[CW: suicide attempt, bad literature]
So, Sumire was kidnapped when she was younger and you wouldn’t know but Reo was the one who did it. Don’t worry though, things are only going to get sillier from there.
This is one of the best unintentional comedy manga on the market. It is being played very straight, with occasional moments of levity, but is actually the corniest bag of nonsense. And I mostly mean that in a good way.
The entire kidnapping plotline is off to the races when it’s revealed that all this is precipitated by Sumire’s dad being a social media phenom with his novel, as if the ‘twenty seconds of fame’ world of social media sells novels, and the crooks figure that somehow means he must be good for an astronomical amount of money.
As I say, it’s hilarious, to say nothing of the novel’s title, which is so atrocious it sounds like a teenager writing a romance after a concussion. And, making the bold choices that define true heroism, dad and mom cough up the ransom AND refuse to get the cops involved. Because kidnappers always hold up their end of the bargain.
Naturally this ends with Reo saving the day and then Sumire stops him from killing himself at the last minute. Naturally. Again, minus Sumire being the most amusingly annoying hostage ever, played completely straight.
If you are of the mindset that this is incredibly bad, but in a very fun sort of way, it’s really not a terrible time. Reo gets a haircut, he meets Sumire’s friends (I love how his 20-something self towers over them), and it turns out he’s been killing himself to make amends all this time.
I think the most believable part is that this incident was the deciding factor in Sumire’s parents splitting up and also accounts for her father’s incredibly overprotective nature. Of course, that’s on a direct collision course with Reo and Sumire’s relationship because what else were you expecting?
The clothing remains hideous, the dialogue is screamingly turgid (Reo’s line about wanting to remove clothing is about as sexy as a sack of potatoes in a dank cellar), but it just believes in itself so much I can’t help but enjoy it anyway. It can’t be intentional, but I still think the mangaka is trying their best and having fun, so who am I to complain?
Genuinely, a bunch of incredible hogwash, but very loveable in that car crash sort of way. You can imagine the Romans handing out copies when the bread and circuses were in short supply.
3 stars - it’s not worth more than that, certainly. Especially now that Reo’s changed his hairstyle. The only way anybody likes that one more is because the mangaka has their families hostage. Not that I’m invested, of course.