Onani Master Kurosawa isn't a manga simply about a guy who likes to masturbate (a lot), that's only the outline of the story. This manga is truly about a guy whose going through puberty, growing up, and using his particular habit to literally deal out justice in this disgusting world. Yes, sounds an awful lot like Light Yagami from Death Note right? But instead of there being a Death Note that can kill people, our protagonist, Kurosawa Kakeru does what he calls his "daily duties"; he goes to the girls' bathroom in the old school building every day after school, and masturbates to fantasies of him screwing other girls in his class. Oh yes, sounds completely fascinating doesn't it? But didn't I say that he did this to serve justice? Well, after that rather sickening base for the story, the masterful plot slowly begins to unfold when Itahara, a quiet and bullied girl catches Kurosawa masturbating and blackmails Kurosawa into helping her pass righteous judgement against the bullies. And what's the first thing that Kurosawa decides to do to serve justice? He masturbates and then flails all his white-stuff on the bully's stuff - such as cloth, textbooks, etc. Sound amazing yet? Well get ready, there's more - this erotic aspect is only a tiny part of the entirety of the story. What is this story truly about? It's about the good, the bad and the ugly of human nature. Now, if you're sitting here reading this and thinking to yourself, “Oh shut the hell up, how can masturbating tell you about human nature?” Well keep your mouth shut and continue reading, I'll explain to you. As you'd expect from someone that hides in the girls' bathroom at school and masturbates, Kurosawa despises everything about high school - from the brainless students who think they're all cool, to the teachers who can be a pain in the ass, to all the buttload of homework, projects, quizzes, and tests that are assigned: Basically sums up school life eh? At your school, there's a social hierarchy no? There are the jocks who keep to themselves and think they're all gangster-like, there are those nerds who always study in the media center during lunch and babble about their AP BC CALCULUS crap, there are those people just hanging around in the middle of nowhere like a bunch of fools, there are those handsome guys and beautiful girls who think they're always the coolest-hottest, and there are those weirdos who are weirdos. Kurosawa chooses to stay out of all groups, and stick to himself, because he is disgusted with humanity (a true misanthrope). You can call this pathetic and dumb, but you can also make an argument that it's the interesting and actually the smart path to take. But you always have to know that there's more to see than meets the eye; there's a lingering truth behind the curtains of the story that wants and dreams aren't always easy to achieve. For one to make a decision, you never know if it's the right or wrong choice until you see to it until the very end. But one must be willing to sacrifice and receive righteous judgement when it's all said and done (WHAT WHAT WHAT? Where did this all this "deep concepts" come from, are you trying to act all smart?). Yeah Yeah Yeah, now go friggin read the manga because I'm not going to basically hand you the entire story in detail in a review, might as well ask me to slaughter you where you stand...
What can I say about this brilliant story other than claiming it as my favorite manga of all time. This story is just so unique, a combination of masturbation, misanthropists, school life, growing up, and deep deep conceptions of reality? Holy moly, how do you even connect all of these? I don't even know how Onanie Master Kurosawa did it, but it did do it. The comedy in this manga is hilarious as well, I couldn't stop laughing as I was reading~
The characterization of each character is a work of beauty. Kakeru Kurosawa, is in fact awfully similar to Light Yagami from Death Note; their ideals, egos, and overall thought process' are exactly identical. Kurosawa and Light both are disgusted by humans and wish to serve out justice on those that deserve to be punished. But the one difference? Kurosawa isn't a devil like Light Yagami, probably because he was corrupted with absolute murder power, instead having the greatness of his cum... but moving on from that comparison. Kurosawa, despite his hilarious misanthrope personality, and his love of masturbating to girls in his class, purely symbolizes an average teenager who is still in the process of growing up and finding his way to communicating with society. He is the single-most unique character I have ever read about. The entire story is him raging about others and trying to do the "right" thing by punishing "bad guys", but as he reflects upon his own actions, he learns that he's not much different from the people that he sought as "bad". It was a treat to watch him truly mature~ The other characters were pretty hilarious too, especially Kitahara, but honestly no one is even close to as important as Kurosawa so I'm not going to waste time delving into each character's characterization...
Artwork, easy 10/10. Beautiful, I would masturbate to the art (no I wouldn't actually). I've seen other people claim this, and I'd have to agree with them: The art is quite similar to the art from Death Note. Each character's design is unique and very appealing, you can spot the effort that was put into each drawing. You could see the pencil linings so blatantly, it was a work of beauty~ I read this black-and-white but I heard that the manga version with color is now out? Shame, I've already bought the Black-And-White set for this manga... But, without color it's still excellent.
Enjoyment? This was where this manga did it for me. Most enjoyable manga alongside Vinland Saga. What makes me like stories? A unique plot? ✓ Intriguing main character? ✓ Deep concepts? ✓ Comedy Relief while remaining true to it's serious moments? ✓ Great ending? ✓ All in all a masterpiece that you'll regret missing out on. If you've read/seen Death Note already, then this story will appeal to you all the more, because it has lots of connections to Death Note that'll not only grasp your mind and attention, but it'll also make you laugh your ass off.
