Mangaka: Sakura Hamada
Publisher: Yen Press
Genre: Slice-of-life, Romance, Josei
Tropes: Clueless Heroine, He Falls First, Food, Eccentric Artist
* I was provided an advanced copy of this manga to review by Yen Press*
***
When I was looking through some upcoming releases from Yen Press last month, this one kind of stood out from the rest with its interesting concept that sounded just a little bit odd. I want to thank Yen Press for sending me this advanced copy because once I got to sit down to read it, I found I really enjoyed the story and the characters. Hamada manages to combine art, food, slice-of-life, and a cute romance into one manga that sets itself apart with its odd quirks and interesting characters. As a note, before we get into it, the mature warning on the cover is really only for the nudity, there is no sexual content in the first volume.
Emiko Tamaki is a female office worker who’s exhausted with life, but when she goes up to someone collapsed on the street, she’s surprised by his sudden request to model for him. THe man turns out to be renowned artist Shunsui Ishihara, and he wants her nude…and covered in fish?! It’s not the most normal way to get to know someone, but it might be the start of something beautiful–or at least unpredictable.
I think Sakura Hamada does a really great job with the art in this manga. I think this is Hamada’s first published manga, at least that I can find online, which is surprising given the quality. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had worked on some other projects in Japan that haven’t been translated yet or some smaller things that haven’t gotten a lot of attention. I was trying to find another mangaka to compare the art to on my shelves, but I honestly couldn’t. I almost wanted to say Akiko Higashimura, but Hamada’s art has a more polished feel compared to Higashimura’s more stylized and sketchy line work. Maybe it was just the quirkiness of the story that made me think of her.
I love how the characters are drawn, but if you have some aversion to nudity, I would suggest skipping this or at least not reading it where it would be embarrassing to be caught looking at bare breasts. Hamada really captures the spacey, kind of clueless personality of the main character in how her expressions and movements are drawn. I also really love the more action or eye-catching spreads that pop up sometimes throughout the manga that are drawn with quite a lot of detail and visual impact. I think it really makes reading the manga a more visually appealing experience.
Besides the art that really drew me in to this one, Hamada has crafted a really cute story between a quirky abstract artist who’s a bit of a tsundere and a spacey office worker who really seems to love fish. The story starts off on a bit of a dark note with Emiko contemplating her own suicide as she walks back home from work, but she stumbles upon Shunsui on the way, and before you know it, she’s sucked in to being his nude model in exchange for money and cooked fish after. It really is weird to see her all nude with fish just laid across her body in weird ways, and then they go and eat the fish after?! We see a little bit how this process translates into his actual art later, but it’s definitely bizarre in the manga. It’s honestly one of the main reasons I like it, and it kind of adds to the character of Shunsui throughout the whole volume.
Shunsui is a bit of a tsundere, and a bit of a stuck-up artist who thinks very highly of himself. However, I think it’s mainly because he’s a little bit shy and awkward even though he acts and speaks in a very straightforward manner to Emiko. He claims he would never date any of his nude models, he’s not “that kind” of artist, but we see him slowly coming to care for her clueless personality and wanting to spend more time with her. I think in the next volume we might see more of their feelings develop for each other.
I’m really interested to see where this story goes and see how their relationship develops over time. The first volume really caught me, and I’m excited to see what other people think when it comes out! Be sure to grab your copy on May 22nd and let me know in the comments what your thoughts are!
~~Thanks for Reading!~~
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