Myriad manga are set in the school environment and granted, a lot that I've come into contact with focus on cute high school girls. Onani Master Kurosawa however, is unlike anything I've ever read before. At its heart it's a coming-of-age drama that follows the titular Kurosawa as he matures from his anti-social beginning, looking down on everyone around him, to learning the importance of friendship and social contact. Where this manga differs is through is that the central themes, and eventual catalysts for his change are revenge and masturbation.Kurosawa is a self-alienated boy who keeps very much to himself. He actively chooses not to interact any more than is absolutely necessary with his classmates, and - despite hiding it well from others - actively despises the one person who consistently attempts to reach out to him - a kind hearted otaku named Nagaoka. The only thing the boy actually cares about is his "Daily Duty", and every day after school he waits in the library until everyone leaves before retiring to the girls' bathroom where he proceeds to jack off while picturing one of his female classmates. Charming, right? Well it gets better as when he notices a girl being bullied, he decides to dish out his own form of justice where he steals their uniforms and leaves his sticky white calling card all over them.Now, I'm no prude by any stretch of the imagination, but the scenes with Kurosawa jerking off in the girl's lavatory weren't pleasant. They were explicit without showing anything (other than a few... "stains" on the wall), mainly due to the blunt and coarse internal dialogue. I confess at this point I was on the verge of dropping Onani Master for its sheer grossness. But I felt I should give it more of a chance. Following his stunt with the bullies, the victim, a quiet and frankly nutty girl, Kitahara, approaches Kurosawa in the bathroom and says that she will keep quiet about his daily activities, if he'd perform the same, twisted vengeance on anyone else she so desires. Frankly, this didn't sound like it was going to get much better, since now it seemed to be a manga about manipulated wanky justice. However, shortly after, the story took a turn that made it far mroe interesting. Slowly, through his relationship with a girl in his class, Kurosawa begins to undergo a gradual transformation and what follows is a fairly impressive tale of love, atonement, and the importance of never being alone.I personally think that the artwork is probably the most impressive aspect of Onani Master, which doesn't necessarily fly the flag for great story and characters. However, the art style is unlike anything I've seen in another manga. The main drawings look to have been drawn by pencil, and instead of using screentone, the shading has been created again by pencil. Then in an odd contrast to this very hand-drawn feel, the gradient tones appear to have been digitally added. It's an odd sort of effect, but at the same time it's oddly effective. This rougher, more sketchy style of artwork, complements the crude nature of the content - after all if a scene with a boy whacking off was crisp, precise and pristine, it would give off too much of a clinical vibe, and this is meant to be dirty. Dark, unsavoury, and dirty. Certainly, if you can get over the initial parts with Kurosawa's vulgar, no-nonsense toilet exploits, then you may well enjoy this manga. Honestly, I'm glad that I did continue reading. It may not be one of my favourite series ever, but for a teenage tale with a twist, it was quite impressive. So if you have some spare time, it's only four volumes long, why not give it a go.
Feb 26, 2012 • Subscribe
More like this
Manga Musings: GE: Good Ending
So my latest read manga-wise has been to catch up on another of my 25 Days of Manga series, GE: Good Ending . Normally, while I don't avoid…
[Manga Musings on Mondays] Opus – Review
Created by: Satoshi Kon Chapters: 19 Hello everyone and welcome back! Today, we resume usual serialization of Manga Musings by talking about probably the most metafictional manga…
Issue 2, 2023 - Manga Musings, Crackstyle
Finally covering Hunter x Hunter on the show, and not a moment too soon. This week features Issue 2 of 2023, originally published 12 December 2022.This week we…
2022 Manga Musings Awards - Part 2
Part 2 of our Manga Musings "Musie" Awards where we muse on the best and worst manga of 2022.Join us on the Manga Musing Patreon for early access…
2022 Manga Musings Awards - Part 1
Part one of our Manga Musings Awards, cataloguing the best and worst moments, characters, and series of 2022.Part 2 will be available in a few days on the…
[Manga Musings on Monday] Confidential Confessions – Review
Created by: Momochi Reiko Chapters Read: 16 Hello and welcome to another Monday. Like the first day of every week, today I am supposed to talk about the…
[Manga Musings on Mondays] Chikan Otoko – Review
Created by: Takuma Yokota Chapters: 21 Another Monday has presented itself to us, folks. And you know when that happens, we present something in return, right?…
[Manga Musings on Mondays] Asper Girl – Review
Created by: Souhachi Hagimoto Chapters: 31 (Ongoing) Hello and Welcome to the Wild-Card Monday of Manga Musings. As mentioned last week, today I will be talking about…
[Manga Musings on Mondays] Nijigahara Holograph – Review
Created by: Inio Asano Chapters: 12 What do I see here? It’s another M in the Day’s column of the calendar. And you all know what…
Musings on Manga Part 3: Za Warudo
I bet you guys didn’t expect another post so soon huh? Manga and anime have really become huge around the world, especially in the past four years. We…
Fanatical’s Manga Master 2 Bundle
Happy Manga Monday everyone! It’s been a while, yes I know, but I come bearing something cool and a little different than my typical MM posts. Recently, I…
[Manga Musings on Mondays] Chi no Wadachi – Review
Created by: Shuuzou Oshimi Chapters: 75 (Ongoing) Greetings and welcome to another Monday week and as usual, it brings with it another manga review! This time, I…
[Manga Musings on Mondays] A Distant Neighborhood – Review
Created by: Jiro Taniguchi Chapters: 15 Hello and welcome to Manga Musings’ Week 2! This time around, I look back at another series which is a favorite…
Some Manga, The Mugen Train and Other Musings
It’s been a hot minute since I was blogging here, huh?
Yotsuiro Biyori, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train
[Manga Musings on Mondays] Our Wonderful Days – Review
Created by: Kei Hamuro Chapters: 19 That’s right, people! Your eyes are not deceiving you. Manga Musings is BACK! Um… kinda. Like most people all over the…
Midseason Musings
Hello, and welcome to an unscheduled, random post from Amun! As we reach the halfway point of one of the most hyped seasons in recent memory, I wanted…
[Manga Musings on Mondays] Voices in the Dark – Review
Created by: Junji Ito Chapters: 7 Greetings, fellow manga fans. As is norm, every new week, a new monday rolls around and as has now become…
[Manga Musings on Mondays] Let’s Talk About Ethics. – Review
Hello, one and all! As you must be well aware, all the shows airing this season have been adversely affected in various stages of production which has…
[Manga Musings on Mondays] Let’s Talk About Ethics. – Review
The post [Manga Musings on Mondays] Let’s Talk About Ethics. – Review appeared first on Star Crossed Anime.
Teasing Master (Former) Takagi-san Manga Review
AstroNerdBoy reviews the Teasing Master (Former) Takagi-san manga series, the spinoff-sequel to Teasing Master Takagi-san.
Disclosure 96 - 3rd Annual Manga Musings Awards (1/9/2024)
After a long absence, here's the return of the Manga Musings crew with our long-anticipated Manga Musings awards!To hear exclusive monthly postgame coverage of Boruto and a back…
[Manga Musings on Mondays] My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness – Review
Created by: Nagata Kabi Chapters: 6 Welcome, friends and foes alike, to week 3 of Manga Musings on Mondays. This week I try to give my thoughts…
Summer Musings I: Jiufen
The last semester has been a busy, stressful blur. Now that I am finally on winter break, I can take the time to think back fondly to that…
Okaeri! Musings and Announcements
Anime Rants checks in with an important announcement!
Scandal (醜聞, Akira Kurosawa, 1950)
The battle for the soul of the post-war society is fought in the body of a conflicted lawyer in Akira Kurosawa’s seasonal morality tale.
Sweet Home (スウィートホーム, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1989)
A documentary film crew encounter a vengeful ghost while investigating a creepy mansion in an early gothic horror adventure from Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
Tokyo Sonata (トウキョウソナタ, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2008)
Orphaned salarymen are the soulless ghosts haunting an increasingly empty city in Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s eerie tale of urban anxiety
Chapter 21 - Introducing the Manga Musings Drinking Game (5/23/2022)
There's only one rule: Drink whenever we mention Naruto, Boruto, or Samurai 8 during the main episode. While Suntory Toki Whiskey is the official drink of the Manga…
[Manga Musings on Mondays] The Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer – Review
A new week, a new Monday, a new Manga Review! Hello, dear sir/ma’am, it’s extremely gracious of you to take time out from your busy schedule to…
Spiraken Manga Review Ep 391:Teasing Master Takagi-San
In this episode, Xan discusses a romantic comedy that involves the age old courtship tactic known as Teasing on the one you love. Is it a good manga?…
Rave Master
A manga about a boy who embarks on a quest to find the 4 Rave stones and defeat the Dark Bring to save the world. Continue reading →
Manhwa Review | Master of Master by Shida
Euncheol has led a lonely life. To stave away the loneliness, he frequently jumps from bedmate to bedmate and from relationship to relationship, hoping to one day feel…
BFI to Host Complete Akira Kurosawa Retrospective
At BFI Southbank January and February 2023.
Kagemusha (影武者, Akira Kurosawa, 1980)
A thief reborn as a lord finds himself caught between the contradictions of the feudal order and the borders of identity in Akira Kurosawa’s Sengoku-era tragedy.
The Idiot (白痴, Akira Kurosawa, 1951)
A pure soul is destroyed by the selfishness and duplicity of the post-war society in Kurosawa’s snowbound adaptation of the Dostoyevsky novel.
Akira Kurosawa Retrospective at the BFI 2023
The good folks at the BFI have sent us details for an up coming Akira Kurosawa Retrospective. Set to run from Sunday 1st January 2023 until ...
Yojimbo (用心棒, Akira Kurosawa, 1961)
A cynical ronin plays warring factions off against each other to save a moribund silk town in Akira Kurosawa’s samurai western.
Ikiru (生きる, Akira Kurosawa, 1952)
A lifelong bureaucrat is confronted by the emptiness of the salaryman dream when diagnosed with a terminal illness in Akira Kurosawa’s intensely moving melodrama.
Rashomon (羅生門, Akira Kurosawa, 1950)
A series of witnesses give conflicting accounts of a death in the forest in Akira Kurosawa’s exploration of the limits of objective truth.
Winter 2020 Anime | Midseason Musings
Remy rambles about Winter 2020 anime.
Musings on Multi-Mind Mayhem
Although the modern variation of the “isekai” trope has existed within manga and anime since the early 1980s, the concept of a character swept away to a life…
Spiraken Manga Review Ep 107: Air Master & Sanctuary (or Air Master Strives To Be Youngest Japanese Prime Minister)
In this insanely late episode of the Spiraken Manga Review, Xan and Kal Talk about The political intrigue thriller manga, Sanctuary by Sho Fumimura and the Martial Arts…
Beast Master (series)
Author & Artist Kyousuke MotomiReleased November 2009 & February 2010 by VIZ Media imprint Shojo BeatTranslation JN ProductionsEditor Amy YuGenre: Romance, Drama
Kenda Master Ken
HOLY SH*T!! WHAT THE F*CK IS THIS???!!! Just when I thought I have seen the best of the worst, then came this absolute piece of garbage sh*t! In…
Review: MASTER KEATON
Let's wrap up this year's Old School Month with an old-school adventure from one of manga's most notable creators. MASTER KEATON ( Masuta Ki...
Air Master - Review
Given the seemingly never ending stream of uninspired , shitty , pedophilic anime that I am continuously subjected to, it seems wondrous ...
Watanabe, Kurosawa, & Kumagai: 2004's Inadvertent Samurai Trilogy
While the ninja is arguably the most iconic thing to come from Japan when it comes to worldwide pop culture, I think it's more than fair to ...
Sanjuro (椿三十郎, Akira Kurosawa, 1962)
The cynical drifter finds himself offering fatherly advice to idealistic but hot-headed samurai youth in Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo followup.
Stray Dog (野良犬, Akira Kurosawa, 1949)
A rookie policeman chases an echo of himself through the backstreets of post-war Japan while looking for his missing gun in Akira Kurosawa’s sweltering noir.
Spiraken Manga Review Ep 12: Hoshi wa Uta & Love Master A (or The Love Master and her Starry Wishes)
Episode 12 is here and hope you enjoy while May-san and Xan review, Love Master A and Hoshi wa Utau. ----more---- Listen as Xan sounds like he didn't…