わたしに××しなさい! 10

わたしに××しなさい! / Watashi ni XX shinasai! #10

by Ema Tōyama

In class, she's a sort of zoned-out girl, and he's the year one class' most perfect, good-looking guy. But the two of them have a secret, and their extraordinary "love experience" will start now!

Himuro Yukina, known as the "Absolute Zero Snow-woman" is a cold and observant girl. In addition, she is actually a popular cell phone novelist who goes by the name of Yupina. Sadly, with no other human contact than her cousin, Yukina is unable to express more romance in her novels. Kitami Shigure, your so-called "typical bishounen", who is really a womanizer, has fallen into Yukina's trap when she blackmails him, and they end up "love-acting" for the sake of their secrets.

Genres: Manga, Romance, Shojo, Young Adult, High School, Comics Manga, Contemporary

163 pages, Comic

First published October 5, 2012

About the author

Japanese Name: 遠山 えま

She made her debut in September 2003 in the monthly manga magazine Nakayoshi with her story, Tenshi no Tamago ("Angel's Egg", no relation to the anime movie of the same name). Gokkun! Pūcho is considered her best representative work. Tokyopop has licenced it under the title Pixie Pop. All of her works are published by Kodansha, and they are enjoyed mainly by preteen and teen girls. None of her series have yet become anime.

Reviews

[Bibliothecat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review for the complete series



Yukina's classmates avoid her for the cold look she gives everyone. And that suits her just fine: she loves to observe people as it gives her ideas for the novel she's been writing under the penname Yupina. Yupina's novel has become widely popular but there's one thing her readers are in want of: romance. As this is new terrain for Yukina, she decides she needs some first-hand experience. Coincidently, she finds out that her popular classmate Shigure isn't as nice as he lets on. Yukina decides that he will be the one to teach her romance through her missions of love or else she'll let the school see Shigure's true colours.

Missions of Love is an engrossing and addictive manga whilst also being problematic: people who like to crush things by pointing out all its social and moral impropriety will have a field day with this one. My personal main issue with it, though, is that it suffered from its length. I am very sure that this manga was dragged out after the first volumes proved to be such a success.

This manga starts off very strong in which Yukina and Shigure playing out a perfect high school enemies to lovers scenario. Both of them are strong characters and they're constantly trying to get the upper hand in their power struggle which is also filled with lots of chemistry and tension. At times they are perfectly mean to each other, at other times true feelings start to surface and they begin to care. Rivals are thrown in one after the other and while a lot of people might not like this, I believe it was rather necessary in this particular case as neither Yukina nor Shigure would be willing to confess how they really feel without some jealousy or sense of loss involved.

Tōyama has the tendency to make rival characters come across as creepy psychopaths, it's actually something I never liked about her works. Be that as it may, the first two rivals are Yukina's cousin Akira and Shigure's childhood friend Mami. They are both rather possessive and for the most part feel like meddlers. As the story progresses, though, both of them become more fleshed out and start to move away from their obsessions. This turns both of them into likeable characters who actually have really cute and warm sides to them. Mami in particular really grew on me once she stopped being the little psycho she was introduced as.

I would have much preferred this series to have wrapped up with just those characters and with only half the amount of volumes it actually amounted to. The story seems to progress naturally when suddenly the kindergarten teacher arc is introduced: Yukina's former teacher has left her with insecurities she still struggles with today. Although this was already mentioned early on in the series, the appearance of the teacher seemed to derail the plot. That whole arc feels random and cutting it out wouldn't change the outcome of the series one bit. It almost feels like Tōyama was trying to create new tensions, realised it wasn't going well and opted to drop it in favour of a different plotline. It was over and done with as fast and sudden as it came. I faintly remember even thinking of dropping the series at that stage during my first read.

However, while not as strong as the first volumes, Missions of Love catches itself again and makes a turn for the better - mostly in any case. Another rival character is introduced and it adds both pros and cons to the remainder of the story. Hisame is Shigure's younger brother (through marriage, non-blood related) and boy do they not see eye to eye. This adds some much-needed insight to Shigure's life and why he is the way he is. The problem is that Hisame is yet another psychotic little jerk who, unlike Akira and Mami, stays that way. Sure, he certainly does have a few nice moments and cute scenes, but ultimately, he's a creepy little shit.

Putting aside Hisame's creepy ways, the latter volumes mainly deal with the characters' inner feelings which is particularly important in regard to Yukina. She is a tricky character in the sense that a lot of her behaviour seems odd. I can easily see her coming across as a character who is impossibly oblivious to love when it's standing right in front of her. You could read this manga and ask yourself time and again, why is she being so dense? In that same sense, you might wonder how she can share intimate moments with multiple characters without understanding why it's wrong or why it would bother others. While it's never actually spelt out, it is highly implied that there is more to it than just poor characterisation. I don't know much about the different sexual identities, so I won't go ahead labelling Yukina as something I know nothing of, but it's clear that while Yukina feels sexual attraction, she struggles with the concept of love. She is genuinely trying to understand what's inside her heart and beats herself up over not succeeding. She loves different people around her but she doesn't seem to understand the differences between the love one has for friends, family members and the romantic type.

People who have only read the first few volumes and criticise this manga over Yukina blackmailing Shigure into playing love games, this problem does actually get addressed in the latter volumes. Although Yukina is generally speaking a confident girl, there is something about her that prevents her from reading certain social cues, and I suspect it's the same that prevents her from understanding the different kinds of love. Yukina is often seen doing things that either stand out or just makes others around her feel awkward. She herself doesn't feel any of this awkwardness and it's usually done out of complete innocence. Once again, I am no expert, but there is definitely a complexity behind why Yukina is the way she is and a lot of this manga's ultimate question is whether or not Shigure can love and accept her for who she is.

Missions of Love does have a couple more things sprinkled throughout that rub me the wrong way: I can't get my head around when Yukina, Shigure and Akira get intimate at the same time, I wish there would have been more closure to what became of Mami and Akira (I can't say I care what became of Hisame) and what is it with Yukina's breasts?! I love Tōyama's art but can we take a moment to look at how material hangs over breasts - Yukina seems to have rather large ones but it doesn't mean her clothes should stick to her.

Drawing 101:



Here I'm just nitpicking but Yukina's breasts are definitely drawn like the former.

Missions of Love has it's issues - no doubt there. But it's nicely drawn and really brings out what you'd expect from an enemies to lovers plot. For the most of it, it's an enjoyable read and one that you don't put down easily. I'd definitely recommend it to romance lovers who can turn a blind eye to the issues that come with Yukina and Shigure's story.

[Yumiko_Youku · Rating 2 out of 5]

Do they seriously want me to still believe that a) there is any chance that she choses her cousin and b) that you need to be afraid of your lover?!
Wow. If that is what being allo is like, I am glad that I don't want it.

[Jillian -always aspiring- · Rating 2 out of 5]

2020 Read #234

UM, so many parts of this were problematic, but I cannot help but wish for the pairing of Akira and Mami to come true — though I wish he would treat her better and appreciate her more!!

[D E N Z · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly a huge improvement over the last volume. Just as I was starting to lose interest with this series, this volume comes out with a pretty great collection of chapters overall. Looking forward again for the next one.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, just wow! This was really good and so drama-packed!

[Kristin ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well that roof scen was ... Awkward

[David Doel · Rating 3 out of 5]

And the beat goes on.

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of heavy breathing in this one. I'm feeling a bit weary of Yukina's disregard for everyone else's emotions, including her cousin and supposed lifelong best friend.

[Story of a Book Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

this idea that if you really see a guy as a "man", or a love interest, than you should be afraid of them... is interesting... and problematic on so many levels

[nightmarebees (jackie)]

getting to the point where i fell off following the chapters as a teen so it’ll all be surprises soon

[Judyth · Rating 4 out of 5]

~4/5

(May contain spoilers.)

Oh god… this series… I’m in love with it, with everything about it. Completely love it, and just want to fangirl all day.

There’s a new development here between Yukina, Shigure, and Akira here. Now they’ve all confessed, and they’re making Yukina choose. This makes her realize she can only have one, and that’s hard on her. It’s obvious who she’s going to pick, but the fall out with Akira will be bad. She goes on a date with both of them, and it doesn’t go quite so well with Shigure, but then Akira also makes a misstep, in a very different way.

But finally Mami is starting to realize her feelings, and she doesn’t know what to do with them. And honestly, my OTP of this series is Mami and Akira. I love them both so much. Akira, mostly, steals all the scenes for me, and Mami with him is just so cute. I just want them, all the time. They should have their own series, honestly.

But then there’s the cliffhanger, and I’m so excited! I feel bad for Mami, but I know this is going to be good for her and all involved, and I can’t wait.

Ugh, I can’t wait for the next volume! This is pure shojo, drama goodness and I love every bit of it.

[Read more at my blog, Geeky Reading!]

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somehow, this installment of Watashi ni xx Shinasai! weren't as good as the previous ones (just as I was saying that the plot was finally improving). What made me like this less was the fact that Yukina seemed to be enjoying the whole love triangle thing; and the way she was treating it, as if it were merely some sort of experiment or a game, it was definitely infuriating. But for some reason, I'd say that Shigure was somehow becoming hotter! I think Hii-kun is quite hot as well. And that scene when Akira suddenly decided to play the dominant part? I don't know what to feel about that - angry or happy? After all, he always seemed to me as edging on the feminine side, and then he suddenly transformed like that, as though he were a different person. Should I say that that is an improvement? (Whether positive or not, I can't really be certain.) It was so freaking obvious how much Shigure loved her and yet Yukina didn't choose him? What in the world is wrong with you, woman? I wasn't for one moment expecting her to actually consider choosing her cousin as her lover. Goodness.

[Rubi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shigure confessed! And all that ear teasing.... *shivers*
Now the boys are competing on who will be her official boyfriend. But....I'm kind of angry at her for toying with Akira. Its OBVIOUS it's Shigure she wants. He's the one that upsets her, thst she thinks about, that she calls after....Akira just makes her feel safe, which is nice but its not love. At this point, she's just playing dumb. She knows Akira isnt who she wants but she pretends he has a chance just because she feels he'll be there for her when Shigure isn't. That's messed up.
Shigure on the other hand was finally being honest. He didn't want her to think he just wanted her body and he's finally ready to FIGHT for her 😍
And Mami.....poor Mami was pushed aside by Akira. He only wants Yukina, but... I'm sure he'll notice her if Yukina keeps pushing her away. They're kinda cute together.
Let's see how it goes....

[Soobie has fog in her brain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Als Shigure Yukina seine Liebe gestehen hat... Wow! Aber die Szene auf dem Dach, die mit Yukina, Akira und Shigura, gefällt mir überhaupt nicht!

Und wer ist der neue Kerl?

[Reina Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Phew* That volume was drama-packed!
Totes cray.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Akira is becoming annoying. Really?! This is how you act?! Jerk.

[Infinite Scythe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shrug.

[Yéderith Loner · Rating 4 out of 5]

La primera mitad muy bien... la segunda, no me convence. Veamos cómo avanza el siguiente volumen.

[Karina Rari · Rating 5 out of 5]

ich würde gern sofort weiter suchten aber ich hab den nächsten nicht zu hause

[Célia ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Note : 2 ⭐.
Commentaire : ∅

[Bryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Noooooooo no no. I hate the whole 'If you're my girlfriend I can't touch you because sex is degrading to women' thing. UGH NO.

Hopefully this will be revealed to be stupidity on his part rather than something the author agrees with?