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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Thank you, NetGalley, for a complimentary copy of this manga!
Wow, just wow!!! I read this one in one sitting...not only because it was a short read, but I got sucked into the story!! I felt for Karen and Tsuji and I love Hikaru! The story is fantastic and I can't wait to read the next one! The graphics were great as well. I loved the "background images" when the MCs were remembering the past. The manga was well-written and addressed touchy subjects, such as assault, gender expectations, and the struggles in the aftermath of such incidents really well...the fears, the problems trusting people, the desire to change your appearance--all that was portrait well in this book!
Wow, just wow!!! I read this one in one sitting...not only because it was a short read, but I got sucked into the story!! I felt for Karen and Tsuji and I love Hikaru! The story is fantastic and I can't wait to read the next one! The graphics were great as well. I loved the "background images" when the MCs were remembering the past. The manga was well-written and addressed touchy subjects, such as assault, gender expectations, and the struggles in the aftermath of such incidents really well...the fears, the problems trusting people, the desire to change your appearance--all that was portrait well in this book!
This was so good!!
Thank you to Netgalley and VIZ Media for this review copy in exchange for my unbiased thoughts. This was very surprising considering the last few manga I have read were full of girls being objects for boys to gawk at but in a way that clearly was purposeful... like that was the basis of the storyline. Girls who want to be a certain way for boys and boys who see girls as these soft, simple things for them to protect. This was no girl looking for her “prince.” This was so different!
There was real pain and torment in this one and I found it very realistic, sadly. I will continue the series.
Thank you to Netgalley and VIZ Media for this review copy in exchange for my unbiased thoughts. This was very surprising considering the last few manga I have read were full of girls being objects for boys to gawk at but in a way that clearly was purposeful... like that was the basis of the storyline. Girls who want to be a certain way for boys and boys who see girls as these soft, simple things for them to protect. This was no girl looking for her “prince.” This was so different!
There was real pain and torment in this one and I found it very realistic, sadly. I will continue the series.
I was very impressed with this manga. It's a thought provoking take on idol culture and the complicated ways gender plays into both it and how those dynamics influence and are influence by the larger context in which they exist. I loved how it questioned the way girls are conditioned to be passive and demure even in the face of assault. It also brings up the question of how boys are absolutely clueless about this dynamic, even well-meaning ones. This ends on a real cliffhanger that threw me for a loop and I'm really curious to see the resolution of that in the next volume. This is such an interesting premise for a series and it's really neat to see it done in a very shoujo art style. I can't wait to read more.
I would definitely recommend this for anyone interested in a thoughtful, suspenseful manga that leaves you with something to think about.
FTC disclosure: I received this book from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
I would definitely recommend this for anyone interested in a thoughtful, suspenseful manga that leaves you with something to think about.
FTC disclosure: I received this book from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
Ugh. The unbelievable ending killed it (in a bad way) for me, but leading up to the end there were a lot of things that were good to discuss- such as the issues of harassment and violence that teenage girls and women face in modern Japan.
Triggers/content warning: Sexual assault, harassment, stalking, other violence against women and sexism/sexist language from some characters. Also SPOILERS beyond this point for volume 1!
There's a lot to unpack here in this manga. It deals with the story of a former teen idol who was attacked by a "fan" with a knife at a "handshake event". The event traumatizes the poor girl who takes to dressing in the boy's uniform in self defense and attends high school under an assumed name. She still identifies as female but she cuts her hair and banishes all cute/girly things from her wardrobe. She associates femininity with being victimized by the stalker creep.
While she attends her new school, a man has been assaulting and preying on teenage girls near their school. The popular girl at their school is groped by him later in the story but she acts like it's nothing (obviously pressured by the boys in their class to react this way). She likes being popular with them and says some pretty problematic things to other girls when they try to speak up.
Around the same time, an all women's cart is established on the subway to keep the women and girls safe from getting groped on the subway (it's apparently a common thing in Japan- this is far from the first manga/anime I've seen that mentions this issue). A timid female classmate of the former idol's, one who is talked down to by the popular girl, is groped on the subway in one of the mixed-gender carts. The former idol and one of her male classmates see the man attack their classmate. They go after him and the boy, who is in Judo, flips the pervert before he can get away. The cops come and pick the pervert up and take him away. This poor girl was shamed by the popular girl for using the all women's cart previously because she was rightly afraid of men trying to attack her.
All the while, The former idol has been stalked by the guy with the knife who cut her and ended her career. He is obsessed with her. One of her friends who is still in their idol group, Pure Club, warns her since the guy sends pictures of her in her new uniform and short hair cut to the studio where she used to work. Creepily, evidence seems to start mounting that her new friend, the boy from the Judo club, may be her stalker.
Worse still, she has started to fall for him, which makes her run away with him at the end of the manga even though she thinks he might be her stalker...yeah, seriously. You remove yourself from your successful career as an idol and change your identity because you are afraid of men, specifically the man who attacked you. Why the hell would you choose to run away with someone you think is the stalker who threatened your life? I don't think it makes any sense. At all. He didn't threaten her into taking him with her any where either- she pulls him into the taxi cab when she flees her friend and former producer, you know, people who would probably help her? WTF?
But the weird ending aside, I do think this manga did bring up a lot of relevant issues affecting modern women in Japan. The anime Aggretsuko also showed how creepy idol "fan boys" can be since she also got a stalker who nearly kills her. This manga might be creepier though since at least Retsuko was 25 and an adult while she was an idol. The girl in this manga is 13/14 years old while she's an idol. What's creepy about that (among many things) is that the "handshake events" the idols are paid to touch their fans (in handshakes), who are often much older than they are- read: adult men who shouldn't be that interested in young teen girls. Am I the only one who is creeped out by this practice? Companies should try to protect their talent, especially if their performers are children/teenagers-not expose them to the public in ways that might encourage unruly and predatory behavior.
Because of the discussion of relevant issues of harassment in Japan that teen girls and women face, I'm giving this manga a solid three stars. The ending itself is not very believable and I probably won't be reading the rest of this series. Sorry, but no one with any sense of self-preservation would happily run off with the person they believed stalked and attacked them in the past. It doesn't make sense for a character who had taken so much caution to change her identity, appearance, and location to start life over again in order to avoid being found out.
Triggers/content warning: Sexual assault, harassment, stalking, other violence against women and sexism/sexist language from some characters. Also SPOILERS beyond this point for volume 1!
There's a lot to unpack here in this manga. It deals with the story of a former teen idol who was attacked by a "fan" with a knife at a "handshake event". The event traumatizes the poor girl who takes to dressing in the boy's uniform in self defense and attends high school under an assumed name. She still identifies as female but she cuts her hair and banishes all cute/girly things from her wardrobe. She associates femininity with being victimized by the stalker creep.
While she attends her new school, a man has been assaulting and preying on teenage girls near their school. The popular girl at their school is groped by him later in the story but she acts like it's nothing (obviously pressured by the boys in their class to react this way). She likes being popular with them and says some pretty problematic things to other girls when they try to speak up.
Around the same time, an all women's cart is established on the subway to keep the women and girls safe from getting groped on the subway (it's apparently a common thing in Japan- this is far from the first manga/anime I've seen that mentions this issue). A timid female classmate of the former idol's, one who is talked down to by the popular girl, is groped on the subway in one of the mixed-gender carts. The former idol and one of her male classmates see the man attack their classmate. They go after him and the boy, who is in Judo, flips the pervert before he can get away. The cops come and pick the pervert up and take him away. This poor girl was shamed by the popular girl for using the all women's cart previously because she was rightly afraid of men trying to attack her.
All the while, The former idol has been stalked by the guy with the knife who cut her and ended her career. He is obsessed with her. One of her friends who is still in their idol group, Pure Club, warns her since the guy sends pictures of her in her new uniform and short hair cut to the studio where she used to work. Creepily, evidence seems to start mounting that her new friend, the boy from the Judo club, may be her stalker.
Worse still, she has started to fall for him, which makes her run away with him at the end of the manga even though she thinks he might be her stalker...yeah, seriously. You remove yourself from your successful career as an idol and change your identity because you are afraid of men, specifically the man who attacked you. Why the hell would you choose to run away with someone you think is the stalker who threatened your life? I don't think it makes any sense. At all. He didn't threaten her into taking him with her any where either- she pulls him into the taxi cab when she flees her friend and former producer, you know, people who would probably help her? WTF?
But the weird ending aside, I do think this manga did bring up a lot of relevant issues affecting modern women in Japan. The anime Aggretsuko also showed how creepy idol "fan boys" can be since she also got a stalker who nearly kills her. This manga might be creepier though since at least Retsuko was 25 and an adult while she was an idol. The girl in this manga is 13/14 years old while she's an idol. What's creepy about that (among many things) is that the "handshake events" the idols are paid to touch their fans (in handshakes), who are often much older than they are- read: adult men who shouldn't be that interested in young teen girls. Am I the only one who is creeped out by this practice? Companies should try to protect their talent, especially if their performers are children/teenagers-not expose them to the public in ways that might encourage unruly and predatory behavior.
Because of the discussion of relevant issues of harassment in Japan that teen girls and women face, I'm giving this manga a solid three stars. The ending itself is not very believable and I probably won't be reading the rest of this series. Sorry, but no one with any sense of self-preservation would happily run off with the person they believed stalked and attacked them in the past. It doesn't make sense for a character who had taken so much caution to change her identity, appearance, and location to start life over again in order to avoid being found out.
*ARC received from Netgalley in return for an honest review*
I honestly started the read not fully understanding what story was about to be told but I knew I was intrigued by the premise of a former idol going into hiding and dealing with a traumatic past. What I got was 100 times better then what I expected.
It was extremely uncomfortable reading through this volume, seeing how objectifying and victim-blaming some of the characters were. But the way, the very human way, everyone else around them was dealing with those very same issues, kept me glued to the story. It was nice to see that it wasn't one-sided and people were being called out. Sexual assault is a hard issue to cover but this first volume is handling it in a way that starts a conversation that really needs to be had.
The artwork is amazing as well. Which helps with the storytelling. Most of the time that is what makes or breaks a good manga for me.
Then that ending. I started out on the fence about whether or not this would be something I would invest myself in, but now, I need to know what will happen next. Maybe I can hold out of the next part, impatiently. This is for sure a story I need sitting in my personal library to recommend out to others.
I honestly started the read not fully understanding what story was about to be told but I knew I was intrigued by the premise of a former idol going into hiding and dealing with a traumatic past. What I got was 100 times better then what I expected.
It was extremely uncomfortable reading through this volume, seeing how objectifying and victim-blaming some of the characters were. But the way, the very human way, everyone else around them was dealing with those very same issues, kept me glued to the story. It was nice to see that it wasn't one-sided and people were being called out. Sexual assault is a hard issue to cover but this first volume is handling it in a way that starts a conversation that really needs to be had.
The artwork is amazing as well. Which helps with the storytelling. Most of the time that is what makes or breaks a good manga for me.
Then that ending. I started out on the fence about whether or not this would be something I would invest myself in, but now, I need to know what will happen next. Maybe I can hold out of the next part, impatiently. This is for sure a story I need sitting in my personal library to recommend out to others.
Nina Kamiyama was a pop star in a popular group. They did meet and greets with fans, but one day Nina was slashed by a male fan. She quit the group and cut her hair, then started attending a regular school. Soon after school begins, there are reports of an attacker near school. The girls are restricted on when they can go outside to try to prevent more attacks. A student is attacked, but she brushes off the incident. Meanwhile, a popular boy at school has discovered Nina’s secret, that she was in the pop group. She has to witness these sexist acts at school while dealing with her own trauma.
This story shows the double standard between boys and girls. The girls are told they aren’t allowed to do after school activities anymore because of an attack, rather than prevent attacks or catch perpetrator. The city even creates a special train car just for women, so that they won’t be attacked. Instead of protecting women by punishing the attackers, they isolate them and make them appear more afraid if they choose to use that train car.
The boys were sexist and inappropriate, but it was realistic. The boys asked why the girls wear short skirts if they don’t want attention, as if that’s the reason they were attacked. They said the girls should wear pants if they don’t want to be attacked. The response that girls are “asking for it” when they are attacked is insane. It’s a crazy explanation that needs to be changed in society.
The ending of this book was very exciting. I’m looking forward to reading the next one!
Thank you VIZ Media for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This story shows the double standard between boys and girls. The girls are told they aren’t allowed to do after school activities anymore because of an attack, rather than prevent attacks or catch perpetrator. The city even creates a special train car just for women, so that they won’t be attacked. Instead of protecting women by punishing the attackers, they isolate them and make them appear more afraid if they choose to use that train car.
The boys were sexist and inappropriate, but it was realistic. The boys asked why the girls wear short skirts if they don’t want attention, as if that’s the reason they were attacked. They said the girls should wear pants if they don’t want to be attacked. The response that girls are “asking for it” when they are attacked is insane. It’s a crazy explanation that needs to be changed in society.
The ending of this book was very exciting. I’m looking forward to reading the next one!
Thank you VIZ Media for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
A fun take on the idol trope. Not Your Idol is not your average shojo manga. Fun, well done in both story and art. Can't wait to read volume 2.
Overall a raid depiction of someone who survived an assault and does a complete change in personality afterwards. I'm still curious to find out who actually attacked her and if her love interest (hot guy in school) was the attacker. The first volume definitely got me hooked and I'm interested in buying the next volume! The art was very nice and the translation read very smoothly. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️