Umibe no Onnanoko
A Girl on the Shore

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Known for the acclaimed "Oyasumi Punpun" and "Solanin", Asano Inio has established his talent with both imagery and the written word. His stories are most noticeable for their oppressive and perpetual sense of melancholy, and "Umibe no Onnanoko" is certainly no exception.

Umibe no Onnanoko (lit. Girl of the Sea) is a brief tale of two teenagers' sexual frustration. Where most anime and manga draw the line at a simple kiss or confession, Umibe no Onnanoko starts its first chapter with a sexual encounter. There is no build-up, no confession: the two just decide to share their loneliness by having sex with one another. It is ... not a story based in the ideals of romance; Asano knows that the real world is not quite so innocent.

Following the experiences of Isobe and his long-term crush, Koume, the story quickly falls into one of despair and misanthropy. Koume was betrayed (a truth she does not want to admit to herself) by her previous boyfriend, used as a source of sexual pleasure rather than being loved and cherished as the kind-hearted person she is (or was). She knows that Isobe has feelings for her and soon finds herself exploiting his feelings to make herself feel like she is appreciated. She does believe another person would ever love her for her personality, so she uses the only thing she is a certain a boy would love: her body.

Unsurprisingly, things do not turn out well for the two. Isobe has his feelings betrayed and sees the girl he once loved exposed as a fake, manipulative nymphomaniac. His ideals of love and romance are destroyed in front of his eyes. He grows to hate Koume for it and devolves from an innocent boy into a depressed, hateful misanthrope. Eventually he does not even want physical intimacy with another person.

What is most appealing about the story is how natural it all feels. Everyone (well... nearly everyone) has known what it is like to be rejected or lied to by somebody they love. Sex is a natural part of an intimate relationship and sometimes it is not always a romantic experience. It can be heart-breaking, painful and even empty.

Asano uses dialogue well throughout the manga. Like its portrayal of sex, the conversations between the characters feel authentic. Teenagers curse with their friends and gossip about how big a girl's breasts are or how hot a certain boy is. There is none of the 'idiot friend' or harem set-ups common in anime. When two characters talk to one another, it feels like something a real person would say. This allows the reader to empathise with the story around them, but also brings something much more relevant: emotional resonance. There is a powerful scene where Koume asks Isobe what kind of person he doesn't hate (owing to his blatant misanthropy), and he simply responds with "Kind people." Everything the story had been buildings towards was encapsulated in those two words of text.

There is also a bit of side-story about Isobe's deceased brother, but it mainly exists to develop Isobe's character rather than simply existing as a distraction from the overlying story. The story is focused, and thankfully, given its short two-volume length. There is plenty of dialogue between background characters as well, which expresses that the world around the two main characters is alive and moving. They inhabit the world but they are not the world itself. They are just two dirty cogs cycling their way around an infinite world.

The artwork of Umibe no Onnanoko is beautiful, though that should come as no surprise given the author. Each character is given life and emotion in their facial expression, including even the background characters who appear for just one or two panels. There is no scene that feels lazy. There are even gorgeous, intoxicating scenery shots spread throughout each chapter (much like what is found in Oyasumi Punpun), though they are never there to take the reader's attention away from the story. Asano Inio is surely one of the best mangaka when it comes to putting images to paper, but he never neglects the story in favour of glitter and glamour. He conveys both the beauty and anxiety of life in his imagery.

If there is one major criticism to be had, it is that the ending feels abrupt. The characters had been steadily falling downwards and downwards, so far down that it seemed they would never be able to get out of their mess. And then they suddenly forget all their troubles and decide to live for the better. I suppose it could simply be rationalised as human beings being whimsical creatures, but it did feel lacking compared to the endings of some of Asano's other works. No doubt he could have expressed himself better.

Umibe no Onnanoko is not always a pleasant manga to read. It challenges the reader's perception of sexuality, romance and sincerity. The two main characters and the world that surrounds them are deeply flawed, imperfect existences. It is less concerned with ideals and more with providing a believable setting that the reader can understand and empathise with. All human beings need a healthy dose of escapism from time to time, but stories such as this are just as necessary.

It will not change anyone's beliefs, and while it is hardly a 'fun time', it is difficult to come out of reading Umibe no Onnanoko without the feeling that something a little bit more meaningful was gained.

Umibe No Onnanoko is quite possibly the worst piece of literature that my hands have touched in the past decade.


Now to be fair, I knew absolutely nothing about this manga prior to buying it. Perhaps I should have done my research. When the first sex scene came by I was surprised because, again, I knew literally nothing about the manga. But it was fine. Sex scenes aren't that bad right? I'm sure they have meaning. Oh look another sex scene. And another one. Another one. Another one. Dj khaled can't save me here this book is literally sex and bad story telling.


The actual story ... is quite ridiculous and while the characters hold resemblance to what real teenagers feel at certain times- how they act as a whole is entirely exaggerated and unrealistic. You'd think that the author is a dinosaur based on their interpretation of teenager relationships. Yeah yeah, maybe I was the only teenager in highschool to not have sex every 5 minutes, but to be fair their rampant sexual behavior isn't the only problem. These kids are assholes to each other and its a wonder why any of them interact with each other.


The only reason I recommend you to pick up this manga is if you want to watch teenagers have sex. Well.. that's actually a pretty sketchy reason to pick this one up. I found no redeeming qualities in this book- no deep symbolism (wow people get sexually frustrated 2deep4me) and in general this was a bad and awkward read.


This is basically porn- bad story and characters but okay sex scenes.

I'm writing this review completely fresh, having finished A girl on the shore just a couple of minuets ago, and it left such an impact on me that I felt I had to come straight to MAL and write my first review in over 3 years. Not because this was such a thought provoking or inspiring work that I felt I simply needed to tell everyone to read it as fast as I could, no quite the opposite, I feel as if this is one of the most DISAPPOINTING Manga's/Anime's I've had the displeasure of watching/reading. I honestly can not believe this is written by ... the same author of Solanin, which I love to death even though it did have it's problems. "A Girl on the Shore" is nothing but problems however. Where do I even start?

Well I guess I'll start on a high note and say that the art is average. Scenes are well drawn and detailed, however (and this is a problem I have with all of Inio Asano's works) the faces -specifically the eyes- give me a weird uncanny valley feeling. So that's the best thing I can say about this manga. Buckle up because now we 'bout to get super negative.

The plot could not be any.... you know what I can't even finish this sentence because too many negative adjectives come to mind. It's all over the place, it has abysmal pacing, terrible direction, and even though a lot does happen, the plot never, ever, EVER, feels like it's going anywhere. I never felt like tension was building, or any conflict was moving the plot forward. If I didn't know any better I'd say that the plot only existed as a vehicle to move the 'story' between the sex scenes.

Oh yeah, the sex scenes.

There are sex scenes. So be prepared for that, because I certainly wasn't. Now I am no prude, and I am not one to just turn my eyes the second something edgy or challenging get's presented to me, but this manga was just too much. I don't want to spoil, but there are some sex related scenes that just serve absolutely no purpose whatsoever and only seem to be in there to shock you. If the blurb for this manga makes you think its a traditional romance, well it isn't, so if that's what you want, look elsewhere.

Now then, the worst part, the characters. Again, the only other work I've read by this author was Solanin, which had (in my opinion at least) EXTREMELY well done and realistic characters who where all relate-able in one way or another. "A Girl on the Shore" however, is the complete opposite. Absolutely none of the characters left an impact on me in any way shape or form. I don't remember a single name, and like I said in my first paragraph, I literally JUST finished this manga. Not only are they not relate-able or memorable, they aren't even LIKE-ABLE. A bad story can really be saved by good characters, but in this case the characters drag the story down EVEN further. EVERYONE is an asshole. EVERYONE. Everyone treats everyone like shit, so you don't root for anyone, so you don't care about anyone, so you just start speed reading to get this fucking drag of a book over with. It isn't like the twists near the end are unpredictable. Fucking hell you know the ending word for word by the 5th god damn page. This is not realistic character depiction Inio! No one acts like this even in middle school!

Overall, all I can say is do not fucking buy this. It's a waste of money and a waste of paper. My heart goes out the the tree that had to die just so it could produce this fucking mess. Even reading online is a waste of time, and if it's porn you're after, well buddy if you haven't heard you can find tons of it for free without a fucking tragically retarded story blocking everything. I'll be honest though, near the middle of the book there are 1 or 2 moments that had me thinking "My god is this finally going somewhere". But obviously no, it went right back to being shit. It gets one point added to it just because it fucking trolled me. It's safe to say that I'll continue to cherish Solanin, forget this exists, and never take a chance on Inio Asano again.

After completing the first volume of A Gril by the Sea, (or Umibe no Onnanoko) I can say that Inio Asano has done it again. The main character of the story is a girl named Koume Sato, who experiences the ups and downs of relationships, mostly downs, with Inio brilliantly showing readers what emotions come with it. Just like every other manga by Inio Asano, reading A Girl by the Sea is an experience all its own; unique, heart tantalizing, comedic, and enjoyable. I gave this manga a 10/10 across the board because I believe that the story is excellent, the art ... enhances the characters by portraying beautiful scenes that fit the mood said characters, and the characters themselves are interesting and are what gives this manga, in my opinion, the qualities to become Inio's best manga, possibly surpassing oyasumi punpun in the future.(POSSIBLY) The best part about the story, art, and characters are how they are all put together perfectly by Inio, leaving it impossible for me to give this less than an overall 10/10.

I feel like "Umibe no Onnanoko" is the most telling of inio asano's issue in his writhing. Which is that if you don’t have some sort of direct connection to the ideas he tackles you are never going to like the story. Unlike most stories, where the point is to introduce an idea to the reader. Asano's writing feels more like a depiction of feeling that use the experiences of the reader as a way to connect them to it.

This is why "a girl on the shore" is so impactful for me, while being so boring or disgusting for other people. I feel drawn ... to the story of 2 people so desperate to feel wanted in a world that rejects them, while being unable to accept each other, because I understand those emotions and have felt them. But for a person who has not felt these feelings before, or has felt them but does not feel driven to them, the various depictions disgusting of sex scenes, the snail pace plot and the abrupt ending become unable to be overseen in order to enjoy the story.

I find the strong dislike of this manga amusing. To be honest, it's not for idiots/idealists/prudes/escapism.

It's a very realistic manga dealing with chaos, love and pain, with a fair amount of ambiguity. It's not a fun or light read, it's a piece of art that doesn't try to make a point, instead it aspires to capture a segment of reality through a lens of beauty.

The pacing is quite unique, it's the embodiment of a sleepy town, where months can go by and nothing happens. In the same chapter, without it explicitly being stated, time will jump. I personally find it very beautiful and stimulating.

The ... characters are realistic, they're hormonal teens dealing with growing up.

It can't be argued that the artist shows very good technical skill.

The ending: Some people seem very confused that the two hormonal teenagers' feelings could ever change... Not only that, the ending (and story) is symbolic of a life cycle of love itself (Awkward/Painful->Tender/Pure/Bliss->Awkward/VeryPainful->->->Nothing)

...

This isn't my genre at all but I loved this manga. I'd recommend this to somebody who's looking for something a bit different and an honest piece of art.

this manga was practically just porn straight porn the ending was even more atrocious that what i was looking at do not recommend this book it is nothing like any of his other works which are 129 times better. most of the book was just sex scenes between middle school children its rweally not something nice as they are underage and sexualises them of course sex scenes have their meanings but these however i felt did not i could not work out how they meant anything and the story would have been better off without them.

the plot was not something that gets you hooked and ... was confusing at times.

I feel as though Umibe no Onnanoko falls into the same pitfall of nearly every other story that tries to depict teenage romance/sexuality as something deeper than it actually is. Similarly to others, it lacks self-awareness required to properly tell these stories, and it aims straight to the 'punch in the gut' or 'shock value' to hold its narrative afloat. It's purposefully ambiguous, but, beneath that ambiguity lies absolutely nothing. It's a conservative layer atop that's trying to hide what lies beneath, but once you pull the curtain back, you realize that there's nothing there.

Greatest fault with Umibe no Onnanoko lies with the fact ... that it's trying to add more flavor/depth to the teenage angst than there is. In reality, teenage angst is just teenage angst. Sexually frustrated 14y old kids are everywhere, and part of fun in reading stories like these is remembering what it used to be like and comparing. Because, in the end, Umibe no Onnanoko is a journey of two sexually frustrated teenagers being assholes to one another, period. There's no flavor of depth anywhere to be found, and even bothering to mask its potential complexities is just a waste of time.

Narrative in UnO is broken. Structurally, it doesn't work. It attempts to be more than slice of life story but fails because there's no lingering trace throughout its chapters. Early chapters just feel as an excuse to see two characters have sex and nothing more. Everything about them is purposefully obscured, but it works against the narrative. Aim of the story, I suppose, was to see two characters grow through indulging in sex, but for it to work, we have to have a baseline for both of them. Point A from which they'll grow toward point B. That point A is just vaguely hinted at at the beginning, and by the time we get it, character development is already underway so it loses its purpose.

There's nothing wrong with adding layers to a character to make it more complex, but when details are integral to the starting point of the character, it's just destructive to hide it. From the start onward, there's very little 'plot'. If you remove First 7-8 chapters, nothing changes. There's a girl that got dumped and there's a guy with a 'pick from the bucket' trauma. Once you read the ending, it feels as though the entire point of the 'plot' was to reverse the situations of the characters. However, as far too much screen time is gifted to, quite honestly, pointless sex scenes (they were neither hot nor symbolic in any way, they were just sort of there), the journey to that reversal is so short I was simply never able to get a good grasp on it.

To sum that bucketload of info short, it fails to convey its point properly because it pointlessly hides information from the readers, and even when it gets to that 'point', it doesn't work because it's far too short for what it's trying to achieve.

Art is one thing I kind of liked in UnO. It's not mind-blowing to the point it blew my dick off, but it had certain charm. Yeah, the faces are weird, facial expressions are all over the place, but disregarding that, it had a life of its own. There are a few really nice shots (one that stood out for me was a reflection in street mirror, however basic it was), and it's not too busy with itself.

We finally get to the characters. They're, uh, sexually frustrated teens. It's kind of depressing how I can't point out a single other thing about their characters. I suppose they're an accurate description of 14y old teens, seeing as nobody knows who they actually are at that age, but this only cheapens the whole 'let's go for a deep story' segment that nearly all stories of this type go for. They're two similarly-faced drawings of opposite sexes that like to screw from time to time. Oh, and they're assholes to one another. And, of course, in the end, one of the characters goes through metamorphism of his, uh, 'personality' at the expense of the others' happiness or something.

It's hard to take these characters seriously, and therein the largest problem lies, something that I mentioned at the start of the review. The story takes the circumstances of these characters WAY too seriously to the point that it all loses impact. Its attempts at subtleties don't work because they aren't enhancers but rather integrals, and, in the end, you're left with a story that tried to be far too much.

In the end, though, it's probably one of the better (bad) teenage 'coming of age' stories. For all its faults, at least it's not 'too much in your face' with what it's trying to do. Yeah, ending is lackluster, 20th chapter is just pointless as it adds absolutely nothing besides saying 'oh, look, she moved on... kind of', but, in the end, for what it was, I enjoyed it somewhat. There are some cute moments between the two and even though sex part was really overplayed, I guess it's better than 'the girl is literally begging me to fuck her, but I'm too embarrassed to do it' stories.

Definitely not as good as some reviewers are claiming, but also not as bad. I've come across a lot of 'pointless sex' stories recently, and this has been one of the milder ones. Still, considering that first half is basically just two teenagers fucking, and second half is just your everyday teenage woe is me downward spiral, and ending is just nauseatingly trying to be more than it is, it's not a good manga by any stretch of the imagination.

I just finished 'Umibe no Onnanoko' and I feel a tumult of things right now.

It is known that Inio Asano's writing and narrative regarding melancholy is raw and strong regardless of the topic of the work, he pierces you in the coldest way with his magnificent way of telling stories in his works and accompanied by that beautiful art of such a characteristic aesthetic. This work is not exactly the exception to the rule.

'Umibe no Onnanoko' is not only about the frustrated sexual life of two adolescents who use each other to satisfy each other's sexual desires, it speaks rather of a deep ... loneliness and helplessness of both in a very stark life position in which mixing the seeking to feel something and a series of traumatic family and love experiences leading to tragic decision making both for themselves and for the other.
Isobe seeks to feel loved by Koume due to a sequel of traumatic events in her life, including her brother's suicide and her parents' constant absence. Isobe seeks companionship in Koume even if it means being her sex slave. While Koume uses Isobe out of a crying need to feel loved even if it means sexualizing herself with every man that comes into her life.
Really at the beginning I thought that Koume is the victimizer between the two protagonists and that Isobe was the victim of Koume's actions, to later see in each panel and throughout the work a couple of small adolescents, on the one hand, a slave to autosexualize herself to seek approval in some man for experiencing the abuse of subjects (mainly from Misaki) and conceiving that idea as what love is and, on the other hand, a prisoner prisoner of a deep and very dark loneliness due to the absence of a complete family in a stage such as adolescence. Both wanted to search through even morbid experiences to feel something. As my perception of Isobe and Koume changed over the course of the work (which, let's remember, generates a brutal change in the viewer's vision towards the characters in a matter of only 20 chapters), it even feels gratifying to understand the concept of the work or at least find my point of view of it.

Regarding the graphic sex scenes, it seems to me a very accurate detail that they are somewhat long and direct with what is shown, since, it seeks more than the sexual turn on of the readers, it seeks their discomfort regarding those sexual encounters of the protagonists, reflecting that these are not pleasant moments for them beyond mere sexual pleasure.

And, ending, speaking of the ending, it leaves me with certain mixed feelings. After finishing reading it, it left me somewhat cold, since it came from a couple or 3 chapters with some heartbreaking, exciting and high moments, to then show a time jump of about a year showing the current context of each character and ending with a seaside conversation between Koume and Kashima in which she talks about finding the sea on that beach that he was looking to find something he never sought to find. Without further ado, this is the culmination of a short work, but so great, leaving a somewhat... cold feeling. Although perhaps as they say out there, it is not the destination but the journey.

God this was awful. I came out extremely disappointed. It just felt like such a useless piece of work. I was fine with one sex scene but for 16 chapters straight it was just sex over and over. And it drove my enjoyment away. However the art was amazing but overall. The story wasn't that great, neither were the characters. Asano, Inio has made many great works like Punpun, solanin and dead Dead Demon's Dededededestruction. But this is by far his worst work that i have read of him. It was complete trash. It felt like i was rather reading a hentai then an actaully ... manga.

"Umibe no Onnanoko" relates the story of two people who crave of filling the emptyness within themselves.

Story : 8/10
Koume, our main protagonist, originally thought that sex was the only way of pleasing her first crush, Misaki. She accepted to do sexual things with him, thinking he would hang out with her but she was actually wrong. He was just using her as his toy. She then realized how heartbreaking having sex could be. In order to move on, she used her childhood friend, Isobe (who had loved her for many years), as a cure.
And here we go : they begin a « no-strings-attached » relation.
The fact is, some people ... could relate to this story.
We all try to be complete. We all want to escape from loneliness. When nobody seems to misunderstand us, we’re hurt, so, we tend to grab anything which could possibly save us from this nasty feeling.

Characters : 9/10
I will only focus on the main protagonists.
Koume acts egoistic, she only thinks about her own desires. She abused Isobe in order to fill her need for attention ; she NEEDS to feel praised, to be wanted by someone because of her loneliness (she only has one friend). She has a void within herself, a kind of nerosis she tries to fill with sex. She’s afraid of being left behind, we can feel it when Isobe takes his distances from her, but the point is she doesn’t want to be seen by his side at school, because she’s popular, and he’s considered as a kind of loser.
Isobe is quite the loner. His dad is always far away from home because of work and his brother committed suicide a while ago. All he wants is for his lonely home to be filled with warmth again. The only way of escaping his demons is to ask Koume to date him. After a while, he gets tired of having sex with Koume knowing she doesn't want to get involved : therefore, he gives up on her and tries to find his own happiness by falling in love with a girl he saw in a picture.

Content : 9/10
I saw some reviews saying that this manga only shows sex scenes, but there is definitely something deeper behind the scenes.
I think there is a tie between how Misaki used Koume and how Koume used Isobe (at the beginning of their relationship). They both were the toys of puppetmasters.
She was hoping that someday Misaki would love her, and Isobe hoped for the same. Sex was, in fact, a way to gain love.
They are both bored by what life offers. The more the story progresses, the more the characters pick up weird kinks (scatophily for example): it can be explained by their despair. They don't fit in with the society or with people in general and don't have any shame in sharing their sins with eachother, because in the end, they're both outcasts.
They have nothing to lose, not even their pride.

Art : 10/10
Everything Asano draws can be considered as a masterpiece.

*POTENTIAL SPOILERS*


This is going to be a most curious review because if I could have not put a grade on this piece of work, I would have done so.

Before Umibe no Onnanoko, I have read Asano's "Oyasumi Punpun" (10/10), "Solanin" (8/10), "Subarashii Sekai" (with the author's commentaries) (8/10) and "Reiraku" (10/10).

Is Umibe no Onnanoko a great piece of work ? Certainly. Because it made me think so much. Each time I finish one of Asano's work, I am blown away by how much his work makes me think on how I feel about it. However, this is the first time where I "disagree" ... with his approach.

Umibe no Onnanoko's story follows two teenagers of 15 years old in our current era in Japan's countryside. Adolescence was a weird period of growth and questioning for each of us, a period where we certainly were able to have a stupid, cringy and questionnable behavior. And this is where my personal story comes in. I have been lucky enough to have always been protected from bad situations because of good people, friends and adults surrounding me. So, I have never been in contact with anyone of this age who could have potentially gone through this and have no idea of in what extent this story is realistic. Of course Asano's approach to life, relationships and sexuality is refreshing in its sad realism (or at least not blind), but I feel that it did not happen this time. This is precisely because of the age of the protagonists.

First of all, and as usual, the art is gorgeous, but not as gorgeous is it will be in his latest works *amazement intensifies* "How can he get better ?!" And I agree.

The story does not bother me in the sense where, despite the profound unease I feel while reading it, I do not feel that "Jesus, what is this fantasized twisted relationship that is surely impossible to occur in real life". It is the uneasiness I feel in front of something where the potential realism ("potential" in the sense in which I have never witnessed nor read about it IRL) is scary.

The characters, their personality, family and backstory are great.
The interaction with their surroundings and other characters also.

Then what do I whine about if everything seems perfect ? Well, that's the problem. It seems too perfect. Hear me out. Paradoxically, the clumsiness, perverseness, evil, twisted sides of humanity expressed in other works of Asano seem believable in a sense of "this is a side that is way more common than we think it is." In Umibe no Onnanoko, it seems too extreme to the point where it becomes unbelievable. And I think I have understood why:

The relationship between Isobe and Koume are the ones of young adults to the ones of full grown men and women.

And no, I am not talking about the fact they have sex, I am talking about their dialogue and approach to it. Sex is too "natural" in this story, they act like people who have already experienced their fair share of it and use it as a tool of filling a void. It is entirely possible, and Asano has done it before, but not here. Those 15 years-old characters don't have the natural reaction we would expect from them to young teenagers discovering their bodies and sex for the first time. I am not saying that it should be like blushing teenagers not daring touching each others with little noises of confusions and pleasure goddamit. It can be dirty, unfair, wrong, twisted, one-sided. But the characters have not been set up to live this way. Of course, there is a sense of depravity and downfall towards potential suicide, but that is not enough to make it believable.

And, again, I think I know the reason of why Asano has come to this :

The length of the story.

Two volumes is short, very short, to detail and explain all the different sides of the story. One could say that everything is explained. It is true to one extent. But it is not because you have explanations to something that it makes it believable. I think that what each character lives through individually is believable and those are sad and passionate stories. The problem is that we have not been through the evolution of these characters to see how it has come to this.





!!!!!!!!!!SPOILERS FOR OYASUMI PUNPUN. GET THE F** OUT OF HERE, GO READ THIS AMAZING MANGA BEFORE.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!







So, in Oyasumi Punpun, the relationship between "adult" Punpun and Aiko could have had the same kind of sexuality than in Umibe no Onnanoko. However, we have seen before what these two characters have lived through and WE KNOW through all these years how much they have suffered and got twisted, clumsy and cruel. In Umibe no Onnanoko, we know very little and they are too young to be able to manage such a complex thing such as sex the way they manage it. Especially if they are feelings involved in all this. In this age where there is supposed to be confusion in everything, every feeling (which is the case to a certain extent) they handle their sex lives with a weird maturity.


And this is why I would have preferred not to rate this manga (but have done, because that's part of the game). Is this story a common thing in Japan's countryside, in all of Japan, in South-Est Asia, in Asia, in the whole world ? Have I been living under a rock ? This manga has challenged my perception of adolescence and the teenagers that encounter sex at such an early age.

This manga was so great that I hated it by chapter 2, but I kept reading anyway, and you know, I got an even greater love for this manga the more I read. Things happen, then more things happen, then things that happened before are just kinda dropped or lead to anti-climax, then you wonder why they happened in the first place, then it's over. It's great.
With story-telling that falls flat, characters that are all uninteresting assholes, an unfulfilling ending, and foreshadowing that's on the level of the girl protagonist wearing a shirt that says, "You will love him", what's not to absolutely love?
Being more ... serious, this manga tries to tell a story it itself finds interesting, and tries to convey messages, but it all falls pathetically flat upon execution. Virtually all of its messages were hand-fisted, and in one case that came out of no-where, it felt like the author took one of the themes they wanted to get to in the story but couldn't find an appropriate place to write it in at, put it into a potato sack and just slammed it into the back of the reader's head over and over; "Hey, this is a pretty clever thing I'm trying to make a point of, right?!"
The art is okayy, the paneling isn't terrible except for a few points where I had to go ahead a couple panels before understanding what the hell was trying to be conveyed a couple panels before, and the pretentiousness is arguably high.
There's no reason to read this manga. Unless you want to look at two 15-year-olds going at it or feel as unfulfilled as two actual 15-year-olds going at it, don't go near this.

The elusive insecurities of adolescence are an ever-popular area of exploration, and supposed relatability, although all of that is entirely dependent on the author's ability to reinforce their characters as emotionally symbolic individuals. At a glance, Asano's subject matter is somewhat accessible, depicting acts of intimacy through the lens of a trauma-induced need for a companion. Nevertheless, his composition of such dramatic trappings isn't as thematically potent as a topic of this nature would benefit from. Naturally, the ages of the cast holds a major role in this narrative obstacle, limiting the story's directional complexity. However, that's hardly a justification for the lack of momentum, the inherent aggregation ... of ideas in a piece of fictional writing. More specifically, the characterization here is underwhelming, and of course, the length of the manga plays a part, but not allowing the reader to gradually immerse themselves in interaction is a disadvantage. It's worth wondering why the two leads interact at all or any character for that matter, exhibiting baseless aggression and simply ridiculous instances of misguided intensity in the narrative's atmosphere. 

In a sleepy seaside town, there exists resentment for an invisible entity, a burning rage toward the idea of being confined to the same realities. Asano's portrayal of the community's dissonant relationships and imminent suffocation is a far more intriguing concept, barely touched upon in the final few chapters. Creating a parallel harmony between the location, disillusioned youth, and their sexual experimentation would be borderline novel. The latter has become a representative feature of this manga, perhaps for the wrong reasons. The scenes of intercourse are not erotica or even meant to be cases of character arousal, and I say that to emphasize the difficulty of capturing a depressive mutual relationship, regardless of the type of explicit acts or the ages of participants. That itself is the strongest merit of Umibe no Onnanoko, even if the provocative expressions are dictated by impulse rather than believable curiosity. In a town this small, around people this familiar, one's sense of self comes into question, and the desire for physical or emotional validation is rampant.

This is not a review, but a record.

3 years ago I started reading Oyasumi Punpun, but ended up dropping it after 1/3 through because I felt I wasn't mature enough (I was 17) for that story. Since then I have been putting it off. 2024 comes and I thought it might be time to try again. However, before I got to that I decided to purchase A Girl on the Shore in order to prepare myself for what is known as the author's magnum opus. I wasn't expecting anything about this 2-volume-long manga.

Yet, it broke me. The first chapter made clear that this tale was ... going to be complicated, and it closed with a shot of the beach and Sato crying. As if by magic, I could already feel the emotions coming off the paper. I read another 3 chapters and was impressed. These four chapters were easy.

After the second night of reading, 6 chapters, I was surprised with how much I cared about the 2 main characters in such a short time. I felt anxious during the day, as if I couldn't separate reality from fiction and was part of the story and living the experiences the Sato and Isobe were going through. That's not like me.

During the third night, my reading slowed down because my teary eyes were making my vision blurry. I was actually worried for the lead characters and even though I wanted to finish it, I put the book down because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to sleep otherwise. I went to bed knowing this was the best story I've ever read.

I finished A Girl on the Shore on the following morning, skipping breakfast. And even after putting the hardcover in the shelf, I'm still feeling anxious. I don't know for how long my eyes will wettten just by thinking about this story. Sometimes people say they were traumatized by the eclispe (Berserk) or a certain character death in a story... I wonder if this feeling I got right now is what they're talking about.

In the end, I don't know if I'm going to read Punpun this year. I'm genuinely scared it will ruin me.

A Girl on the Shore – Spoiler Free – Recommended

TLDR
Story – 7/10 – 7 x 0.275 = 1,925
Art – 9/10 – 9 x 0.2 = 1,8
Characters – 6,5/10 – 6,5 x 0.225 = 1,4625
Enjoyment – 6,5/10 – 6,5 x 0.3 = 1,95
Total: 7,1375 -> 7

Story – 7/10
... A Girl on the Shore is a manga by the great Inio Asano, as it unwinds the threads of sex, life, and everything in between.
Most of this story is about sex – and it is certainly the most discussed topic in the manga, both graphically (and it gets quite explicit) and in the dialogue. The story starts precisely with what we will find throughout the manga: a sex scene between the two main characters – Isobe and Satou, two teenagers still in school. They soon become intertwined by the regular hook-ups that will develop into hostility and love. Their bodies become more than just a stage for pleasure, as personal feelings start to get in the way. However, things don’t unwind well.
In typical Asano fashion, it has a way of dealing with complex topics most lightly – in this case, suicide and sex. It depicts the final death wishes of one of the characters, as well as the suicide of one of the character’s brother. Moreover, everything also feels very natural, as it is very common for such things to happen from time to time – uncorresponded feelings in a love scenario, suicidal ideation as a response to trauma, etc. Asano also does a great work of exposing the multiple varieties of sex, be it for pure pleasure, love, dominance, or just plain empty and emotionally dull sex. As it is essential in a Slice of Life, we feel that, in some way, the story we are reading is also our story, that we lived past the same exact moments as the characters and that we empathise with them. In this regard, it is very well done.
The story is well-written in literary terms, as Asano usually does.
The ending is not memorable and feels too sudden.

Art – 9/10
Inio Asano’s art style is always a sight to be seen. From the emotional characters and the rich character design, to the natural flow of the manga and the cadence of its panels, Inio Asano has shown from time to time that he knows what he is doing. The backgrounds and the landscapes are also excellent.

Characters – 6,5/10
The characters are mainly focused on the two main ones – Isobe and Satou –, as the rest of the cast is but a filler in some sense, or just serve to interact with the main characters. In this light, it works quite well, as they are the ones that tell us a story and that develop the narrative.

Enjoyment – 6,5/10
Inio Asano knows how to create a story and dwells in the depths of the human psyche in a humane and intimate way, and A Girl on the Shore is no different, although the topics he approaches are somewhat different. In general, it is an entertaining and quick read that points towards some avenues of reflection. Although not enthusiastically, it deserves a recommendation.

"I just know that tonight again, my brother will be calling me from outside the window.


Help."

First off - the elephant in the room: there's sex. Lots of it. But I don't get how poeple are surprised by this if the whole story is about a "no strings attached" (read: sexual) relationship, it's even in the synopsis. But it isn't an ecchi/hentai type of sex, in my opinion the sex scenes are there to show the sexual relationship the story is about, as - you know - showing a s e x u a l relationship without s e x would be ... hard. Though some of the sex scenes may be hard to swallow (if you get what I mean *cough cough*chapter 14*cough cough*), so this may not be a suitable read for the faint of heart. But enough about that.
What a terrific manga.

Story: 9
The manga is about two teenagers, who both went through their own shit, and decided to form a "no strings attached" relationship to just feel better. Author tackles topics quite rare in this type of media, such as unhealthy relationships, suicidal thoughts, and more quite standard real-pessimistic Inio Asano specials. Though I don't quite know how to feel about the ending, but the rest more than makes up for it. A great and unconventional love story.

Art: 9
Love him or hate him, Asano's cityscapes are absolutely stunning. Some people say the way he draws eyes makes them uncomfortable, but personally I'd rather look at his sometimes uncanny, closer-to-human-proportions style, than another generic-looking manga with "the Clannad complex". lol

Characters: 8
I actually think the author did a pretty good job writing teenage characters (in a bit of a pessimistic way of course): depressed, stupid, sex-obsessed, often egoistic. Thanks to the time skips, we can see them slowly growing up and learning new things about themselves.

Enjoyment: 9
I loved it. One of the few pieces of media which _almost_ brought me to tears. (But that's kinda unfair to say, 'cause there's only on piece of media as of writing this which made me cry actual tears :P)

Overall: 9

TL;DR: Cool, you should read it as long as you don't mind sex scenes and you aren't really, really easily disturbed.

Symbolism or whatever you want to call it. These manga speak volumes behind their images of what is happening and what could have happened. The boy might have ignored her, but he didn't; The girl could have been more sincere, but she didn't; The boy could have committed suicide, but he made the decision to hit his attackers, etc. Now to understand it in a simple way, The boy in the 1st chapter caught a USB memory, the girl, even though she was close to the sea, never caught anything. Can you imagine these two protagonists in a different setting? They could have been kissing ... at the seashore like two young men who met each other
(symbolically they appear at the end). But the setting is different, the seaside or adolescence is not the same for everyone, some are lucky to find something soon, others go round and round to get out of this complicated shore. Works that call for reflection and leave you that sour taste because they appeal to your circumstances as a person that led you to act in such a way.

PS: The first impression I had of the girl was "wtf this ugly", I thought it was a bit mediocre for art, but then I saw the backgrounds and knew it was part of the symbolism of the character's development, they noticed that every time the chapters the girl was prettier? ... that certainly is something I had not seen in another manga, or I do not remember, having done that on purpose to symbolize the beauty of a character while you develop it, gives an extra point to my opinion.

I've read nearly all of Inio Asano's mangas since I discovered Oyasumi Punpun back in 2015. But Umibe no Onnanoko was, for me, like finding a hidden gem.

The plot is simple, as we're all accustomed to it: girl meets boy, they became friends and, during the process, it evolves onto something more complex; not quite a romance, not quite a friendship, either.

And just when the story reaches this point, it turns upside down.

Everything you thought you knew about the characters, changes. Their facades start to crumble, destroying our assumptions about them but, at the same time, helping us rediscover how they really think ... and why do they act the way they do.

I cannot begin to explain how amazing this manga is: the story, the characters, the beautiful scenery that's so characteristic of Asano (with real-life pictures of Japan used for the backgrounds). It all spoke to me in a way that none of his works did, at least not with that strength.

So, if you enjoy Asano's work, this is a must-read for me.

Before I begin this review I just want to say that if this is the first manga by Asano Inio that you've read, please please do not be put off the rest of his work. This is the single worst piece of work that he's done. Not even one of the worst, the absolute worst. I don't update here all the time but I think I've read all of his work and I'm a huge fan, but this one is pretty terrible overall. Also this is my first review! Sorry if I ramble a little

Story:
Honestly, this is just another teen romance but with a heavily ... dark and sexualised theme. I've read a lot of shoujo and josei manga but I feel like this story was meant to expose the realities of romance (rejection/you won't always end up with the person you like/sometimes sex comes first and love comes after) but also exaggerate and dramatise it too. The thing that ruined this manga for me was how the two main characters' relationship literally revolved around sex (plus the fact that they were like 15 in middle school just put me off a lot - never swiped through pages of a manga so fast), and there was a lot of unnecessary sex scenes involved - like, entire chapters of it... Perhaps some of it was intentional for character development? But as much as I think I can't really find the point in a lot of them.

There's also the darker theme of suicide and depression, which at first felt like a side story but eventually consumed the manga. This actually could have redeemed it because I feel like this theme is much more suited to the author, but in turn I felt like the ending was very rushed and kind of random (trying not to add any spoilers here).

Art:
None of the author's manga are meant for those who read manga just for visuals and fan service. I gave him a 10/10 for art, maybe I'm a little biased as an artist myself and a fan of his work though.

Characters:
I'd like to point out that Asano's characters across the board are always very complex and flawed. Majority of the time, you will not like the characters that he creates, and this is because he makes sure that you won't. It's realistic in a sense - how many people do you know, that you actually like? One character from Oyasumi Punpun (one of Asano's more popular works and honestly a masterpiece) quotes that "It's not a manga you read to escape from reality, it's a manga you read to fight reality". In my opinion, he does not write to give you false hope, even his art style doesn't depict every person to be perfect. In fact, he tends to amplify the flaws in character and in the way they look too.

Enjoyment:
I really did not enjoy reading this manga much at all. I feel like the whole sex thing just really put me off, and if it were taken out it might be much easier to read and also it would give the author some space to expand on the characters a little more - because when you look at his other manga you'll realise that the character development is everything. The sex scenes are just a huge shock to the system and after you recover from that shock you realise that the characters are lacking in this one and the story is very average and generally quite played out.

However, once again if you've read this and don't like it but enjoyed certain aspects of it (mainly how dark it is + themes of suicide and depression) then please check out Asano Inio's other works - you will not be disappointed!