Himenospia

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Overall just a very strange manga
I picked it up about 2 years ago, dropped it because it stopped getting translated, looked through my drop list and noticed this was finished, and decided to just close it out.
The story starts off pretty well and interesting. I genuinely enjoy how the story ties in the actual behaviors of insects as an allegory for society, even if having a literal bug doctor exposit these behaviors to you was a little overt.
The premise in general had a weird lack of identity that i Cant quite explain, but it just seemed to be unable to decide if it wanted ... to be cold and bleak "survival of the fittest" and "I am the best hero fantasy"
Its very edgy. They make the girl shit herself in anti-shitting underwear. Plenty of gore, a little vomiting.
The art is very very nice. The gore isnt the best I've seen, not because it wasnt well drawn but because it lacked a sort of emotional impact. It was gross, but not gut wrenching. The author puts a lot of effort into making beautiful gory bloody messes out of characters I dont particularly care about.
I had fun reading it. The plot continued to spiral out of control and the "next big reveal" was just always entertaining. It wasn't good but by god I couldnt put it down. It was always just trying to one up itself.
All in all, a good premise, good art, but absolutely screwed character writing and plot development. More or less a Tarantino Movie.

"Himenospia" is rather jarring at first sight. From its opening panels, the manga is absolutely clear about highlighting unspeakable human obscenities, which, for many, is the initial pull into reading this niche manga. What is commendable about this manga is how much thought was given into inconspicuous events early on factoring into the foundation for an intense climax. Even though the legitimacy and logic implemented throughout is not credible to justify every roundabout measure taken, there is no doubt there was deep consideration into the foil of characters that shape the ultimate end of the story. The selective use of bug-orientated information to justify the ... qualities of character behavior is one such example where, in theory, the application seems fitting, but other scientific explanations of different phenomena also likely exist that would indicate otherwise. In essence, actions can be explained through bug-related facts but other instances of conflicting facts may also exist, and the story could be selective in choosing what facts it deems appropriate to make the story more sound. The characters show their polished expertise as they garner more experiences in new circumstances as well as newly introduced players who throw a curveball into what is expected. Again, unorthodox explanations given for motives and advancements sound outlandish, but as the story pushes deeper into the realm of sci-fi and new age technology, it eases the reader into the world.

In regards to design, the art is very clean and the artist deserves major props for the way his characters' expressions are represented. The similarities to real-world events, characters, and locations were well outlined. In all, a well constructed story that could be taken with a drop of harsh criticism for many reasons but one that uses its gore and sexual messages to create something suspenseful and real. 7/10

I hate when a good enough set-up uses its premise well for only 1/4 of the series.

Briefly, Endou is a girl whose life is horrible. Bullied (to a very illegal degree, which cartoonishly shouldn't be possible), abused at home (that one is pretty realistic and disturbing), but with a very positive outlook to endure. You got your suffering character, boom, let's give them POWERS. How will they use them? How will everything turn out? Evil? Good? Stupid? The limit is the sky.

We've seen it before, it can work, it can make use of it in interesting ways. Even if it's one of those power fantasies. ... I was in for the ride until I stopped caring after chapter 5. Not that it bored me, it was just a matter of waiting for the scan, so I decided to put it away. It ended after some time, and the rating didn't reflect my opinion on it. What happened? I think the writer legitimately gave up.

What seemed like the endgame happened really fast. That's a quality that's part of some of my favorite series. Where will we go? How will we go? New characters, faces, opposing sides, quite nice for an arc, but when they start getting into a critique on society, I started to check out. There's this element here, a constant comparison, hatred, and very intense perspective of men. I find series that deal with feminist themes fascinating, since it's something I always look out for in good writing and representation, this wasn't it. Bordering on misandry, the series makes an enemy of men in a very blatant manner. Every enemy is men, even the women who clearly oppose the main character, are treated well because “they wouldn't do anything bad”. Other times, the men are seen as slaves, as playthings, there's probably only two who're okay, and one is unhinged. I began to simply tolerate it, maybe it'll get better, but again, the writer gave up.

One moment simply decided to ruin everything. (SLIGHT SPOILER) Let me quote, “I transplanted my brain into one of your kind”. This isn't an advanced world, it's just today. (END OF SPOILER) From then on, it all went bonkers. This brain transplanted person from man to woman decides to torture the protagonist, BOOM lets put them in hypersexual bondage leather. A squad of soldiers supposedly were trained so hard they became bigger than the biggest humans on earth, without mention of any artificial thing being done to them. “They trained really hard”. Everything was chucked out the window just to introduce another weird ass point. And the constant bombardment of sex appeal in the worst ways possible. I don't think I wanna see a tortured girl in glamorous angles, or a person fighting for their lives while their ass in on display. Instead of investing the audience, it seems like an attempt to keep attention, when the thing is so ridiculous that it demands attention in general.

The plot gave up, and it's a short series, mind you. Is the art good? Sure, I'll give it that. The detail on the insect elements is incredible. The faces have this strange realism in them that fits quite nicely with the vibe. Not much else to say, it worked fine.

I wish it was more of “don't take it too seriously”, but it clearly wasn't. There's a very failed attempt at showing how characters act, or how science works. Many times they go on these rambles about how biology works a certain way, and it tries to create a logic that doesn't add up. Along with too many other problems, even for a short series, I don't see anybody liking this, other than just wanting to read trashy stories. I'm just sad that it had an interesting premise and themes entirely wasted.

4.2/10. To finalize it, the characters all have grand motives with the stupidest ways to do them. Not even funny, just stupid.