Drowning Fireworks (Oboreru Hanabi, 溺れる花火), 2009-2010, Minenami, Ryou, Mobile Man

STORY: 4

Meet Eita and Kaoki, a couple in their first relationship at 19 years old. Eita, the boyfriend, is youraverage bland university student. Kaoki, his girlfriend, has a frail body and she has to live in an hospital, potentially most of her life. She is sadly stuck in a room while people her age enjoy the “peak of youth”. Now, guess who is the story going to focus on and empathize with?
..
Right! Eita!
And guess what is the main problem in that story?
..
The right of Eita’s weewee to access a vagina! Oh my god you must be clairvoyant!

ART: 4

The only thing noticeable here is that breasts are a bit more realistic than usual. Oh, the author is a woman, that might help. Besides, panels are quite generic and empty.

POLITICAL POTENTIAL: 3

Just the same protagonist as in so many masculinist manga: feeling sorry about himself, without empathy, and far from being able to do anything collective.

FEMINISM: 3

Here we go: our male hero is a pathological liar, sleeps around, and is a selfish coward. He treats Kaoki (and others) terribly and the scenario is totally ok with that.
Have you noticed how many manga have that kind of characters as main protagonist?

As the story progresses, the author even uses some convoluted events to make us more understanding of Eita’s actions, while showing the two main female characters as more and more manipulative. Masculinist manga often use that kind of development, where the male hero starts off as a huge jerk, but, then, women characters act progressively even worse so that, in the end, the reader’s sympathy goes to the male hero.
I wonder how many manga are centered on a girl who sleeps around while her boyfriend is having a hard time at the hospital?

Eita has a lot of sex and, if you are expecting a bit of subversion because the author is female, you will be disappointed. For example, one scene has Eita come in the mouth of his coworker and she teases him “I’m going to kiss you before I wash my mouth”, which makes him look disgusted and saying “I’m not into that stuff”. We are supposed here to adhere to the virilist view that women tasting sperm is totally ok (even ‘natural’) whereas real men should not be subjected to that (otherwise that would be ‘gay’). This asymmetry comforts sex as something to dominate women rather than sharing, with acts that are implicitly degrading (being penetrated, tasting sperm..) since men don’t want to be subjected to those.

The gold for unfair narration comes when Eita gets beat up by the boyfriend of the kind coworker he was banging for four days. When that happens, the girl already has bruises all over her body and face, which points to a very serious situation. But Eita does not care at all:
His only reaction is that he is feeling disappointed that she is looking away when he gets attacked.
Did Eita call the police after the attack, if not for himself, to protect the girl from further abuse? No. Did he contact her after she sent him a text to apologize and say that she quit her job to not embarrass him? No, our hero simply erases her number and, in less than two days after the assault, has sex with another girl he had bonded with by pretending he was a virgin like her.

CONCLUSION: 3

Even if you can ignore the masculinism spoiling this average story, just skip it. There’s much better titles out there, and, if you are ok with that kind of story, just read Boys on the Run by Kengo Hanazawa.