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Sep 12, 2024
I liked it but I'm kind of a sucker for high concept manga that try unique plotlines. Objectively speaking without my personal tastes factoring into it, it's not that great and you should only read it if you have very specific interests. It's a jumble of very interesting sci-fi premises very rarely seen in manga brought together in a fascinating combination but executed pretty poorly. Hara-sensei has a history of doing things that are interesting in theory, like his other work "Midara na Jakyou ni Sukuu Mono", but then you read it and you're like "That's it? That's all you're going to do with the
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interesting ideas you dragged together?" Kono Shima ni wa Midara de Jaaku na Mono ga Sumu (man that is a mouthful) does this more competently than Midara na Jakyou, but it has the same exact problem of just when you get to the meat and potatoes, the interesting bit after all the boring premise cruft has been laid out, the plot suddenly starts a full out sprint towards the ending. Instead of focusing in on what's interesting, the storyline seems laid to like a mystery novel to the interesting bit and then that's about it. Your prize for the mystery is learning that the story could be interesting.
Overall its core issue is that the plot is set up like a survival manga, the premise is set up like a survival manga, the setting is set up like a... well not so much a survival manga more a reincarnation plotline, but it's executed like a mystery manga. There's nothing that can really be said to soften the blow, it's not written well. The only reason why you should read it because the ideas it presents are so nonexistent in manga that if you really want to read it then the quality doesn't so much matter than the fact that it exists here at all.
I give it a pretty good rating on account that I had a somewhat fun time reading it, but I seriously do not recommend it to most readers because it will probably not be enjoyable. Some will enjoy it immensely but the selection of that group is extremely narrow. If you don't like it by 10 chapters in you're not going to like it all.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Sep 12, 2024
It's hard to recommend this manga, even though I think it was a fun read. There's a huge tonal shift in the middle of the manga. The overall atmosphere at the beginning of the manga is like some strange warped parody of Death Note or some other typical 'mastermind' and the latter half is a strong character-growth one about how it's never too late to mature as a adult and human being. Imagine Farmland Saga levels of tonal dissonance but around 5x worse. It reads way different. For me, personally, I found the first part honestly cringe and a slog to chew through but it
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made the latter half all that more fulfilling when I finally got there because it really is necessary to the evolution of Kurosawa's character.
I'm going to start talking spoilers from here on out, be warned.
Like many Bildungsroman, to be pretentious and use the German term, Onanie Master Kurosawa starts off with a hotheaded and brash juvenile character and ends up with him having learned some measure of maturity. At the beginning Kurosawa is juvenile, quick to blame others for all his ails and woes and unwilling to take on responsibility for any of his own flaws. This breaks when the girl he has a crush on gets a boyfriend who, despite being somewhat clownish and willing to be the butt of a joke, is truly empathetic, kind-hearted, and a good friend. Instead of measuring up and considering why such a person would be liked, Kurosawa instead blames his crush for not returning his affections (which he never expressed) engages is a campaign of sexual harassment against her in a self-absorbed campaign of revenge. This is using the plot device of dragging your protagonist down to build him back up. The second part of the story focuses on him making compensation for his crimes. Though now shunned as a pariah for his truly disgusting actions, he finds that there are people still willing to help, even those that he has personally wronged, and that if one shows a good faith effort maybe you can earn forgiveness. He manages to draw himself back up the starting line of being a normal ass human being and even a little beyond that, to being a good person. It ends on a good note where he, having received the fruits of others kindness, is passing it on to others, trading good for good instead of ill for ill.
Overall the story is crafted well. The character development, though cringey, does sort of resonate. A major weakness would be in the way how it relies on the act of degrading the protagonist to build him up seem like there's major growth. Redemption stories hinge on whether or not you can stomach the original crimes and forgive the protagonist yourself, as a reader, and for many Kurosawa is just so gross and disgusting in the beginning hat it will be hard to do that. And this ties into how redeeming Kurosawa takes up so much thematic space that there's barely anything left for anything else. Most coming of age stories will touch upon some universal experience like first love or the pressures of society or something along those lines. But in Onanie Master Kurosawa basically all the space is taken by Kurosawa doing is best to struggle against the shit he pulled in the first half and make good. Basically it spends the first half digging a huge hole for itself and then spends most of the other half climbing back up.
Overall it's kind of interesting, but it's only really better than average in the novelty sense. It's kind of funny to Kurosawa actually think himself sort of Lelouch-esque mastermind over masturbation and seeing a really dumb concept about masturbating on people's clothing be converted into a competently executed coming of age story is worth at least a small gander. People will somewhat humorously (ironically) or seriously (delusion) bring it up as one of the all time greats but that's mostly because the juxtaposition of the starting and ending are very memorable just because how low it starts. In that sense if the starting is its greatest weakness, it's also its greatest strength.
It's not really a masterpiece and some people might not be able to stomach it but if you can, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Give it a few chapters and if it's just too off putting drop it. If you can make it to the end you'll find a pretty well-executed low-stakes story about stupid high schoolers learning to be better people and growing into maturity beyond their own self-conceits.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Sep 12, 2024
An all time classic. Another banger that proves the paradigm that "boys make the best girls". Yui, or rather, Yuuta in Yui's body is hilariously good at bulldozing her way through all of the original Yui's problems, exemplifying once again that Charisma is the best stat. The most stand-out aspect about this is how it handles the genderswap element. Unlike many of the commonly found genderswap manga these days, the genderswap element isn't just a wish fulfillment vehicle or a comedy gag element for the sake of fanservice/humor, it's played out with some thought put into how society's gender roles enforce upon individuals, how sudden
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and significant changes in one's body will shake up their self-image, and a whole host of other issues that would realistically come with swapping genders. There are a lot of genderswap manga where the repercussions of such a pivotal change in one's life are simply lightly skimmed over. This isn't one of them. It's a character focused drama about how very different people came come together to fill up the weaknesses in each other and how it's never wrong to reach out for someone else's help, especially if a miracle happens to put you in each other's place.
The only issue I would really have with it is that pacing is a bit off. The first timeskip hits hard and for good value, the author really does manage to impress a sense of shock that this isn't just something that happens and is resolved in the span of a typical storyline but something the character has to live through for years, but once that cleverness of that wears out, it's really a huge amount of character development that happened off-screen and is only ever alluded to or sparingly seen in flashbacks. The summary says "For years, Yui and Yuuta struggle through a life that is not their own." but there are really only two years that play a large role, the year that they're swapped in elementary school, and the year where all the drama takes place in high school. It's not jarring, the author makes a good show of keeping you grounded that these still the same individuals, just grown up, and you really do feel but it feels like it diminishes the work, like you're reading something with a good foundation and a good climax but rushed to get to teh climax and left a lot of buildup on the table.
Also it's hard to have a slice-of-life manga with most of the slices taken out.
Overall it's a recommendation and well worth the read but one can't quite shake the niggling feeling that it could have been better. Not too light, but not too heavy, it's a good pick for anyone interested in a character-centric drama with body-swap elements.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Sep 11, 2024
This is a premier, top of the line, character focused, theme heavy, sports manga about striving for victory. The primary conflict is about Inori trying to work her way to becoming No.1, e.g. Gold medalist, but there is so much beyond that. Almost every character in Medalist is a protagonist of their own story. This is not something you are only reminded of as an afterthought but something that works its way in at every point possible. Tsukasa has his own themes about sacrifice, chances give up on, making sure the next generation has better opportunities than he was given. Hikaru has her own set
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of complex themes. The cutest girl on earth (also known as Kamoto Suzu) gets her own spotlight. Rioh has his own chapter. Even Main and Yuna, relatively minor characters who only show up when Inori goes to a training camp or competes, have their own complex relationships and goals that they are striving towards. At no point at any time is any character introduced for a purpose or made simply to fill a role, each one is packed with a dense array of personality and dreams and ambitions and motivations that make them so striking and interesting in their own right. Medalist is not just a manga about Inori striving to be a medalist, it is about a whole host of athletes/coaches/support staff, all striving to achieve their own medals. In an overarching it's about the nature of competition and competitors just as much as the actual skaters.
I cannot recommend this manga enough. There's this line from chapter 35 that I love immensely that I feel encapsulates the way the author writes medalist. I translated it something like this: "To stand alone in front of the crowd, to be cold and hurt when you fall, to not run away until it's over even if you fail, even through all of that these kids are able to love the ice. I wonder why we can't just call everyone in this sport a genius." There is real care put into this fictional world to bring it to life. That's why I think it's a real masterpiece manga.
Also the drama is top notch.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Sep 11, 2024
Imagine reading a Time Traveler's Wife but instead of Henry you have a kinda yandere girl and Claire is actually an adult man moving into his middle age who wants to move on from her. And you have Seishun no After. The plot is one of the more interesting ones in romance manga. It's done well; the emotional ties and strangleholds and traumas everyone inflicts upon and has inflicted from each other are captivating and interesting. The ending is somewhat rushed, though if readers pay attention when reading they will understand that it is not the end, but the beginning of a closed loop that
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any true time travel manga should have. Its primary weakness is that for a time travel manga that is about popping in and out of time, it encompasses too narrow of a segment of Makoto's life. Unlike Claire from again, the aforementioned Time Traveler's Wife, we only really see the early thirties of Makoto's life portrayed in the manga, with some bits from high school put in to fill out the backstory. If given more pages and allowed to run the full marathon, this rating would be a 9 or 10 rather than simply an 8.
Overall it's a highly enthralling plot done for the most part well with only minor pacing issues. It wraps itself up pretty nicely, and leaves no hanging threads at the end that ruin the writing. Pretty short at 27 chapters, it's well worth the time spent sitting down to read it if you enjoy drama stories about the nature of time, youth, pining love, and maturing.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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