Katsubou no Manazashi

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So this manga comprises of two stories. And the only reason I gave this manga a 6 is because of the second story, i.e. the first story was appalling, and if it was only the first story, this manga would have gotten a 1.

The second story was actually pretty cute, and dealt with the question every yaoi lover has wondered at least once: "what happens when the cute, little, stereotypically-girly uke grows up? Most likely, he won't continue to look like that." Actually, this a question I've had with too many shoujo works as well. I mean, I want to love the seme/non-girly ... half of the relationship, but if he's attracted to a person who looks like a 5 year old, isn't that just a little creepy? Well, in this story we have the stereotypical yaoi couple (macho seme and cutesy uke), and the seme goes oversees so they don't see each other for 2 years. Now the uke is 18 years old, and he doesn't look the same at all. He's 180cm tall (5'9 for the Americans who haven't realized the world isn't going to wait for them :P). He's happy that his loving seme is coming back, but will he still like the uke now that he isn't a pedophile magnet anymore?
Yes, I do realize I've used those hateful terms (uke and seme) quite a few times in this review, but I think that it is appropriate considering this story is a satire based of the uke/seme trope.

My recommendation: either skip this manga entirely or just read the last 2 chapters.

I can't say I cared much for the first story. It felt awkward and forced. The continuation chapter for the first story was a bit better but I still didn't care for the characters much. The uke was very weak and girly and the seme was, dare I say it, too stoic. I mean, I like stoic semes but this uke and seme were just a bad match. But honestly, I felt it was all worth it when I got to the second story. The second story is great and I wish there was more of it. It focuses on body image issues in a ... cute and funny way. The characters are a much better match than in the first story as well. The uke is pretty stereotypical in the way he acts but not so much in the way in he looks, which the first part deals with. The seme is a usual cool seme, who is desperately trying to keep his cool image in the second part of the story. I felt the author hit a good middle ground with those two and they and the art are really the only reasons I even rated this a 4.

This manga definitely deserves a review because I want to warn anyone else before they suffer through what I've just been through. Yes, you read it right.
I dropped this manga on page 65 (somewhere around chapter three) Here's why:

SLIGHT SPOILERS, YOU WILL LIVE WITH IT: This is manga disgusted me right from the beginning because it introduced rape and "indirect" incest as just an everyday common occurrence--I get how some people DO NOT mind these aspects, but everyone normal DOES. Anyway: putting rape in a story also means putting the trauma and the pain that comes along with it. A person doesn't get raped on ... a day to day basis by a family member/father figure and says it's "A-OK" with a smile and a bit of doki-doki when THE MAIN CHARACTER KNOWS IT'S WRONG. Come on now. Be realistic. Rape and incest are serious occurrences and frankly I'm disturbed and insulted by such carelessness. OVERALL: 2/10

As for the Characters:
Reo: Typical airhead main character who gets fooled into almost everything. Oh, did I mention he doesn't care about getting raped and it being by his GUARDIAN and FATHER FIGURE uncle? Yeah.
Shuuji: The uncle/guardian/father figure to Reo. I dropped this manga about two thirds through, so correct me if I'm wrong, but he's a stoic, strict, and brute-like man who ditched Reo's mom for Reo.
Kenta: (wow, this character... smh) Reo's bff and bubbly next door neighbor who knows more than Reo thinks. This character has been close with Reo for TWO YEARS and yet he somehow develops a VERY twisted side. (To be completely honest, it seems like that was a "trump card" the author pulled when the story wasn't getting popular. It's a typical move to desperately get more views and add a "twist" that "the audience will never see coming." Please. We all saw that coming.) CHARACTERS: 2/10

Story-wise:
Like I said before, I dropped this manga. The last straw was when the story went from bad to worse. Not only was the incest and rape thrown in just for the sake of views, there was completely UNECESSARY ANGST thrown in as well (trying not to spoil any details). I've read plenty of angst--as we all have--so we all know when angst is good and when it's just "What? What was the point of doing that?" Those exact thoughts ran through my mind while reading this story and I figured, again, it was for the sake of attracting more attention. This story was so "not-promising," it's clear to me that the author just added all these aspects into the mix just to make the story "more popular." It was unrealistic on top of that (hmm sound familiar?) which created negative occurrence after negative occurrence until you get a completely FLAT plot line. This story was so crappy it made me wanna self harm. STORY: 2/10

The Art:
The only reason why I didn't stop after (precisely) page 10--the art is fabulous. It's perfectly drawn with the right amount of details. The author took into consideration matching the characters personality with the characters image which is a BIG thumbs up from me. Simply beautiful.
The art is one of the prettiest I've seen in an angst-manga. ART: 9/10

Was I Satisfied?:
It's been so long since I've been forced to drop a manga, I surprised myself when I had to take a step back from the manga and rub my eyes before closing the tab for good. I honestly HATE quitting mangas, (as you can see by my tiny list of dropped mangas) but this one pushed me to my breaking point. Consider that. ENJOYMENT: 2/10