A COVID-19 romance.
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 July 2020 installment, Extraordinary Circumstances is a sixteen-page story from creator Hinasaki Yo, who has about three dozen other works on the service. I had most recently read the closure to a multi-part story that they had written which got kind of dark and disturbing so I was hopeful that with this story we’d get something a little more traditional, even if it falls into the cheating realm. Hinasaki Yo’s artwork is always a delight, especially the detailed backgrounds, but this one really leans into the chest size thing which isn’t bad but a distraction all on its own. It’s not something that really bothers me but it’s also something where I just like a little more realism with it.
The story for this amuses me and I hope we’ll see a few more playing to this angle as there’s certainly lots of opportunities. With the pandemic moving across the world, we see Souta having crashed at Rie’s place because of the lockdown. Her husband – his brother! – is stuck at a business hotel elsewhere and Souta is struggling because his school closed and there aren’t a lot of options for him because of it. The two have had an affair previously but it’s been a while since that happened. There’s some amusing conversation early on about the situation and a kind of bored and unsure of what to do kind of mindset operating here, including concerns of money and what to do. And just how long Souta should consider himself welcome here, especially since Rie says it’s best that her husband is not here as they’d end up with a work-from-home-divorce that are becoming common in the pandemic.
With life at a standstill, it’s no surprise that things quickly fall to more intimate moments. Hinasaki Yo basically just goes right into it here as Rie and Souta engage in this way but there’s a no-pressure kind of feeling about it as they almost just roll around the room in a kind of lightly playful way. They’re connecting well, they know what the other likes, and things only pause momentarily when her husband calls. The actual action itself is pretty solid with what unfolds even if it is fairly standard and vanilla, but Yo’s artwork is great with backgrounds that help to set the mood more and an overall slow but strong sequence between Rie and Souta that feels honest and earned in a strange way.
In Summary
Extraordinary Circumstances delivers the coronavirus pandemic story I was expecting to see a bit more of as the year went on and I’m delighted. This one wins more for the artwork than the story as it’s little more than a backdrop that focuses on a cheating storyline so it’s not all that engaging on that level. Hinasaki Yo has some great pages here with the design and layouts of it and a good flow for the action. Neither Rie nor Souta are particularly engaging though as it’s light on story – normal for a chapter of this length – and that minimizes the impact of it some. I do like the premise with the pandemic and hope that more creators are going to dabble in this area as the year goes on and creative stories arise from it.
Content Grade: B-
Art Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 18+
Released By: FAKKU
Release Date: July 2020
MSRP: FAKKU Subscription