The beginning of it all: Sundome, a manga review

Hey, there people. This is going to be my first post so do bear with it if you find anything wrong with the language. Well here goes, I’ll start my blog journey with one of the first and most engaging manga I’ve ever read. “Sundome” by Kazuto Okada.

That’s right, I started my manga journey with one of most less known mangas out there. I had already been watching animes for quite some time now so I decided to forte into the world of manga as well and to be honest I was quite worried on how it would be and I would like to say one thing the experience was just exceptional.

Why Sundome?

Well I decided I needed to start reading mangas and I was already watching animes which had a shounen or any boyish theme to it so when I decided to start reading manga I decided I would go for a more mature/seinen manga and while going through manga download sites I came upon this book. The description made me curious as to what this manga would bring out hence, I decided to go with it. Now, so much for my manga origin let’s go over to the review.

Sundome, What’s it about?

The summary mangatraders.com has is “Sundome is the story of an apathetic young man whose dull existence is forever changed when an assertive young woman wants to join the same after-school club in which he is a member. If only all after-school clubs were as hands on as this!” which is a bit vague. The manga Sundome can be described in many ways but one thing which can be generalized about it is that it’s not for just anyone. Not only because it’s an adult manga, but because the theme that explores through the length of the series might be controversial for some and disturbing or  disgusting for others. If you’re a person who cares about his/her surroundings then while reading this manga make sure that no one is around who you don’t want this manga to be seen by.

Sundome tells the story of Aiba, a high-schooler belonging to the Roman Club, a club which seeks for traces of paranormal activities, UFOs and such other mysteries.

Graduated Ex-members of this club are notable members in Japanese society and will help club members to achieve their desired career after graduation with only one condition: they must remain virgin through high school. To prove the members are worthy, the ex-alumni regularly send women to tempt the club members into giving their virginity.

The story begins the day a new transfer student named Kurumi Sahana appears at Aiba’s class making him fall instantly in love with her. Sahana discovering Aiba’s interest in her starts to power-play Aiba into a master-servant relationship, allowing him to have all kind of sexual experiences with her, with one condition: under no circumstance, even if they were the last people on earth, she will let him have sex with her.

Aiba, desperately in love with her, will accept everything and go to high extremes to satisfy her mistress while improving to be a better person as to better please her.

Aiba, desperately in love with her, will accept everything and go to high extremes to satisfy her mistress while improving to be a better person as to better please her.

Sundome in japanese stands for “the instant that precedes the orgasm” and this is the concept that is played around during all the story: while Aiba is always wanting a bit more of Sahana she is always managing to let him go only until when she allows it. This concept is further reinforced by the chapters, called “collars”, in reference of how Sahana is always in command of Aiba.

While this may seem at the beginning like she is getting advantadge of Aiba, as the story unfolds you will see that Sahana is in fact quite in love of Aiba too, and despite of her sexual preferences she cares a lot about him and helps him become a better person through their relationship.

Why can’t you read this manga in front of everyone?

Well, as said above this manga takes the opposite less preferred approach on sexual experiences. This manga shows the depth of Aiba and Sahana’s kinky and most of the times twisted sexual relationship. In many of the scenes intense sexual actions are showcased e.g. in the start when Sahana tells Aiba to masturbate in front of her with a nail to symbolize that she is the master and he is her slave.

The fact that you have to read this in solitude kind of helps you to feel more into the atmosphere of the story. Sundome is about sexual discovery, is about secret encounters and love practices seen as devious from most people, even in the series. But also is a story about love, about people that holds secrets and specially about how we deal with confidence in our relationship.

So this seems like a dense story to you?

Fun thing is it isn’t. While the story about Aiba and Sahana is playing through secret encounters, the main day by day of the story follows the adventures and misadventures of the Roman club, a bunch of really pervy nerds while they scout for ghosts, ufo and other phenomena.

The typical chapter structure for Sundome is always the same: The Roman club plans an activity, some comedy scenes will occur and then Sahana and Aiba manage to have some alone time which will lead to either some sexual encounter or some dramatic scene. This helps from keeping the mood either too gloomy, or too hilarious for two much, attaining a great balance.

What other things should you know about?

Just like the story and the content the art style of the book is also not for just anyone. The art style shifts from extremely detailed and dark on the heavy dramatic points, to caricaturesque plain characters with crowded panels on the more comedic points.

Oh, and one more thing, as the story unfolds it becomes more dramatic with Sahana’s illness and Aiba’s suspicions about Sahana’s affair. The various twists and turns of the story certainly kept me glued to the book but I don’t know about others.

Conclusion:

Even if the manga might not be for everyone, if you’re a thoughtful adult who doesn’t feel disgusted by out of the ordinary sexual practices I would certainly recommend this as one of the greatest love stories which made me cry at the climax. The manga has been adapted into 4 live-action movies which suffices to say that it made quite a success in Japan.

Well that’s all for my first post, hope you liked it. There will be more soon.