Moteki 1: Love Strikes!

Moteki #Omnibus 1

by Mitsurou Kubo

Superstar creator Mitsurou Kubo (original concept and character designs for Yuri!!! on Ice) reveals how you never know when fortune will strike.

Yukiyo Fujimoto’s life has been in a rut. He is about to turn thirty and has never held a steady job or had a girlfriend. And at a time when the prospects for hope seem at their lowest, suddenly his phone blows up! Out of the blue he is contacted by several women from his past! His moteki has finally come!! Love has struck and cupid’s arrow has hit him repeatedly and, coincidentally, all at the same time! Yukiyo may seem to have many options now, but is he ready for love? And are any of these women? The stage for love might be set, but the time might only be right for him to finally grow up!

Genres: Manga, Romance, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Manga, Humor, Seinen

438 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

Mitsurou Kubo (久保 ミツロウ, Kubo Mitsurō) is a Japanese manga artist, writer, and radio personality born in Sasebo in 1975. She is known for writing on Yuri!!! on Ice, an anime series co-created with Sayo Yamamoto. Two of her manga have been released in English; Moteki by Vertical and Again!! by Kodansha USA. She and Mineko Nomachi have a radio program called Mitsurou Kubo and Mineko Nomachi's All Night Nippon.

Reviews

[Shai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moteki is a decade old manga series written by Mitsurou Kubo. It tells the story of Yukiyo Fujimoto who is no-girlfriend since birth and is in his late 20's already. Readers could see how frustrated Yukiyo is about his zero love life and how his life started to transform one day that got him entangled to several ladies.


The first volume is 438-pages but reading this will not bore readers because of how funny and how fast the story progress. If I have the chance to watch either the film adaptation or the TV series of this manga, I will try to check them out and see if they are as good as the manga version. I can't wait for the second volume of this amusing manga and hope that there will be ARC also available.

[Mehsi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

Welp, this was just the worst. I am sorry, but I didn't enjoy it. I kept reading in hopes that it would get better, but instead it didn't. It also didn't help that this book isn't volume one only... it is also volume 2. If I had known that I would probably not have requested it.

What the problem was with this manga? The MC. My word, he was just terrible, depressing, at times he didn't seem to understand the word no (sure, just keep kissing and putting your hand up her shirt while she clearly stated no and wants to be your friend), and he was also creepy (really, taking a picture of a sleeping girl?), and I could go on. I didn't like him at all. He just kept whining about not having a girlfriend, about his virginity (which he did lose), about his sex life, about woman.

What did I expect? A cute romance story with a guy getting into his Moteki (some magical period in which guys/girls get very popular) and him deciding which girl he wants to go for from the whole batch of girls interested in him. I expected lots of hilarity as girls would try to meet him at every opportunity. I had hoped for lots of sexy and swoony scenes.
Instead the only thing that happens is that girls are vaguely interested in him, he gets a ton of mails/calls (at first), and well... that is it.

It was a really depressing read, and I just wanted to kick the MC between his legs for being such a dick about stuff.

Sure, the girls aren't always better, I also wanted to shake some of them.

The only thing that I did like was the art. That was pretty gorgeous.

But yeah, I am not going to be reading this one any further, and I am happy I had the chance to read this one before it released as I now know I will not be buying this one for my collection.

Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/

[Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

I rarely don't finish a book when I get as far as I did with this one (although I decided I needed a dnf shelf anyway), but...I hated the main character. So much that I couldn't get past it, which is, again, rare. I think the word for him might be "incel?" Anyway, the way he treats women just made this a big "nope" for me.

[James Bruun · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanna start by saying that this manga is not for the weak hearted. The reason being is because it had my heart go for a whirlwind of feelings and old memories of my own life and made me think of my own past.

Moteki really is one of a kind, truly worth reading it really spoke to me through my own feelings and memories of my past as I was reading I felt as if I was reliving past events in my life as though I was the main character. So that you understand me a little better the story is about a 29 year old man named Yukiyo Fujimoto. Who has gone through everyones worst nightmare and that is being alone and unloved and praying that one day they could find love. Fuji goes through rejection, heartbreak, low self-esteem, loneliness and even thoughts of dying. What makes this manga so amazing isn't the depressing parts but the answers that are given to him or even the lessons he learns from remembering the past to help him overcome and maybe find love one day Moteki really opened my eyes with tears falling down my cheeks to even tearing my heart from my chest. Moteki is a master piece that everyone should read At least once on there life time. I pray that second half to the story is just as good as this half was. I truly believe that Because of Moteki I think i am a little more of a better man because of it.

[Shy Kuzonoha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book should be held to it's own pedigree, and shouldn't be reviewed based on what I thought it would be, but instead what it is.
This is not a Romance Manga!

Moteki is a well paced, well written story about a socially awkward 29 year old man, who clearly wears his heart on his sleeve. He fears being alone, and plummets under the notion of never finding love.

One of this book's biggest strengths, is it's Characters. They don't feel like Characters at all, they feel like living, breathing individuals, with relatable problems. Love, depression, despair, social anxiety, and sexual acceptance all play a big role in it's cast. This is an coming of age story, with Adult themes, that is clearly geared towards Males.

[Shae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, so I am having a bit of a love/hate relationship with this. I think my biggest complaint is that the author made our main guy a bit TOO self deprecating. Clearly this guy has some anxiety, and doesn't know what to do about it. I do like the direction the story is headed, so I think I will pick up the other bind up.

[Janine Colon-Vazquez · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you want to read a story about a fuckboy, here it is. Pathetic doesn't even begin to describe the main character. I kept hoping it would get better and he would grow but no such thing happened.

[Tawallah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received this graphic novel from NetGalley for review.

This is a slice of life graphic novel where Fuji is a twenty-nine year old and seemingly has nothing much to show for his life. No fixed job but his main angst is no girlfriend. Suddenly it seems as if his love life is about to change.

The best part was the art work. Mitsuro Kubo is an amazing artist. This is done in black and white and has realistic design which I enjoy. There were some panels which tended to be very busy but overall added to the overall scene. But this is essentially a guy’s fantasy novel. Fujimoto is self-absorbed and does some reprehensible things which sabotage his efforts for love. And no matter how awful he behaves, he seems to be excused by the women around or worse yet encouraged to behave even worse. And there is no evidence of redemption in this volume. Making this a much more grimmer tale than I expected. I suspect this novel reflects the mindset of otakus in contemporary Japan.

Will not be recommending this novel.

[Choonghwan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everyone has his season of love.
And when it rains, it pours.

[Emily W. · Rating 3 out of 5]

*I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an Honest Review*
*This also contains volume 1 and volume 2 of the manga*

You know with its plot synopsis I almost assumed this would possibly just be one of those harem manga.
(Which are low key guilty pleasure genre for me xDD)

But this manga proved to be more mature than that and you see instead a character who doesn't often come across many who could love him or want to be with him. (Or that's how his self-esteem feels about it.)

Plot:

So our main character Yukio, he's literally a virgin who's near the end of his 20's and has yet to find a girlfriend. (Man I feel for you dude.) He suddenly gets all these phone calls which start to give him some kind of hope. He's hoping this year might be his year or season to feel popular with the ladies. (Which the manga's name Moteki=Popularity or popular according to the manga's translation.) Yukio likes Aki or he at least thought maybe she liked him, but he was rejected especially when his friends showed him that she had a boyfriend. And Yukio almost felt like he was used just for her to try to get her boyfriend jealous and to make up with him.

But eventually I think Aki and Yukio will possibly have some kind of romance bloom between them, I'd just need to read the next volumes. Or maybe between him and Natsuki. But of course his luck with women isn't the best, so you can never be sure how he'd fare.

On another note:

I get the feeling that this manga is actually accurate for some of Japan's population with all it's otakus that don't usually settle down because some find them to be gross or because they'd rather be with waifus/husbandos than look for a real, living companion. And then there's those who are looking for love, but don't catch it because they work themselves so often. But yeah I think the mangaka is onto something with this manga, the main character kind of feels realistic to some of the people in real life who have dating troubles.

Character(s):
Yukio Fujimoto: He's the main character who struggles with finding love, and he's just super awkward. But who wouldn't be awkward if you were a virgin(He loses it eventually), introverted, temp that found out that someone you thought you could date, actually had a boyfriend. Or if that someone you liked wasn't with you because she has no confidence in herself for a relationship. That's gotta be the suckiest way to be rejected!! Goodness, life can suck sometimes!! -.-"

Aki Doi: She's a love interest, who suddenly calls Yukio up on the phone. She tends to go to concerts and she kind of rejected Yukio. (Not completely on purpose of course!!) She wants him to admit his feelings for her.

Natsuki Komiyama: Another person Yukio had some kinds of feelings for. Maybe she could be that loved one he's looking for in his life. She's nice, but has some self confidence issues.

There's many female characters in this manga, that Yukio comes across. Will he ever get with any of them?? Probably not. But I can't say that his character isn't at least "trying".

Recommends to:
Well if you liked this manga you'd likely get a kick out of its drama adaptation, which many refer to as funny and sexy. xD In fact I think I should give the drama chance eventually myself. Also if you enjoyed this maybe you'd like other works by the mangaka.

Hope you enjoyed my review!! Thanks for Reading!! ^_^

[Siina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Moteki surely is heavy in more ways than one and somehow I think this was translated due to Yuri!!! on Ice, since these have the same maker behind them. Somehow I don't think this would've been translated otherwise, which isn't to say that Moteki is bad or anything - actually I'm happy seinen like this gets published. We don't have manga like this a lot on the market. Moteki is about a thirty-year-old guy named Yukiyo Fujimoto, who's still a virgin, over-analyzes everything and just wants to get a girlfriend. He surely meets girls, but is too dumb to notice their feelings or misunderstandings taint the rest of the hope. This sudden interest on the girls' part happens after all those years of nothing happening and suddenly the guy cannot function. Fujimoto is pathetic and in a way real, but at the same time a caricature. He's refreshing and annoying at the same time too and the manga is so full of stuff and everything, when in reality hardly anything happens. It's an odd and interesting combination, but exhausting surely.

The art is very seinen-like, precise and crude, but still realistic and wonderful. Moteki is stuffed art-wise too, which hinders the reading experience, since you need to inspect the panels carefully. Moteki isn't your typical manga, which may be a problem for finding readers for this. Kubo surely knows how to create something interesting and for that you should really try this, even though it isn't for everyone. I wish we'd get more seinen and Moteki is a great add to the genre! Especially, since this manga is made by a woman.

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Moteki Vol. 1' by Mitsurou Kubo is an English translation of an older manga by a famous creator. The manga is popular enought that it has been turned into a television series.

When Yukiyo Fujimoto turns 30, he finds himself single with no prospects. When he suddenly gets contacted by several women in his life, he thinks it is his "moteki" or time of popularity. Through the course of the story, we see how these past relationships have gone badly, mostly due to Yuki being awkward and not being assertive enough. We also see a few of these events from the female side. Yuki seems doomed to be single forever, but with the help and advice of friends, he may yet find the right person to be with.

At first, I wasn't crazy about this story of a love-starved, sex-focused, inept guy. I didn't really feel for him. Through the course of the 438 pages (!), I did end up liking the story and it's female characters, even if I didn't warm much to Yuki.

The art is pretty good. There are something like 14 issues of the series as well as some funny back up comics included.

I received a review copy of this manga from Kodansha Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this manga.

[Gabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is without a doubt a sizable chunk of people that looked into this because it was written by one of the co-creators of Yuri On Ice. And while I personally enjoyed this first omnibus, it's definitely not something I'd imagine the "Yuri on Ice" crowd to enjoy.

Its main character Fujimoto is very self-loathing, but also self-absorbed especially in his relationships with women. He hates himself for how little he's accomplished in his almost 30 years of existence, but also is under the impression that he deserves a girlfriend after putting himself out there on so many different chance encounters. As a straight dude, it's relatable in a scumbaggy sense, but for the fujoshis with set expectations from the Yuri on Ice co-creator, I have a feeling they won't get much out of it.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m truly torn with this book. The story is interesting enough to keep me reading. Yet I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT STAND Fujimoto. He has to be one of the worst male MCs I’ve come across. And he doesn’t grow as a person. And doesn’t seem to be attempting to grow either. He just continues with the mindset that he’ll be forever alone. Instead of reevaluating his views on love, sex and women. And seeing if a different approach will improve those parts of his life. Then there’s Nao that encourages his approach with women, instead of telling him he’s a shaming, rapey, asshole and that’s why he’s alone.

I am happy that this is a four volume series. Because I feel like if this series was any longer I’d have to tap the fuck out. Especially if Fujimoto doesn’t change his awful ways.

[Inês · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 stars

Before reading this, I had never heard the term "moteki" before, but the notion of, in some point of my life, having a lot of people interested in me all of sudden doesn't sound too awful.

The main character managed to be somewhat likeable and to feel relatable (at least for me), despite .the fact that he wasn't that nice of a person. Although it got kind of repetitive sometimes, it was easy to understand his insecurities and his anger at the fact that, despite being 30 years-old already, he had never had a girlfriend.

The book kept me interested in finding out if Fujimoto would ever find someone, and I will probably read the rest of the series.

[Veronica · Rating 2 out of 5]

ARC via Netgalley. I'm assuming there must be an audience out there for the tale of a self-pitying 30 year old who constantly whines about the fact that he's never had a serious relationship, but it's definitely not me. Not sure what else to say. I didn't like the art, either. I kept slogging along waiting for redemption but frankly the protagonist was so unappealing that his eventual realization that women are people too felt like too little, too late.

[Erin O'Riordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the art but I didn't love the story. It's about a man who's about to turn 30 who still hasn't found the love of his life. Frankly, with his personality, I'm not surprised that he doesn't have a woman who wants to be with him. He doesn't really treat women very well. And without a likable protagonist, it was really hard to care about his romantic adventures.

I received this book as part of the Amazon Vine program in exchange for a fair, honest review.

[Kcastella · Rating 4 out of 5]

The MC is desperate and lonely. Luckily he has some friends that introduced him to other friends and now has some-what contact with women from his past. Its like if its written so honestly, laid bare for us to see what goes on in the mind of a single 29 y/o "virgin" with self confidence issues.
My favorite part was when he met up with the delinquent girl from his middle days. That part sent me to a 'what if?' moment for a while. Will definitely pick up part 2.

[Boujee · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was funny and the art is both alluring and comedic when need be, but it was also a LOT to read, with more characters than I care to keep up with

so while I'll easily recommend it to anyone who likes doozy-reads like Moteki, i myself probably won't bother reading past the first volume. i'd be more likely to watch it as an anime at least

[David Doel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of the dreariest depictions of man I've ever seen. The only thing that counts is sex; those who get a lot are heroes and the rest are unsatisfied. The only reason for a two is the quality of the drawing.

This review applies to both volumes 1 and 2.

[kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s not poorly written, but it comes off misogynistic and there are some sexual scenes where it’s really difficult to tell if it’s actually consensual. The art is great. But I’m not really sure if this is a manga I want to keep reading.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK, so the main character drives me crazy (he's a bit wishy-washy), but I quickly became invested in his relationships (possible relationships). I can't wait to see how this all turns out.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Main character is a bit of a jerk in the beginning, but he's growing.

[Karlie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow this was unpleasant.

[Janae (The Modish Geek)]

Nope. I can do an unlikable character, but what I can't do is a possible incel.

[Chloe McGenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s hard to say whether I enjoyed this or give this a higher score until I read volume 2. I just don’t know whether the main character will be redeemed or not. Unless he is, I know I’m going to hate the ending

Edit - I finished volume 2 and yep, hated the ending

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this first volume

[Alyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yukiyo Fujimoto's Moteki, his year to find romance, has finally arrived. For years Yukiyo has always wanted a girlfriend, but he has been continuously unlucky in love. Now, he's thirty years old. When a few women from his past begin contacting him at the same time, Yukiyo is convinced that this is his year to find love. But who ever said love was easy? Moteki is full of the ups and downs of romance, and unrequited love. Yukiyo is the poster child for someone unlucky in love. He is the sort of person who lives in his head, and often, his mind will wander into impossible fantasies. Funny and sometimes tragic, Moteki takes the reader on a ride of emotions.
The artwork of this manga is excellent, but there was just too much text on one page sometimes. It didn't really read fluidly as Yukiyo's fantasies begin to blend in with his daily life. It was a little confusing. Although there were parts I enjoyed, I found this manga is meant for a male audience more than a female audience. The female characters hardly have any depth to them, and Yukiyo was too single minded for me to fully connect with his character. Overall, I would recommend this manga to a male audience.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review was made possible by #Netgalley.

I don't read Manga as much as I should, and Moteki kindly pointed that out to me. The story is about a man who is having his moment - his moteki - when all the ladies are supposed to be attracted to him and he'll find his special someone. Only, it doesn't happen the way he thought it would.

The characters in this manga are so relatable, even to a western audience. The art itself is fantastic, and I found myself unable to put this down once I started. I highly recommend this manga to anyone who enjoys slice of life, realistic stories with great art and a lot of heart. Definitely a 5-Star book.