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It is very difficult for me to give an unbiased review of this Manga. Mostly because I love it with all my heart. However it isn't going to be for everyone so before you jump in, there are some expectations that need to be set.

This is yuri focused. The focus IS not the boy x girl pairings. While I will do my best to stay spoiler free, this is crucial to one's enjoyment. If you are here for the straight pairings, this is not a manga you will enjoy.

Secondly, it does start with one character pushing themselves onto another and this "pushiness" is a running ... thing. It's riding a line, one that not everyone will be comfortable with.

With those two things out of the way, lets begin.

Netsuzou Trap is very drama-esque. In my opinion this drama always stays within the realm of 'gripping' and never strays into 'annoying'. The characters are all have conflicting personalities that ends up creating lots of friction that is completely believable. Struggles of sexual identity and coming to terms with it, jealousy, feelings of abandonment, the list goes on. It always ensures it stays grounded, making the entire thing very gripping rather than obnoxious and off putting. There are also only really 4 characters in this manga. There's a handful of unnamed side characters but the focus remains on the main 4 and their ever complicating relationships to one another, and how they each get trapped in this mostly self contained bundle of nonsense. I say that in a good, affectionate manner.

The manga is also fairly short. I read the entire thing, all 6 volumes in about 4 hours. It doesn't overstay its welcome, it doesn't linger too long on anything nor does it drag its feet. The story moves forward at a brisk but healthy pace and never really feels like it stagnates.

The art style is one I'm also particularly fond of. While there aren't any shounen-esque breath stoppers, the art does a wonderful job of making sure emphasis is placed where it's most needed. The manga isn't incapable of detail, there's more than enough scenes that are rendered in absolute perfect detail. Most scenes can be a little lighter on detail, however to the manga's benefit. Moreover, the artist has a wonderful way of giving the weightier scenes more impact. Shifts in art style, where things are given detail and where there isn't. It is rather hard to *really* express in words. It isn't hyper extravagant but again, to the manga's benefit. Regardless I rather love the style and it holds a special place in my heart.

Netsezou Trap often receives lots of hate and negativity. However speaking as someone who not only read it ravenously while it was being serialized, but also spent close to 100$ to get physical copies of the entire thing much later, I hold zero qualms giving this wonderful little story a 9/10. In my heart it's a 10, but trying my best to give others a less biased view I would see this as an 8 to most people barring those expectations/exceptions I set earlier. Though I think I would cause myself immense physical pain if I were to say anything less than a 9.

I love this manga rather dearly. It held a special place in my hearty long ago, and to this day that still holds true. I earnestly recommend giving this a real, genuine shot.

The show tells you within the first few episodes how it's gonna end, and it does nothing to reduce that impact. The only anime to date that's managed to make me cry. This story is an amazing tragedy, and one that I still think about years later. It's utterly heart wrenching, and just as beautiful a story.

The visuals are definitely a little dated, but for what it is it's acceptable. Sound is the same way. The characters have some room for improvement in general, but they're still well written.

This IS a tragedy so my metric of enjoyment is kinda based on how much it hurts, ... and the ending was one of the most knife twisting moments I've seen in an anime. Even though you see it coming from the very beginning, it's still nothing short of incredible.

One of my all time favorites.

The story, while not exactly super deep, groundbreaking, or epic is still something to adore imo. As a lighthearted, feel good series, it performs this excellently and is probably one of the best in class for that. The characters, like most SOL, are the real highlight here. All of them are very fun and full of personality and life. Also one of the very few anime that (to me) performs the over expressive/over exaggerated tone masterfully. A lot of anime lay this on a little too thick for me and it comes off as cringe inducing rather than funny or amusing. So, this also manages ... to make me laugh regularly.

The CGI can be a little painful, and the art style is nothing special but it's serviceable. Same goes for the sound.

Overall, this anime places a strong 9 for me. Might even be a 10 by the metrics of an SOL.

Highly recommend.

Updating this review to reflect my current feelings.

While I definitely oversold this the first time around I feel as though it's still an anime deserving of a fair amount of praise. The story is very interesting and engaging. While it's not exactly a philosophical deep dive or an intense character study, I did still enjoy it a ton. So for that it gets an 8 from me, purely for being as engaging as it is.

The art is full 3D animation. Now though that turns off a lot of people I can confidently say that, once you push aside the gut reaction the visuals are very ... good. I think there's certainly room for improvement, but it still stands as one of the only examples of amazing 3D animation in anime.

The sound design, especially for the warships themselves is very well done. It's hard to ask for more, so it sits at a 9 for me.

Overall enjoyment... I really loved this anime and still do, however with some years of reflection and a bigger repertoire of media under my belt this score has dropped a little since then. It's still a very good overall anime, one that I enjoyed a lot at the time. Buuuuuuut I've enjoyed other forms of media a lot more so this has dropped to a 7 for me.

It's worth a shot.