Apr 9, 2022
Sexuality is not necessarily a juvenile subject, and it can be really poignant and even subtle when done well. A film I like a lot is a French film about a girl who becomes a prostitute for seemingly no good reason. Perhaps she likes it? Perhaps it's a feminist metaphor? Perhaps she just wants power over others. It can be intriguing, compelling stuff, especially when it is done artfully and entwined with the psychological. Sex in dramas isn't just gratuitous sexualisation or depictions of love in the hands of a competent storyteller. It's everything to do with being human as well. (The film is Young
...
and Beautiful directed by Francois Ozon btw).
So now that I've justified why I've dived deep into this work, lemme get on with the review.
I read the original of this manga after I had heard that this was originally an adult manga. Now, although I don't think it was very good, it still had quite a few bold storytelling decisions, good panelling, and an intriguing atmosphere for an adult manga. Sadly, I don't think the story grasped human psychology very well and in the end, the whole thing really felt more like a justification for an NTR fetish. The ending in particular was a fascinating disappointment. Although it was quite bold in its ambiguity, it ultimately did not really answer any questions about the characters' choices nor probed deep enough to leave an interesting enough thought to meditate on after the read.
That said, this new adaptation just reads to be a much more interesting and psychological simply by forgoing the over-sexualisation that an adult work has to contain. It reads more like an exploration of the main character's conflicted feelings of lust and love for an indecipherable girl who seemingly just wants to sleep around. This definitely makes the story here more compelling to read, more like a coming of age tale: of sexual discovery, youthful uncertainty, and the indecipherability of certain people. But sadly, the story doesn't really go deep enough.
Unlike something like Shuzo Oshimi's works where sexual desire is intertwined with the character's background history and trauma, making the oddities in the characters' behaviours much more believable, the story here seems much more satisfied with leaving things unsaid. While this definitely keeps up the tension and mystery, after 13 chapters of this, it really feels like the author isn't going to go beyond that.
I think that there is some potential here, but to tap it, it needs to go further into coming of age, and the psychological. To further dive into the characters' mindset and the eccentricities of their developing thinking in this transitory period called youth. To really see what made each of them who they are - Their families, their circumstances, etc. Hopefully, then, we can answer some of these intriguing questions brought about by the story: Why is she so willing? What is her goal? And, why is he so smitten with her?
Other than that, I'm not really taken with the art style all that much, but I think the panelling is quite well done and gives the whole thing a detached, languid pace that emphasises a sense of reality that made the original work a fascinating read. I also think the way the sexual scenes tread a fine line and seem more artful than titillating.
However, the danger of the ending of the original still seems to be lurking in the corners. I sure hope that the author is sensible enough to flesh out the conclusion of this story and not simply let it be an NTR thing, because no matter how much I thought about it, I just could not identify how anyone would think that it would be a sufficient conclusion.
There is usually a reason for a person's sexual fetish. Usually, it's tied to a person's upbringing, their history and the development of their ideas and beliefs, even if it is just a minor or mundane incident. It's just not believable to think that this kind of thing develops in a vacuum, the idea that you are born with the desire to be cucked or the desire to let yourself be a sexual toy is an unsatisfying and incomplete idea.
Maybe there are definitely people out there who just do? It's a big world after all, and bedroom stories aren't usually told. But I personally can't imagine it without any form of justification.
The original ending seems to be about acceptance and being at peace with your own 'quirks'. Fine, I guess if one reads it like that it can be 'poetic' in that sense. But I can't help but feel in the context of the story, in the context of everything else that has been depicted, that there is a wealth of more interesting ideas present here left untapped. Wouldn't it be all the more intriguing of a story if the question of why was answered as well?
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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