Getting rid of all that pent-up toxicity.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Dagashi
What They Say:
Let’s give your body a reward. ❤
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Originally serialized in Comic X-Eros #81 from the January 2020 installment, REFIRE is a twenty-page story from creator Dagashi, who has over a dozen other works on the service. I’ve enjoyed a lot of their work recently but they’re also a creator that if there’s not enough of a story to hook you into it, it doesn’t work quite as well. Thankfully, the larger appeal is still the artwork and Dagashi’s style is one that I really like so that even a weaker story like this one presents is quite enjoyable. The roughness and almost charcoal-like approach to the artwork hits a sweet spot for me that I don’t see in a lot of other artists and that holds a lot of appeal.
The premise for this has a salaryman that’s been sent on a job quite a distance from home and that has him exhausted when he finally reaches there. Before doing anything else he opts to get a massage as the place near the station catches his eye and he figures why not – even if it is the first massage he’s ever gotten. The story works without names so we see our Salaryman opting for the bigger package from the Masseuse when he goes in, not realizing that this is actually a sex shop and he’s just signed up for quite the experience with her. In a welcome change that you don’t see often, when he gets changed into the towel we see that he’s actually pretty damn toned and athletic, something that’s rare in a lot of these stories, and it definitely plays well against her curves.
While the Masseuse goes for a fairly standard job at first, when she reveals that the new oils she’s putting on him are designed to get him horny – and they work on her too, he realizes what he’s actually stepped into. And it’s too late in his mind to stop, so we get a lot of oil-soaked slathering of skin against skin here that makes for one messy chapter. This actually works in Dagashi’s favor because his style is definitely good for that, going for some slight exaggeration on things and movements and even the overacting from the Masseuse in how she rolls her eyes back in enjoyment of the moment that doesn’t quite feel authentic. There’s a lot to like with the sequence as it’s well-illustrated but I was a bit frustrated by how text-heavy the whole thing was as it busies up and obscures things more than it should, taking away from some of the action.
In Summary
RIFRE is a pretty simple and fun one-off chapter that doesn’t make me want to engage with any more of it once it’s done. It’s certainly not bad but it doesn’t offer up anything compelling that makes you want to see more of the guy and his travels or that of the shop itself, even though you could make an easy series about it. The artwork is the draw and that comes across well for the majority of the chapter but it also has to deal with a lot of text being overlaid with the sound effects which in turn diminishes the action.
Content Grade: B-
Art Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 18+
Released By: FAKKU
Release Date: January 2020
MSRP: FAKKU Subscription