Warning: Even though this post does not contain anything fairly explicit in terms of adult themes, the manga mentioned is indeed filed as
Ahem... First of all... yes, I do read manga that is a little adult in nature. I indulge because I can.
But aside from being a little smutty, showing some nudity as well as some intense X-rated
Sheet no Sukima is a collection of six short stories that contain romance, comedy, intimacy, and even some angst and drama. But I make no mistake when I mention that the manga doesn't go out of its way to display sex, sex, and more sex as the main part of the stories. In fact, the way the stories flow, love scenes are weaved in as if they were just another part of a couple's intimate life. Because, after all, even though I'm a one hundred percent virgin in RL, I understand that sexual intercourse is a fairly natural part of life.
But my take on the subject is really better off left for some other post not related to anime and more for some unrelated, controversial website.
Within this little gem of a oneshots collection I was graced with three romantic comedies and three not so comedic romances.
First off, Sheherazade and the title oneshot Sheet no Sukima are my personal favorites of the entire collection. Yoru no Bannin is also a cute little story, but different from the rest of the oneshots, it does not contain an ounce of smut at all. Kizuato, and Izayoi are both much shorter one shots that each have quite a surprising twist in the ending two pages that you would have never guessed. Blanc is a bit more twisted in nature with no actual surprise plot or endearing romance, and is probably just a filler with smut on another controversial topic. Of the latter three, Kizuato has a rather sad ending that moves your heart-- even if only for a second.
So why is this particular manga the spotlight of this month? I had so many spotlights planned, but all-in-all, I could not resist making Sheet no Sukima the gem of September.
Basically, I just loved the romance and the comedy within the first three oneshot stories to death. They were funny at the right moments, romantic at the right moments, and Yoshihara-sensei doesn't go overboard trying to cover the panels with nudity or explicit material.
Altogether, the collection is a wonderful, beautiful read. I simply just enjoyed it so much that I just had to give it a special post. And a spotlight seemed perfect.
I plan on writing an actual thoughts with short summaries over this manga, so I won't try to give too much away.
But if I wanted to point out one scene within the manga that I thought was absolutely breath-taking, it would surprisingly have to be a certain love scene in the first oneshot, Sheherazade. As I am trying to keep this blog a little more or less not above X-rated, I can't post this particular scene as a picture and I mention it so that others may see for themselves if you happen to be little offended by mature content.
But after reading over the manga for the second time mainly for the story itself, I sat and stared in some sort of entranced way at one particular scene of the main couple sitting together nude about to slip into another night of passion. The background is completely black and the flower effect is drawn around them to add onto the beauty. Even for a love scene it was quite beautiful and I couldn't help but to just "look" at it and think: "Wow! This is gorgeous!"
In a weird way, it totally overshadowed the fact that the main couple would soon end up making love in the next few panels and that the manga itself included smut. The scene was just plain and simply beautiful.
In the end, the more I think about the manga, the more I felt that it deserved a good mention. Because it contains explicit material, and because Yoshihara-sensei is mainly a mangaka of the adult genre of romantic comedies, anyone who isn't open to such types of manga would probably miss out on this collection of oneshots, and thus miss out on the first two commendable stories, Sheherazade and Sheet no Sukima.
The characters are created uniquely, and Yoshihara-sensei has a good eye for handsome manga men and beautiful manga women. Most importantly, amidst all the shoujo manga that focus always on high school students and their loves and such as well as the taboo on "sex as high school kids", Yoshihara-sensei focuses more on those men and women who have already stepped into society as adults with careers and don't make such a big scene about sex being taboo.
Aside from being enraptured by Sheet no Sukima, Yoshihara-sensei has become one of the few liked mangaka I've found. Aside from her pretty character designs, her comedic timing and the way in which she artfully portrays the humor is very enjoyable. Although unfortunately, like all shoujo manga, Yoshihara-sensei's stories also base themselves around the nice, calm and level-headed male and a rather crazy and hormone driven, ditzy female.
But I digress.
Sheet no Sukima is absolutely a wonderful experience. Forget the fact that it is labeled as smut or mature! Forget the fact that some taboo themes occur in two of the six oneshots in this manga collection. Even if the first three were the only oneshots of the collection that I read, I would be completely satisfied because they are, as mentioned already, first and foremost romantic comedies.
I highly recommend this collection of oneshots to anyone who doesn't mind a little nudity and a little bit of adult material. And sooner or later, I also plan on writing a thoughts post on this manga.
But here you finally have September's gem spotlight.
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