●Rec

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We all know what we thought when we saw the cover didn't we?

I was browsing Facebook one night when i saw this. A picture of a little crying girl, sitting on a bed with her fingers in the air. I've seen this a million times already, but i noticed something different.

The man in the background was crying... "...That's new." I quietly said to myself, scrolling down to comments like "This will hit you right in the feels!" and "My feels weren't ready for this." Thinking they were just troll comments i took the bait.

I'm glad i did.

The first few pages pans out like a porno ... shoot. He asks her to call him "daddy" just for today and tells her "If it gets too painful for you, don't be afraid to speak up. We can stop at any time." AS IF THIS ISN'T ENOUGH OF A CONFIRMATION THAT IT'S A PORN.

I scrolled down 2 more pages, getting ready to drop it down the drain and run away... When i saw this picture:

http://i.imgur.com/ieKU2iw.jpg

My heart sank and a lump in my throat formed. That kind of a lump you get when you KNOW that things isn't going to end well.

This... This is not what i expected.

I expected some grotesque child porn. I expected something that would scar me for life! I fucking judged a book by its cover and ALMOST threw this MASTERPIECE down a drain and labeled it as a hentai.

This is THE one thing, that i without a gram of doubt or sarcasm, can call a true masterpiece. It's not the manga that's making it weird. YOU, are the one making it weird.

Show the cover to LITERALLY anyone and they will say it's a hentai. If you don't read more than 10 pages of it, you would think so too. It plays with your thoughts, making you think that it's something that it isn't.

If you believe that you should judge a book by its cover, then you haven't read this.

This. Doujin. Doe. Came for the loli cover. Stayed for the story.

If you're in the review section to see if you should read it or not, take my word for it and read it. Its not NSFW, but can get suggestive.

But hold on. Don't close the page. Read it.

I don't usually write reviews unless there's only like 1 other review, but for this I'm writing it because its just simply amazing.

...

... And now I'll start my review proper.

The first few pages really depict 'that' kind of doujin, if you're a hormonal person and into that you'll know what I'm talking about. But the plot twist in the middle. Man was it so well executed.

Then you stop and let whatever happened in the previous pages sink in, with all the possible meanings. Then you continue reading and the feel train doesn't stop.

Even at the end with the open ending its open for people to interpret it as they like, which makes discussions about this fun because it can train you to look deep into the panels for any hidden meanings, if you're into that. If you're not then you can believe what you want.

I won't dwell into into the characters because its a 1 chapter doujin because there isn't much to say about them. As for the artwork its simple but sufficient.

Somehow or rather this review makes me feel like I'm shortcoming the manga, but its really really 10/10 quality. S-s-s-s-sugoi

"●REC"
- imPERVious90 Certified -

In all honesty, this is the embodiment of the saying "Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover", with that said, not only is it an embodiment of a very accurate proverb, this manga also manages to make you truly embed said proverb into the very depths of your soul. You shall never again judge any manga, or any anime, or ANYTHING AT ALL, for the remainder of the existence of your now non-judgemental life, "Judge a book... by its cover".

●REC, in all its morals its about to implicate unto the reader, isn't that much exemplifying in terms of its Art. It's ... nothing you've exactly seen before, but it does well enough to truly express how characters interact or feel.

The characters, without giving anything away, are rather simple. You will understand how a certain character will act and how a certain character's trope is, long enough until the story just makes you think twice about what you just thought about said characters.

The Story is brilliantly executed. This is where ●REC really shines it its elements and it truly shows that in execution. The Transitions of settings to characters, to how it shows it panels to the audience are all brilliantly configured to give the reader its all out potential.

Overall, despite just being a one-shot, and just a couple of pages, is all it needs to get its whole premise across with finesse. I certainly just suggest this to anyone ... and anybody at all in that matter, in a way just make 'em feel bad or just to give 'em a moral implication of sorts. Overall please do read this fine gem.

You know how they say don't judge a book by it's cover? Don't judge this book by it's first 10 or so pages. This is hard to describe this spoiling, but this honestly is really worth a read. It will probably take you longer to read this review than to read the entire thing.

If your not convinced, let me put it this way. I've seen a lot of anime and manga. I've been watching/reading since I was a kid and this honestly made me feel more emotional than a lot of series do after hundreds of chapters. The author has a really impressive way ... of catching you off guard when your least expecting it. The ending is semi ambiguous but in a really nice way, with no factual truth on the ending and to be honest I like it that way. It's depressing with a small amount of hope to it.

So without spoiling it, go read it. You'll be glad you did.

In my quest to find non-yaoi doujinshi manga, I come across this hidden gem.

This 1 chapter doujinshi has to be the ultimate example of don't judge a book by it's cover. REC had everyone thinking it was going to be some creepy perverted pedophilia manga but holy shit were we wrong. This is a story about love, pure unconditional love between father and daughter. I don't want to say anymore due to spoilers but honestly this was great and extremely short with strong fundamentals and I found it to be very enjoyable.

So in conclusion if you're looking for good one ... shots or doujinshi manga check this one out because I see no reason to not give this a 10.

"Don't judge a book by its cover."

This one sentence is said time and time again. Every time I seem to think that I've learned my lesson, and not to judge a book by its cover, I do it yet again.

How I stumbled upon this manga was in quite the weird manner. I was seeking to find what rank One Piece was at on the manga list. Upon pressing "Manga Search", I was brought to quite a bulky genre selection. I ended up finding myself astray, looking through the vast amount of genres. One of such that caught my attention was "Doujinshi". "Does independently published fan-manga ... count as doujinshi?" I knew that it probably didn't, but I went on to see the library anyway.

One of the first results under the "Doujinshi" section was ●Rec. "Is this a HENTAI?! Why is there no hentai tag?!" I had thought to myself. Can hentai be tagged with solely doujinshi? What's going on here? Upon reading a few sentences of the top review, my curiosity grew much wider. So I searched for the manga online and read it.

I was left both pleasantly surprised... and emotionally touched.

The manga starts off with a man filming. A sixth grader. On a bed. "Fuck, I know where this is going." Even despite the top review telling me that things turned out differently than expected, I personally expected a manga, that at the very least, had an implication of sexual intercourse. So, things kept going as if it were going to end up that way.

Until the eleventh page came.

Even after the girl was asked to call the man daddy, even after everything that was set up in quite the meticulous pattern. It was all executed to mislead you. It was structured for you to expect something differently. The build-up was intense, and it turns out to be different than what you had expected in the first place.

The man is actually the girl's father. They are on a hospital bed, and to top it off. She's getting her surgery done. Despite the sad nature of the situation, the art is done in such a way to relieve the atmosphere with tame comedy. Yes, the father seems like a pervert, or at the very least quite suspicious, but the truth is that he deeply cares for his daughter and wants to see her survive. He will cherish his daughter throughout everything, and show her how much he loves her.
The comedic timing was great, and the squishy form of the art matches the atmosphere quite well.

I expected the worst, and when there were huge hints that things would turn out differently than expected, I still expected implications of the worst. The author purposefully sets this up for you to question your expectations. From now on, should I expect the best? If not the worst, should I be expecting nothing?

I entered expecting to be emotionally appalled, and I came out being emotionally swayed. I felt relief and hurt in more ways than just one. In a structure that leaves you questioning and feeling, in the timespan of a cover and 28 chapters giving reflection and thought. I was given, and I was tested. I was hurt and I was motivated. I set my own expectations for something I didn't even create. Thinking twenty times isn't enough, nor thirty, fourty, or fifty. From this book alone, I have learned to say not to judge a book by its cover doesn't mean to not expect a result from what you see, but rather to not judge whatsoever. To keep yourself open at all times, and of course, if you see a book with a cover that leaves you expecting one thing, do not expect anything.

Time and time again, I am told not to judge a book by its cover, figuratively, and literally. Yet, I find myself doing it all the time.

This is just for whoever is looking through my favorited manga list and thinks I'm some sort of weirdo.

Spoiler warning*

So the cover art and title suggests that this is gonna be some hentai themed manga. The first few pages also make it seem to the reader that its a generic loli hentai.

Then behold, you realize it is not a hentai at all and instead something super wholesome. The whole read was pretty short and there wasn't really much context or large over arcing story.
But there doesn't need to be any, the whole point of this manga was to show that you literally cant judge ... a book by its cover or even the first few pages of it.

Overall this was super wholesome with nothing weird in it!

Pre-read impression:
For me who stil a totally newcomer as a manga reader, i often think that doujinshi always probably 18+ (well, please don't smack me. That's my thought but i swear i don't affect it to any other people. such closet. ~,~). And good grief, the cover art and the description sure make it worse. Then i realize some curvey like water drop on the middle-aged man's face. Is it sweat? (the hell?) or tears? That's the only positive think i got from this cover art (well, sorry). So i encourage myself (exaggerating?!) to read this. and, yeah! Awesome!

Story:
The beginning lines sure make the "wrong ... impression" state worsen but as far as you follow the flow, it's more excitement that you got. me myself personally getting more curious pages after pages. For this kind of story, i find it simple yet strong. Yes, this kind of sad story i think is the easiest way the get the readers' excitement without any such complex conflict. Also this kind of story is always succeed to impress me. so i dare myself to give it 10.


Art:
The art is kind of mainstream. But i love how it takes its angle so it gets its own way to surprise the reader about it true self. Yeah, i can't say much because for art, (tone, Charade, background, etc) i need to read it more than once.



Character:
Actually, this is the thing i get disappointed most. I know kids at those age unconsciously prefer to being emotionally unstable and rather confusing behavior. I prefer her being weak yet gentle. not act though but actually though. well, that's just personal opinion so don't let it bother you.


Enjoymont:
Ofcourse! I love unexpected things! eventhough i'm the one who got the wrong impression! But to be honest, I recommend you to get the wrong impression first about this manga before your read it. I think it's also the part of its strength.

I gotta say this is one difficult manga to recommend people. Not due to its quality, which I felt was incredible, but the cover turns off the majority of people (for pretty good reason frankly).

The cover though is all part of what makes this amazing. You see it expecting the most disgusting, depraved and horrifying hentai you can think of. The first few pages dig into that notion hard. Without context you don't want to continue cause you're 99% sure you know whats going to happen

Then page 10 hits and it all becomes so much more clear.

I'm amazed how much character and emotion and ... author could get out of such a short story. The majority of the manga has almost no environments and much of what we learn is through dialog alone. Normally that would be a death nail for a manga, but here it is played very well. There are select panels that just hit me hard, be it through a specific piece of dialog or how the character is drawn.

I don't want to spoil a thing because it is best to go in fairly blind.

Read it, then read it all over again. Those first 9 or so horrifying pages end up taking a whole new light once you are aware of the context.