[Thanks to Viz and Edelweiss for an ARC of this manga in exchange for an unbiased review.]
If you think the tease is more fun than the strip, welcome to manga heaven. Divested of some awkwardness from the first volume, I am now fully invested in the hornball antics of these two pervs as they get their freak on.
Ikezawa remains easily flustered and is constantly getting harassed by Eguchi, who makes up for her lack of self-esteem by taking all sorts of liberties with her new friend.
This dynamic works because the two of them are so clearly into one another. If Eguchi was just pushing her kinks onto Ikezawa, that’d be a whole other thing. No, these two would collapse to the floor and land in hormonal bliss if not for one thing.
That one thing is Ikezawa and his bashful-when-the-chips-are-down side. He talks a big game until he needs to talk a big game and then ends up bottling it. It cleverly prolongs the narrative and helps it hit hard when he does get it right.
Eguchi is far more straightforward - she knows what she likes and she knows what she wants to explore with Ikezawa and that runs the gamut. One of the hottest scenes in the volume comes when they’re actually fully clothed, which is impressive.
It’s not possible to describe this as wholesome - there’s enough flashed skin and at least one situation that I genuinely never thought I’d see in a manga in my life to prevent that from ever being levelled at it (let’s just say that more than Ikezawa’s pride gets stained).
Yet the romance, the emotional side, is incredibly satisfying. Ikezawa starts the volume by actually reflecting on his actions and growing. The date stuff they do is so dang cute - the sequence with the Photo Booth is adorably thirsty (and funny).
The great bulk of the volume is concerned with the school festival and it barely even registered, in a good way, because watching these two drive one another crazy is just a good time. Especially since Ikezawa winds up in a maid costume.
Sometimes this can be jaw dropping; when Eguchi has Ikezawa literally eating out of her hand or Ikezawa is removing his underwear (it makes sense in context and leads to a wild gag later), it does stuff I rarely see.
This manga has quickly morphed into a balance of its sweet and heartfelt side, the way this volume ends is one of the cutest things I have seen in ANY manga ever, and its lascivious nature. To my surprise, I think the balance is pretty perfect.
I mean, this is exploitative, sure, but I think the key here is that it is exploitative for the reader and not for (and of) the characters. They’re being legitimately thirsty and really, really want one another. Given what I remember of high school, this is actually more honest than it seems.
This is a really good time, especially within its genre. It really sands down the edges; there’s no blatant nudity or Ikezawa being crass in sight. Yeah, Eguchi gets into her undies at least once, but Ikezawa shows a lot himself. Again, balanced.
4 stars - this is a clear improvement from the first volume and it expertly captures high school hormones and then brings in a charming romance to cut the steam. It’s one of the best ecchi-leaning stories I’ve read.
I liked this volume more than the first one, probably because I felt like it was more comedy than horniness. (Don't get me wrong, there was still some of that, but not to the point of overwhelm.) The art style is stunning! The ending was super cute, which I didn't expect, but now I might be more curious to pick up upcoming volumes.
Thank you to VIZ Media LLC, mm k and Edelweiss for providing me with this eARC. となりの席のヤツがそういう目で見てくる 2 aka "The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Seen (Vol.2)" will be out 27th of August 2026!
This is so ridiculous, but it’s fun. Lowkey feel like a degenerate man reading this because of how Eguchi is drawn, but as a degenerate BL girly I can’t judge too hard.
I know I'm not the age demographic for this story but I think I can safely say younger me would've cackled getting to read about the two weirdos begin the long game of possible friends to lovers. Our bodies change so rapidly that sometimes you feel alien in it but these two are all for exploring (how have they not been caught by anyone, outside of the underwear issue?!) It's cool to see them both open about their bodily desires for the other and showcasing that young girls are also curious.
Our MMC is also getting better about not just throwing out jokes when he's flustered so I hope we get a potential double confession soon.
Omg - der erste Band war ja schon sehr strange.. aber der zweite macht’s nicht besser 😂 Beide sind weiterhin extrem verpeilt, überdreht und gestehen sich nicht die Gefühle für den anderen ein. Sie versuchen es einerseits zu verbergen, aber andererseits legen sie es beide ja auch irgendwie darauf an, dass der andere es missversteht.. 😂 Aber ja, ich weiß auch nicht. So richtig zünden tut’s dann einfach doch nicht bei mir - es ist zwar an sich an manchen Stellen schon ganz witzig, aber an anderen halt auch einfach etwas zu drüber 😅 Ich glaub, ich droppe die Reihe - da gibt’s dann doch wesentlich interessantere Titel zu lesen 😄
continues to be incredibly horny and also, strangely, very sweet. what I really like are the scenes where ikezawa takes the time to reflect on his actions (he does a good amount of pushing eguchi away or going ever so slightly too far into the mean teasing route) and apologizes/makes it up to her. love me a good groveling!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
i actually really like the art style and the characters are cute,, idk if i can take more of this back and forth and they do not get together if this is a long spanning series though.