Sep 20, 2024
As a detective drama, Remote is competent, even fun. Its cases are interesting and varied, and their solutions, if sometimes contrived, usually have an internal thread of logic that can be followed as a reader to guess at the conclusion yourself before its reveal-- not quite as coherent a thread as any particular Sherlock Holmes novel, perhaps, but still enough to make guessing worthwhile.
As a romance, Remote is... less competent. Kurumi's connection to her detective partner Kouzaburo certainly feels more romantic than professional by the end, but the problem is that I sort of hate her for it. She has a fiance, you see, and
...
while I kept waiting for him to ditch her or her to ditch him as stringing him along felt increasingly cruel and dishonest, that moment just never comes. This is never a major plot point and is treated more for laughs than drama, but it's really just not easy to enjoy a budding romance when you spend more time feeling sorry for the too-loyal sap she's cheating on the whole time.
Everything surrounding these two main threads makes Remote even more difficult and unpleasant to read. A reader of this series can expect consistently amateurish art, nonstop egregious fanservice in the form of upskirts and downshirts and unnecessary nude scenes (to say nothing of the chapters in which the plot degenerates into bad hentai) and on top of it all, constant grating misogyny throughout. The way this manga treats women-- our main girl Kurumi in particular-- is spectacularly awful even for the 2000s.
Kurumi is completely incompetent. She's ruled by her emotions. She cannot fire a gun until Kouzaburo cajoles her to shoot (and then she'll almost always miss), she cannot walk without tripping (expect an upskirt every time), she refuses orders if she thinks they're too scary and shuts down until Kouzaburo consoles her, she constantly walks into danger any thinking adult should be able to spot and needs Kouzaburo to put together plans to bail her out, she cannot add 2+2 until Kouzaburo tells her it's 4. She is completely, hopelessly dependent on Kouzaburo for everything, and this is supposed to be romantic.
If this wasn't bad enough, well, Kouzaburo is "complex". Due to a traumatic incident before the events of the story, he is left "unable to feel emotions". As a result he is brusque and unsympathetic arguably to the point of abuse at times and of course only Kurumi can endure his hostile behaviour long enough to get to his true loving self-- only she can fix him! This is not an interpretation and barely even a paraphrase of what is said to Kurumi to keep her with Kouzaburo. She stays, obviously (they're the main couple of the work, after all) and is eventually rewarded with the loving partner she deserves and that so many women in this exact sort of relationship never get. From a moral standpoint, the arc of this relationship leaves a taste of bile in my mouth even if it technically turns out sweet in the end.
Ultimately, who is Remote for? Readers more unconcerned with all this may find it a fun read for the crime mystery aspects. Readers looking for a less "intellectually" enjoyable read will probably find the fanservice ruined by the crude art. Readers looking for a romance really just have better options.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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