Baka-Updates Manga - Viewing Topic - Manga Review: Sexless Friend

Source: http://thedarksideofequality.blogspot.sg/2013/02/manga-review-s exless-friend.html

2.3 out of 5 watermelons

Introduction (Spoiler Alert)

This first chapter of Sexless Friend hooked me to the story, it reminded me of MM!'s androphobia/ gynophobia premise, as well as, Watashi ni XX Shinasai's plot line of pretend girl/boyfriend turning into a real relationship. However, the story pretty much went downhill from then on as Kakei Hidetaka lost focus on the character and plot development.

Premise of the Plot

Sexless Friend begins with Suou Tsukasa, a slightly androgynous high school boy, who is extremely popular with girls because of his good looks (Cue images of Visual Kei Bands). He is very polite to all of them, which leads them to think that he is being bashful around girls. However, the truth is that he has gynophobia having been brought up by his mother in a single parent family together with his two sisters. He hopes to find a Yamato Nadeshiko (a traditional idealized Japanese woman) to fall in love with as he finds the other women too forward with their advances. He finds this in Kanzaki Takashi. Later that night, he goes to a party organized by his school in the hope of getting to know Kanzaki better. It turns out, a sensei of theirs, Miss Hime (more like a tutor or a recently graduated teacher whose age is not that different from Kanzaki and Suou), got drunk. Kanzaki and Suou sent her home resulting in an accidental kiss between Suou and Hime. Hime confesses that she has androphobia (and some emerging lesbian feelings for a senpai), which led Suou to confess his gynophobia (and some emergent gay feelings for a senpai) leading them to make a pact to become sexless friends who can learn to practice dating so that they can overcome their phobias.

The Bad Parts

Just like MM! and Watashi ni XX Shinasai, Sexless Friend had a really interesting premise to build their characters on. However, this was not the case throughout the manga. First, the characters were not well developed at all. For instance, Kanzaki was almost left out entirely from the story, thus, when she confessed that she had commitment phobia, it came less of a shock and more of a disbelief that this has not been hinted at an earlier stage. Similarly, the main characters Suou and Hime were not properly developed. They were one dimensional characters that focus only on one aspect of their phobias. There was little development or exploration of these phobias. Second, this meant that much of the plot is driven by the circumstances that the characters find themselves in. However, this too proved to be disappointing. Not only do the ecchi parts feel forced and mild, these scenarios did little to show any plot and character development. Finally, the plot itself was hardly believable. Personally, I feel that a harem manga can only be good if the reader finds it probably (though unlikely) that such things could arise. In Sexless Friend, the transgressions of the Hime sensei's authority have become too extreme, which led me to think that it would have been much better to have Hime as a senpai rather than a sensei.

The Good Parts

Although I do not think that Sexless Friend is a particularly well drawn Manga, I give credit to Kakei Hidetaka for having a good sense of humor in his plot. Moreover, the Manga is well drawn and adheres to familiar themes that Manga lovers would be familiar with.

Conclusion

Due to its length, I would think that this is the kind of manga you would like to pick up for a mindless and familiar reading on a lazy Sunday afternoon. It would slip pass you without making much of an impact, but it doesn't annoy you enough to keep you upset at its flaws. The only exception is the ending, which may leave you feeling that the series is poorly planned and that it is still incomplete.