The joy of toys.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Mikarin
What They Say:
Seeking the stimulation of an unexpected weak point…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Originally serialized in Comic X-Eros from the March 2020 installment, Riding the Music is a twenty-four-page story from creator Mikarin, who has a dozen other works on the service. This marked my third experience with this particular creator and the lengthiest story yet as the previous one was half the number of pages. Mikarin’s able to work two different encounters into it but does it through ongoing flashbacks with the present-day storyline, which works well since they’re two very different kind of scenes. Mikarin skirts the line a bit in some of the interactions here but it’s the kind of thing where I think it comes across one way when you read it in a work like this while the real world it might be a bit more playful or clearer depending on the situation.
The focus is on a young woman named Arina who has totally gotten into the anisong side of things and has a favorite DJ with a guy named Takeshi who plays a lot of her favorite anime songs. The flashback side shows us her first show where she was able to get up close to Takeshi and after the show ends up spending time with him talking about things and eventually getting together privately at someone’s place. They’re friendly and fun but both suffer from the same thing in that work has kept them single and unable to really get out and talk with anyone. There’s an undeniable attraction at play here and Takeshi is a bit more aggressive than he needs to be but the long arc shows it as something that Arina likes. But as he gets closer to her at the start she’s more resistant, but it’s where it’s a bit hard to get a read on her denials. It’s where you make allowances for the fantasy versus how you’d react in reality.
But it is fun to watch as the two get a lot more frisky with each other and the clothes start coming off as he’s definitely eager and she’s highly receptive to him. It’s fairly vanilla in terms of what they engage in here but there’s a lot to like in seeing how well they connect with each other. Especially as we see it in the present, some time after that initial encounter, as she’s at his latest session where he’s playing and he’s given her a remote toy to use while he plays the music. It’s fun to watch as she tries her best to handle all the sensations on top of the beat of the music from the speakers, being in the crowd, and having all these people pressed up against her. Takeshi knows he’s got a good thing here and wants to really run with it and Arina looks to be very game for it.
In Summary
Riding the Music is a cute enough story and Mikarin works the flashback encounter well with the present-day storyline so that it complements it. You get to see the start of something but also where it’s progressing to and how both of them are having a good time after that initial encounter, which is fun. Mikarin’s artwork is pretty decent here and what he brings to the page for Arina is good but it’s not one of his better designs overall. The costuming is good and the layouts that he works with are definitely well-done as the action flows and the shift between flashback and present is handled pretty well too. It’s what you’d call a serviceable chapter but one that likely won’t be too memorable unless you have a connection to certain elements of it.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 18+
Released By: FAKKU
Release Date: March 2020
MSRP: FAKKU Subscription
