Ring x Mama

Whenever something beautiful ends, I feel the weight of every breath I take. Ending a story is akin to saying goodbye forever to an old friend: you relish their company, yet you know in your bones that you will never see them again. Before long you forget their name, their laughter, their dreams. What remains is nothing more than fleeting impressions, glints of joy and echoes of sorrow, like the memory of sunlight playing on rippling water long after the day has ended. Even so, those fragile fragments remind you that for a precious moment you were part of something transcendent, and that is amemory worth the ache of every breath. In short, this H-manga does it all. It tugs at all the correct heartstrings, creating a melody full of cheer, sorrow and HORNY! Art: 10/10 Characters: 10/10

"Ring x Mama" is a rare hentai manga that combines your typical harem style h-manga tropes with a compelling sports manga theme. Interspersed between the copious amounts of sex scenes is an engaging story about a fictional professional wrestling league and a group of amatuers trying to get into the ring and another group of professionals coming back to settle old scores. If you follow wrestling you'll notice that the manga even incorporates specific wrestling tropes and as expected one of the characters makes an amusing "heel turn" as part of a sub plot which really made me feel like the mangaka nailed the "wrestlingfeel" quite well. If I had any complaints about this manga it would be that the male lead is a disgusting scoundrel. He's quite clear that he loves the female lead from early on in the series, but then continues to have sex with all of the other ladies in the team and even their enemies. This wouldn't be so bad if it was played off for laughs, but there is drama between some of the characters in how they feel about this relationship including jealousy and that's what makes it feel gross. Also, there is some netorare in this manga which felt really unnecessary and I was even a little disgusted at a supposedly "happily married woman" screaming out "I love you honey!" while getting railed by another guy - her reasons? Because her doting and loving husband is too afraid to come see her wrestle. Yep. All that being said, "Ring x Mama" is absolutely in a league of it's own compared to other h-mangas. The artwork is brilliant, the character designs are great, the comedy is funny when it's supposed to be, the drama isn't over the top and the storyline features a fair amount of intrigue that will keep you reading to the end. The only real complaint I suppose is that it ends at a climatic moment without a denouement, leaving you wanting to read at least another chapter or two before walking away. Sadly, lack luster endings are almost a trademark of manga in general so this wasn't too much of a surprise. If you're a fan of both hentai and sports manga then I think you'll really enjoy "Ring x Mama" and I highly recommend it.