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Mankitsu Happening is a hentai that seems to age like fine wine and for good reason! It basically is quite well rounded in what it provides & succeeds at doing what it sets out to do, truly a top-tier of it's genre:

- You sexy girls fit for several tastes, in both looks but also personality (Suzukawa Rei-san's no.1, her nonchalant attitude creates both comedic situations & quite lewd situations and her scenes are all some of finest I've seen out there).

- Varied sex scenes as well as ecchi situations preceding them, the show making sure the audience is thus never bored of the same ... old.

- It actually has decent comedy too, the characters react to their situations in a hilarious manner which befits their personalities. It's ridiculous at times but knows how to make that ridiculousness fun. The MC Keiichi's "issue" is basically the plot, and it's as ridiculous as you'd expect in a lot of hentai, or ecchi anime ~ the important thing is for show to make it entertaining, and Mankitshu Happening does just that.

- An actual decent length of 4 eps, thus while sure it'd be nice to see more since you always wanna see more of something good, I still consider this a + vs others as it has an appropriate time to flesh out it's characters, show different scenes, etc.

If you're looking for a great vanilla hentai with an added dose of comedy and decent variety in it's scenes, then give Mankitsu Happening a go.

It's pretty saddening to see so many bad reviews about this manga while not really even talking about much of what it does well. Given first hand experience with the fandom, I got to see what waifu wars does to it, how shipping goggles make a reader ignore key parts of the story or misinterpret them entirely, then rather than try to understand the themes presented, the decisions & feelings of the characters, complaining & even ranting is preferred - talk about taking the easy path, but it is how it is.

But enough about that, as this has become one of my all-time favorite manga, ... along with stuff from Seo Kouji such as Kimi No Iru Machi & Fuuka, , as well as Sasuga Kei's previous work, GE: Good Ending, I couldn't help but finally find motivation to write a review on it. WARNING, SOME SPOIELRS AHEAD - I'll try to minimize them, but it's hard to talk about some things without at least implying or mentioning certain developments.

From just reading the synopsis the reader should know they're embarking on a pretty crazy ride here, riddled with taboos & some controversial themes through & through. You have teacher x student(the main taboo) & step sibling relationships, a girl scoring 30 something guys while in highschool, a girl about to become a sex worker due to her financially lacking, a girl who's infatuated with one of her old class mates who also happens to be a girl, an ex-Yakuza dude who's into guys, a doomer girl that's taking drugs, racist work-place bullying, a scummy journalist, a controlling stalker and finally, what happens at the end, but that would be too spoilerish to say. Are any of the characters who do this presented as bad people that should be judged? Well, some are, but most aren't. They're just decent people, some very kind-hearted even, being placed in these circumstances trying to navigate through life best they can. Making an effort to understanding the characters is pretty much a key-aspect in order to properly enjoy reading DomeKano.

Our 3 main characters are Natsuo, Hina & Rui and love 'em or hate 'em, they're all very well developed:

- Natsuo aspires to be writer that can move people's hearts, and his feelings for one of the girls allows him to make his dream a reality. Sasuga Kei uses a "use your pain to move forward" theme here which I'm very much fond of. Throughout the course of the manga he'll have feelings & relationships with both of the Tachibana sisters, but his feelings for one of the girls in particular were both strong to set him on the path & serve as a driving force to become an accomplished writer. A lot of his growth involves becoming a better writer, but also a person, and it helps paying extra attention to Natsuo's writing plot-line in order & see how his feelings relate to that.

- Hina stand's out as a heroine & love interest in that she's so selfless that it even puts some readers off. She truly wants to see Natsuo the writer succeed, cares for her little sister, and ends up holding back her own feelings throughout most of the story. As the sensei & onee-san, she puts expectations on herself on how she should at which conflict's with what the heart wants. Due to the positions she finds herself in, she worries a lot but never lets her worries get the better of her & always takes action when it matters the most. The most intense moments of the manga usually have her play a huge part in some way and quite often, pages & panels involving her seem to give off a heavier, "Do I feel boss music?" vibe, not that she doesn't have plenty of light-hearted moments too. She's also pretty family & relationship driven. Did I mention that she's absolutely bae?

- Rui starts out at a fairly blank state and thus requires as well as receives the most development, even if it's back & forth at times regarding her emotional growth, until the end that is. Seeing as both Natsuo & Hina are like nice guy ™ & nice girl ™ & thus more idealized yet still humane characters, Rui will be the one whom a lot of the audience might relate to the most(though not necessarily), because she's the most normal of the bunch. She is hard-working & career driven, somewhat selfish & needy even, but is a good person at heart & very self-aware. Her worries & inferiority complex end up affecting her actions a lot though, yet addressing the core of her insecurities would lead to them becoming true - tough place to be in, but that's what makes it interesting.

The relationship dynamics are well-explored, and sometimes the interactions Natsuo has with the two are used as a contrast to one another. One thing I saw many readers get wrong is expecting DomeKano to be some sort of "working out your relationship issues" display, when it's nothing but. There's a "true/pure love/destined to be together" theme going on throughout, one of "loving someone beyond your desire to be loved" and it's explored by showing how two people end up being close together through thick & thin even while not being an actual couple for the majority of the story - you get sort of a "they're so close/yet so far" vibe, which eventually leads to romance again. No pain, no gain after all & I personally wouldn't have it any other way.

- There are also nice little symbolic touches such as fireworks, festivals, shrine wishes that accompany the touching moments of a certain pairing. I found the fireworks particularly great, as it's like the narrative itself celebrates them. Rings used for one and necklaces for another are also a nice touch.

- Art is fantastic, making the manga a joy to read & wanting to pay attention to all the details, dialogues, body language, some presented through gray panels. Did I mention that the lewd scenes are great too?

- Ending can be seen by many as a bait & switch, but if you've paid attention & understood the themes & characters feelings presented by the mangaka, you shouldn't be surprised at the conclusion, but rather the execution considering what was the catalyst to reveal a particular truth. Let's just say that Sasuga Kei is big on drama, and for some people maybe she overdoes it. I'm personally used to this so it doesn't really bother me. The only things I'm a bit salty about is that 1-2 potentially very emotional scenes weren't shown. Forget 3-5 extra chapters even, even 1 or just a few pages could've helped! But this is fine too at any rate. I also consider this ending an improvement compared to her previous work, GE: Good Ending, which wraps things much more quickly, so there's that to keep in mind. I hope to see her keep improving on these in her next work.

Art any rate, thank you Sasuga Kei for this experience & writing what you always wanted to write!