Ranked #9583

Abnormal (Doujin)

"All I cared about was keeping up appearances, being normal..."



I never really considered writing a review for porn here on MAL, mainly because so many people around here seem to be "I read it for the story" guy while I read it for the sex (go figure), making our ratings and what we desire out of our porn greatly different. I certainly never thought to write about a smutty one shot since, let's face it, with most of em what you see is what you get. A second opinion on 35 pages of work is rarely needed.

That all changed the moment 'Abnormal' got an entry on MAL. Because quite frankly, this is my favorite one shot of all time. And it manages to do something very few other pieces of hardcore smut do; touch upon a very important message ('touch upon' being the operative phrase there). But I'll get to that in just a moment. Before that, I figure I should dispense with a few warnings.


First of all this is bara which, despite MAL's reluctance to mark it as a separate genre, is in fact different from yaoi. The romance is not flowery and sparkly, the boys are not bishounen nor do they look like women. Both the romance, and relationship between the two is handled with a realistic amount of drama, never going overboard as is common in many yaoi stories. It's drawn differently, it's target audience is different, and therefore it might not be to the liking of all fans of BL as a whole.


Secondly, Abnormal is smutty. Very smutty. All dangly bits are shown, sex happens, and it's explicit. If you're too squeamish for in your face action, this is not the one shot for you.


Thirdly and finally, Mentaiko's art is rather different even among the bara artists I've seen. His art has a distinctly 3-D feel to it and can take a bit of getting used to. I've always loved it, but different is sometimes hard to swallow as it were.



But now that I'm done with all that I can get back to what this one shot is, and that important message I mentioned earlier in this review. Though our view into the relationship of Daichi and Kyousuke is brief, and largely about the sex, Abnormal shines a bright light on the fact that every day everywhere, millions upon millions of people are feeling disgusted. Disgusted with their feelings, for no other reason than society tells them they should be. Men, women, and kids are ostracized and outcast simply for falling in love, leading many others to be terrified of what will become of them should they simply admit their true feelings. They struggle to be 'normal', to fit in with what society deems OK, even if it means lying to others as well as themselves. Closeted men take wives, and have families. Closeted girls are told 'it's just a phase, you'll grow out of it'. Fictional high school boys in Japan convince themselves they want girlfriends, not boyfriends. All to fit in. All to be accepted.


That ugly truth is what's touched upon briefly yet starkly in Abnormal. Yet the lighter, brighter side is also shown. The power of love to break through all chains of bigotry and ignorance. The will of people to say to the world, "I don't want to be normal. I want to be happy". Following Daichi as he realizes his feelings for Kyousuke and accepts that they are what they are, makes for a surprisingly poignant and bittersweet story that managed to simultaneously tug on my heartstrings while stirring my loins.

Although I am satisfied with the story in Abnormal, I can't say I don't wish it went more in-depth. The underlying theme of this story is so powerful, so important, it could have made a wonderful full length work. However for what it is, Abnormal is an incredibly hot, absolutely adorable, heartwarming, nosebleed inducing story of two kids in love.

And that's beautiful. And perfectly normal.



PS: This review was way too frilly and sparkly haha. Did I mention there was hardcore sex in this?

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