So I'll broach the fourth story which seems to have ruffled a lot of feather (mine included). The plot deals with a college aged girl's (having some degree of sexual experience) romance with a mysterious stranger and her live starting to revolve around him. And then the bomb drops. This story while it made my eyes widen and jaw drop, it made me question what is a shoujo/romance/drama story? Does it have to be formulaic, is it okay to not have a resolution? And if there is some "resolution" do you still call it a story if that resolution is not what you think warrants closure... I don't know the answer to these, but I know I'd like to see more such oneshots, not just the type to titillate cheaply and leave the reader hanging high and dry for the kicks of it, but just stories with possible open or alarming ends which make the reader think "Whaatt the hell just happened?!"

Isn't what happens at the start of ch1 effectively rape?
2 & 3 are kind of sweet....ish
I want to castrate the $h1thead in ch4.
wow a fairly good teacherxstudent

... Last updated on October 6th, 2013, 5:45pm

Yes, today I felt like giving "Smut" another try and so far this piece of work hasn't as many weaknesses as the ones, that I tried before. At least the artwork was decent and most times the characters (especially the guys) were really appealing, even though I agree with the other comment and by times the female main characters looked somewhat oddly young - or kind of scary. Anyways, if you are into handsome male characters, then the artists style might be your cup of tea.

As for the stories:

Honnou Honey (Chapter 1) is kind of typical and the ending easy to predict. For me, this story is not something to remember, even though there was one joke quite funny and the way the male counterpart deals with women somewhat frustrating - Especially the issue in the beginning, when they get "together"... Sighs.

The 2nd story Ano Natsu wo Wasurenai (That Unforgettable Summer) was coming up with a slightly sadistic male counterpart and an age difference, so it was actually a bit more to my liking. It was at least pointing out, how the older one was trying to act mature and consider the circumstances they have been in (the age difference, the actual distance between them and the female lead still unsure about the whole "What exactly is love" topic). It was a nice read, with the summer heat and cicadas put into as background for the emotions flowing over.

Kimi no Kisu de Oshiete Ageru (Teach Me About Your Kiss) is bittersweet, which makes it different from your common storylines. The feeling of a painful break up mixing up with the wish to give some of the pain away to someone innocent, while that person is helpless facing something unknown and captivating. It's an interesting oneshot - And, I loved the scene with the downpour and umbrellas. Kkk. The panels are really nice artwise, e.g. the frogview of the dropped umbrella and shoes.

The 4th oneshot Toriko ~Toriko~ (Slave ~Captivated~) deals with a topic, that might be unfavourable to most readers. Adultery. IMO I can't like the characters for their behaviour and yet it's the point of view of the main character making the reader want to put the blame on the guy, so it seems the emotions have been expressed not all that bad. Still, it's something, that won't let you accept the characters easily.

The 5th story Kono Koi ha Himitsu (This Love is a Secret) includes the old cliche of a student x teacher relationship. I don't mind that. The feeling of the oneshot seems rather desperate and leaves a bitter taste, because the characters are caught up in something, that doesn't really promises anything for the future. Clinging to common sense, desperately grabbing onto the next person and giving in, because of... Yes, because of what exaclty? So, the conclusion was for me rather weak, but all in all it was executed as some kind of melodrama and maybe that was the authors wish?

[tbc]

Among all stories, I like Story 5 the most (Kono Koi ha Himitsu). Although I don't usually like teacher-student-relationship style manga, but this story has exception. There's something touching and heart-warming...and it makes me wanna see more of this story.

Story 1 is typical like normal Shoujo manga, while the rest stories have something almost over the boundary of normal shoujo and towards more drama.

The manga-ka (the author)'s style drawing is mostly beautiful
except some scenes that she made the heroine face looks a bit horror, and this was the only thing that I don't like about this manga. I know the author wanna represent the dark side of people that although everyone has concious to do something, he/she also has 'dark side', but it isn't necessary to draw the horror-like face to represent the face when he/she thinks of 'dark' thing.

... Last updated on December 10th, 2011, 8:52am