Wednesday, December 9, 2020

REVIEW: Cutie and the Beast (manga, vol. 1) by Yuhi Azumi, translated by Angela Liu

Cutie and the Beast is a contemporary romance manga. It's licensed by Seven Seas Entertainment. I bought my copy brand new.

Review:

Momoka is a huge pro wrestling fan, and her absolute favorite is Kuga, a big and burly heel (bad guy). Kuga is 29 and used to most of his fans being male, so he's pleased when a female fan keeps cheering him on on Twitter. Momoka finally gets the courage to go to one of his matches, and the two meet in person afterward and hit it off. The problem? Kuga assumed she was in her twenties, and Momoka is actually an 18-year-old high school student.

This was okay, I guess. The author didn't go the predictable route and have Momoka lie to Kuga about her age, or turn the age difference into a big misunderstanding stretched over multiple volumes. Unfortunately, I'm not sure the route the author took instead was all that much better. It was awfully sudden. 

Their Twitter and few in-person interactions were nice - I was reflexively going to say "cute," but there wasn't really enough to justify using that word. I'm still not sure how I feel about Momoka's habit of crying whenever she got overexcited, but I liked Kuga's efforts to help her calm down. I think I'd have liked the volume a little more if it hadn't been for the ending, although the sudden appearance of Momoka's parents was reassuring.

As far as the artwork went, I really wasn't a fan. The facial expressions, in particular, seemed off, and there were times the character anatomy bugged me as well.

I wish I knew how long this series was going to be. With the way things are going, it feels like this could wrap up pretty quickly and neatly, but who knows?

Extras:

A one-page thank you from the author.

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