SP x Baby
SP Baby

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I had decided that all of Enjouji Maki's female protagonists are misogynists. Then I read this. Wow. This reminded me of Hapi Mari, where the spunky opinionated girl becomes a soulless doormat. This overturns all of that. Of course, this is a fairy tale and the male protagonist is like Mr Darcy, but the girl remains true to herself and sticks to her decisions. This is the first time I have read something like this in a Japanese manga. The heroine is a bodyguard and is to remain a bodyguard after marriage too. The hero like other other Enjouji Maki's male protagonists is handsome, rich, ... adorable and open to reviewing himself. But the heroine does not make him a monster here.

Story 8/10
its not too long, pretty short.A girl has to take care of her brother and herself, but suddenly meets this rich guy, he asks her to be his bodyguard, she accepts and the love builds up.

Art 7/10
nice art, however not so much my personal favourite style

Character 7/10
i love the characters, i think they balance each other out it can be funny sometimes the way they react towards each other

Enjoyment 8/10
... I enjoyed reading this short little story, its was very cute and (at times) funny

Overall 8/10
its very cute and i definitely recommend it to someone who enjoys romance or comedy.

I almost dropped this after barely reading it. There was sexual harassment, sexual assault (several times), homophobia, putting people in life or death situations, and lying—all in the first chapter. I powered on so that I could give this a thorough review.

Both the protagonist, Hasegawa Tamaki (Tama), and the love interest, Sugou Kagetora (Tora), have an unhealthy codependency. She wants him to need her and he refuses to let her protest anything he does. Upon their first meeting, he found it so offensive that she thought he was gay that he wanted a woman for a bodyguard to prevent the misunderstanding. If you were a ... respectful person, being called "gay" wouldn't be the end of the world. After that fiasco, he repeatedly touches, kisses, and invades Tama's personal space when she doesn't want him to or when she doesn't expect it. Tora is always throwing Tama on her back as if that were some great, romantic feat. All the while, Tama harbors a lifelong crush on her neighbor and childhood friend (whose personality can be equated to a glass of air) that she magically forgets about within the last 2 chapters.

Tama is less like a bodyguard and more like a babysitter who is constantly getting harassed, poked, and prodded by the kid she's babysitting. Tora, a bored and wealthy politician's nephew, doesn't know how to be a decent person and wants Tama to change him. He even says that in one of the later chapters. The author tries to excuse his sexual abuse with something about "dulled emotions" or whatever but it's just bad writing. I decided a long time ago that I was done with men who have the resources to take care of themselves and better themselves but refuse to. I won't have it in real life and I won't stand for it in my fiction either. Sexual abuse isn't something impressionable young girls should be thinking is "normal."

The one thing I can praise about SP x Baby is the fact that Tama started out going to a job interview. I like how Enjouji portrays how tough the job market is, whether you're 18 or 28 or older. Another thing I really appreciated was that Tama had no degree and very few qualifications for the jobs she applied for. It's another realistic thing within our generation as college standards become more difficult to keep up with (especially if you're poor) and college tuition rises. The author doesn't focus on it but it was an introductory exposition I liked.

The concept of a political man falling in love with his bodyguard is a terrific one and I would love to read a great story about that. The execution in SP x Baby, however, veered off into a ditch and burned out. The minor characters are either ridiculously mean to Tama, antagonists, or they're completely forgettable and the main characters are somehow worse. Skip this and opt for something more sensible.