オトメン(乙男) 4

Otomen #4

by Aya Kanno, Aya Kanno

りょうの誕生日をお手製ケーキで祝うことにした飛鳥だが、当日はもう先約が!? ワクワクドキドキ★の夏休み突入！ 2人きりで海へ行ってイルカに乗りたいと夢見る飛鳥だが、後輩・大和に海の家を任されひょんなことから男の対決に!?

Genres: Manga, Romance, Shojo, Graphic Novels, Comics, Humor, Comedy

Paperback

First published December 18, 2007

About the author

Aya Kanno (菅野文; Kanno Aya) is a Japanese shōjo manga artist.

Former assistant of mangaka Masashi Asaki of Psychometrer Eiji fame, she made her debut in the January 2001 issue of Hakusensha's magazine "Hana to Yume" with Soul Rescue. Her works include Otomen.

Reviews

[Laura A. Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

These volumes are so ridiculously fun!!

I genuinely always have a blast seeing what happens next because you never know when one of the guy's secret passions is going to come out and change the entire situation, which is exactly what happened here! I really enjoyed the new character we meet and laughed more than once at how he wants to make things beautiful. Plus, the way he unexpectedly "challenged" Tonomine at the end was priceless!

And Yamato!! He still makes my eye twitch occasionally (because whyyyyyy must he say that about Asuka!? *cries*), but I was excited to see him once again!

And Asuka! I'm so proud of him!! He really "stepped up" in a few different situations in this volume and was super proud of him! I LOVED the beginning with Ryo's Dad as well as the end with Ryo. Both were special scenes/chapters for different reasons and think were also both my favorite scenes of this specific volume. (Though seeing Kyo in that one scene near the end where she made Asuka's heart flutter was REALLY good!)

Always love to see Juta and enjoy how he always pushes our main couple! <3

Another fantastic volume with lots of fun shenanigans but also some really heartwarming moments that I really really adored! <3

[Mizu · Rating 4 out of 5]

🌸SYNOPSIS
Volume 4 starts with Ryo’s birthday coming around and now Takeshi wants to give his daughter the birthday that he always wanted but the problem is, he needs Asuka’s help to understand what women would like!
Plans are made and the next thing, Ryo has other plans, which throws everyone’s into a spin but is that true? Who knows until you read this volume but that’s not all folks, a new Otomen has come into the picture with a pure love for flowers and a nice trip to a beach to save a show from going under. Asuka has so much going on, how will he ever manage to win over Ryo? One must keep reading Otomen to find out!

🌸OPINION
I really enjoyed the beach theme of this manga and the relationship building between Ryo’s father and Asuka and that was amazing read because I really hope things progress smoothly. Then again, the introduction of a new character and their relationship progress amuses me.
The rivalries, the friendships, they all come together in this lovely tale sprinkled with cuteness and words cannot describe how amazing this manga is so far, at this point, one still has 14 volumes to go.

🌸PRO
More Otomen are making their appearances, it’s great.
Character progress and development.

🌸CON
None that I can contribute here

🌸FINAL SAY
“As long as I’m with the person I love… The Ocean really sparkles…” This manga sparkles with the cuteness and purity as a cinnamon roll. I really cannot emphasis how cute this manga is and how it seems to use strong themes. I cannot wait to see where this series takes me, what new things invoke all sorts of emotions and the best part is seeing where all the characters end up. Hopefully together filled with joy.

[Cosmo · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s the birthday and beach episodes. Full on unapologetically clichéd tropes. Loved it.

[Shakera✿✿✿ · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's my favourite volume so far.
Beach arc is so much fun🌺🍉

[Gale Bruckner · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's such a joy to see the cast of characters grow, and I hope Asuka is starting to realize that he's less alone than he thought. <3 The chapters are still fairly episodic, but that fits perfectly with the lighthearted feel of the story.

[Courtney Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the first two volumes of Otomen, we learned about Asuka, who seems like a stereotypical man's man. But Asuka has a secret: he's an Otomen. He loves "girly" things like cooking, sewing and reading romances, but he hides that from the world because his father left his mother to live authentically as a woman and his mother resents anything that isn't stereotypical masculinity.

As he is struggling to find out his true self, he meets Ryo and falls for her, only Ryo is the opposite of a girly girl! She knows martial arts and can't bake to save her life because she's been raised by a single father. The third member of their group is Juta, a secret manga author who is using Ryo and Asuka as his basis for his hugely popular series, though they're unaware of this.

In Volume 4, Ryo's father approaches Asuka and asks for his help in learning what women like, all to secretly impress Ryo for her birthday. Her dad is the super tough guy police officer, so him asking Asuka for help is a big step in showing how he is slowly coming around to accepting him. Asuka also discovers a secret flower garden and Kitora Kurokawa, a new friend who obsessed with flowers. Turns out there's more Otomen than anyone thought! When the gang goes to the beach to help Yamato's uncle with his beach resturant, loads of craziness ensues and man is it delightful.

Otomen is like a delicious angel food cake. It doesn't have a whole lot of deep substance but man is it enjoyable as you're experiencing it. I love this series. It's fun, it's cute, it's silly and ridiculous and it reminds me a bit of Ouran High School Hosts Club, which is a favorite of mine. Everything about Otomen is lighthearted and fluffy I will never stop reading it. It's a perfect palette cleanser after reading something dark too.

Blog / Twitter

[kuristina- tabreez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume is cute, with various stories and scenes depicting our characters and their unique attributes. However, I can’t help but think about how much Ryo, in particular, lacks a personality. She has expressed depth, but she feels like an interactive audience when it comes to the rest of the cast. That is no issue in her, but it makes me feel lost when I think about how smitten Asuka is with her. It feels almost like I want to ask why, or like the things he continuously falls in love with her over must have happened off-screen. This romance lacks something vital; scenes depicting said romance. They all simply feel like friends, and the way this romance is depicted, it feels like Asuka has pulled his feelings from thin air. Thankfully, by the end of this volume, the mangaka delivers on this a little bit, with a somewhat romantic scene at the end (which had foreshadowing throughout nearly the entirety of this volume) and we find Asuka and Ryo sharing a sentimental moment together, alone. Not only that, but Ryo expresses a side of herself twice near the end which showcases her personality.
Perhaps the fault isn’t in Ryo as a character but rather in the dynamics of the group. She rarely is given opportunity to express herself, which leaves her character feeling lackluster.

Besides this detail on Ryo, the manga itself continues on with its questionable though hilarious and cute tropes and trifles. It’s very well done for its time and is still something enjoyable to this day. I quite liked this volume, even with its obvious age. (On that note, it’s shocking how quickly some things in society can drastically change, and how other things stay the same.)

[Katt Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ubiquitous beach volume with lots of fantasy, swim suits, and find muscles as far as the eye can see. For otomen, these guys are pretty buff.

The goal in this particular volume is to save a snack shop on the beach, which has the whole gang (including rivals and the new silent guy who's into flowers) to work to make this place the only way they know how, through cuteness of atmosphere and lots of hot guys. Er...

Yeah. OK, the plot is so completely wrong on so many levels.

Really we're devolving into whatever plot device we can work up to let the guys show off their Otomen Skillz.

Sheesh.

I'm still reading though. I like the characters, and the story is nice light silly fluff for when you need it.

[Jennifer]

Ok, I know it’s common to have illogical, contrived things crop up in a shoujo plot. But…in Otomen, events feel so out of sync that it’s a bit jarring. Like…they had to look for a lost kid for so long (hours must have passed) and then when they spot her (btw, that was NOT a cat shirt, eve. If it said neko. That looked like gloomy bear) she promptly runs in front of a car…Asuka grabs the kid, Ryo’s dad jumps in front of the car?! And it manages to stop?

Then there’s the flower guy…and the dolphin…

Also, their relationship has been so bland that I actually forgot they were dating. I thought I skipped a volume when Juta said this was their first date as a couple.

I’ve actually decided that their parents should marry.

[teacupsandunicorns · Rating 5 out of 5]

EXCELLENT.
Embracing the feminine and masculine and challenging gender norms.

Also Ryo and Asuka are so cute and wholesome and pure together. I love them.

I love how you can be a manly man’s man and still love cute girly feminine things and respect women as people with skills and feelings.

Asuka didn’t want to confess his love to her because he didn’t want to impose his feelings on her!!! I love him!!!! This is how I feel about liking people and I wish more men felt this way rather than feeling entitled to confessing feelings and then complaining about being friendzoned.

“Not wanting to impose feelings” until he was sure she liked him is the most romantic thing regarding consent and worrying for mutual feelings I’ve ever heard and I cannot get over it.

[Jaylee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lol, even more "guys with feminine hobbies!!!" I feel like this series is being stretched thin by its concept. I wish Ryo had a bigger part or we got to see more "girls with masculine hobbies!" It's still hilarious, though, and super cute art, so I'm here for it.

[Pinky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kitora loves flowers more than girls another otomen is added to the fold. Yamato's uncle might have to close up shop that is until the gang shows up to save the day, Masa's House will stay in business for now.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume introduces Kitaro,a student who cares and maintains a flower garden in the school and becomes friends with the group.

We also see them during the school break when they help out Yamato with his uncle’s beach bar.

Ryo and Asuka get closer and have some soft moments.

[Babeth]

Ma série "feel good" du moment: c'est léger, mignon et tellement drôle.
Pleins de clichés qui mettent la culture japonaise (et le machisme ambiant) en relief aussi.
Asuka est un personnage adorable: je suis fan!

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has some super cute stories in it! I love the one with Ryo's dad. It's cute and sweet.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haha, I do love this series! Birthday revelations bring Asuka closer to Ryo and her father and then...
Bring on the flowers...and more flowers...and more... Yes another boy hides his love of flowers then is set free upon the world (Asuka what have you unleashed?!)!

I loved the Beach bar the boys and Ryo work together to save. Several overlapping compitions, beach fun, and lovely ladies make for a fun break from school!

I was either constantly smiling or laughing while reading this. All the happy feels

[Bearnice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again Otomen never fails to amaze

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This is the most ridiculous series but I'm eating it up

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Pietro Striano]

I will stop here. It is starting to go in circle and stretching the plot.

[Erika · Rating 2 out of 5]

☆2.5
The story started to feel stale...

[Brogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very much enjoying the introduction of new characters!

[Annabell Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super funny and cute ending. Still liking this series so far.

[Mary-Jean Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series so much! The characters are great and it's really witty and fun.

[Sophia F · Rating 5 out of 5]

I laughed so hard during this volume, I'm surprised my mother wasn't concerned. (She's stopped caring what it is when I randomly start belly laughing at something in a manga.)
Aya Kanno uses clever tactics to bring back characters as regulars, such as starting the volume off with Asuka and Ryo's father's bonding time together. Later we are introduced to a flower loving giant named Kitora Kurokawa. This was the point that I realized that things were starting to get a little unrealistic, because of course there'll be plenty of girly guys, but it's not likely that Asuka would simply "bump into" another Otomen so easily. Or if he did, I'm sure they would probably keep it a secret more protectively than how Kurokawa did. Later, we have the cliche beach scene which allows some easy fanservice for the readers, (what's up with all the cliche parts??) and this gets everyone involved including adorable Yamato. I'm glad he wasn't forgotten about!! (He just kinda seemed like one of those one episode/one chapter kind of characters...) Oh, and Tonomine showed up too, so the whole gang was together! Except he kept challenging Masamune to tasks. Why do I feel a familiar Special A atmosphere at these moments?
I bet we'll be seeing the Sea Dragon employees again, likely coincidentally transferred to our main character's school.
Like before, Asuka and Ryo's relationship is developing... Okay maybe not really developing. I like to think so, but really they haven't grown closer. Ryo is still pretty thick headed and probably doesn't realize how much Asuka really cares for her. Tachibana'll probably be freaking out in the next volume (lets see how predictable this manga will be), but I can't wait until Asuka finds out his friend's true identity. Hehe >:D

[melhara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cette critique fait partie d'un défi personnel: d’améliorer mon français!

J'aime l'introduction d'un nouvel Otomen - un homme qui aime les fleurs! J'aime aussi le fait que les chapitres deviennent plus connectés (plutôt que d'être des histoires individuelles)
----------------------------------------------
Note moyenne de la série: 4.1/5
Critiques pour le reste de la série:
Tome 1 | Tome 2 | Tome 3 | Tome 4 | Tome 5 | Tome 6 | Tome 7 | Tome 8 | Tome 9 | Tome 10 | Tome 11 | Tome 12 | Tome 13 | Tome 14 | Tome 15 | Tome 16 | Tome 17 | Tome 18

[Viridian5 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Asuka is still a charmer but to me this volume was mostly boring filler. As happens in a lot of animanga series, the supporting cast gets larger and larger, but Otomen's supporting cast isn't getting filled with interesting characters. You guys know how much I love some supporting cast characters in other series, but too many of these are pale shadows of Asuka. Worse, stories involving them keep pushing out more progress on the main line of Asuka and Ryo and Tachibana. The long beach cafe story had almost nothing to do with Ryo or Tachibana and had very little reason for Asuka to be involved much either. The story introducing mysterious and boring flower boy was far more about new guy than our leads.

Plus, using supporting characters to further draw out the storyline makes our leads come off worse. I can't believe Ryo continues to be that clueless about Asuka's feelings for her even if she is "the guy" in the relationship. If the series let us know that she realizes but is playing clueless because she just wants to be friends and wants to avoid an emotional scene I'd feel much better about it, but the series doesn't let us know much about Ryo's inner life and thoughts. The one section in volume #4 I liked was Ryo's father going to Asuka to find out what girls like, Asuka happily taking advantage of an opportunity to go to places he wouldn't be able to just for himself, the dad admitting that he did this for Ryo because he sees some deficiencies in how he raised her after his wife died, and Ryo saying in the end that she wanted her dad to continue teaching her how to be "the manliest man" and her dad being so happy about that.

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Asuka is reminded that he isn’t the only one with issues about his girly nature. In this volume, he meets a mysterious young man who is ashamed of his fondness for—flowers?

While the romantic content is light in this volume, it does not lack for tension. Rivalries, mixed-up passions and the ever-constant question of “what makes a man?” ratchet up the tension considerably in this volume as Asuka is forced to set aside his gentle nature in order to settle scores with an envious rival.

This volume shows the advantages and disadvantages of being “manly”. The question is never a settled one. The slightest hint of girlishness is enough to topple any man from his designated throne. We see the confusion, frustration and downright terror of men forced to confront a feminine world in which they have no place, don’t understand the rules or the “language”. We see a teenager constantly attempting to assert his manhood against a rival who couldn’t care less.

But most importantly we see an Asuka who grows more comfortable with his so-called girlish ways as he shows them to the world and to the admiring Ryo.

[Zeph · Rating 3 out of 5]

June 2016: 3.5 Stars (Shown as 3)
Honestly, this volume didn't really do it for me. The ever-common Beach Chapters didn't feel like anything new to me, and I wasn't really interested in the drama. It's almost like Asuka is too laid back in his relationship with Ryo. His passion for her flares up so rarely, I forget that they've been a couple for what? A volume now? Maybe 2? I forget.
However, I DID really enjoy the first chapter, that revolved around Ryo's birthday and her father wanting to bond with her. I love how Kanno wrote that episode, and how Asuka got to bring them closer together in his own way too. I also love his relationship with Ryo's dad; that alone made the chapter worthwhile to me.
I'd also like to add that Kitora, who makes his debut of sorts in the following chapter, is such a sweetie. I'm glad his trope isn't that "flowers aren't manly", because I think we already have enough characters who use that ideology as an excuse.

[Poly Dell'amore Purple · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nuevos personajes, nuevos escenarios y aún así siento que esta historia no avanza, si bien los capítulos en la playa estuvieron divertidos la verdad es que no estoy reteniendo mucho de la historia, al punto que hasta ya olvidé la primera mitad de este volumen.

Tengo que pensar mucho y entonces creo recordar algo vagamente. Si bien apenas leo el capítulo me gusta, lo encuentro tierno, lindo y divertido... eso dura hasta pasar al siguiente, y así de rápido olvido el anterior. Creo que por el momento no seguiré con la historia.

Quizá la retome más adelante, eso seguro, pero no me siento ansiosa de seguir con la lectura en este momento