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Three Manga Discoveries (18+)
- Some spoilers -
Love in Hell, Momoiro Meloik, and Everyday Life with Monster Girls are some of my favorite manga to reread when I want to be entertained. They are also three series that I happened to find while browsing a hentai (anime/manga porn) website, but none of them are actually pornographic. All three would be better described as part of the ecchi genre or softcore porn. This is a genre best described as one, long tease. The images are very sexy, with the girls wearing tight-fitting and/or revealing clothing while the reader gets to see angles on them that highlight all the right features, curves, and views down shirtfronts. Their main themes all point toward porn—domination, monster girls, incest, harems—without actually diving into sexual intercourse. The main characters (male, in all three of these stories) spend all their time trying to get to some sort of base, whether it be first, second, or beyond, or trying to get away from those bases. There will be breasts exposed on occasion, and lots of skin showing, and perhaps characters giving their "O" faces, but third base is never reached and usually the other bases are reached by accident. Hilarity often ensues. Even with all of these sexy things happening, though, I am still curious as to how these series ended up on hentai reading lists that are dedicated to not only touching on the themes above, but showing them from every angle without even so much as a serendipitous object to hide the view. The three manga series I named earlier are entirely tame in comparison to the usual pickings on these websites.
Besides where I found them, what puzzles me—and delights me—about these series is how much love went into them. Honestly, I have read so much manga that this should not be a surprise, but even after years of perusing the digital shelves, I still think of ecchi manga and anime as a brainless boner tease. Why should I read that when I could find something more hardcore and more satisfying just a few clicks away? I doubt I would ever have given any of these series a chance had I not found them where I did, and I am ever so glad I found them. Each is riddled with lovely artwork, clothing details, culture, family dynamics, and creative designs. Are these writers like the great Masakazu Katsura? (He started in ecchi, which he became very famous for, and then moved on to writing a gritty, serious superhero manga.) Perhaps the writers of these three series are just manga gods waiting to happen. Or maybe they just like the sexiness. Either way, I thank them for their hard work.
1. Love in Hell (地獄恋 ジゴクレン ラブ イン ザ ヘル) by Reiji Suzumaru
This is one of those shorter manga series that probably started as a serial featured in a manga magazine that was cut short. Fortunately, it has been rediscovered in recent years, and went from being an obscure manga of three volumes floating around hentai sites to a series sold in English on the shelves of Barnes and Noble. (I bought the omnibus as soon as I saw it sitting there.) Even more recently, the "cult classic," as proclaimed by the back cover, has spawned a sequel series called Love in Hell: Death Life. Again, I feel that this one was also cut short. This sequel series has only two volumes, but I am very glad to have them anyway.
The first three volumes follow Rintaro, a generally useless human being who was sent to Hell upon falling in his apartment and smashing his head on an old bottle. Every sinner who goes to Hell finds themselves lying naked on the ground in a hot, barren wasteland of rocks and stony cities. They are each greeted by their overseer, a demon who will ensure that their sins are paid for through physical suffering and other atonement. Rintaro is assigned to Koyori, who is on her very first job after finishing school. Although he does not take her seriously at first, at which point the manga definitely seems to be headed in a rapey porn sort of direction, he quickly learns that Koyori is a professional torturer despite her tiny, cute body and face. Her favorite torture devices to carry are a large, spiked club and a shiny meat hook. Most of the stories are Rintaro's random adventures in Hell: getting a job to avoid being tortured, making a new friend who is a masochist, and trying to find something dignified to wear. The whole series is a combination of Hell culture (e.g. food and currency), skimpy leather demoness outfits, and stupid antics. However, towards the end—where I suspect the author/artist was told he had limited chapters left—some more serious subjects come up. We learn what happens when a demon learns the taste of human brains. We find out what sin sent Rintaro to Hell. We discover that there is a deeper, darker Hell where rapists and murderers go to become the dolls of monsters far more terrible than a woman with horns dressed as a dominatrix. And we find out to what lengths Rintaro would go to save Koyori. I love the characters, I love the Japanese-style culture of Hell, and I love both the sexy and the dark designs.
As for the sequel series, it follows Sousuke, a teenager who committed suicide and is very stubborn. His overseer is Sanagi, a very short overseer who graduated a few years behind Koyori at the top of her class. While the two volumes are too short to learn much about Sousuke and Sanagi, we know that they were paired because talented torturers are always given more difficult sinners to handle. Towards the end, we get to see what has become of Rintaro and his friends from the first series, and Sousuke realizes that he is finally happy in Hell, much the way Rintaro did. He has friends, a crush on a strong girl, a part time job helping elderly demons, and a more positive outlook on the afterlife than he had on his earthly life.
(Pictures found on Google Images)
2. Everyday Life with Monster Girls (モンスター娘のいる日常) by Okayado
This is not a manga that I own, due in large part to the fact that it is ongoing and I generally try to avoid buying a series of unknown length. That does not change the fact that I really enjoy this series. It is usually referred to as Monster Musume, which is short for the Japanese title, and is a harem manga about a young man named Kimihito who lives alone. We never see him go to school or work, so it is unclear as to why this is. In other manga series, a young adult character living alone is usually due to their parents working abroad. (To be entirely truthful, the series might mention that this is, indeed, the case, but it has been a while since I reread it.) Whatever the case, he was mistakenly sent a foreign exchange visitor and ended up becoming her host family. This ends up happening again and again, due in large part to incompetent foreign exchange program workers. In this world, humans and monsters have made peace, and are now sending young members of each society abroad to help bring understanding and friendship. First is a lamia (snake girl), then a centaur, and then a harpy. Over time, even more girls join the family: a mermaid, a slime girl, a spider lady, and even a dullahan (headless horseman). On top of that, they meet many other monster girls: wolf ladies, zombies, tree spirits, Japanese ogres, shape-shifters, snow women, and dragon girls. (In this way it reminds me a little bit of Tokimeki Mononoke Jogakkou, which is about a human girl who stumbles through a portal and ends up at a high school for Japanese monsters. That is also an ecchi manga, but is a tad more sexual and is for lesbians, which is great.)
What makes this manga stand out is the character designs, and the girls' interactions with the main characters. Each of the monster girls has a distinct look, color scheme, and culture that she comes from. Although not my favorite character, Cerea the centaur has what I think has the most interesting background and preferences. The centaurs are a warrior race, so she is good with a sword. While she is usually styled in Western armor, her room in the house is styled like a Japanese office. She likes the smell of the reed tatami mats because it reminds her of grass. For clothes, Cerea wears a blouse and a long skirt that covers her entire horse half. All the characters have little details and quirks. The mermaid is slimy like an actual fish. The spider lady deals with people's fear of her. The harpy has a "bird brain" and is very forgetful. The dullahan likes to pretend that she is a shinigami ("god of death"). The zombie, ogre, cyclops, and shape-shifter work for as the door-busters, brute force, snipers, and spies (respectively) for the interspecies police.
In many ways, Monster Musume is a parody of harem stories, because generally the many girls' affections cause Kimihito more harm than good. They eat like an army, each new girl needs special housing accommodations (e.g. a cold swimming pool for the mermaid), and most of them are far more massive than a normal human. Most harem manga series focus on the wonderful situations the protagonist ends up in, and said protagonist is often a bit simple and bland so that readers can put themselves in his shoes. In terms of parodying this style, Kimihito's name can actually be taken to mean "that random guy" since kimi means "you" and hito means "person." (I am not sure about the actual meaning of the Chinese characters he would write his name with, but the sound of his name certainly seems like it is poking fun at the overly normal sorts of main characters in stories like this.) Despite the running joke that Kimihito is constantly injured by his encounters with the girls, the relationships he has with all of them are really quite sweet. Here are my two favorite (connected) examples...
1) Only three of the girls are absolutely in love with Kimihito: Mia the snake girl, Cerea the centaur, and Papi the harpy. At one point, the three of them are discussing what their best features are that might win Kimihito's fancy. Mia says that her hips and stomach are perfect because she has strong abs from crawling along the ground. Cerea shyly admits that her enormous breasts are probably the most beautiful part of her body. Papi is very young-looking and is quite small in stature, but has a lovely, rounded butt. After some argument, the girls go to ask Kimihito what his fetish is, and he replies that he likes legs. This statement is met with great disappointment since Mia has no legs, Cerea has horse's legs that are generally hidden, and Papi has giant eagle talons. The battle is lost by all three.
2) Kimihito first encounters Rachnera the spider woman when she is running from the police after running away from her host family. He thinks that the police are after him because of some mishap with the many girls living in the house, so he hides in the same old warehouse. She grabs him with her many legs and hides in the rafters, keeping him quiet so they are not discovered. During all this, Rachnera is thinking about how much she dislikes humans. They seem to either fear her or want to use her as a sideshow attraction porn star of some kind. While she is having these dreary thoughts, she realizes that Kimihito is "reacting" to being pressed up against her body. As was revealed in a much earlier chapter, Kimihito loves a woman's legs. As has also been emphasized, Kimihito really does not mind monster girls at all, so Rachnera's many, many legs are a huge turn-on for him. He is quite horrified to have been found out, but Rachnera finds his desire charming and changing her mind about humans. She then becomes part of the household.
(Picture found on Google Images.)
3. Momoiro Meloik (桃色メロイック) by Shinichi Fukuda
To start with, I am just going to say that I am not really into incest story lines in hentai. If a hentai turns out to have incestuous themes, I will not, however, necessarily stop reading it since suspending belief long enough to look at sexy art is pretty easy for me. This is how I found Momoiro Meloik. Within a few pages, it clearly showed signs of being an incestuous hentai manga, but to my surprise there was no sex and the story simply continued. I really enjoy the art style; it is unlike any other I have read. Stylized manga art is such a treat to find. And the writing and comedy are good to boot! While there are ten volumes to this series, I only own four and have not gotten my hands on the rest yet. Only the first few volumes seem to pop up on manga reading websites. Still, I will do my best to convey what I like about the series.
The story follows Yamato, a guy who looks a bit like a gang member and works in construction with his three best friends. He lives at home with his father (a widower) and his little sister Masaki, who is still in high school. Ever since he can remember, Yamato has been completely in love with his little sister. She is cute, bubbly, cheerful, sweet, and the joy of his life. He goes out of his way to make sure she is safe and taken care of, all the while wondering if feelings for him lurk behind that innocent smile. Every chapter is some new situation that reminds Yamato that Masaki is a sexy young woman with a heart of gold and that he is desperate to make her his wife: she tries on nurse Halloween costumes, she sleeps in his bed after a scary movie, she does not have a boyfriend, she is sick and needs to be cared for, she picks out a swimming suit, she eats a chocolate covered banana while dressed in a pretty kimono, she works in the kitty cafe at her school's festival...
Along the way, Yamato is forced to meet other girls, who he thinks are all pigs simply because they are not Masaki. He discovers that Masaki's high school teacher is actually an old friend of his from middle school. (Little does he know that she is still in love with him.) Masaki's best friend Airi slowly comes to realize that she has a huge crush on him, and is jealous of the time he spends with Masaki. All of it is pretty straightforward in terms of plot lines, but the funny moments are so good, the art is so interesting and likable, and the characters a very diverse. I have picked out some moments I thought were particularly funny...
1) One of the hot girls that Yamato and friends once went on a group date with bumps into them in public. They happen to have a friend with them who was not at the date because he has a long term girlfriend. The hot girl sees him for the first time and is thunderstruck with attraction and love at first sight. Then, she sees that he has a ring on, and immediately sinks back to reality.
2) My favorite cover is the one below. While it is a cute cover, its composition is not the reason it is my favorite. What I think is so funny is that while Masaki and Airi are making a heart on the front cover, Yamato and his friend are stuck doing the same thing on the title page inside.
(Pictures found on Google Images.)
