Ranked #5285

I☆Can

I am very, very upset and disturbed. Given that I☆Can is a netorare (NTR) hentai (netorare is when a girl is "stolen" from her lover by a third party), I'm not surprised about the former. The latter, though, is a bit unusual.

Quick summary: I did not enjoy I☆Can.

I☆Can is the story of a girl (Miyu) who is just starting out as an idol. Her manager (Ryouta) is also her high-school sweetheart. They are in a slowly progressing, supportive relationship, when Miyu's producer (Terada) decides he wants a piece of her. If you are familiar with NTR, then the rest is obvious. If you aren't, here's a summary: Terada repeatedly rapes Miyu. Ryouta finds out but is powerless to stop it. Then finally, when Ryouta manages to confront Terada about it, Miyu decides she'd rather have Terada and abandons her former lover.

I do not consider that summary to be a spoiler. Someone I know made the point that, in order for a statement to be a spoiler, it must, by revealing information about the plot, make something less enjoyable than it would be were the viewer to go in without knowing that information. I think knowing what happens in an NTR hentai is the only chance for it to be at all satisfying. That's my disclaimer.


So, to begin with, I have to wonder why I put myself through I☆Can in the first place, since I don't even like NTR. The answer is that PoRo makes very, very hot hentai. I've also found that the sex in NTR works tends to be hotter than average. This is kind of disturbing under critical analysis, because NTR usually consists of pretty much nothing but rape. So, for starters, I☆Can is only going to float your boat if you can deal with (or are totally into) rape scenes. I can deal with rape scenes, but I am most certainly NOT a big fan of them.

Let's start the standard review with the art. The art is pretty good. Bright colors, sharp lines, everything you've come to expect from a recent production. The animation is pretty average for a recent hentai, which, in terms of non-hentai productions, would qualify as mediocre to decent at best. The female character designs are nothing special, really, although, because we're dealing with idols here, we get to see some pretty intricate clothing. Ryouta's design is average (not unattractive, but he's no ladykiller), and Terada, well, he's an older, not-so-incredibly-attractive fellow, typical of most of the NTR I've seen (surprisingly much). He does look the part of the rich, Hollywood director (money is sexy, right? RIGHT?), and he has some pretty cool shades. Not even remotely close to Kamina-level, but I'll take what I can get to make him less repulsive. The cinematography, overall, is nothing short of utterly mediocre.

Sex is where hentai gets a chance to shine. The sex in I☆Can is AVERAGE. It isn't particularly interesting. The positions are somewhat lacking in diversity; the sex is devoid of enthusiasm, energy, and passion; and the seximatography (cinematography during sex, for those who aren't familiar with my totally made-up lingo) ranges from uninteresting to downright boring for anyone who has seen any other recent hentai productions. Granted, as is the norm in recent productions, I☆Can is pretty darn explicit, with a lot of drippy detail, but, seriously, there's far more interesting stuff out there.

The sound is up next, and it is not anything exceptional. I don't remember anything about the BGM, which means that at best it merely did its job setting a mood (and the moods weren't particularly strong, I might add). The voice acting was decent; there's not much to criticize on that front. During sex, it was all the usual erotic vocals and noises for a recent hentai production, maybe a little light on the squelching sound effects or whatnot. There's a fair amount of talking during the sex, often involving something along the lines of not liking being raped. Go figure.

The story is next in line for my rant--I mean, review--and boy, do I have something to say here.

THE STORY SUCKS.

Now, I'm not even saying this from the perspective of someone who doesn't like NTR. Even if I liked NTR, I would have to admit that the story is utterly generic. I have additional firepower in declaring the story's suckitude for those of you who, like me, are not into NTR. However, if you like NTR specifically for the RAGE aspect (those of you who like NTR probably know what I'm talking about), then what I have to say next may actually be a positive.

I☆Can is more RAGE-inducing than most. Let me start out with a question:

Is it right to get angry at or blame someone for something they are not responsible for?

The answer is no. A second question:

Is a victim of rape responsible for being raped?

The answer, again, is no.

Why ask all this? So you can fully understand how disturbing the following is. The primary reason Miyu abandons Ryouta at the end of I☆Can:

He doesn't get angry at her for being raped.

You heard me right: Miyu abandons Ryouta because he doesn't blame her for something beyond her control. Not only that, but Ryouta did nothing but try to be supportive of Miyu. He never pressed her about it for fear of hurting her (it is painful to talk about stuff like that). However, he showed concern when she was troubled, and tried to get her to talk to him of her own accord, if she was ready for it. Then, in the end, it's like she said to him, "You shouldn't have been caring and concerned; you should have hated me instead!" That is just plain wrong, and it's the take-away message of I☆Can.

Oh, of course, there was also the standard NTR break-up reason: supposedly, post-repeated-rape, only Terada is able to satisfy Miyu sexually. If you think about it, this is also just plain wrong, but it's the usual in NTR. And, in fact, a lot of hentai.

Anyways, some interpret Ryouta's lack of forwardness (forwardness defined briefly as anger, possessiveness, murderous jealously, etc.) as him being an idiot, which thus justifies the overwhelming betrayal. This, I think, is due to the internalization of really bad standards about male behavior and ownership of females. After all, his behavior was not very manly, right? No, I see Ryouta as a sort of paragon who is hated for the very virtues that make him likable. He even goes straight to Terada and offers to sacrifice his own career to save Miyu. By hentai standards, no, even by real-life standards, he's a something of a saint...

...and yet he's still not a very interesting character. What a great transition to the characters! Someone give me a high-five.

No one in this show, except perhaps Leina, is at all interesting. Leina herself is something of an enigma, since it's hard to tell for sure exactly what motivates her. Is she Terada's pawn? Or is she after Ryouta? Or is she just a concerned friend, schoolmate, or coworker? Who knows, since she is not remotely the focus of the show. Miyu is unusually infuriating, but not INTERESTING. I've already said my piece on Ryouta. Terada is, well, just yet another creep in a position of power that he likes to abuse. I...I really don't have anything more to say about them; they're that uninteresting.


It should be fairly obvious now why I did not enjoy I☆Can. Are there any reasons, though, why I might have actually enjoyed it? After all, if I have nothing good to say, why not one-star it?

Well, the sex was okay (in the grand scheme of hentai), and I☆Can, overall, wasn't as horrible as I can imagine a hentai being. And, to an extent, it was, somehow, kind of gripping. And, after all, I'd rather save my one-star rating for something that REALLY, REALLY deserves it. There's a lot more hentai out there than what I've watched.

So, in summary, the only reason to watch I☆Can is if you love NTR especially for the RAGE. Otherwise, AVOID AT ALL COSTS. You have been warned. read more

After watching this hentai, I felt a very strong urge to express my feelings about it. I'll make sure to make it as short as possible.

The Artwork was great!

That being said, this series was simply pathetic. The sex scenes were extremely boring and dull. To top that, on the rare occasion that I got aroused during one of them, the story and how the characters behave made so little sense that it managed to kill any boner that might have occurred.

I'm the kind of guy that would endure a lot of baloney and enjoy the show, so long as the artwork is good. Not only when it comes to hentai, but when watching anime in general. However, I could not bare with the insane amount of stupidity of this show and actually enjoy it.

I definitely do not recommend this show to anyone who isn't a complete NTR genre freak. read more