Kaikan Douki

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Honna Wakou's second-to-latest manga series, 'Kaikan Douki' is undeservedly underrated. While 'Nozoki Ana' remains her most complicated and satisfying work (emotion-wise and plot-wise), I'd rate 'Kaikan Douki' as her second-best series.

The premise is your usual Honna-sensei specialty: a supernatural take on romance, of course, surrounded by lots and lots of smut, drama, and turnarounds.

Niwa and Yukino are two colleagues who pretty much dislike each other. A fated encounter in a mysterious love hotel, however, connects them in a weird way by imposing a heart symbol on their arms. Whenever one of them masturbates or has sex, the other shares the feeling and intensity to the ... fullest.

As usual, this premise experiences a lot of complications, love triangles, violence (including sexual), and yes, NTR. I think a lot of people dismiss the author's NTR undeservedly. There are a lot of NTR-cliched works where the theme is forced and appears just for shock value. I don't even like NTR, but Honna-sensei's approach usually serves a greater purpose and feels organic in terms of plot or character progression.

Be prepared, though. This one's way more violent than 'HadaCamera' or 'Fureru to Kikoeru' or 'Nozo x Kimi'. It's on par with 'Nozoki Ana' in terms of sexual violence and drama intensity.

CHARACTERS - 7/10

I like the cast way more than her previous work, 'HadaCamera', and just a notch below 'Nozoki Ana'. Niwa is more outspoken and confident than Honna-sensei's other protagonists. He has agency and despite being indecisive and irritating at times, is an overall better take on male leads.

Yukino is like a watered-down Emiru ('Nozoki Ana'), but I like some sides of her way more. She's aloof and prickly, but she isn't a stranger to compassion or being proactive. As far as Honna-sensei's female leads go, she's up there.

The side cast is a solid 7/10, too. I won't discuss them to much as not to spoil you. There are several quasi-antagonists, and while some are very one-dimensional and irritating, others are well-constructed characters that go through a significant change throughout the series.

PLOT - 6.5/10

This would have been a higher score, were it not for some hiccups in the later chapters. 'Kaikan Douki' is great at its beginning and its mid-sections, but in the final 2 volumes there are some pacing issues and...lackluster turnarounds/plot solutions.

In this, 'Kaikan Douki' is opposite to 'HadaCamera'. The latter should have been shorter, while I wish this series had a few more chapters. It would've been nice to see some plot resolutions painted in more detail, and I'm not talking about the main character duo either.

ART - 8/10

Honna Wakou can't be mediocre in her art. It's always on point, with slight occasional downgrades. Once again, she borrows some inspiration from her other works (namely, 'Nozoki Ana', as it was her first series anyways). The male and female lead suffer the most from this, while the side cast is rather fresh compared to other side casts of hers.

OVERALL - 7/10

It's good to see that even after a decade of doing this Honna-sensei's still has fresh ideas and executes them more than decently. 'Kaikan Douki' isn't groundbreaking, but it's an entertaining read overall. It's a shame no translation group has bothered to go past Volume 1 and the series is severely glanced over.

Her NTR reputation is doing Honna Wakou bad service, and I feel people should dig deeper into her motivations and plot-building, instead of dismissing her as a simple NTR artist. As far as intensely emotional and dramatic smutty series go, she's one of the best.