Demographic - Seinen
The manga follows the plot of a middle school boy named Kakeru Kurosawa who after school, jerks off in his school’s girl’s washroom every day to satisfy his weird obsession. He continues to indulge in this freaky habit until one day he is spotted by a girl from his own class, Aya Kitahara and from there on, a series a blackmails, threats and coercive agreements follow. This is just a gist of what manga presents.
But Onanie Master is far more complex than being just a story of a teenage boy going through puberty who can’t handle his sexual desires. It presents itself as a slightly darker version of slice of life. Densely psychological in nature, it counts heavily on the viewer’s grasp of Kurosawa’s nature which is – being an introvert, inert, slightly outcast and yet smart.
The story of the manga is a bit slow in the first half and it would seem repetitive, however, that all changes when the element of infatuation and friendship come into play. The darker toned and overly introspective style of story-telling suits the story perfectly as it allows us to take more than a peek inside the psych of the protagonist.
The art of the manga is pretty unremarkable and seems to have been done in a lot of rush. But fortunately, Onanie Master is not the kind of manga which requires a very hi-fi art like other slice of life manga like Kids on the Slope or Orange. The rough outlines, the badly toned images and character design do seem to bug you in the beginning but once the story picks up the flow, it all settles down pretty well.
Character development is the strongest forte of the manga and Onanie Master actually succeeds in pulling off remarkably well. Despite the poor art as mentioned before, the characters’ psych, insecurities and brightness are elaborately highlighted more than anything else here.
Overall, Onanie Master Kurosawa is one of the better manga that I have come across in recent times. If you like darker slice of life with slightly slower pace and very psychologically intriguing character development and don’t really mind the poor art that it has to offer, you should definitely check it out.
Pros –
- Character development
- Infatuation themes
- Amazing protagonist
- Sugawa
Cons –
- Art
- Kitahara
Overall rating – 8.0/10
- A Review by Kartikeya Shrivastava
0 comments:
Post a Comment