Kaikan♥Phrase
Sensual Phrase

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I've had the pleasure of finding this manga series way back when I was in middle school, I was twelve at the time. While it was the front cover that grabbed my attention (The artwork was appealing and Sakuya's blue eyes attracted me to him), I actually fell in love with the plot and its characters. At the time of me getting the first volume, I didn't even know that it was gonna have sex in it. I mean I guessed it would have some adult themes given the English title, Sensual Phrase, and a flash of Aine's breasts at the end of the first ... volume. And I don't just mean one or two panels that depict people having sex (where it just shows a headshot or even a shot from the waist or ever would be considered an implied sex scene).

The manga is literally littered with quite a few steamy shots of Aine and Sakuya at it, though the worse you see is Aine's breasts, or Sakuya's butt (depending on how the shots are drawn), but still, I'm sure other readers of this series can agree that this manga is definitely filled with smut.

The story starts off simply enough: High School Girl meets a hot musician dude, they fall in love, the girl becomes involved with the hot musician's band/work, and together, they face a string of suitors and rivals vying for their affections, etc, etc. But I have to say that while I enjoyed the story at the beginning (who wouldn't want to stick around to see a hot bishonen guy in his full glory?), but during my second and third times of reading this manga reveals that the story is a little too fast-paced for my liking.

The pacing starts off steady in the first half of the first volume after Aine and Sakuya share their first "kiss," things develop a little more quickly than anticipated. Who knew that one kiss from the sexy Sakuya would make the innocently naive Aine become a dog in heat and want to go to bed with him right away?

Now I'm not saying this is bad, I mean there are a lot of people/relationships like that in the real world, but the story gives off the impression that you'll be seeing a lot of Aine's involvement with the band, Lucifer grow as much as her relationship with Sakuya does, but it doesn't. Aine's involvement with the band is limited to her writing up some sensual lyrics after Sakuya gets her hot and bothered and then she sits there at the concert and watches the band perform her lyrics. And it's at the concerts or rehearsals that Aine and Sakuya would usually meet the "rivals" or "Suitors" for their hearts, whether it's Sakuya's jealous half-brother or some rabid Lucifer fan girls from Aine's school, they usually get these "villains" by the butt-load.

When you think the rivals and suitors would be around for a few volumes, they don't. Hardly any of them make an appearance more than once, save for Sakuya's half-brother, Ralph, who appears three times in total and at random times, might I add? Most of them stick around for maybe half a volume or just one volume, and then they disappear, never to be heard from or seen again.

On top of the drama that the suitors and rivals cause, Aine's and Sakuya's love story develops into a "Rescue the damsel in distress and screw her afterward" kind of story because that's all you'll be seeing after Aine and Sakuya overcome what is the climax of each volume, and when you think they're gonna live happily ever after, they're thrusted into another situation where a good screwing seems to make everything alright.

The characters all have their own quirks and charms, but honestly, the main focus is Sakuya and Aine. Sakuya appears to be an aloof playboy with a mysterious charm, and who doesn't give a rat's butt about manipulating women/girls into doing and getting what he wants. But after meeting Aine, he suddenly feels a strong attraction to her and decides to screw her, but after they first sleep together, he turns into a highly possessive and jealous boyfriend, who in his intense anger and jealous, oftentimes comes close to raping Aine. Despite that, he does pretty much love Aine, because he goes to a lot of lengths to protect her and showers her with as many gifts and affections as he can, even if it means they end up having a good romp. Sakuya's past gets a lot more attention than Aine's, mainly because he's the sexy love god I guess and it apparently gives him more depth and we see the reasons as to why he acts like a sex-driven animal.

Aine is a ditzy, naive teen who has no backbone. She rarely stands up for herself, unless Sakuya has already knocked her assailants down a peg. She always goes crying to Sakuya whenever she so much as breaks a nail, and of course, she also gets exceedingly jealous of other girls/women fawning over Sakuya so much that she either can't come out and tell him that she feels uncomfortable about him working with another woman, or she actually yells at him and claims he's being unfaithful to her (which wouldn't be much different than when Sakuya expresses jealousy over other guys that seem interested in Aine).

There are some rare moments where Aine stands up for herself, especially in the later chapters when the producer Takuya comes in. Despite that, her character is seriously flawed. Her past isn't explained in full, at least not like Sakuya's, anyways. When we meet Aine's parents and are told of her past, we're told that her parents aren't all that attentive to her and she's pretty much a loner in school, save for about two friends (who don't appear very much, unless it's to add onto Aine's troubles).

Sakuya's band doesn't really get much "screen time" in the mangas. I mean you see them and read some comments by them, but they honestly don't add much to the plot, outside of their own special bonus chapters and comforting either Aine or Sakuya. They only serve to prove that Sakuya is in a band. I mean we see some of their private lives once in a while, but you mainly see them just sitting there, witnessing Sakuya and Aine meeting the next rival/suitor at a concert, or up on stage with Sakuya. Otherwise, they're just practically background characters. Of course, when they do show up, each member is shown to have their own personality but they hardly get any development whatsoever. If it weren't for some of the dialogue, you wouldn't even know what Sakuya's relationship with them was.

I admit, the art looked a bit funky at times, especially with how ridiculously tall the male characters looked and how short the girls were, but still, the art was beautiful just the same. The proportions of the bodies seem a bit weird or even off, but Mayu Shinjo's style gets better. I honestly can't say any more than this.

Despite this manga basically being "soft hentai" kinda deal, I did enjoy the story overall. I mean I didn't particularly like Aine, but I did enjoy seeing her relationship with Sakuya grow, even if the smut scenes were almost off-putting. It was because of this manga that I grew into anime and mangas, and I actually really enjoyed the conflicts that Sakuya himself goes through because he seemed to grow the most as a character, despite the manga's summary listing Aine as the MAIN MAIN character. It's Sakuya's sexy butt that makes Kaikan Phrase the most memorable to its fans.

So if you want a decent story about a regular high school girl meeting and dating a popular boy band singer/idol (even though their romance is a bit unrealistic) then this manga is for you.

Sorry if this is long, I’m going to rant and stomp my feet a little…

This manga surprised me a lot. I try my best to give everything a chance and read it the whole way through. This is one of the few I seriously considered dropping. I only got to about chapter 18 and I just wasn’t feeling it. If you look at the chapters though, there’s like 82? So I didn’t want to give up on it so early and I kept reading. There is a lot I don’t like but I am glad I read it all the way to the end.

There’s a ... lot of sex, like seriously a lot of sex…

The plot is a heavy romance between the lead singer of a band, Lucifer, and a high school student who writes their lyrics. It’s also about the band and living out there dreams.

As far as the characters go, someone please explain to me why female writers constantly choose to make the heroine spineless and heavily dependent? Why. I understand to some degree every girl wants to be protected but at least make her able to function without being directed all the time. Aine does develop towards the end but I never saw her as truly independent. Sakuya is your typical alpha male, lots of sex, demanding, very jealous, ect. The only thing I really liked about him was his passion for music. The rest of the Lucifer band I really liked though. You get to know them just enough were you can distinguish their personalities. Takayama’s character [the producer] I felt was one of the better. He’s a little rash but you can see how much he cares about his job and the people involved in his work. Where they took his character however, still doesn’t sit well with me. It happened and ended so quickly.

A lot of characters were thrown in obviously just for drama and to create conflict but after that they drop off the planet…It felt really soap opera-ish. I was super disappointed with the band Jesus. The main band in the manga is Lucifer and the upcoming rival at one point was a band named Jesus. They could have done so much with that! But of course that lasted only a few chapters and then you never hear of it again. So much potential in a lot of parts but the story moves so fast it all gets carried away. Aine’s parents also show up briefly. I felt like they were just thrown in there to put some realism into the story, they really had no purpose other than to create a small amount of drama.

The romance between Aine and Sakuya even though it’s the main focus of the manga, I found the band to be more captivating. There’s was just so much unnecessary drama surrounding Aine and Sakuya its ridiculous. And pretty much every cliché about love is thrown in there as well. About seventy percent of the time you’ll roll your eyes, the rest you’ll find a little funny.
The band was the best part, I looked forward toward those scenes and seeing what they would do next! All in all, I’d recommend it and I would read it again.

Story: 7 [good]
Art: 8 [very good]
Character: 5 [still irritated...]
Enjoyment: 8 [very good]
Overall: 8 [very good]

Once upon a time, 'Kaikan Phrase' had a huge sex appeal in the late 1990's. A girl not only falls in love with a rock star, but she also begins to write lyrics for his band. This is actually a very good plot.

This manga was at its prime when the music industry was at it's peak for rock and alternative bands, so naturally, going into the 2000's, ‘Kaikan Phrase’ appealed to a lot of young women.

The (consensual) sex scenes in 'Kaikan Phrase' are pretty tame by today’s standards, and they were not exaggerated nor too explicit with body parts. The pacing of the ... sex scenes are not overwhelming at all and are done at the right times plot-wise.


Aine and Sakuya’s relationship introduces a good amount of scenarios that could apply to the music industry in real life (even though this manga is pretty dated). Their relationship isn’t too sugarcoated dealing with the consequences of dating a rock star. Throughout these challenges, Aine and Sakuya face a lot of character development within themselves and the band. They piggyback off each other which is sometimes hard to apply in manga. In the beginning of the series, their romantic chemistry felt pretty generic, but as you read further it is very evident how passionate their relationship really is. The creator of this series, Mayu Shinjo, did a really great job depicting their strong relationship through and through.

However, the biggest criticism I have for 'Kaikan Phrase' is the amount of sexual assault portrayed which is completely overwhelming; and not just by Sakuya, the male protagonist. One of these assaults is never even addressed. It was from a very important character tied to Sakuya and it was just thrown completely under the bus.

Of course, these assaults presented in 'Kaikan Phrase' COULD happen in real life, but both Aine and Sakuya are CONSTANTLY assaulted (by adults), ALMOST unrealistically, in EVERY volume, by MULTIPLE PEOPLE. They’re also both MINORS.

Getting through the first 10 volumes was not only a drag, but the sexual assault scenarios is what killed the manga for me; especially re-reading this now as an adult. The assaults were overdone. If this wasn't so dominating to the plot, this series could've been more comfortable to read.

Sakuya also had a habit of assaulting Aine throughout the first half of the relationship, all because of misunderstandings. However, I give Mayu Shinjo credit for Sakuya’s character development to move past certain behaviors. And of course, this kind of circumstance is realistic. Aine, our female protagonist, is easily manipulated but also stubborn with making sure she doesn’t cause trouble for Sakuya. She doesn’t think through any consequences which causes more harm than good. Her character is a good portrayal of a teenager who thinks they have it together and doesn’t think of the outcome of her actions. This does not excuse the adults that harm her in any way of course.

After volume 10, the plot began to move forward when Mr Takayama, a producer, steps into the picture. Honestly, the story got a THOUSAND times better with him involved. This is the turning point where I found myself glued to the manga. You also get to see more of the band members that played in part of Sakuya's stardom. I actually loved the rest of the band members. Even though at times they were filler, they were enjoyable to say the least.

Without saying much, Mr Takayama is the reason why I got through the rest of 'Kaikan Phrase'. Otherwise, I planned on getting rid of this manga completely.

For the life of me I can't part from this manga, but at the same time 'Kaikan Phrase' did not age well in a lot of ways. As a teenager, the "sexy" scenarios seemed so cool to me, but reading this from an adult perspective is traumatizing lol. It is sad that this series was glorified for its sexual assaults when it shouldn’t have been. That really says a lot for the time period this was published in. In the books, Mayu Shinjo did point out on the side panels what type of men she's into. It is implied that the 'assault' scenarios are her kink. So with that said, take this series with a grain of salt if you are concerned about getting triggered, or don't read this at all. This manga appears to be Mayu Shinjo's fantasy more than anything else at this point.