Plans within plans.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Hinasaki Yo
What They Say:
Prelude to collapse…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Originally serialized in Comic Kairakuten BEAST from the May 2020 installment, The Twilight Sometimes Whispers is a sixteen-page story from creator Hinasaki Yo, who has about three dozen other works on the service. Having read this series of stories a little out of order, the latest piece has arrived and I felt compelled to check it out even if the previous installment didn’t do all that much for me in general with its kind of material. The draw, as always, is Hinasaki Yo’s artwork but their stories are very hit or miss for me depending on the genre that they’re working in and what the end goal is. These have been more along the line of intending to be disturbing so it’s only natural that I should feel that way.
With this one taking place somewhat in the middle of what we’ve seen before, it essentially takes us to the place where we see how Yuzuha and Takamiya fell in love. Or, at least, a semblance of that as it looks like Yuzuha is working a larger plan of revenge. She’s gotten close to Takamiya and has been spending time with him and has now walked through the expansive lands that his family owns to take him to the small house where her mother lived all those years ago. Takamiya clearly doesn’t know anything and is essentially an innocent in all of this as we see how he asks his mother about her later and she has an internal panic that goes back to what Yuzuha’s father did with the maid all those years ago. There’s some background anger that surfaces nicely there and sets into motion its own thing.
But for Takamiya, he’s just got this attractive girl a year younger than him that’s leaning close to him and has now taken him to a nicely kept abandoned home. And invites him to snuggle with her which leads to them both stripping down and doing what teenagers do. Hinasaki’s artwork is really appealing here as Yuzuha has an obviously great design and the overall format for how they engage here on the top bunk and just go to it with the drive and hunger of a teenager having sex for the first time. But that background squick factor is there and you really do wonder what Yuzuha’s end game is here. Is it a thrill for her to torment him without knowing? A kind of revenge to bring up their shared father that she intends to tell one or both of them about? Or just something to savor to herself for years to come. That uncertainty is what admittedly keeps me coming back because I want to believe there’s a plan.
In Summary
This storyline isn’t anything unusual for hentai but there’s usually a touch more definition toward the goal itself. That said, the main appeal is the artwork and interactions and if you eliminate the squick from your mind for it, there’s a lot to like. Hinasaki Yo put’s the action in a place we don’t see often with a bunk bed and there are some good backgrounds throughout this that helps to make it feel more lived-in overall. The action itself is solid and it has some real intensity at times that definitely drives them to even more of it so fans that just want to enjoy that element without thinking of the rest will have plenty to like. The story keeps making me cringe though.
Content Grade: C-
Art Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 18+
Released By: FAKKU
Release Date: May 2020
MSRP: FAKKU Subscription
