My biggest complaint regarding FamiRes Iko, is the extreme change of tone and overall atmosphere. Karaoke Iko! was a very lighthearted comedy with a pinch of drama, and for me, it was a very enjoyable read.
Just recently, I got to know about this and read it, expecting the same mood (but maybe slightly different because of some posts I saw) What I did not expect was that it feels like a completely different story, the nature of the comedy and story totally replaced by a different way of writing. I ignored it and hoped it was just to fit the seinen magazine it's published in (unlike Karaoke Iko, which was officially published after it gained popularity online), and that it won't do anything to the overall flow of the original story.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case and the saddest thing of all, it even affected the nature of the main relationship between the two male leads, Satomi and Kyouji.
Iirc, Satomi was a teenager struggling through puberty, who met a weird yakuza who's charming, lame and considerate all at the same time, and how their wacky relationship progressed from there on. Both of them are from very different places, but somehow they enjoyed each other's company and for Satomi, it slowly became something he relied on, since he tends to drown in his sorrows and get gloomy. This relationship led him to understand that he shouldn't run away from his problems and in the end he did just that and never regretted it (even if it was a false alarm)
For me, this character development of his as well as Kyouji's easygoing nature and funny craziness made me love them and their relationship a lot. Add to that Satomi's encounters with other yakuza and the drama that follows and out comes a very fun, wacky story with a unique premise we can enjoy, nothing more, nothing less. No seriousness to it at all. Just like other comedy with yakuza characters.
And then when it comes to Famires Iko, all that is gone. We have Satomi who's even more gloomier than ever, unlike the one we saw who graduated from highschool. And who's that guy who's supposed to be Kyouji? Now he's just a slightly depressed old guy who's passive and let's Satomi decide whatever he wants regarding their relationship, still a considerate guy but his previous character as easygoing and a natural flirt is totally missing. The relationship itself has taken a hit as well, going from the boke-tsukkomi like comedy duo to a pair who's worrying about society and yakuza and whatnot.
After reading this interview mentioned in Calstine's comment, I realized it's because the mangaka never intended to write a sequel to Karaoke Iko, and how she wanted to write a manga with a family restaurant background and suddenly decided to bring serious, realistic matters into consideration regarding the relationship she wrote in her previous work. Now, I'm never the type to write a comment criticizing a mangaka, especially coz I like Wayama Yama's other works like Onna no sono no Hoshi and Muchuu Sa, kimi ni (and Karaoke Iko is one of my favs), but this decision was totally unnecessary. Imo, she's ruining her own unique work by herself.
And I have a question, what's so realistic about a yakuza begging a schoolboy to teach him how to sing coz he's scared of getting a tattoo? The whole point of Karaoke Iko was that it was lighthearted and not serious. It was never meant to be realistic. Suddenly bringing realism into a story like this means ruining the original mood, and alienating the previous fans like myself in the process.
Don't get me wrong, I love realistic fiction, as well as unrealistic ones. But ones that change in the middle really ruin the flow. I actually would have loved the story in FamiRes Iko as well, if it didn't feel like the characters were ripped out of a certain setting and put into a different one. And it actually is the case, especially for the main pair. Now that the main characters are changed into a different version for the theme change, the comedy part is given to side characters, which is sometimes the only saving grace whenever I'm upset for my main pair.
The sad thing is, like I said before, I would have loved this manga because it's actually enjoyable at times, like the mangaka side story and the addition of more characters like Satomi's batchmates and his chatty senpai at work make things fun. And after the end of volume one, I had hopes for the main pair too. But as volume 2 progressed (I'm at ch.17 now), while it looks like things are going to go back to normal, there's also this sense of dread that it never will. And as much as I would love to ignore it and continue (believe me, I really tried), it's hard to forget that the whole theme of the manga has been poorly changed, and everything else has been changed according to it. The love and enthusiasm I had for this is gone now, sadly.
Either way, the take away from this is that if you like Satomi and Kyouji and their relationship from Karaoke Iko, shipper or otherwise (personally, I don't ship them but ofc I still want them to continue staying together as-is) then please do yourself a favor and don't read this "sequel", if you can call it that. It totally ruins the enjoyment you felt when you read/watched Karaoke Iko! And that's especially the case if you're new to the fandom via the anime. The anime did a great job at enhancing what was there in Karaoke Iko, and the first 4 episodes are a delight because it was adapted by some people who truly love the original story. For me, that is more than enough now.
I might edit (or hopefully, delete) this negative comment based on how the last 2-3 chapters are going to be in FamiRes Iko, if I ever feel like reading them someday. But for now, this is my verdict.
(-85)
(+4)
