This is really not great and only occasionally remembers to be so bad that it’s entertaining. Whatever one’s opinions on There’s No Freaking Way I’ll Be Your Lover! Unless… might be, I happen to quite enjoy it, there’s no denying that it eats this series’ lunch and half its supper too.
Unlike that series, which has a number of interesting females for our hapless lead to bounce off, this just has females, for the most part. This cast is mostly nondescript or just kind of weird, but not in the good sense.
Look, I will be as blisteringly honest as I can be. I am only reading this manga because of the wholly yikes and inappropriate moments between Mei and her professor, Maria. I do not condone such behaviour in real life, and at least they’re adults here, but they have the only genuine spark.
And by spark, I mean sizzle. These sections quickly heat up faster than any of the others, which feel like they’re in a different story practically. I’d like to think that this is due to the mangaka using each of the hopefuls to explore different genres, but that’s a lie.
The rest of the ostensible interests are… pretty lame, although Karin is the closest we get for a decent alternative. The smell girl isn’t interesting in the least, the other two don’t even register. That’s an awful ratio no matter how you look at it.
Combined with some underwhelming art and a threadbare plotline - that play they put on is utterly cringe, which does make it realistic for a student production - and you don’t have a whole lot of anything to write home or even write about.
Minus Maria. Professor Maria is an ethical minefield, but it’s what keeps me interested. Without her there’s no way I’d be reading this. With her? I can at least treat it as a guilty pleasure, and so it goes. Every time she and Mei are together it jumps the story to a whole other level.
And clearly you are not going to enjoy any of this if Maria doesn’t work for you. There’s pretty much nothing left outside of that. I hardly think this is top-tier, if that wasn’t obvious.
2 stars - I’d give this a 2.5 if you’re into the Maria/Mei relationship, with its many asterisks, but calling this good is a stretch. Heck, even calling it mediocre is precariously generous at times.