 1-15 for context to this post.

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I can’t say I expected this review so soon after your other one, clearly you have a lot to say about this show, huh? I kind of hate that I was initially so combative towards this show because the more I think about this show (and I think about it a lot) the more I really respect its creative decisions!

I feel like you’re pretty alone with that opinion… at least in the ani-blogging community. ~Maybe~ but isn’t that the point of blogging to convince others to a different frame of thinking, shouting outside the echo chamber.

Yeah… good luck with that. Tch.

So what did you want to talk about now? Presumably this is about the subsequent lot of episodes after the self described “first part” of the anime? Yes, episodes 16 to 20. Or what I’m calling ‘It’s all about love’ arc.

That’s a terrible name… Shuddup!

It started with a kiss.

So what plot beats comprise this ark? (presume for a second that whoever is reading this at least passingly familiar with the events up to this episode.) It’s a big ol’ love fest up in Plantation 13. Zero Two loves Hiro, Ichigo loves Hiro, Goro loves Ichigo, Ikuno loves Ichigo, Kokoro loves Mitsuru, Futoshi loves Kokoro and Doctor Franks loves all of them! It’s just a big clustertruck of love and feelings and messiness and it’s like the best worst soap opera I’ve ever seen just put against the backdrop of a a generational spanning dystopian sci-fi extravaganza.

That’s a lot of love! Oh and did I mention that not only does Doctor Franks love his Plantation 13 labrats, he also loves the Princess of the Klaxosaurs, a.k.a the long running enemy of the entire series, but the Princess loves ‘Star Entity’ a weapon recently acquired by PAPA—the all-knowing, all seeing overseers in space!

Klaxosaur Princess is as terrifying as she is cute.

My head hurts… And so it should! Either Darling in the FranXX doubles down on the relationship drama or it doubles down on the sci-fi weirdness, these 5 episodes prove that it’s capable of both and neither simultaneously!

How do you mean? Well it all comes so hard and fast (no pun intended) that you just kind of have to let it wash over you, lest you drown in the madness of it all. With the exception of the partial flash-back episode that helps explain some of how the world ended up as a series of dome worlds in an apocalyptic wasteland, the new sci-fi beats such as klaxosaur princess and ‘star entity’ and secret space aliens who’ve been partially in control of the government this whole damn time!

She’s not piloting this thing bent over.

“Secret space aliens”? Huh?! Yeah, episode 20 closes out with probably one of the hastiest out-of-nowhere space battles in a show that’s up to that point never even mentioned aliens. And you know what? I’m a-okay with that!

You really seem to be bending over backwards to defend this show’s sloppy narrative decisions? You mean bending over backwards like the Pistil’s do in the FranXX cockpits?!

Klaxosaurception.

Sure, whatever, why not… So back to the ‘love’ aspect of this post as I’m sure that’s what you’re wanting to focus on. What’s the big deal about it anyway? Not in general obviously, just in the context of this show. Love, sex, procreation are all things that have been rendered obsolete by this ‘new world’. As the previously mentioned flash back episode explains, Dr Franks discovered a way to make humans immortal but at the cost of their reproductive capabilities. So not only are these concepts of “love” and “relationships” and “sex” and “procreation” completely unheard of ideas to the young cast of characters they’re also actively downtrodden by the powers at be—which serves as a central conflict for these episodes.

The overarching theme of love lost is foreboding.

How so? Well way back in Episode 7, in the infamous ‘beach episode’ while exploring the ruins of an ancient city Kokoro found a book about human reproduction, something that’s never taught to the Parasites (children) of any of the plantations. Ever since then Kokoro’s been slowly getting more and more enamoured with the idea of having children and so when she finally grows closer to Mitsuru they kiss, they have sex(!) and they decide they want to get married.

It was a very sweet wedding episode, of course to be completely ruined by meddlesome adults!

Well that escalated quickly! On paper, yes. But in the show it’s very organic and gradual I really appreciated what they did with this plot line—even the wedding episode—which are usually obnoxious affairs (if American sitcoms are anything to go by) is genuinely sweet and heart-warming. Until of course it’s broken up by PAPA’s armed forces and torn asunder by evil brain washing.

And what about the love between Ichigo and Ikuno, they’re both girls aren’t they? Doesn’t that clash with this show’s “heteronormative agenda”—your words, not mine! Ugh, I’m going to regret those words for a long time it seems. Yes, this show has been staggeringly heteronormative to this point, but they address it here too! Ikuno, who’s been not-so-secretly closeted gay since early on finally confesses her feelings to Ichigo and it’s equally sweet as it is heart-breaking! Here’s a girl, whose whole life is surrounded by ‘boy x girl’ partnerships and burgeoning relationships and feelings between hormonal boys and girls, but she feels nothing for the boys, she “only has eyes” for Ichigo.

She couldn’t be any more gay.

I’m guessing those feelings aren’t returned? Not as such. But Ichigo is at least sensitive enough to Ikuno’s feelings to not recoil or pull away or even say a negative word against her love confession instead is content to listen and sympathise with her “complicated” feelings.

Hmm, fair enough. So are you happy about that plot line? I’m happy Ikuno’s sexuality was addressed and not either swept under the rug or made to feel invalid, I just hope the shows gives her some decent closure by the end of it and not leave her as some smiling bystander as all the other happy couples get their chance to live their lives as they walk into the sunset…

Ikuno deserves love too.

Speaking of the “other happy couples”, what about our star duo? Hiro and Zero Two. It might be obnoxious to say because they are the ‘main attraction’ as it were, but I really do love watching these two… well be ‘in love’, more than anything Zero Two deserves love and the love Hiro gives her is just so tangible and connected and intimate and special I just can’t even.

“Can’t even” what? I can’t even!

Right, this is one of those ‘millennial’ memes, yeah? So, wrapping this review up what do you foresee going forward and what do you want to happen? There’s going to be sex and betrayal and drama and a SURPRISE PREGNANCY and ~feels~ and everything else you’d expect from a soap opera starring a bunch of horny teens! What I want to happen is for them all to go off and live ‘Happily Ever After’ on a cliffside town overlooking a nice beach somewhere… whether we’ll get that is another matter entirely.

♪ “Will your lips taste the kiss of death?” ♪

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Puberty & Robots – A 20 Question Reassessment of Darling in the FranXX (Episode 1-15)

Well well well… I never thought I’d see the day you reviewed Darling in the FranXX again! What with all the bluster and hand-wringing and harsh words you threw at it in your previous two reviews? Yes it’s true, I had some ~negative~ comments about the show when I first watched it in the week-to-week format when it first came out.

Uh-huh, that’s the understatement of the century. You were frothing at the mouth you had so much vitriol toward the show. Why are we back reviewing it again? Well I took a two month break from the show after Episode 8, and I’ve been keeping tabs on it on social media and through various blogger’s reviews and I noticed the mood turning on the show, some of the people who were quick to sing its praises were growing cold on the show and I thought this was interesting.

How so? Well I observed a pattern, people were turning off the show because they felt it was focusing too much on the relationships between the characters and not enough on the world-building and sci-fi plot that was the hook for so many people—myself included.

So initially you watched the show because you thought it was going to be a compelling sci-fi/dystopian tale with mild teen-angst & robots. That’s correct.

But what is the show actually about? It’s a compelling coming-of-age story/romance/drama set against a back-drop of dystopian sci-fi & robots.

♪ “Tonight is the night… when two become one…” ♪

Sorry, did you just call this show “compelling”? What happened to the guy who ranted on for over 1000 words using buzz-words like “the patriarchy” and “heteronormative”? Oh I’m still here, I just realised something along the way while reading the messages of all those people who were getting disappointed about what the show was choosing to focus on.

And what’s that? That this show was never meant to be taken seriously, the show was never meant to be viewed as some sort of genre-spanning masterpiece or some sci-fi action extravaganza, it’s just a story about a bunch of kids who live an unusual life trying to navigate the perils of puberty and love and relationships without the help of external influences like parents or teachers or guardians or older siblings to guide them.

Why did you underline that part? What did you think you came up with something revolutionary there? I, uh… well no. I just thought I’d highlight what my mindset was when I decided to re-watch the first 8 episodes—and the subsequent 7 after—that make up for the “first part” of the story.

Okay, fair enough. So this isn’t a review is it, at least not in the traditional sense? No, this is, as the title suggests a ‘reassessment’ I don’t want to get bogged down in covering episode-by-episode plot points, this is purely addressing the criticism I had for this show in my previous reviews and explaining where my opinions are now.

Right… so it’s a retcon of those previous two reviews? If you want to put it like that, sure. But those reviews are still up there to see me in all my hyperbolic rage, I’m not deleting a word of those, just setting the record straight.

Fine. So the ‘rampant sexism’ that you claimed was among the worst you’d seen in an anime. Yup that’d be the hyperbole… you know how when you get worked up about something and you just kind of over-exaggerate your rage and your indignation to prove a point? Well, guilty of that here! When I re-watched the episodes, I felt a very minimal amount of ‘rage’, ‘distaste’ or ‘discomfort’, so minimal that I’d wonder if I’d suffered a brain injury of some kind that made me view the show so differently. In fact, after episode 8 (i.e. the one that made me rage-quit the show in the first-place) the “objectionable content” was almost completely gone.

Okay, sure. But what about the idea that by containing these “immature” and “harmful” elements—your words—that the show was undoing its very own reason for existing. That was when I thought the show was aiming to be high-art, like the first episode of the show is very pretentious in all the ways I like so as you can imagine I was expecting a lot of lofty things from the show and so when it didn’t deliver and instead seemed to regress into this adolescent, almost childish show you can perhaps understand why I was taken off guard.

So the fact the show is actually a coming-of-age romance/drama with emotionally ill-prepared teens excuses the shows short-comings? In a way yeah, it kind of does! Like let’s forget that this show is written by a bunch of 40+ year old men and is financed by a large company and all that ~external~ stuff and look at it as it’s being told. It’s told from the perspective of these kids, they have the majority if not entirety of the ‘voice over’, it’s their story—it just happens to be set against the high-concept back-drop of a dystopian future with moving dome cities and transforming monsters and giant mechs.

This is just window dressing…

I’m still not sure I get your point… Let me put it another way, your life, yes you the reader I’m talking to you directly right now—your life it may be school-based or work-based, it may be in a poor country or a city with a high-crime rate or street or a town with bad infrastructure but that’s not what your story is about, your story is about you and the feelings you feel and the relationships you build—that’s your story and that’s the story of Darling in the FranXX!

There he goes again, underlining his own text like he’s being all profound and shit. Hey! It’s my site, I can do what I want!

That’s true enough. So you’ve done a complete 180 on Darling in the FranXX then and all it took was changing your preconceived notions of the series? See I can underline you too, in those rare moments you say something concisely accurate. Feels good doesn’t it?

Feels good man.

Hmpf, it doesn’t feel bad, if that’s what you’re getting at… Geez, you’re such a tsun…

Don’t call me that! Ahem… so anything else you want to add before we end this reappraisal? Well if we’re going to go into specifics for a second I personally think Episodes 11-15 are of such a high-quality emotional story-telling that I could scarcely believe I was watching the same show. Before that point it was still a well-animated, deeply character driven but nonetheless entertaining show (post reassessment opinion) but those episodes were ~exactly~ the kind of thing I was expecting and wanting from this show!

The feels!

If you’ll allow me to interject for just a second. You did complain in your initial reviews that you wished the show would focus on story and world-building instead of character. Now I know since you decided to approach the show from a different perspective your ‘needs’ for the show have changed, but do you still want for the show to explore the deeper “secrets” and lore behind the dystopian world it’s built. I do, and I believe it will, it’s just all that stuff is taking a back-seat to the coming-of-age romance it’s wanting to tell instead. And while I understand how that can be frustrating for people who just want that aspect of the show, I’m perfectly content for it to be the garnish to this delicious character-driven buffet.

So uh… how do we wrap this up? Umm… okay, what would you say to the disillusioned people who have dropped the show, or are barely hanging on, or who find themselves frustrated with the various ‘decisions’ this show has made. By all means do as I did and drop the show, take a month or more even to distance yourself from it, but come back and watch it with all I’ve said in mind… I’m not saying that having this point-of-view when watching Darling in the FranXX fixes inherent problems in the show itself, however I absolutely think it helps in understanding what this show wants to be! And taking all that into account can help one truly appreciate this show for what it is; a show about Puberty & Robots.

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The Abject Utopian – A Novel By Me!

What’s this, you wrote a novel and are promoting it on your site? Talk about shameless self promotion… Listen, I worked hard on this thing and I wanted to share it with the world!

Right. So why drag me into this, you could have just done a simple post about it and not in this Question and Answer format. I figured if there’s anybody who’s going to reign in my ego and bring me back down to earth—and fast, it’s you. Besides I have a hard enough time writing normally now that I’ve started writing reviews in this QandA format…

A ringing endorsement for your novel ‘has trouble writing normally’. Put that on the back of the book! It’s a fair assessment…

So what’s this novel of yours about, is it to do with anime at all? Not in the slightest.

That’s surprising… isn’t everything in your life anime related now? I wrote this novel about 3 years ago, when I was taking a break from anime (dark times indeed).

Okay, I’m ~mildly~ more interested now. What is it about then? It’s kind of hard to break down in a succinct manner, basically I’ve been describing it as ‘lesbian sci-fi stream of consciousness’ novel.

Ah… “stream of consciousness”, so it’s pretentious? You could say that, yes.

And who’s the target audience? People who aren’t afraid of intellectually stimulating, narratively complex and sexually charged writing.

All I’m hearing is “pretentious pretentious pretentious”. I fully admit this isn’t a novel for everyone, it’s very niche, kind of impenetrable, overly verbose—

Wow, doing a bang-up job selling this thing. I just want people to be prepared for what they’re getting into, it’s one thing to release something but to ask people to pay for something you’ve written is another thing entirely… it’s difficult and confronting.

But you believe in it, yeah? Honestly I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever written, I’m very proud of it, it’s got a lot of “me” in it, if not literally then hidden between the lines. It helped me deal with some pretty serious things I was going through at the time and even though it may be arrogant to say, I think it’s a worthwhile experience—assuming your an open-minded reader!

Fair enough, so do you want to put in a plot-synopsis for anything? I don’t think it’s a novel that benefits from a tidy plot synopsis…

But you put one on the Amazon page, here let me copy-paste it for you!

“What would be your perfect world? For some the answer is simple, for other’s it’s a quandary. Once there were countless alternate realties, stretching across the breadth of human imagination; a perfect fit for every imperfect vision of the world. But now, as the universe reaches its climactic zenith there remains just 77, and of that number only nine are afforded official ‘utopian’ designation. The once learned and respected organisation responsible for these specific designations has grown bloated and corrupted. The tenth world they intend to proclaim as a ‘functional utopia’ is paying for the privilege; a perversion to the founding ideals, and a promise of dire things for every innocent on every remaining world. Only dissension from within can lay waste to these ill gotten plans but the odds are heavily stacked against—both professionally and personally—for the one woman whom hope falls solely upon.”

There, was that so hard?! It’s not that it was hard it’s just that that plot synopsis isn’t really indicative of what the novel is ~like~. Yes, it’s ‘technically’ what the novel is about, but the novel is so much more than can be summed up in a couple of sentences! I much prefer the second synopsis I wrote for it, it’s also on the page.

‘Kay! Copy-paste and…

“It’s a story in three parts: telling what is, what was and what’s to come. It’s a story of three people: the aggressor, the repressor and the transgressor. It’s a story about three worlds: the world of the living, the world of the long dead and the world about to die. It’s a story in three realities: it exists in honesty, it exists in biography and it never existed to begin with. It’s a story about love, a story about loss and a story about life itself.”

Yeah, that’s suitably more pretentious, good work! Thanks?

Right. So where can people buy it? On Amazon! Here’s a link to the Australian page: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07DGYPDYH You can also presumably find it on the Kindle store? I haven’t tried searching for it but it should be all set up by now!

And what if people don’t know if this kind of book is for them? You can read a free sample on the store page, just click the cover art, it’s almost two chapters worth so you’ll definitely get an idea of whether this kind of book is for you!

Anything else to add? If you’ve bothered to read this, firstly thank you so much, and if it sounds like something you might want to read then please support me by purchasing the book and leaving a review for it on the store page—even if you hate it! Thanks again!

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World’s End Harem Volume One – 20 Question Manga Review

What’s the manga? World’s End Harem, Volume One.

Oh dear… What?

I can already tell what this is going to be about, it’s exactly what it sounds like, isn’t it? Uh… um, well yes. It is.

Right, fine, let’s get this over with, what’s it about in more detail? The year is 2040 and our protagonist Reito Mizuhara has a (currently) incurable illness and will die within a year, but because it’s the future and everything is all super advanced, they put him in a cryogenic sleep with the intent to wake him up in 5 or so years when the medical AI systems of the world have come up with a cure for his illness. The day before he goes under he confesses his love to his childhood sweetheart and asks her to wait for him. Kind of a dick-move because he’s had 10+ years to confess his feelings but better late then never right? He awakens in the year 2045 to find a virus—dubbed “The Man Killer Virus”—has wiped out 99.9% of the male population, and now he’s in high demand!

The future, maybe.

Ugh, what a predictable male fantasy. It is very fanciful of an idea, but I at least give the manga credit for having him not be into this idea, but also give him good reason to not be into the idea.

What do you mean? Well a lot of the time in harem manga/anime the protagonist is all uncomfortable and not wanting of all the female attention suddenly foisted upon him and often it’s not really given a good enough explanation as to why. Here the characters are immediately “please have sex with thousands of women and impregnate them to continue the human race” and he’s understandably like “I just woke up and found out all the men in the world are dead including my friends and teachers, also I just confessed to the girl of my dreams yesterday, could you give me a bit of time to process!”

I won’t go down the rabbit hole of what happened to transgender people, etc.

Fair point. But why do they need him to have sex with all the women, what about the other methods of reproduction that don’t involve intercourse. Thankfully they address that issue early on, unfortunately it’s about as contrived as it gets. First, male baby’s born from artificially inseminated sperm still died from the MK virus after being born. Because of Reito’s previously incurable disease he and the others who were frozen with the disease are somehow completely immune to it. Subsequently artificial insemination from immune males resulted in no successful embryos, the only one time that a successful impregnation has occurred so far was the result of sexy times.

Uh-huh, so in other words ‘because the plot says so’. Pretty much. And these women, or specifically his new ‘personal caretaker’ Mira is insanely committed for him to start doing the deed, which we later find out is mostly because the UW are pressuring her for results.

“Resource”

And who or what is the UW? It’s the ‘United Women’ basically the new government of Earth made up from the most powerful women on the planet.

Interesting. It could be, but as it stands now they’re just some powerful and shadowy organisation for Mira to occasionally report to.

So when you say 99.9% of the men died out, how many are there left exactly? Men who are actively able to breed in the entire world: 5.

“Nice receive” I swear I can’t see the word ‘receive’ without making a Haikyuu reference.

Just 5! In the whole damn world! Well bare in mind that’s 5 men who happened to have the incurable disease and who also happened to be cryogenically frozen at the time the epidemic happened. We later learn that there are actually 1 million+ men cryogenically frozen around the world, it’s just none of them are currently immune, and if they were unfrozen they would all die in a matter of days not to mention only produce male offspring who would die too.

Well they certainly got all their bases covered with backing the protagonist into a corner, a sex corner as it were. Plus they emotionally blackmail Reito into getting busy~ by saying most of the women of the world live in poverty since the virus and that he’d be helping them out by getting them pregnant as the women he impregnates would be rewarded by a life of luxury for them and their families.

Well when you make it sounds so romantic, how’s a guy to refuse?

Kinda some problematic plot elements there? Yes, ~problematic~ is a word that was floating around my head a lot while reading this and it’s difficult because the writing is surprisingly sensitive towards some topics, like more so than I expected. They explicitly say, every woman is there by choice, they were asked which man they would want to have a child with from a selection of men’s profiles and they even included fake profiles of non-existent specimens to make sure the women were especially, specifically interested in Reito.

Organic, free-range ethical harem manga? Something like that. But something didn’t sit right with me. See, previous to the virus outbreak the world was pretty much a utopian society, like they say at the start of the manga that machines do everything and provide everything and nobody has to work. Yet as soon as all the men die it all suddenly goes to hell!

100? Pfft, amateur.

I imagine half the world suddenly dropping dead from a virus would have a sizeable impact. Also the fact that no more children are being born would make things pretty dire for the women left behind. Oh I don’t doubt that, I’ve seen ‘Children of Men’ (if you all haven’t seen the movie you should too, it’s not an anime but it’s still great). I’m aware it would have a massive impact on the world, no children being able to be born basically means the end of the human race, but I don’t think society would have de-evolved as much as it seems to without the presence of men. I just think it’s a very narrow-minded view of the world to infer that without men, women would fall into anarchy.

Agree to disagree I suppose. So who are the other characters? There’s Reito’s younger sister Mahiru, who’s probably in love with him (let’s face it, it’s a harem manga so it’s bound to come up as a plot point). There’s Akane his busty personal nurse and Sui his loli bodyguard, they’re tasked to sleep in the same bed as him in case of emergencies, or in case he feels like banging them and helping out the cause. Their words, not mine.

Where can I get a personal nurse like this?

*rolls eyes* There’s also Reito’s older brother Ryu, who, much to Reito’s surprise is cryogenically frozen and therefore not one of the billions that perished.

And what about that childhood friend/women he confessed his love to? Elisa. Well as he’s being frozen she says “I promise I’ll wait for you” in a pretty heartfelt scene, but once he awakens she’s nowhere to be seen, turns out she’s been missing for 3 years! And she was apparently working on research about the virus when she disappeared! Do I smell a conspiracy?! Also did I forget to mention both Reito and Elisa are medical researchers? Pretty noble professions for a utopian society where nobody has to work!

Touching.

Right, lots to take in… also please don’t turn that into a dirty joke! So final score and recommendation? I had very low expectations going into this manga and so I was pleasantly surprised with the finished product! It’s immature and a blatant male fantasy but it’s also well-written at times with decent characterisation and a thankfully pleasant and intelligent harem protagonist. I’d like to know a lot more about what happened in the world in the intervening years between the virus being released and the present-day as well as where it came from/who was responsible and why? Hopefully future volumes have more plot developments. It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel my trousers tightening; 81 out of 100.

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Murcielago Volume 1 – 20 Question Manga Review

What’s the manga? Murcielago – Volume 1.

Oh? Sounds exotic. You’re a straight white dude; everything remotely foreign sounds exotic to you.

Quiet you! What’s it about? Well first of all, let’s get a big ol’ TRIGGER WARNING up there, because I know it’s bound to trigger someone, cause it sure as heck did me! (Note: For the sake of a more pleasant reading experience for all, images of extreme gore or sexuality are not imbedded in this post.) 

She… has some issues to work through…

You? Triggered by something? Wait, don’t tell me, was it sport? No! Trigger Warnings are about content not genres.

‘Kay, so what is it about?! So Kuroko is a serial killer, she’s got 715 names to her belt to date, so what’s a girl on death row to do? Why join the Japanese Police Force as a ruthless hired assassin, to clean up the worst filth on the streets, yes worse than herself! She’s partnered with bright and bubbly Hinako, a driver who gets where she needs to go by any means necessary.

She’ll get where she needs to be no matter what it takes or how improbable!

Serial killer who kills serial killers, huh? Sounds a bit ‘Dexter’, yeah? I don’t know what that is.

Well anyway this certainly seems like a change of pace from the things you’re usually into. Don’t you hate violence in anime and manga? I don’t hate violence, I just don’t really care for it. And this manga is no exception to that, well except…

I cut this panel short for a good reason, you don’t want to see the state of the dude she’s talking to…

Except what? Kuroko is just so f**king cool! Like I know its in our stupid f**king DNA as a species to idolise serial killers for some dumb reason, but seriously Kuroko is one of my favourite main characters in anything ever.

Elaborate. Well, she’s a deranged serial killer but she has a sense of right and wrong, she’s got a twisted sense of humour, she’s unconventionally attractive like a Tim Burton heroine on steroids and she’s smart and savvy to boot. Oh, and did I forget to mention she’s a perverted, horny lesbian who’s super into cute girls?!

Even in the middle of high speed pursuits of ‘bad guys’ she still takes the time to chat up cute girls!

So basically she’s you except not a serial killer and also not a girl. This manga made me want to be a fictional cute girl just so I’d get the chance to be in the same room as her.

In the same room and doing? *blush* a lady never tells!

Okay that’s weird, even for you. Judge all you want! Your words are but scuffs in my armor!

Hinako provides an accurate incident report to her superiors.

Right, so enough of this creepy hero-worship. What’s the manga like? What kind of things happen in the first volume. Have you ever seen the movie ‘Crank: High Voltage’?

Uh, I don’t know, probably not, more importantly—why—have you?! The why’s not important, but basically take that film in all its cartoonish, gory violence, its rampant libido, its fast-paced story and its off-kilter humour and supplant Jason Statham for a Kuroko, a lesbian, sex-obsessed, serial killer!

Just casually discussing what to do after work while chasing down a subway carriage. No biggie!

O…kay then? So what about that trigger warning you gave to yourself and others like you? I take it’s not related to the sexual content of this manga. As much as I love this manga, some of the violence and gore is just relentlessly confronting. Maybe I’ve just got too much empathy but even seeing a nameless background character torn in half with their intestines spooling out behind them was enough for me to need to take a breather occasionally.

That bad, huh? It’s graphic and unforgiving, but I kinda get what they were going for, it’s the whole ‘it takes a monster to defeat a monster’ kind of thing.

Her facial expressions are gold.

So how do you go about recommending something like this? It seems dependent on the individual’s tastes a lot. Yeah, I mean there will be those who are the opposite of me, for whom the gore is no problem but the sexual content is too confronting, there’s all sorts out there, but I think in this particular instance the setting and situations and especially the characters make it an easy sell, as long as you’re in the mood for something very subversive. In fact, just so you know what you’re getting into I’ve prepared some super NSFW images from the manga below, click at your own risk!

CLICK HERE FOR AN EXAMPLE OF THE GORE IN MURCIELAGO

CLICK HERE FOR AN EXAMPLE OF THE SEX IN MURCIELAGO

Should we be worried about conflating sex and violence like this? There’s already so many troubles in the world. Disclaimer: This is a product intended for adult audiences only; if you are young and impressionable do not read Murcielago.

Yeah… that’ll work… Well what do you expect me to say, this a review for entertainment purposes, I’m not responsible for what susceptible individuals make of someone else’s content.

Meeting girls online is tough. If you clicked the ‘sex’ link above this was about 2 pages before they did the deed.

Fair ‘nuff, so final score and recommendation? If graphic, disturbing and explicit violent and sexual content is not your thing, then this isn’t the manga for you. If, however you like things a little more wild, a little more dangerous and yes, a little more perverse, then Murcielago may be just the book for you! Personally, despite being “triggered” a couple of times due to the violent content, I was enraptured by this world, this story and especially the protagonist Kuroko who is the perfect anti-hero. 91 out of 100.

My First Girlfriend is a Gal – 20 Question Anime Review (Moderate Spoilers)

What’s the show? My First Girlfriend Is A Gal (2017).

Hmm, not to get all “heteronormative” on you, as you so like to claim I constantly do, but well obviously a girlfriend is a gal, am I missing something here? It’s okay I forgive you for you for how painfully straight you are. But to answer your question, yes ‘gal’ is a Japanese term; it comes from the word ‘gyaru’ which refers to a specific type of girl.

Oh? How to explain this in the way a ‘filthy normie’ would understand. Oh right, I don’t need to I can just let the English dub do it for me. Gals are like, you know, total valley girl bitches! Like you know whatever!

Isn’t that all high school boys think about after all?

I think I see what you’re getting at, so stereotypically shallow, wear lots of make up, love shopping and socialising? Yeah pretty much, the funny thing is…

What? Well, I don’t usually watch shows with the English dub, and it’s even rarer that I’ll bother to check out multiple episodes in both formats if I’ve decided on one or the other, but the original Japanese version and the English dub are like two completely different shows!

How so? Well the Japanese version is a romantic comedy whereas the American version is a bawdy sex comedy.

Let me just squeeze pass here…

But isn’t the only difference the dialogue, how can it make that much of a difference? Episode 8, beach episode, one of the supporting characters enters the scene with a water pistol and shoots the main guy. In the Japanese original her subtitles read simply “I’m joining in, prepare yourself”, in the English dub she says “That’s right I’m a squirter, better watch your back”.

Huh, that’s quite the liberties taken… Which might be okay, if it weren’t nearly every line of dialogue, there’s a difference between making an adaptation relevant to a Western audience and completely re-writing the script! Every opportunity for innuendo is seized upon and none of it is in the original subtitles. It’s like, it’s like, okay I’m going to make a very specific reference here so try and follow along.

Okay. It’s like when those semi-racist TV-shows of the 90’s used to re-dub clips of foreign movies with intentionally comedic and out-of-context dialogue to get some cheap laughs.

Don’t mess with Ranko.

I get what you’re saying, but what’s the problem? Just go back to watching the Japanese subbed version instead, like you did with Dagashi Kashi and Food Wars! *whispers* come closer, I need to tell you a secret and I don’t want the others to hear this…

Uh… okay. What is it? The English dub is really f**king funny.

Torturing pervy virgins is fun!

So what’s the problem then? Are you kidding me? You can’t just rewrite someone’s material just because you thought of some funnier lines than the original. This isn’t a Hollywood remake, it’s an English dub, it’s supposed to be a ‘translation’ not an ‘adaptation’. Also, I don’t want to sound like I’m siding with those assholes who took down Funimation’s website because the dub decided to throw in some Trump jokes, I don’t care what the jokes are and I don’t care about politics, that’s not the issue here.

But the plot is the same surely, what’s it about anyway? It’s about virginal nerd Junichi and his desire to get a girlfriend, he decides to confess his love to busty blonde ‘gal’ Yukana, despite her being fifty seas out of his league, but to his surprise and adulation she decides to go out with him. The rest of the series is their awkward but kind of adorable courtship and the various obstacles that are thrown up along the way.

Obstacles such as? Such as her overaggressive best-friend Ranko, a fellow gal who may or may not have a thing for Yukana and Junichi—just not the two of them together. And of course there’s Nene, the ever dependable and clingy childhood friend who has the third largest set of breasts of any anime girl I’ve ever seen.

Also she’s 140cm tall, or 4ft 5in. I can’t even imagine what Nene would look like irl.

Is she your best girl then? How dare you! No, actually, in this show I’m actually torn between our main love interest Yukana just because of the seriously noteworthy amount of character development she’s given and the smart, sultry mysterious third(fourth?) girl to the burgeoning harem Yui.

The show should be told from her perspective.

Seems like you do like this show. It’s funny I went into the review with the intention to write a negative review, at least negative for me. But the more I talked about it the more I realised how much I like it, even if it pisses me off how the English dub is both simultaneously, a travesty to ideas of authorship integrity and also much much funnier.

What were the negatives though? Oh, well Junichi even though he starts off as a ‘good guy’ has too many moments where you wonder what on Earth Yukana sees in him, especially towards the end of the season. Also, Junichi’s 3 schoolyard charms are very hit and miss when it comes to their comedy, and downright obnoxious when it comes to their ogling.

You don’t wanna know what the chubby one’s thinking.

So how do you review a show like this? I don’t know… like this I suppose, what you’ve been reading. If you watched it in Japanese only and thought it was dull then watch the dub. If you watched it in English and thought it was crass and dumb then watch the sub. If you’ve watched neither… I don’t know, watch whatever you think will satisfy you better, an authentic but kinda dull romantic comedy or a very funny but inaccurately dubbed imitation.

If only every episode could have been as interesting as episodes 9 & 10.

Great but that’s not what I meant, how do you review a show like this. What score do you give something that’s essentially two different things? I… I don’t know. Quick, put me on the spot and make me decide!

Final score! The worst thing that can be said for the Japanese version is that it’s frequently dull, that in of itself deserves a score of 65 out of 100. The English version, while occasionally hilarious is an inaccurate representation of the actual product, but the issues of character and plot and tone persist despite the added comedy, an appropriate but not much better 69 out of 100

 

The One-Liner Challenge – Untold Questions

And what do we have here? A challenge post, specifically ‘The One-Liner Challenge’! 

Oh yeah? And what’s all that about? It’s about making snappy one-line summaries of books, and they don’t even have to be books you like, you can roast ‘em too.

Mmm, roast books *drool* N—No, not like that…

I know, I know! So, who nominated you? Ryuji Tatsuya’s Anime Corner! Thanks for picking me!

Cool, and what are the rules for this challenge?

1. Accept and thank your challenger(s) by linking back to their post.
2. Make a post of one-sentence summaries and or roasts of at least five books.
3. No spoilers!
4. Link back to The Awkward Book Blogger so she can see your post.
5. Challenge as many or as little people as you want!
6. Have fun!

Great, let’s get started then. Oh and I assume you’re reviewing just manga since you’re like obsessed with it right now… Don’t be so sure, I might surprise you…

Hmm, okay, first book then?

No Matter How I Look At It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular (Watamote)
“How not to do high-school in a million easy steps.”

Still waiting to be surprised… Second book?

House of Leaves
“Easy to read, light-hearted romantic comedy hit of the Summer!” – No One Ever.

Hey! There we go an actual novel book, but of course it’s something out of the mainstream that most people probably haven’t heard of… Third book?

How To Build A Dungeon: Book Of The Demon King
“Is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon—and immediately have sex with them?”

There’s probably a reference in there I’m not getting… Fourth book?

A Song of Ice and Fire Series
“When you take out the sex and violence it’s really just a lot of long descriptions of what people are wearing.”

I actually know that book! Yay, something relevant to me, even if you did just roast it… Fifth and final book please?

Food Wars!
“Just what every recipe book is missing, a heaping serve of anime tiddies! (also great story, characters, etc)”

Are they still called ‘anime tiddies’ when they’re in a manga? What do I look like a tiddie expert?

Please stop saying ‘tiddie’. No you.

Anyway, that was interesting! Yeah what a fun idea for a post! I enjoyed that!

So now all that’s left is to nominate people! It’s so hard to keep track, and I don’t want to spam people with too many things to do, so if you want to do this challenge yourself leave a comment below and I’ll edit the post to put your name here:

Fair enough. Thanks for reading everybody and have a good day!