"No Bra" Review

No Bra is a manga.

I'm not even sure where to begin. It's a horrible manga. It is the epitome of terrible ecchi manga.

Well, I guess I should begin by clarifying for everyone what an ecchi manga is. エッチ, otherwise romanized as etchi or ecchi, is a Japanese word that literally translates as "erotic", "lewd", or "sexy". It is used in context the same way we would use "dirty" or "naughty". Ecchi manga, while not always blatantly pornographic, is all about the fan-service. Expect panty shots, bras, boobs without bras, sexy women, sexy poses, shattered innocence, lots of making out, and generally piss-poor character development. And y'know what? I'm okay with that. That's what ecchi manga is.

But No Bra is so, so much more than that. No Bra is truly horrible.

The main character is a somewhat ugly guy living alone in his apartment, attending his first year of High School (equivalent to 10th grade in the American system). Then his father sends a room mate his way - he is expecting a guy, but gets the cute, adorable, beautiful Yuki. Yuki has a thing for "Maa-kun" (full name Masato) because Maa-kun was very kind to her in pre-school.

But Yuki is actually a boy.

For all appearances, Yuki is a girl. Not just any girl, but the *perfect* girl by Japanese standards. S/he is beautiful, wears dresses and skirts that while not quite "revealing" makes her look very cute, enjoys cooking and cleaning, is soft spoken (and CUTE), is thoughtful, is kind, is effeminate, is CUTE. Did I mention she's cute? For as far as I can see, Yuki is a MtF transgender. But she's still a "he", which causes problems for our protagonist.

Also, the protagonist is a complete pervert and can't get over staring at Yuki's panties when she's not aware of it. And sometimes when she is.

Okay, fine. I can live with that. Good premises for a romantic-comedy ecchi manga, in all honesty.

Then somewhere in there we get to delve into Yuki's background - which I love, by the way. Yuki describes her life before coming to live with Masato. She was always a "bit of a weird boy" as her mother called her. She had very long hair (anime style loooong), enjoyed wearing girls clothes, only ever liked boys. She was forced to wear the boy's uniform due to her genetic gender, and she hated it. Hatedhatedhated it in an entirely realistic way. To her it was horrible, felt terrible, being someone she simply wasn't. Beyond this, she was bullied and picked on for being who she was.

The only person she could remember ever being truly kind to her was Maa-kun. He was a huge friend to her in preschool ten years ago. He stuck up for her, had fun with her. They were best friends, but then Yuki had to move away. Maa-kun gave her a little Hello Kitty necklace, promising they would always be friends in their hearts.

Masato doesn't remember any of this. It was ten years ago, right? But the more of these specific memories he hears, the more Masato is absolutely certain that Yuki is mistaken He isn't Maa-kun. There's been a mistake.

And, y'know what else? I'm still okay with this. This is still good plot. Now, to explain the things about No Bra that piss me off.

There is another girl that Masato likes, the girl he liked before Yuki showed up. Kaori is the most amazing girl in the school, athletic and intelligent. Fine, whatever. He starts to go out with her. Again: fine, whatever.

He starts two-timing his Kaori and Yuki. He dates Kaori openly at school, and goes home to kiss and make out with Yuki. This is not OK. More so, this is after Yuki told our protagonist that she loves him, but she's fine just being his lover at home. Yuki is desperate. Masato is taking advantage of her.

Oh, right. And Masato isn't actually Yuki's childhood friend Maa-chan. So she thinks she's in love with her childhood friend, but it's really just some random guy taking advantage of her.

And meanwhile the protagonist is relishing in the fact that he's sooo lucky to be in this situation with two GREAT, wonderful, beautiful, kind girls all to himself.

Yeah, uh. Fuck no.

Masato decides he needs to find out once-and-for-all if he is or isn't Maa-chan. He finds out that YES, they actually went to the same pre-school! It's possible! There is no other "Masato" in this pre-school! But he's still not sure, so he spends an entire day walking around and looking up people who might remember a guy named Masato from pre-school, and whether or not he really did all those kind things.

What he finds out is shocking: Masato was Kaori's last name before her mom remarried. "Maa-kun" is actually his current GIRLFRIEND. She was really boyish in preschool, and she stood up for people, and she drew a giant picture of a dinosaur. And there's even a picture of her - and wow, there's preschool Yuki standing next to her!

And what does Masato decide, now that he has this new information?

He's not going to tell Yuki. He's going to pretend to be Maa-kun. To "save Yuki's feelings". Yeah. Uh. Right. It's pretty clear he just doesn't want to lose that hot chick he's making out with at home.

While we're not the subject of Yuki being a hot chick... Masato is constantly reminding himself that Yuki is a guy ("He's a guy! He's a guy! He's a guy! He's a GUY!"). And it appears he's fighting his disgust at homosexuality because... Oh, right. Yuki has a fuck-awesome ass. Not because she's a genuinely wonderful person (she is, by the way). But because he can't stop thinking about, and staring at, her panties.

Now lets add in the another female main character. Mizutani-sensei is Kaori, Yuki, and Masato's homeroom teacher. Sensei is up to her EYEBALLS in debt because she's a shop-a-holic, and a party-holic. Then she discovers that Masato and Yuki are living together! Oh no! The scandal! Sensei is suddenly very terrified this news will get out, and she'll lose her job because she's there homeroom teacher and didn't stop it! And then she won't have money! And then the loan sharks will come get her! And she'll be LIVING ON THE STREETS!

NOOOOOOOOOOO!

(Mizutani-sensei is a tad over-dramatic. I actually quite like her character.)

So, Sensei quickly turns the situation to her own devices, and black males Masato, saying she'll expose them and he'll get expelled! What does she want in return? She wants to live with them, to keep an eye on them and make sure they're not fucking at night! Why? Because she hasn't gotten any action in two years and she's BITTER! More than that, if she lives with them she won't have to pay any rent! SCORE.

As I said before: I actually quite like Mizutani-sensei. (: She's played as comedic relief, so while this sounds manipulative, and actually is, it's over-the-top and funny.

But. :( Then they have to go and ruin even Mizutani-sensei for me.

Masato grows a back bone eventually, tells Sensei she has to move out. Mind, he is only telling her this because if he does, he'll be able to have sex with his girlfriend at his apartment. Despite the fact that Yuki lives there, too? (I don't think this plan was well thought out) Fine, whatever. But them Sensei decides the best way to keep her place in his apartment is -

To seduce him and sex him up. Of course. Of fucking course. They have now reduced her character to prostituting herself for an apartment. Fuck you, writer. Fuck you.

So where does this put us?

The protagonist is three-timing the female main characters. He's dating Kaori, making out with Yuki, and planning to fuck with his homeroom teacher.

This entire thing is played out like he has absolutely no choice. The character has so little self-restraint that he is actually physically unable to resist their Sexy Charms (tm), even when he has repeatedly admitted he needs to break up with Kaori so he can date Yuki, or that he needs to stop taking advantage of Yuki because it's wrong, or that he shouldn't let Mizutani-sensei seduce him because it'll be bad for his relationship with Kaori...

He lets his penis drive him, completely. Which would be fine if his penis wasn't such a horrible person, whose soul goal is to fuck anything that moves. Oh, Wait! That's what penises do. Maybe he should try thinking with his brain for once?

Nah, too hard.

It is even to the extend that the main character will recognize that he is fantasizing about sex instead of paying attention to the fact that Kaori and Yuki are both wonderful people, and that this is a bad thing for him to do... and then he will continue to fantasize anyways.

No Bra is horrendous. The main character is, perhaps, the most aweful character in fiction I have yet to come across.

And I wrote Jaramiah.

You may be thinking, "Now, wait. Jaramiah was a creepy psychopathic bastard who cut people up for fun. While they were still alive. Aren't you exaggerating a little bit here?"

To that I respond: Masato uses and abuses three different women, but that's not it. It's the fact that he actively recognizes that what he is doing is wrong, very wrong, but continues to do it anyways. Because to Masato, sex is more important than the emotions of these women.

That's sick. And wrong. Compared to Jaramiah, who simply has no moral compass, I think Masato's recognition and then continuation of terrible behavior is even worse.

So, the big question...

Why the hell am I still reading it?

Because, I am still reading it. I'm 25 chapters in and still reading.

I want a happy ending for Yuki. Yuki is such a wonderful, kind, caring person that I want to see her happy.

Masato's best friend is a wonderful person, as well. Hideki is tall and fat, but he's a great guy. He has fallen for Yuki, but accepts that she is in love with Maa-kun, and just wants her to be happy. And so he does everything in his power to get Masato to realize what he has, and what he is waisting. For Yuki's sake.

Masato has shown, at least a very little bit, that Yuki brings out the best in him. When he's with Yuki, he wants to protect her. He wants her to always be happy, always smile, and will do whatever it takes. The problem lies in his roving penis....

I want to see a happy ending for Yuki and Hideki, not necessarily together, but each happy in their own individual right. I want to see Masato realize he's a fuckwad. I am sticking around to see what happens.

But No Bra is still the worst manga I've ever read.