I’ve been a huge Yamamoto Kotetsuko fan for quite a number of years now, and this is one of the first of her works that I ever read. (I’m rereading it and figured it was time to give it a proper review.) At the time, I enjoyed Mankai Darling quite a bit. Having never read anything else by her before, I thought it was a decent, light read, with little conflict and little to complain about. I’d thought it had a sweet vibe, with all of its non-explicit sex scenes, and main focus on a developing relationship rather than the start of a whirlwind romance
Now, however, I can easily agree it’s probably one of her weakest works.
After rereading it, I think the thing that bothers me the most is how not into it the uke is when it comes to sex and anything to do with their relationship in general. It’s like she tried to write him as a tsundere type character, but that didn’t quite come across in the end. Instead she fell short about halfway with the personality. Takashi is resistant with the manager, but at the same time he’s completely capable of being sweet. With full on tsundere characters, this usually comes off as somewhat endearing, but with Takashi, on the other hand, it actually made me question why he would even be with the manager if he’s so uncomfortable? I mean, I completely get him just getting used to the idea of sex, but just in the relationship as a whole he seemed unenthusiastic.
Then, of course, the seme has to muscle his way in and force the uke to make an effort. I’ve always loved Yamamoto Kotetsuko relationships because they’re fairly even, you don’t have this huge gap in dominance like most other yaoi mangas. That is not the case with Mankai Darling. The manager has clear dominance and he knows it. Frequently he will use this dominance to be an arrogant jerk, constantly focused on the idea of sex even when Takashi is 0% into it. They try to make it clear to you that the manager loves Takashi constantly, but most of the time I questioned his motives. Even though the manga tried really hard to make a sweet atmosphere, I just kept not feeling the characters’ affections for one another.
To make matters worse, she eventually started throwing them through all of these different loops, as if to force the idea that they were really in love. Takashi doesn’t seem that into the manager? Well, we just have to make him jealous, and vice versa. It felt forced.
If you want good Yamamoto Kotetsuko story, I’d say stick with Omairi Desu Yo, Lucky Number 13, Honto Yajuu, Sukitte Iwasete?, ect.