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I read this one on a whim without expecting much, but this turned out to be a lot better than the premise would have you believe. This idea of a high school girl becoming a sex worker in an isekai setting seems rife for gratuitous objectification and unhealthy "romance," but the story is way more balanced than I expected. This probably has to do with how the original light novel is geared towards a female audience, so there's no gross glamorizing when it comes to sex work.

Haru, the protagonist, isn't a blushing naive klutz, but she isn't some dominatrix puppetmaster either. The story does a ... good deal to humanize her than most of this genre. It tackles her previous life in an interesting way, and gives believable explanations for why she does the things she does, including the reason she chose sex work. This characterization even results in rather poignant moments where I got a little choked up with emotion at seeing her get to live a bit of the carefree youth she didn't have in her original world.

Indeed, this story isn't all dark despite some sexual content and violence here and there. The author never makes you undeservedly sympathize with Haru's customers either. She never sugarcoats how she's treated or what she thinks of the men she services. Some customers are really shitty to her, others are nicer, but she makes it very clear that she doesn't owe anything even to the nice ones. She's also quick to call misogyny by its name whenever she notices it in the world, something rarely seen in animanga. It's refreshing, honestly.

Speaking of refreshing, let's talk characters. Of course, there are typical isekai archetypes in this story, but even they have their humanizing moments. Haru's coworkers, for instance, are background characters with little contributions to the story thus far, yet their relationships with her are quite wholesome and cute.

Next, there's Chiba, Haru's classmate who got sent to the fantasy world along with her and now makes a living as an adventurer. He at first seems like your standard otaku-turned-Mary-Sue with unfairly strong powers. Even Haru thinks that, but then the longer the story goes on, she learns that he's actually quite cautious and calculating with everything he does, taking his time to learn as much as he can about the world and its dangers and even planning long term about the rest of his life.

Still, he's not perfect, and his biggest flaws are incessant bragging coupled with this potent, nerd-brand misogyny (i.e. feeling entitled to women and treating them as a prize) --- something Haru rightly recognizes and often punishes. She treats him more like a reluctant friend than anything due to their shared origin from another world, while the story treats him mostly as a comic relief and a satire of those nerdy isekai protagonists who suddenly think themselves chads just because they're in a fantasy world.

Of course, it's important to note there have only been 10 chapters (AKA 2 and a half volumes) so far at the time of me writing this review. This story could go to shit, or it could get even better. I haven't read the light novel this is based upon, and I'm not interested in spoilers, so for now I'll just wait as new chapters come out. As it stands, I recommend this manga for anyone who's looking for something a bit different, but has internalized enough anime tropes and isekai logic to appreciate the little acts of subversion this manga does.

I don't think a show like Haikyuu!! needs a lengthy review because, let's be real, it needs no introduction with its reputation as well as the reputation of its source material, and in the end it all boils down to entertainment value anyway. This is one of those shows where you're either gonna:

1) Fall head-over-heels with its characters, get emotionally attached with the brilliant writing, and feel cathartic as hell to see every hard-earned victory and piece of development. Or,

2) Enjoy this show mainly for the volleyball, the beautifully dynamic animation, the voice acting, and the soundtrack... but you'll find the non-game moments/training drag a ... little bit since you don't really care.

I am the former. I loved the manga, I ADORED all the characters and I'm excited for more of this series to be animated. This is a JEWEL of an adaptation which captures the best of the source material while making the story come alive in motion and color. 10/10, I recommend it with all my enthusiasm.