Mar 18, 2022
Kikonsha Desu Kedo, Nani ka? is highly recommended. It is such an enjoyable manga, I am honestly shocked it's not better known. The whole 20 chapters I read with a smile on my face and I'm still smiling having finished it. It's funny and it's heartwarming. And it's real, in a way that yaoi often forgets to be.
Will everyone enjoy it? Probably not. You're probably not reading this if you're not just a little into yaoi. And even then, I wouldn't recommend Kikonsha Desu Kedo, Nani ka? as a first deep into yaoi. Even still, this manga might deserve a trigger warning, since it
...
does feature very clear workplace sexual harrassment.
Still, I enjoyed the manga immensely, and I think it'll be even more enjoyable rereading it since some of what we find out later on puts the early chapters into context.
Why did I enjoy it? Honestly, the art was not the selling point. It definitely was very, very comedic at times, and A1 (the mangaka) has such a talent for conveying emotions in her drawings. But I read her other manga first (On or Off), which had just the most beautiful art, so this one felt a little sloppy in comparison. But honestly, that could just be a personal preference. I like very clean, sleek manga art, not the busy kind, but others might prefer this manga's art over On or Off.
Regardless, for me the art was worth overlooking for the story and the characters.
Kikonsha Desu Kedo, Nani ka? is told so beautifully, everything just follows so well toggether. Plot points that did not make sense or sit well in the beginning become clear later on.
But for me, the most enjoyable part of the story was its subversiveness. This seems to be the mangaka's style, as On or Off is also quite subversive, and it's one of the reasons I think long time yaoi fans would enjoy this manga more than newcomers. There are just some plot devices and tropes that A1 uses that I think are much more enjoyable when placed in context of the rest of the yaoi body of work.
As I mentioned earlier, I also liked how real the story felt. It made sense to me. What if this really common yaoi trope actually did happen in real life? Or this ubiquitous yaoi plot device? Well, then Mikado and Serizawa would have to be exactly the sort of people that the mangaka created them to be, and they would definitely react the way she had them react.
It's a dangerous line A1 is walking on, having a protagonist who is a horrendous sexual harrasser; it makes sense, and it's a wonderful development that was longtime coming, that most newer yaoi just forgoes the sexual harrassment trope altogether. But I think A1 managed it. I personally agree with how Serizawa frames it partway through the story.
So yes, not everyone's cup of tea, but I thought the story was special, and needed and deserved telling.
And the ending, it was just so beautiful. There was one small panel of drawing, with no text even, but it had me crying.
Serizawa was adorable from the start. And Mikado grew on me, like a weird deformed demon on your back that you get used (read the manga to get it!), but one element I appreciated both in this manga and in A1's other work is her attention to the surrounding characters. Especially the female ones. An old yaoi trope is drawing female characters as horrible, mean, or vindictive. Haruko is a rounded character. She isn't perfect, she isn't horrible, she is just a person. A wonderful, lovely person. She goes through her own story and character development, not dependent on the male chararcters, and I just loved her throughout the story. She also did a good job of making me hate Mikado for a bunch of it.
So in conclusion, I enjoyed this manga. I am not sure everyone would. But one thing I am sure of, after reading 20 chapters of Kikonsha Desu Kedo, Nani ka? and 91 chapters of On or Off is that A1, you've got to draw more, please!
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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