At least I guessed where you'll put it correctly lolPatatitta wrote:
Thank you, Isekai! (read all that was published to this point, since it's still ongoing)
This is somehow better than I expected and worse than I expected, both at the same time.
Thank you isekai is a manga about two people that die at a highschool reunion party due to alcohol poisoning that are reborn in a isekai world as the opposite gender, and surprisingly, the setting isn't bad at all. The actual art is pretty good, and there are a couple scenes that you can feel like the story is actually trying to pull of something cool, however, I feel it completely fumbles the execution
While the art is good, it's never given space to flourish, the manga never relies on it's good art like a shinichi sakamoto would, every individual panel is detailed and nice, but it never produces any individual panel that is really impactful to you, no real moment in the manga is elevated by the art, it just doesn't take advantage of it, this is better than if they didn't have good art at all, but I believe it's missed potential.
Now, what I don't like about this manga and honestly the whole reason keeping this down, it cant help itself but be extremely sexual for no reason at all. It relies WAYYYYY too hard on sex appeal, and it's not even like regular fanservice, but more there are like 3 scenes about rape so far, there is also a scene involving a gloryhole and some other stuff too, there is also basically no plot.
However, inside that mess there is actually a really great moment that would actually have been very good if the rest of the manga were different. After some time has happened and the protagonists have gone over the shock and dopamine of being in a isekai world, one of the protagonist gets fairly depressed about having died in the real world and being turned into a girl, they end up developing a very pessimistic and nihilistic view of things, and basically decide to sell themselve for sex work. Although, the other protagonist accidently walks into them and some random dude they picked up from the street about to have sex and forces them to not do it.
This scene is actually good, it's the first time any of those themes are brought up in the manga, it would have been pretty impactful if the earlier part of the manga had been done better, the idea of being reborn in a isekai world as a girl, being happy for a while, until that happiness slowly fades away and are forced to live with the knowledge of having died in the real world while also tackling the dysphoria inherent to being turned the opposite sex in a medieval fantasy scenario is a really good one, but they just don't want to do it, the author doesn't seem to write a story like that
That scene doesn't seem to have any weight for the rest of the story, it just tries to move into a more generic type of isekai once again, all the sexual mentions moving forwards are also done in pretty bad taste and with none of the nuances of that one scene, just going back to fetishizing lesbians and whatever.
I do think the writer and illustrator have the potential to write a REALLY good story in general, they have good art and while even trying to do something commercial and generic it did flash peak fiction for a moment, they're just too blinded by their own boner to realize that potential
so yeah, this sadly goes in D tier
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nothing on the reading list
still playing gta
close to finishing akagi, I may be able to finish it tomorrow
I think I might be the only one in existence who glazes this manga 😭
Not only is in not that highly regarded in general, but there's like no-one talking about it online, which is kinda why I wanted to see your thoughts on it. Maybe this is just an excuse for me to talk about it as well.
I expected the weird sexual elements of this manga to be the main complaint, like yeah it's kinda horny with some really weird scenes. I feel like from what I read this is what a lot of people didn't like about the manga as well, and for very good reason. Idk why it didn't bother me that much though, maybe because this didn't feel that out of place with a lot of other stuff I've come across, and at least this has a huge leg up by not being explicitly about minors at least.
I think the problem with the sexual elements here is that it doesn't feel like it's done in a way in which it feels like you're supposed to particularly enjoy (at least I hope), like it's not done in a way to have the reader enjoy it sexually or to explore any really interesting ideas (for the most part), just kinda for shock value and humour which could've been achieved without this much sexual stuff, yet it still goes quite far in spite of that. Add onto that how the original owners of the body are established as proper, independent characters that are likely to appear later, and their bodies being portrayed sexually without their consent or knowledge or anything (without it even being addressed in the manga, or at least I don't remember it being a big thing) feels very icky and in bad taste. In spite of me saying all this I still don't really know why it didn't bother me that much, maybe it's just that I enjoyed everything else to the point where I could overlook this aspect of the manga.
One thing I didn't think about before was how you said that there was this one great moment and that it would've been cool to explore more of that, and honestly I agree. But I also feel like it would go against what the manga is trying to be, like you can't really have a fun isekai adventure if you are constantly experiencing dysphoria with your situation.
Like I disagree that it fumbles with the execution, because what it was trying to execute was basically "what if we took isekai and made it actually good and interesting while still keeping the spirit of isekai" and it nails that imo.
I really feel like this pulls away from the other isekai out there because instead of just going to some generic isekai world with some generic isekai power and having some generic isekai adventure and there's a ton of cute girls for some reason, I feel like the author tried to approach isekai from a more grounded, realistic angle. For the main characters the world isn't everything open to them to do whatever, it's a struggle just like how anyone would struggle going to a different world. They're (I forgot their names lol) not equally fortunate with the bodies they were given, just like if any two people were reincarnated into two random bodies, they would also be far from equal. Of course you'd wonder about what happened to you in your original body and are shook that you died, and of course you'd wonder about who's body you'd taken. Even the sexual stuff to some extent, if a straight non-asexual male was reincarnated to a girl yeah they'd get horny. It feels like the author thought of isekai concepts and went "hmm, what would it actually be like", and it's incredibly refreshing and makes everything feel so much more engaging, I remember there being so many interesting moments watching two people believably explore and navigate an isekai world.
Yet at the same time it's all about the isekai experience, that sense of adventure and the new beginning that isekai are about, and which the main characters strive and work hard for. A big theme is the character's own relationship with isekai and fantasy, especially with things like the magic system being the one the elf came up with as a kid, and him as a teen rejecting that magic system which is reflected as him losing a bunch of his power, it feels like an intimate exploration of this person's relationship with fantasy in general.
As much as it subverts common isekai tropes it feels like a celebration and exploration of isekai and a work fully commited to enjoy isekai for what it is, which I think might be what the title is referring to. And that sense of adventure is so well captured, I remember being hooked to this reading late into the night and having proper manga withdrawal when I had to stop, something I don't really feel like I've felt in a long time, it really felt like I got swept into it.
I'd go as far to say that out of every isekai I've read (a fuckton) this and re zero (which also got a d lol) are the only two good isekai ever which actually properly utilise and explore the idea of an isekai.
And it's interesting that I'm kinda alone in this view, even the other positive reviews I've seen kinda amount to "yeah it's good" but with more words, and it feels like other people will briefly mention something like "it's a generic isekai" and then rag on it for other things.
Am I crazy or what, this is like the one manga/anime opinion that I feel like is completely unique to me, usually I fall really in line with popular opinions.
