I wrote the following review for a post on Baka-Updates Manga. It is much more professional and objective. But I personally think it's less fun to read. 8D I mean, everyone loves listening to me complain, right? .....Right?
MANDATORY TRANSGENDER DISCLAIMER: If you are homophobic, or bothered by Male-To-Female transgender, you will NOT enjoy this Manga! If you are interested in transgender characters, you may have a problem with the objectification Yuki goes through, but Yuki herself is an enjoyable character! If you are unable to suspend your disbelief and accept that Yuki looks female, and must have a microscopic wee-wee to look like that in a pair of panties, you will not enjoy this manga!
Now, on to the review...
My reactions to this Manga, in order of appearance:
Interest -> General Boredom -> Loving Yuki -> Despising and Loathing Masato (Main Male Protagonist) -> Loathing the Manga because I loath Masato -> Getting everything I wanted for the ending, and reluctantly admitting No Bra wasn't as bad as I thought it was.
I read through No Bra in the course of one day, and I am reviewing it on this same day, while the whole thing is still fresh in my memory.
No Bra starts off Okay. It's all pretty typical of an ecchi manga, and I have no problem with it. It's average. Not good, not bad, but passable and worth reading.
The characters were generally two-dimensional but funny or likable. The protagonist's fat best friend is a huge sweet heart. The homeroom teacher is over-dramatic in a funny way. The main female love interest was uninteresting, but not badly so, and she did receive some character development in one of the chapters (you read that correctly, one). The best character, by far, was Yuki. While Yuki's standard behavior was purely stereotypical as the "perfect" Japanese woman, she was treated and written as a believable and fairly-realistic transgender.
The art was average. I wouldn't say it's bad, compared to what else is out there, but it's nothing special. There are a gratuitous number of panty shots, along with a good chunk of other like-minded fanservice. There are two almost-sex scenes, but no real sex, and nothing is shown explicitly. I would say, roughly speaking, the first half of the manga contained more Yuki-centric fanservice, while the second half contained more Kaori-centric fanservice. As a fan of Yuki but not Kaori, I have personally amassed thirty-or-so pages I felt worth saving to my hard drive. Take that as you will.
The writing is boringly predictable in most areas, and surprisingly twisty in some. Unfortunately, if you're reading through these reviews, you've probably already had all the twists spoiled for you. In an effort to conserve the number of spoilers, I won't be going into this topic any further.
There are several chapters, beginning some time after Chapter 16 and ending around Chapter 25, where the point-of-view protagonist is a manwhore. He uses and abuses the three women around him, and it all makes me want to STRANGLE him. I'm sure that many male readers, and less empathetic female readers, would be able to take this as standard ecchi-protagonist behavior. But, honestly? It's pretty bad. Masato is genuinely selfish to the point of cruelty, and he is such for roughly half the Manga. However, Your Mileage May Vary. You're either going to hate him, or you won't really care.
The ending spans four chapters. It does, indeed, feel rushed. With that said, the ending is sadly one of the stronger points in the writing. However, most (if not all) of the loose ends were tied up, and it does end happily (In that gooshy, sentimental, at-least-one-character grew for the better sort of way). I liked it.
The final verdict:
No Bra was not fantastic. I can't even bring myself to say No Bra was enjoyable. Even more so, I can't recommend it as something most people will want to read. But, over all, there were a few good characters, and No Bra was not as terrible as I thought it was. If you have a life, skip this, it's not worth your time. There are better things out there to read. If you have a good six hours to spare with honestly nothing better to do... why not?
No comments:
Post a Comment