otakulys's manga / #het(44)

Very sad in ways, very screwed up in other ways, but I liked it back when I first read it. It's messed up, and there's no love or kindness really, but it still resonates as an emotional story.

I won't know for sure how to feel until it's finished, but if it keeps going in the right direction, this could be a pretty fantastic manga. So many of these things require the girl to lose weight and be skinny and all that, but it's nice to see the guy loving her for who she is, regardless of what she looks like. He doesn't treat her as ugly and pitiable, and you don't see that often in manga. I just wish she'd stay like that. I feel really bad for the girl who stole her body, even though she's sort of mean and manipulative. She had a really awful life up to that point, after all.

Everybody in this story is an asshole. Kind of weird and confusing, not a lot of detail in the art, but I'm intrigued. I'm hoping some people get punched in the face for treating the main girl like crap.

I don't typically read this type of het, but I'm intrigued by the main girl. She doesn't seem like the typical waifish, gorgeous chick that these stories are always about. The fact that she's "the most beautiful girl in class" made me roll my eyes, but I'd like to see this turn into the chick be awesome and the guy not getting his way. We'll see, I suppose. I just hope this doesn't fall into the typical pattern.

Why the fuck did I read this piece of shit? I mean, I hated it before I even started it, and yet I just. couldn't. stop. Dear lord, though, those gravity-defying breasts. Girl, you could have easily knocked all those dudes out with those things.

I admit, I'm kind of intrigued. I love stories focusing on polyamoury, rare as they are, though I'm not sure how I feel about the main woman's life and relationship. I mean, in Western comics it would be pretty obvious how this will go, but I see so much weird forgiveness in this particular genre. I really, really hope the main girl is the one who gets multiple lovers, or something like that. We'll see. I'm nervous moving forward, but I like the poly family right now. They're mostly not creepy, which is nice.

Three stars for now just because I'm... kind of confused? The art is fantastic, and I like what I see, but I don't understand what's happening. It jumps around so much with no clear indication of who's who, so I can't tell which things are old memories, which things are currently happening, and which things are random, supernatural occurrences, like the building appearing. Or was that even supposed to seem mysterious? I don't even know. So yeah, here's hoping it fills us in more soon.

I have no idea what this is exactly, but I really like that the mangaka draws such a variety of women! There are traditionally pretty girls, cutesy girls, mature girls, sort of dorky girls, girls who may otherwise be considered unattractive, and none of them are treated one way or another based on that. Otherwise, the story is pretty gloomy, and I'm not sure if it'll pay off in the end. From the first chapter, I can only gauge that it's about a self-loathing, jaded mangaka who can't really tap into joy anymore and lives primarily in regret. He has a loveless marriage and, in his mind, a thankless job. I get the sense that it's going to pull in his past romance, but the title certainly implies a major life crisis. I haven't read this mangaka before, so I'm not sure whether or not to anticipate a happy or sad ending.

Hmmm.... I dunno. I'm always on the lookout for manga and comics with fat girls or girls who aren't considered conventionally attractive, or both, but I'm not sure how I feel about this one. So-so art, but hey, better than I could do. Since it's chopped into pieces, three chapters is like seven pages, but I do like the confused grandma at the end of every installment. We'll see how this pans out. 2.5 stars for now. ETA: Upgraded to four stars for being cute and interesting. I like how it's unfolding now that it's moving. I hate, hate, HATE the way whoever is uploading cut up the pages. That's a huge detractor and it makes it frustrating to read. But I'm glad it's being posted at all, so hey.

I really loved Demon Flower, which has a bittersweet ending itself, and I know this mangaka's style is to kill everyone as much as possible, especially sweet and innocent characters that stumble into the frame (I've never read a shoujo manga with so much graphic murder and torture of children), but the ending petered out so oddly. I've owned all four manga since they came out when I was in high school, but I only now read it on here, and I have to wonder if she'd meant to continue this but then it didn't work out, because even compared to her other abrupt endings, this was like she walked off a cliff mid-sentence. Plus, I hate it so much when a character is like, "You're all I care about! I don't have anyone else!" when friends of theirs are literally dying all around them to protect them. Seriously, bitch? You have no one else? The ending was a miss for me. It could have been more powerful, but in the confusion it just fell flat. 2.5 stars overall. EDIT: Apparently there's a follow up out there that she wrote in 2007. I had, in my delirious, sleep-deprived state, thought it was a continuation for Demon Flowers, though I'm not sure how that would have worked, and I got super excited. Now I'm a little sad, but I'm hoping it gets translated eventually, because this ending is so random. We need a follow up.