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Nana & Kaoru, Vol. 1
Kaoru is in love with his childhood
friend turned idol, Nana. Over the years, their
relationship has become strained with the differences in their
lifestyles, but Kaoru still fantasizes about Nana helping him realize
his ultimate fantasy... a BDSM relationship with her! One day, Kaoru's
mother finds his toys and gives them to the ever responsible Nana to rid
her son of his fetish, but Nana finds a leather piece and accidentally
locks herself inside! This moment awakens something inside of Nana,
whose stressful life could use some fun and could be the start of
Kaoru's ultimate fantasy...
friend turned idol, Nana. Over the years, their
relationship has become strained with the differences in their
lifestyles, but Kaoru still fantasizes about Nana helping him realize
his ultimate fantasy... a BDSM relationship with her! One day, Kaoru's
mother finds his toys and gives them to the ever responsible Nana to rid
her son of his fetish, but Nana finds a leather piece and accidentally
locks herself inside! This moment awakens something inside of Nana,
whose stressful life could use some fun and could be the start of
Kaoru's ultimate fantasy...
610 pages, Paperback
Published September 27, 2022
28 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
tbr-fysieke-boeken
February 9, 2023***Donderdag 9 februari 2023***
Whelp. Now I know why this sucker is so expensive. It's a very heavy book!
***Dinsdag 31 januari 2023***
Whelp I found out this has gotten a English translation. It's also expensive as hell. At least in my country and the paperback version... BUT IT'S AN OMNIBUS! Which doesn't say at the publishers site! Rude.
Still. This manga lives rent-free in my brain somehow...
Let's be honest, I will get this. Nostalgia is strong... I just hope they will also publish the sequel story: Nana to Kaoru - Kokosei no SM gokko (or Nana to Kaoru - Last Year) which had the better ending? I can't actually remember but I stand by my vague feelings.
***HAS NOT BEEN TRANSLATED IN ENGLISH***
Interesting. I was looking for a mangaka with what I thought had the name 'Nana' in it. In my search I came across this manga. As a teenager I really loved reading the scanlations of this!
Scanlations are under fire nowadays and for good reason. But back in the day the only way for me to read manga (or discover new manga) was through scanlations. But the groups that did them, had a moral code, when a manga got published, they would stop translating and pull their scans. Which was a shame but you accepted that and bought the real thing. Sometimes you got really disappointed because the 'official' translation was so bad compared to translations done by fans.
I have many fond memories of this manga*. It was, I think, one of the first times I saw kink being explored in healthy ways. Which (if you read a lot of ecci/seinen manga you know) was unusual for the time. Most of the time manga aimed at boys/men are super sexist and do not have much respect for women. Even if it's meant to be 'funny', some of them made me hella uncomfortable.
But Nana to Kaoru was... unusual in the fact that Kaoru was always thinking about Nana. He thought about what would please her. I even got frustrated with Nana at times because she would keep quiet when I would ask her what she wanted. Both characters weren't perfect. The way their relationship starts was even to me a bit iffy at the time. But the respect. Oef the respect was always there. It still has those humour tropes that are typical of Ecci manga. But that doesn't detract from the depth this manga has showed me.
I stopped reading because there was a hiatus? But I just saw that the series was complete! So I got a bit excited. Helaas. It's not translated in English. Only in French and German. And I'm not proficient in both languages to pick up on nuances I think this manga has.
Hopefully someday it will get translated in English. I'm curious to see if it would hold up.
I recommend this for everyone who like exploring kinks in manga. And if you're not familiar with Japanese culture some things will seem strange (?) but I do think it gives some insight in how people in a culture different from my own, handle BDSM.
*I began reading manga when I was a teenager. I do feel that a lot of people wouldn't recommend this to teenagers. I would actually. I learned a lot about consent, different ways of having sex or how arousal could work. But then again I wasn't the kind of idiot who thought everything that happens in a manga is applicable to real life. It's soft-porn but still porn. DO NOT APPLY THIS SHIT IN YOUR LIFE. At least not without having conversations with your partner(s) about it.
Whelp. Now I know why this sucker is so expensive. It's a very heavy book!
***Dinsdag 31 januari 2023***
Whelp I found out this has gotten a English translation. It's also expensive as hell. At least in my country and the paperback version... BUT IT'S AN OMNIBUS! Which doesn't say at the publishers site! Rude.
Still. This manga lives rent-free in my brain somehow...
Let's be honest, I will get this. Nostalgia is strong... I just hope they will also publish the sequel story: Nana to Kaoru - Kokosei no SM gokko (or Nana to Kaoru - Last Year) which had the better ending? I can't actually remember but I stand by my vague feelings.
Demographic: SEINEN
Content: ECCI
Genre: COMEDY, ROMANCE
Theme: HAREM, SCHOOL LIFE
Interesting. I was looking for a mangaka with what I thought had the name 'Nana' in it. In my search I came across this manga. As a teenager I really loved reading the scanlations of this!
Scanlations are under fire nowadays and for good reason. But back in the day the only way for me to read manga (or discover new manga) was through scanlations. But the groups that did them, had a moral code, when a manga got published, they would stop translating and pull their scans. Which was a shame but you accepted that and bought the real thing. Sometimes you got really disappointed because the 'official' translation was so bad compared to translations done by fans.
I have many fond memories of this manga*. It was, I think, one of the first times I saw kink being explored in healthy ways. Which (if you read a lot of ecci/seinen manga you know) was unusual for the time. Most of the time manga aimed at boys/men are super sexist and do not have much respect for women. Even if it's meant to be 'funny', some of them made me hella uncomfortable.
But Nana to Kaoru was... unusual in the fact that Kaoru was always thinking about Nana. He thought about what would please her. I even got frustrated with Nana at times because she would keep quiet when I would ask her what she wanted. Both characters weren't perfect. The way their relationship starts was even to me a bit iffy at the time. But the respect. Oef the respect was always there. It still has those humour tropes that are typical of Ecci manga. But that doesn't detract from the depth this manga has showed me.
I stopped reading because there was a hiatus? But I just saw that the series was complete! So I got a bit excited. Helaas. It's not translated in English. Only in French and German. And I'm not proficient in both languages to pick up on nuances I think this manga has.
Hopefully someday it will get translated in English. I'm curious to see if it would hold up.
I recommend this for everyone who like exploring kinks in manga. And if you're not familiar with Japanese culture some things will seem strange (?) but I do think it gives some insight in how people in a culture different from my own, handle BDSM.
*I began reading manga when I was a teenager. I do feel that a lot of people wouldn't recommend this to teenagers. I would actually. I learned a lot about consent, different ways of having sex or how arousal could work. But then again I wasn't the kind of idiot who thought everything that happens in a manga is applicable to real life. It's soft-porn but still porn. DO NOT APPLY THIS SHIT IN YOUR LIFE. At least not without having conversations with your partner(s) about it.
May 22, 2023
A sexual trip through life.
This deluxe/Omnibus size book, 600 pages, focuses on Kaoru, a mega pervert who's into S&M and Nana, who learns her true calling as a sexual partner. These two try their best to help their fantasies grow and call their sexual exploration "breathers" to help get stress out from school and various other events.
It's a pretty fun story. I think it drags a bit with the sexual events, repeating a lot of the innerworkings of their thoughts but a lot of their thoughts are repeating what we can already tell just by viewing their faces. On top of that, the faces sometimes that are supposed to be sexy come across creepy instead.
But flaws aside the art outside the weird faces is good, the sexual nature of S&M, the master role, and the slave role, are explained well here and you can actually tell outside of acting like a asshole, Kaoru is actually someone who cares deeply for Nana. Those tender moments work well, and them trying to figure each other's feelings out is nice. The "3sum" at the end is interesting in a weird way, kind of a bit rough, but also has a nice ending to it? And no, there's not a actual 3sum, it's called that though.
In fact for a book that has S&M there is almost no to little actual sex moments. It's interesting.
ANYWAY this is obviously a mature only title, but if you want something a bit cute, weird, and all sexy this isn't a bad one to try. A 3.5 out of 5.
This deluxe/Omnibus size book, 600 pages, focuses on Kaoru, a mega pervert who's into S&M and Nana, who learns her true calling as a sexual partner. These two try their best to help their fantasies grow and call their sexual exploration "breathers" to help get stress out from school and various other events.
It's a pretty fun story. I think it drags a bit with the sexual events, repeating a lot of the innerworkings of their thoughts but a lot of their thoughts are repeating what we can already tell just by viewing their faces. On top of that, the faces sometimes that are supposed to be sexy come across creepy instead.
But flaws aside the art outside the weird faces is good, the sexual nature of S&M, the master role, and the slave role, are explained well here and you can actually tell outside of acting like a asshole, Kaoru is actually someone who cares deeply for Nana. Those tender moments work well, and them trying to figure each other's feelings out is nice. The "3sum" at the end is interesting in a weird way, kind of a bit rough, but also has a nice ending to it? And no, there's not a actual 3sum, it's called that though.
In fact for a book that has S&M there is almost no to little actual sex moments. It's interesting.
ANYWAY this is obviously a mature only title, but if you want something a bit cute, weird, and all sexy this isn't a bad one to try. A 3.5 out of 5.
April 7, 2023
One of the greatest fetish manga ever created. You have to read it to believe it. It could have been scummy and cruel but it’s actually very gentle and educational. I’m not into S & M and reading this doesn’t invoke me into trying, but props for how informative it gets and the artwork is fantastic, not extreme. My only complaint is the thickness, making it difficult to read anything near the center without fear of splitting the spine. Still, a minor quip for a remarkable manga.
May 24, 2024
Surprisingly quite good overall for what it is. The storyline and exploration of the subject matter is really well thought out. Excellent artwork, and while I have mixed feelings on the characters, they were reasonably well thought out and relatively interesting. The premise is a bit absurd, (erotic manga - go figure), but within the confines of the premise the story works well.
May 19, 2023
This has some of my favorite manga art, top 10 at least. I like most of the series, save for a few of the...less pleasant fetishes they end up exploring. Skipping the less pleasant stuff didn't seem to change the story, either, so lucky me? Solid 4.5 out of 5 either way.
July 22, 2024
I decided to add Manga back in to my reading rotation this year and this series had been on my list for a while now. So glad I picked it up! What a cute, although somewhat problematic, relationship. Kaoru is really just trying his best!
December 16, 2023
Not really my thing. A bit too much. Poor girl.
April 20, 2024
This was okay it was very different I think if they were older it would have been more interesting. I did find it interesting for a manga of its type.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews