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Mar 27, 2026
Officially speaking, Spotted Flower is a standalone work. So I’ve read it as one, not being familiar with the story of Genshiken at all. And I can tell you that right off the bat it feels like you are missing out. Like the author expects you to fill the blanks, to already be familiar with the previous story of characters we are supposedly meeting for the first time, and the relationship they have with the other characters that we are also meeting for the first time.
The premise of married life with otaku and non-otaku is interesting at first, showing it influences their married life
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and presenting somewhat fresh take on the newlyweds slice of life genre. Unfortunately, quickly the otaku culture becomes more of a backdrop through which the characters mean and interact. And the focus shifts from married life to cheating drama. A very bland, unimaginative cheating drama where the cheating is written in for the sake of cheating being present in the story with no further thought or depth.
All starting with a guy fucking up his happily married life with a child on it’s way for no legitimate reason whatsoever. Well, not like most cheatings are racional, but there isn’t even any chemistry between him and the person he cheated with. Or maybe there was if I imagined the Genshiken cast inserted there, who knows. Also he cheats by fucking with a dude, just for the lolz of it or something, I really don’t know what goes on in the head of these characters. There was one attempt to explain the husbands behaviour by him saying he feels inferior or something, but how does that translate to getting fucked in the ass by a crossdresser while the wife is in labor, fuck if I know. The plot is like a telenovela but with most of the characters being gay, lesbian or bi. And cheaters, crossdressers, cucks, polyamorous, whatever. It still very much surface level characteristics that serve as no actual interesting plot points, just bland characteristics that are treated as a matter of course.
Which brings us to pacing. Spotted Flower chapters range between 6 to 10 pages usually, and they are not released very often, so after 16 years of publication we barely have set-up of the story finished. Reading this manga feels like hearing glimpses of gossiping aunties in a hallway on your way home, against your will. I hope I don’t have to explain how this is not a good reading experience.
Basically, had this not been made in format of a manga, this would genuinely be just a tumblrite polycule fanfiction that people would hate on for being too corny.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Mar 24, 2026
It’s quite fascinating how higly praised you can become in this circle for not including literal rape and for the characters few joke-y dialogue options instead of just queernager brooding lines. The bar is on the floor. But to be fair, numerous other works managed to dig under the bar still, so this manga definitely isn’t the worst option out there. It’s just a bit too… plain. Shallow, perhaps.
We start with some basic introduction and then we have the classic “self-proclaimed straight guy gets rehabilitated into a gay” turn of events. Then the story pitches an extremely barebones “sad” backstory about how the delinquent has
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a bad home situation because parents aren’t at home, trying to build up relationship between the cop and the hunk as meaningful as if we haven’t seen this story bazillion times already. Are the most basic tropes really enough for you as a reader? “I’m not like the other adults, I’m not like the other cops, I actually care about you as a person” boooooriiiing what’s next teacher captivating class of rowdy young people by being hip and cool? What is this, the 90’s?
Look, I’m not expecting complex character studies in every work, and certainly not in comedies, but still please make your main characters at least a bit distinct, it would elevate the work so much regardless of the genre. Anyway back to story, or at least, the plotline. We then get some bantering, then sex, then some more bantering, then some more sex. Then a slight drama because remember, the characters are cops, might as well throw in a knife-wielding attack as a bit of action piece that the protagonists take down in a team-up since we haven’t filled our cliché quota yet. Then some more sex and that’s volume 1. If at least the banter was written with and actually entertaining, but no, it’s quite milquetoast. But hey we have two more volumes, surely things will get better, right? Now why would you even think that. Lol. Lmao. Volume 2 is about living together and of course, about a cat, you can’t have wholesome reddit chungus without a cat. But to give at least some credits, here it depicts the ways of gay couple living together more realistically, with stuff like colonoscopy exam and such. But yeah the structure still feels like just a filler towards sex scenes. No, seriously, does every cute interaction have to lead to fucking? Well no, it wouldn’t, because the last volume comes the closest to not feeling like just a smut. For a few chapters at least, so not for long enough to save the manga in my eyes.
Also the claim of fluff is quite funny when the first chapter has a scene that goes like this -
A: „Do you like men?“
B: „No, but I helped my gay friend find a boyfriend. Maybe I could consider being bi.“
*A proceeds to show his tongue down B’s throat unprompted*
This is what passes as consensual vanilla fluff in these circles, be for real. You could have confessed your love and wait for the answer first without the assault man.
And look, while I appreciate the *attempt* of greasing up the dialogue a little bit so it’s not so dry (as there is not much content beyond the flirting and then the sex), but it reads like wholesome chungus tumblr millennial posts. Like yeah I guess the characters are 30 and 40 so it fits, but man I almost audibly groaned when reading this manga.
There are zero original thoughts in this manga, zero non-cliché situations, it is only good for when you want to jack off but you don’t want to feel bad for reading just straight porn so you require romcom filler present between the sex scenes. And the romcom bits aren’t even good either! The only benefits is that it doesn’t feature badly drawn grotesquely wrong anatomy but is that really what we should be praising BL for nowadays? Aim higher dear audience, I promise you there are way better stories out there with way more interesting characters. You don’t have to keep yourself tied up by low standards, if this manga feels well made to you I implore you to read more manga from more genres.
But as much as I might sound like I’m dragging this manga through mud, and I am, it’s still among the less bad ones in comparison. So if you really insist on reading gay smut, you might as well read this one, sure.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Mar 22, 2026
Few works managed to overturn my initial impression so well. You see, at the very start Azumi may look like the cliche and tired plot of way too dramatic ninja assassination clans. They are so many of those that you would be excused for thinking this mistake, as I too was. Luckily, rather than a worse copy of Ninja Scrolls, Azumi explores the word of politics and dealing with grief caused by your own second-order effects.
Now of course it’s not like the action is neglected. It’s actually very nicely done and in stylish, no overly complicated way, and with perfected flow. It doesn’t insist
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of itself and it doesn’t aurafarm. It’s clean, it gets to the point and ye it doesn’t feel repetitive at all. And of course, the physical conflict actually keeps on developing the story points and the characters participating.
Thanks to the length we can experience developments that can afford to take time to mold into significance. Despite being a child prodigy and in a very “between rock and hard place” situation, the troubles of protagonist ninja girl are quite human and relatable, with her almost naive and yet early matured mind contrasted against ugliness and hardships of the word. She has her giant cross to bear, but she’s not treated as the “chosen one” savior, despite technically fitting that role in eyes of many of the characters. In fact, in hands of a less skilled author, it would be too easy to mold Azumi into a mary sue character. Thanksfully that’s not what this manga is about.
Despite what looks like overwhelming length, this manga flows insanely well and is really good at wanting you to keep turning the pages. I myself have binged it within few days. I hope that Azumi beats its relative obscurity in the western hemisphere, as it certainly deserves more attention.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 18, 2026
CoTe is a series that I personally consider terrible written. So color me surprised when I found out that the Volume 0 is pretty readable for a change.
The first half of this novel is a welcomed change of pace, with the protagonist being an adult man who has character flaws but they aren’t overcompensated by absurd garystueness. That is instantly an insane improvement over the main series. Now we have a character that feels more like an actual human, despite some peculiar ways of thinking, who is tackling more relatable issues, such as politics, society and dealing with pressure of superiors while still trying to
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accomplish own goals. The political side of things is well described and the social commentary on machinations going on there is appreciated. The inner thoughts no longer feel like pretentious or like a chuunibyou poser, unlike with Ayanokouji junior. Turns out that Kinugasa just can’t write believable inner thoughts of younger character, but with character closer to the author’s age the lacking ability to construct a different mind is not so pronounced.
Unfortunately, the narrator switches back to young Ayanokouji later in the novel and this fault is suddenly glaring, as we have the inner monologue of a literal toddler with though process of an adult. You can make in-word excuses as much you want, this is way too overdone and breaks suspension of disbelief. Unless they are injecting some supernatural serum into babies in the White Room, this goes so much against basic children psychology that trying to rationally explain it in the narration hurts the immersion more than handwaving it as rule of cool would.
Another infuriating thing is that the story setting has pretty decent foundation for interesting psychological drama and yet it gets thrown out so a generic self-insert protagonist could be build from them. I don’t think the author actually realizes the consequences the story beats should have on the character. Ayanokouji should not behave like asocial but charismatic person, he should be barely behaving as a human with the procedure that was done to him. He should not feel simply “intelligent” to the other characters, he should feel straight up alien. Even if characters wouldn’t be willing to view him as something separate from fully ensouled humans, they should at least perceive him as weird and turboautistic at *minimum*. No matter how many times you try to lampshade this by having side characters calling Ayanokouji “monster” it doesn’t matter when he doesn’t actually behave like one and when he is able to form form social relationship well enough in the main series.
So rather than fascinating psychological horror describing consequences of abuse beyond comprehension that this franchise could have been we just get nerds fantasy of what being a chad is like. The more background details of the plot get revealed, the more lazy writing of the main story looks, because how do you make a set up so interesting and then fail to properly utilize it at all.
That said, fans of COTE are sure to like this novel, and non-fans might find it interesting as a glimpse of what could have been.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Mar 13, 2026
What a disappointment. You see, I’ve absolutely loved reading the novel and the way it was written. Sure, it would be unreasonable to expect a manga adaptation to be just as good in every aspect of it, but I did not expect it would take away so much.
You see, Confessions is a psychological drama, one that deploys fascinating twists that are both unexpected and clearly set up. So for the manga to just give up on the setup and rather than slowly letting reader seep in the sign it instead doing a “well so this now happens” style of “reveal”, to the point where intricate
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explorations of character psyche throughout multiple chapters in the novel are reduced to essentially being both revealed and concluded on the same page and with none of the depth, that’s a baffling decision.
Not that I can completely blame the mangaka only, the decision to even adapt this into a manga is already weird as the novel consists almost always of internal dialogues of multiple characters giving their views and thoughts on the situation, and that charm just is not going to translate well into a comic. So, what do we get in exchange for breaking the pacing, removing depth, simplifying characters and neutering much of the social commentary? Extremely mediocre art that does not stand out in any way whatsoever and uninspired panelling. There are ways to be creative with manga to tell a story that you can’t do with novels and none of them were utilized there. It failed to deliver on any of the strength of the original in any capacity while also not being able to any new good thing on its own.
In vacuum this manga is not exactly “bad” by itself, but given how it robs you experiencing the novel unspoiled and how it’s just so blatantly bland, I cannot even think of recommending it. If you *really* want to read this, please do so only after you read the novel first. That one is actually good and so well written, I promise.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Feb 17, 2026
Matsutarou might be one of the most frustrating protagonists of all time. Now of course, I wouldn’t say anime is bad just because the protagonist has a bad personality, just the opposite as it can result in interesting stories. Unfortunately, such protagonist is hard to write, which is why you don’t see much of them. And Rowdy Sumo Wrestler Matsutaro did not succeed in writing the character well.
Watching this anime feels like being edged for a redemption arc, but it never comes. Matsutarou starts an employed asshole whom people hate and ends up as an asshole in a different field whom slightly less people hate
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because he is somewhat successful – not because he is any less of an asshole. He is not some “asshole with heart of gold”, no “protector of weak who acts out against authority”, he straight up does not have any positive qualities. His only strength is his very literal strength, and he uses it to strong-arm the world and the narration around his selfishness. The anime does not seem to realize this is a bad thing to happen instead of something the audience will cheer on.
Indeed, you will most likely spend the time watching this series waiting for the moment where there’s finally a retribution for all the terrible shit the protagonist pulls with no consequences, waiting for the ecstatic moment where he finally gets his teeth kicked in but no, except for the literally last minutes of the last episode he just spends the series bullying everyone around with no effort, falling upwards and winning at everything. The only moment he loses it was because he was throwing a tantrum due to something not falling into his lap immediately. Not that he’s not throwing a tantrum in remaining times, he is always doing it as he is always perceiving his as a victim of discrimination the moment any of the character tries to politely point out he’s being an asshole. Again, this isn’t a bad idea for story by itself, but it requires a satisfying breaking point, while unfortunately you get literally just this the whole time with no character growth at all. Well, to be fair growth *is* teased a few times, but every time Matsutarou reverts back to his old ways within minutes. Frequently he seems not simply childish but unironically mentally challenged with the way he acts.
If you are considering watching this series for sumo, don’t. There are only two serious matches in the whole series and only one of them being interesting. The story prefers its time being used on important plots like protagonist being mean to a cat and then turning it in for a finder’s fee or one of the side characters inexplicably developing telepathy for hitting their head too hard. Again, you are being teased that those short side plots are going to help develop the protagonist and again no such thing ever happens.
But to bring at least some small good things, this anime is at least quite unique in its style compared to your average seasonal both of its time and nowadays, and it also feels *very* Japanese in its nature, so if that’s something that’s among your top priorities you might end up being one of the few people liking this anime. Watching it also didn’t feel entirely unenjoyable as it strangely drags your interest in waiting for how they are going to turn this around. It’s just that the anime ends with the turn ever happening and retroactively robbing you of all the good will you have extended with your expectations.
Ultimately the story feels like a daydream of someone similarly unlikeable personality like Matsutarou, daydreaming about how they gather success and how they boss around everyone without changing any single thing about themselves.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jan 4, 2026
This episode could have been an e-mail.
Now don’t get me wrong, I like conclusions to stories, but it really feels like not much has happened in this special. Like sure, it’s cool to see Trunks getting his revenge on these troublemakers. Sure, it’s cool to see how he became so powerful he doesn’t even struggle beating them. But defeating the two androids in one move each and Cell with two moves just feels a bit *too* rushed. No eyecandy moves, no interesting choreography, just blink and you’ll miss it defeat. Which is fascinating because the issue with Dragon Bal lis usually that the fights
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take way too long, but now we’re dealing with the other extreme. And honestly, making the defeat way too easy, like with literally zero struggle against what is the big bad of just the very recent arc really showcases the issues with powerscaling and how quickly previous threats just look almost meaningles when the new shiny thing is on its way. However I do like that the script doesn’t just handwave what happened to the world of Future Trunks and does go back to show it instead of simply moving on.
Well, if you’re a Dragon Ball fan there’s no question, you’ll enjoy this. And even you wouldn’t call yourself that you’ll still be able to watch this with no issue without getting too irritated.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Nov 22, 2025
A story that hooks you with its concept within few pages, but makes you wonder how would a whole book be written around a story that looks to be fit more for a sort story format… only for a masterclass in writing different point of views on events in non-chronological order to follow.
As more and more character get their voices focused on and you as a reader gather more puzzles, you get gripped just devouring on pages with new information that overhaul the story but do not contradict the narrative up until that point for just some cheap shock value or expectation subverting but
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simply a naturally feeling outcome when multiple people clash on their view what happened based on their incomplete understanding of given situation.
What I absolutely love is how the characters are distinct personalities rather than feeling like they are all puppeteered by the author to serve as plot forwarding devices. The author even managed to pull one of the hardest things to pull which is to write an unlikeable character that is meant to be unlikeable but still have them make a point which has some truth to it yet keeps the character deliberately unlikeable as they misunderstand their own point due to their character flaws. Just amazing sequence that dodges many pitfalls less skilled writers would fall into.
As much as I would love to delve into more specific parts and why I have liked the passages, it would spoil you the experience so you will have to just trust me. What I can say is that this is a book that will leave lingering about it in thoughts a while after finishing it. And as much as I’ve tried I found no part or aspect of this book that I felt was lacking, flawed or faulty.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Oct 29, 2025
Anniversary special, but it’s a clip show and commercial for the XY games and of course, XY anime.
As the episodes starts on a plane, right when the last episode of the previous series ended – so at least we do get a proper continuity, Satoshi dozes off and that’s the excuse to cue the clip show. Right after we get taunted by some nice high definition scenes with the better looking older animation, we get the classic song and dance of Satoshi going "Wow I've never seen those pokemons before!", and starters of the region are introduced.
Following are short clips of battles with alright choreography
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which I assume will be seen in following episodes in full rather then being created just for this special. And sure enough, checking through the first episode of XY here are bunch of the scenes and I suspect the rest will be there in rest of the episodes.
This means that rather than a classic recap, most of this special is “recapping” what is yet going to happen, making this just a longer tv ad that basically gives you a bit of spoilers. The only benefit is seeing those older clips, in better resolution than tvrips of the original run, but there are not even many of those clips here. And if you don’t care about that, completionism is the only reason to watch this. So really just start with the first episode of XY otherwise.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Sep 25, 2025
This is smut. And by that I mean very much directly explicit porn. Not erotica, not fanservice, just actual porn. Obviously a gay one too. So that already quite reduces the intended audience of this manga. Don’t even try to read this if you don’t belong in such audience or if you, like me, like to purposefully read manga you don’t like.
Anyway, onto the content. You get essentially long sex scene with some sweet talking through it. Honestly I’ve seen worse. There isn’t even a cringy rape scene (you’d be surprised by how many works get that wrong, or maybe you wouldn’t be) and the
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art is surprisingly alright given the genre – only in one panel does the guy’s face look like a horse. This is an actual improvement over the author’s earlier works. The dialogue is nothing to write home about, who would have thought. But hey, it doesn’t make you physically roll your eyes so again, I did read worse.
“Hey, it’s just explicit doujinshi, your expectations shouldn’t be high anyway” you might say. Yeah I said I read worse. I also did read better. But I guess by virtue of not being as obnoxiously terrible as many others, including in its own franchise, it barely gets a mixed mark as many will enjoy this. But do keep in mind that the only enjoyment anyone could get from this will be getting off on from two guys getting it on, so if you’re not into this there is literally zero value in reading this manga.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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