Amano Megumi Has Too Few Openings (For Quality)

Hope you brought a belt.

Before anything—how I started reading this, why I started reading it, etc.—let me tell you why this manga is really bad.

I don’t like ecchi. Ecchi is a useless genre that titillates the sexually frustrated and adds absolutely nothing to a story 99% of the time. I realize this opinion is a strong one, but I seriously cannot get over how completely mindless every ecchi series I’ve ever picked up is. Because of this, it’s a rarity that I ever pick up any form of media that’s directly labeled as an ecchi. This is where this manga comes in, as it’s an ecchi story and it is proud of it. Each chapter’s formula goes something like this:

1. Male and female lead are doing some various activity.
2. Female lead inadvertently, through moving her body or getting her clothes snagged on things, shows off her panties or makes her breasts more prominent.
3. The male lead sees this and goes, “This girl has way too many openings!!!” and becomes distracted from whatever he’s doing, and continues to be distracted because he’s always thinking of the female lead’s panties/breasts.

I’m not kidding when I say that there are a substantial number of chapters that only rely on this set formula. I am on chapter 143. Imagine reading an entire chapter dedicated to this formula over and over and over and over again. No development, little differentiation, nearly 150 chapters scanlated (with an average of 15-20 pages per chapter). I thought Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san was bad, this manga isn’t even repetitive in a charming way. Oh, no, the girl’s panties are showing five times a chapter. The boy’s getting all flustered. Classic comedy. It’s so good, I could read it over a hundred times.

It’s gotten to the point where some chapters, in which I can directly see the formula at play, I simply skim over because I know what’s to come. Detailed shots of a woman’s assets. Yeah, cool. Y’know the saying—”You can’t have too much of a good thing”? That saying is wrong. Everything has a limit. “Anime tiddies” got old by chapter six. I’m on chapter 143.

So it’s bad, which I’ve made pretty clear. This brings rise to a single question: Why am I still reading this? Well, two things, really.

First is the art style, which is super kawaii. Yes, I dropped Gal Gohan despite a super cute art style, but here it’s a tad different. With Gal Gohan, the super cute art style was deterred by a main couple that I was certain would never get together, seeing as one’s a student and the other is a teacher. With Amano Megumi, both characters are in the same grade in high school and are childhood friends—this is manga, what could possibly stop them from getting together?

This leads to the second indication, which is that this manga has little trinkets attached that lead to a deeper point. Basically, it isn’t always sexual fan service. Sometimes, these characters have feelings! The female lead, Amano, is a member of the kendo club in her school, and the manga occasionally has her preparing and participating in matches. The stress of her performance tends to affect her usual behavior, which is about seven-hundred-times more interesting than seeing her tits every five panels. At the same time, the male lead, affectionately referred to as “Maa-kun,” studies in an effort to shine in the same way Amano does when she’s in kendo matches… I think?

One other issue with the manga is that Maa-kun’s intentions are kind of mixed and never really hammered down on a consistent basis. In the very beginning, he was studying to get into a good university (he wouldn’t shut up about it in the first ten chapters). It’s revealed a little later that he wants to be reunited with a girl from his middle school that was the ace of his class, who was perfect at basically everything. She’s thrown around as a plot device every so often, but the way the manga treats her is more of an inconsistent goal rather than an actual person. Maa-kun is stuck on her for a good majority of the beginning portions of the story. Lately, he’s mentioned her a few times at most.

Something else that’s weird is that the main couple… has chemistry? Amano is not a meek, shy girl whose entire life is chasing after a guy. She’s playful, active, friendly to everyone, and constantly embarrassed by her mom. Maa-kun isn’t exactly the male lead stereotype, either. While he’s absolutely dense, the feelings of attraction towards Amano are there, and while he could be labeled as a coward, he’s also stringent, but modest in his affection for humankind. Others are quick to mention that he’s supportive of everyone, despite the fact that he’s constantly studying with every free moment. The relationship between Maa-kun and Amano has more to it than most romances generally do, which is amazing considering the manga focuses on it about 20% of the time, with the rest dedicated to having Amano show off her panties.

I can’t help but imagine what this story would be like if it wasn’t just a show of skin. There are little intricacies between the relationship of the lead couple that are hard to find underneath the massive amount of tropes that pervade the world of manga. Without all the focus on cockteasing, this manga would probably be a quarter of its current length—to think I’ve consumed so many images of Amano’s body just to get some little spark of romantic progression between the two leads. That sounds really sad in hindsight… At least they look cute.

If you’d like to see more reviews like this, feel free to look at my full list of manga reviews!