missrelena 's review for:

Not Your Idol, Vol. 1 by Aoi Makino

4.0

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The seriousness of the topic covered in "Not Your Idol" took me by surprise given how. . . cute. . . the art style is. Shame on me for pre-judging. This series is a thoughtful look into how a pop music idol deals with the trauma of stalking, assault, and nearly being killed by a fan. Not only does Nina drop her idol persona "Karen" and withdraw from the limelight, she reinvents herself as a boy in a new school. It's the only was she has found to feel safe. The plot is also a serious look at the permissiveness some societies have toward objectifying woman rather than treating them as people with thoughts and feelings. With public unwarranted touching, justifying actions saying the victim was "asking for it", as well as thinking of them as personal objects to be owned being seen as acceptable behavior toward women, is it any wonder that Nina feels unsafe when dressed as a female? Hikaru acts as a superb foil to the dark actions taken by other males in this series. He is the goodness that Nina is afraid to believe in.

While the writing was a bit choppy at the start, it improved with every panel. There were no filler characters and no unneeded crudeness. I am looking forward to reading more of this series.

* I received a free eARC from the publisher through NetGalley*