6/5 🌟 What a great turnaround of story and what a great character development of Kurosawa. Definitely became one of my favourite manga series ever. Seems so real and makes you learn about life so much. Would be great if there were more volumes to it. Would definitely want to be the part of Kurosawa's journey.
I found out about Onani Master Kurosawa the day I started reading it, so I didn't have time to form complex expectations, but I certainly didn't think it would turn into . It goes into very interesting psychological depths. On one side we have the protagonist, an introvert who discharges his malice through masturbating to classmates in the girls bathroom; he's constantly on guard, unable and unwilling to get close to people, and he doesn't realize how much the secrets he keeps contribute to distancing him from the world. On the other side we have the introverted girl who blackmails him: she's cut from the same cloth, yet her main issue is her destructive, vengeful tendencies. Once she traps the protagonist into attacking other people for her, she wants him to avenge any minor inconvenience. She's boiling in rage, and rather open about wanting to destroy everybody she dislikes.
The protagonist was able to follow his clandestine masturbatory routine without remorse because he had never connected with anybody. But one of his targets, a cute girl he believed to be stuck up, turns out to be a sweet, introverted girl who is attempting to change into a cheerful, popular person. The protagonist falls for her. Unfortunately, .
Here comes the .
The hopeful, wholesome vibe of the final chapters, while tying off the arcs satisfactorily, didn't ring as realistic for me. I do think that those afflicted with dark impulses should embrace and try to make the best out of them, in a "better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not" way, but I don't think you could come back from , nor should you. In reality, the protagonist, if he wasn't expelled, he would have been shunned for life, nobody would have wanted to deal with him again, and he would probably have to move far away and make sure that nobody new had a way to learn about his past actions.
Kurosawa has finally hit rock bottom. The only way to go from here is up. He will need the help of others to make it. This is the best story I've read in years.
When I first started this manga, I didn't really like the sketchy art, but I'm glad I pushed on. If not, I would have missed one of the best school life manga. I would put this on the top with Koe no Katachi (A silent voice).