Aug 19, 2024
When I first found this manga I thought I'd already figured it out to be one of these sorts of "introverted loser discovers the power of love by being approached by an absurdly popular gorgeous huge-titted -necessary trait- classmate who falls in love with him because losers are attractive" and I was like, fine, sometimes at least there's some comedy to be found in these (not that it's always intentional, but let's not digress any further).
Amazingly enough, *somehow* this manga is even worse than that.
Spoiler warning (of nothing, honestly) but the protagonist, one Otakura (such clever naming, I'm in awe) is not only NOT really
...
an introvert, he has basically no trait whatsoever that should make him the social pariah this manga tries to paint him as in the first couple of chapters. His whole "otaku" behaviour is... *drumroll* assembling, painting, dressing and selling models of girl anime characters. Yes, really, that's basically the whole otaku thing.
What you *won't* guess though, is that, by the power of making these models and by the power of watching anime, Otakun has become an expert on female fashion, even better than his female classmates, even the trendiest ones (because why wouldn't he). He can also do nails better than nail artists (of course), he can do extension and haircuts better than expensive salons (naturally) and he can choose and apply make-up better than a Hollywood pro. How, you might ask? Why of course! Because of all that modelling stuff he does! You might thing I'm exaggerating or that maybe it's played for laughs but I can assure you, I'm not and it most definitely isn't.
And you know what else is incredibly funny? Most manga with a loser protagonist will have him look as bland as possible (for all the people to self-insert and for a variety of other reasons) but Otakun here, oh no, he's more pumped than good ole Schwarzenegger. And do you know why? Because an anime he was watching was like "hey exercise is good here's what to do!" and he magically became more pumped than a 25-year-old culturist by doing exercises in his room. It truly is as stupid as it sounds and in the last chapter I read, Otakun strips so that only his trousers are on *in the middle of his class*; a behaviour that, dare I say, is truly a clear mark of an otaku and an introvert. It was such a moving moment that I thought I felt a tear slide down my cheek...or that might have been because I was laughing at the sheer nonsensical absurdity of it which was played entirely straight.
What else about Otakun? Oh, right, he can cook better than Linguini's rat, he regularly cleans his place, he's soft-spoken, he's kind, he's selfless and all other qualities that are in high demand in Japan and elsewhere.
One might wonder why I spent so much just talking about the male lead (which is indeed unusual for harem-style mangas) and that'll be quickly explained: let me introduce you to the two female "protagonists": Big Tits and Loli.
I'm quite certain they have names but A) I don't remember them and B) they're utterly pointless anyway.
So, what's the deal with them? Loli (in truth, not really a loli and, funnily enough, she acts more introverted than Otakun, but she's the usual short flat character so Loli it is) I actually, unironically, have no idea. She's friends with Big Tits and was convinced by her to let Otakun do an "image change" (because she looked too boyish and man, we wouldn't want to have that, you will conform to the common societal expectations in here) which of course he does making her change more than one of those Korean-cosmetic-surgery before and after ads. After which, they hang out at times but she's just a third wheel in this whole affair and nothing else than an afterthought.
The real (and only) protagonist to this point is Big Tits. You might think I'm objectifying her but, hand on heart, her adipose tissue balloons are quite literally the only thing I remember of her. If I told you to imagine an average girl in an average harem you'd just imagine her and her only real distinguishing characteristic is her bust which, truth be told, not all harem girls have (tho a lot of them do, admittedly). She approaches Otakun for some reason or another (unimportant) and basically you can imagine the rest, going through the "omg was I in love all this time? I never realised!!!1!ELEVEN!" kind of thing that is so common in this media and is so, so, so, SO fucking played out PLEASE I beg of you change the formula or tweak it just once.
But yeah, that's it. She has big boobs, falls in love with Otakun because he's basically the second coming of jesus christ (but he's also ripped af duuuuuuude) and the rest of her personality is the usual trite shite you've read or watched 100.000 times already (perfect girls who are always kind, always beautiful, always comprehensive, always surprised by the mc behaving like a normal human being, always enruptured by the mc's ability to treat them like sentient creatures, etc. etc.).
I was sort of hoping, just a tiny itty little bitty, that there'd be some drama in this manga. Spice things up, since it'll inevitably go through the garbage "oh no, mc has done -insert incredibly common thing people do all the time-, does that mean he likes -insert pointless girl character that will disappear within 2 chapters- more than me? Why am I feeling like this? OMGOMG wHyYyYyYyYyYy". The last chapter I read introduces two twins who, having functioning eyes, realise that Big Tits is infatuated with Otakun. I thought right, these girls are depicted as Big Tit's friends but what kind of friend wants an otaku as a partner for their besties? Come now. Play some prank, try to make some shit up, stir the cauldron, create some tension that might make this shitshow at least somewhat interesting, *do something*!
But...no. The twins realise Big Tits is jealous because they've been too close to Otakun for a while and what do they do? They start shouting "teehee! It's so crowded in here! We'll go ahead but we're afraid to get lost, we should hold hands! You guys should too!" before running away. Yes, at least THIS is recognised as "forced" and "unnatural" (even this manga couldn't have pretended otherwise) but my god, how mindnumbingly STUPID this whole thing was. I was left looking at the screen and wondering...why. Why am I doing this? Why am I wasting my time reading this absolute waste of paper, ink, digital space, broadband, whatever...why?
And that's how we end up here, with this review, which was not planned in the slightest but I had too much free time on my hands and became increasingly annoyed while writing it, to boot. If you read all this, well, you also have far too much free time on your hands, my lad.
If you like milquetoast mangas like this with at least realistic characters, go read ponkotsu fuuki no hanashi. It's by no means an incredible manga but it might as well be Master and Margarita compared to this. If you don't mind manga with this kind of setting but with erotic (dare I say, REALISTIC, considering they're 16-17 years old) themes, have a go at arakure ojousama, there's big tits there too but also some actual comedy.
Just please, stay away from this heap of trash lol.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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