Don't Cry, Girl♥

This manga came with a strong recommendation from a friend. Even though it’s a shoujo manga and shoujo and I don’t get on particularly well, it’s only 1 volume long and is about nudists, so I figured it was at least worth a shot. “Don’t Cry Girl” is about a teenage girl who has crap parents so has to move in with a bloke twice her age. The bloke in question is a naturalist and doesn’t like wearing clothes indoors. He has a buddy who comes around every once in a while and they sit around and make dick jokes. Now I like dick jokes asmuch as the next guy. In fact, I’d say I like them even more than your average person. Nothing brightens up my day quite as much as a good dick joke. However in Don’t Cry Girl, it comes off a little like sexual harassment. The main girl is clearly distressed by the nudity and the offers to chomp on the phallic bread placed between the friends’ thighs. The whole story is about her trying not to cry and just grin and bear being sexually harassed, whether the dudes are oblivious to their actions or not. Being one volume long, there’s not a whole lot to say about it beyond that. I really want to talk about the ending though, and it’s the entire reason I’m writing this review in the first place. I’ve seen this trope occur enough times in ladies manga that I can hereby call it A Thing. If anime aimed at dudes have taught me that all men secretly want to bone their younger sister, then manga aimed at ladies have taught me that all women want to fuck their dad. Let’s make like a rapper from the 90s and break it down. The arc of the story is about the nudist learning to wear clothes around the girl he has just adopted and the girl realising he’s a nice man after all. Leaving aside the fact that she’s basing this judgement off the fact that he’s stopped sexually harassing her, which I would normally categorise as something every human being should do rather than just something just good humans do, this causes the girl to fall in love with the guy and propose to him. And he accepts. The girl is 17. The bloke is in his 30s. He has become a father figure to her because her own parents couldn’t show her love. So when a father figure shows her love (again love being ‘not sexually harassing her anymore’), she mistakes this for romantic feelings. As much as I don’t like the phrase ‘daddy issues’, this is textbook definition of that. But he, being the wonderful father figure that he is, accepts her proposal. Oh sure, they say they’ll have to work on it and this is a bit sudden, but the story ends with them saying they’ll live happily together as a couple. I know the manga is a goofy comedy, but it’s still presented in a celebratory fashion. I had a discussion with a friend of mine about this trope and they suggested that, like the imouto fetish thing, it’s not that ladies actually want to fuck their dads. There are a lot of single children families in Japan so having a little sister isn’t too common. A little sister is a way of having a close relationship with a girl without any effort on your part. Like a childhood friend archetype, the work was done before you were aware that talking to girls was embarrassing and the childhood promise was made before you they could turn you down. The imouto thing is a fetishisation of certain things a little sister represents that society can’t currently provide for you. Similarly, the fucking your dad thing comes from the desire to have the big strong boyfriend who will protect you and you can depend on. However Japanese society doesn’t lead to very forthright men, so they adoration turns towards the one person in their life that did provide those qualities. The fact that so many of these instances include the term “but they’re not blood related” shows that it’s the idealisation of the attributes rather than the thing itself. I’m making some sweeping generalisations here, but if you have a better explanation then I would be delighted to hear it.

This manga isn't meant to be taken seriously. It's meant to make you laugh, and if you don't mind some admittedly crass humor, then it will. I certainly laughed. And that's why I'm rating it an 8, it was enjoyable! The story was simple, maybe on the edge of ridiculous; a happy, continuously naked man living with a teenage girl who finds him generally repulsive and incredibly strange. The art was good and clean, and as far as the length: short and sweet. So if you want to kill some time, this is a manga you can read in one sitting that will make youlaugh and smile.

Don't Cry, Girl. This title along with its picture got me hooked as soon as I was searching for age-gap romances and when I started reading it, it did not disappoint but the ending is another completely different story. Basically, the reason why I gave this such a score was that this just had so much potential. Breakdown: Story: 6 - Fair The parents kick her out, no reason whatsoever was explained in the manga, even the part about her not crying. (I mean, yes, she got kicked out but I can't easily sympathize since no reason was explained). I like the *green* jokes though, not gonna lieabout that HAHA, and honestly, the ending was too rushed, it was too sudden. Although it can't be helped since there's only one volume but I mean the ending could have been done differently and definitely better. The jokes could not have saved the story/plotline. Art: 10 - Outstanding One thing that attracted me was the poster of this, the look of Taeko and I was not disappointed at all when I read the manga. It was really pleasing to the eyes plus the A+++ scanlation of the scanlators. :)) No more words except that the art is definitely a strong point in this manga. Character: 7 - Good Taeko was fun, her type of main character is definitely the kind that I would want to read about although the end just displeases me so much that the score for the characters had to go down. Nudist guy was a refreshing twist to the story, definitely something that you don't see in everyday shoujo manga but you just can't see him as a 31 year old, even his actions in the end really called for a facepalm. Enjoyment: 8 - Very Good I enjoyed the start of this, the first few chapters, I was laughing so hard with all the jokes and the nudist guy and his friend's aloofness but the humor was really fun and with Taeko getting angry and everything. Even though the manga took a wrong turn with the ending, I still enjoyed it a lot. Overall: 7 - Good The thing that disappoints me so much was that this manga had SO MUCH POTENTIAL. Even if there is only one volume, I believe a much better take on their romance could have been written (but I'm not the mangaka sooooo). The jokes and humor stood out, the art stood out, the story was kind of cliche (with all the cohabitation) but the romance part of it was the worst of all. It was rushed and it did not even feel like the guy was 31. I just wish that this was given a lot more volumes so that the characters could have been more developed and given more depth, I really wish I could give this a higher score but I think this deserves the score (It breaks my heart. Such a rarity that you could see a shoujo manga with such green jokes and it doesn't even come out as perverted as it should have been, and let us not forget the art and the 30 year old bishies) A lighthearted read, definitely will recommend to anyone who wants to pass their time with a one volume manga, but I will just say once again that the end was not fulfilling, even for a oneshot.

This was an odd story. but surprisingly, even though the main guy character is nude most of the time, and his friend is obsessed with penis(like making bread shaped like them, referencing the length and size (exaggerated) when ever possible, and mentioning a penis convention.. ok. and why is there a high school character mixed up in this? Because her parents are idiots... why, how and to what extent the reader doesn't know, because we never meet them. But it has to be bad for the girl (who does not seem abnormal except that she doesn't run screaming) to exists in this story. oddly, thisstory of nakedness and penises managed to not feel sexually icky... I don't quite know how. But i have respect for the author for it. All in all it has a dry sense of humor and turned out to be quite enjoyable... somehow. Art. alright, not bad, sort of plain but it fit (would be scary if if was detailed) Characters. they ended up being pretty unique. i would say good, but defiantly weird Enjoyment. it was funny. but i am still miffed at how the author pulled it off so that i wasn't horrified Story. not much to it. it had a slice of life feel to it.