The heart wants what the heart wants.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Fujimaru
Translation/Adaptation: N/A
What They Say:
Super popular.♪ Fujimaru sends a day dream believer.❤
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Originally serialized in Kairakuten from the October 2016 installment, This Is Love is an eighteen page story from creator Fujimaru, who has six other works on the service. This is my first experience with their work and it’s certainly interesting. The chapter was actually recommended to me by one of the folks that runs the Fakku Twitter account to check out and I’m always up for suggestions rather than randomly grabbing something new. Fujimaru’s style is what really makes this chapter interesting as it has a really rough feeling with the artwork the was reminiscent of my early manga days in the 80’s with its line work and “paper quality” as one might envision it. It’s definitely something that gives it character and fits with the characters themselves within it.
The premise is straightforward enough as we focus on Adachi, a forty-something guy who’s still single. Some folks he knows from work try to set him up at a mixer, which goes in an interesting way, but he’s mostly just focused on a far too cute of a girl that works at a convenience store where he goes to buy his smokes. He’s smitten with her innocent beauty and cuteness and simply wants to confess to her but is unable to. Through some fairly amusing circumstances he ends up becoming quite involved with her and it has that kind of lightness and surrealness about it that works well. Fujimaru’s style works well for this because it has that rough and grounded feeling about it, especially since the girl, Ozaki, has just a touch more detail and smoothness to her so that she stands out all the more.
With just eighteen pages, Fujimaru is able to slide in three different sex scenes, which is pretty impressive since they’re all separate. The opening sequence with an encounter at the mixer is something that I actually would have preferred to see more of since it was tangible and real in a lot of ways, a kind of weird but totally believable connection. When it shifts to Ozaki confessing to him the next time he’s in the store we end up with a cute outdoor sequence in the alley before it turns into the whole at home in an apron kind of thing. It’s a little all over the map but the reasoning as presented at least lets it make a whole lot of sense and you just get to enjoy the visuals. And Fujimaru largely delivers there with appealing interactions that avoid things I dislike while playing up just how smitten he is with Ozaki’s looks without it being totally creepy.
In Summary
From what I can see of Fujimaru’s style, it’s something that’s not totally consistent as looking at a couple of other chapters results in some very different looking designs. Which is a plus because being able to work in different styles and tones is a huge advantage, especially in a world of sameness with so much manga. This chapter is an interesting one overall with what it does as I like the three sequences and I found myself more invested in Adachi than I thought I would be since most male characters in these stories are almost throwaways. It’s a fun little chapter that could certainly be fleshed out into a multi-part series with ease and it has me curious to see more of what Fujimaru is capable of.
Content Grade: B-
Art Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 18+
Released By: FAKKU
Release Date: October 1st, 2016
MSRP: FAKKU Subscription
