This manga was kindly provided for review by Yen Press

About the Mangaka

Have to admit, until now I’ve never heard of Okada Kazuto. He (or she lol) however seems to have been rather successful. Sundome is their second work, the first being Kyōkasho ni Nai!, which ran for eighteen volumes and had an anime OVA; which was licensed and released by Media Blasters. Sundome has proven equally as popular, having a live action movie adaptation released in late November 2007. Currently, it’s only up to volume four in Japan

About the Manga

You know, after reading this I felt like I needed a shower it leaves you feeling that dirty >.<

I’m all for pushing boundaries in manga and stuff, but sometimes I think they go to far at times. Sundome may be one of those titles.

The weird thing is there’s nothing overt about it, it’s all hidden innuendo and off screen stuff, but it’s still going on. What’s worse, is that the next volume is going to be even worse apparently.

Okada’s art has grown on me a bit, initially I hated it, but as I read volume three I realise it’s really not so bad anymore. Though I think that’s because I’ve come to realise the fact that it’s never going to improve, so I’m just accepting it as it is hehe

This volume has some rather interesting developments, especially with Aiba and Kyouko. My initial thoughts on the type of character Kyouko was are almost completely thrown out in this volume.

Aiba’s character seems to be a bit more lively in this volume, as in he seems more realistic, something lacking in the previous volumes. It’s strange in a way, the way he acts doesn’t really have a basis in life, I can’t see a guy, any guy, getting into a relationship like this.

The torture takes on some new twists, including a water sport session that gave me the creeps.

Yet despite the perversion reaching all new heights, I still found myself laughing over certain parts, and I’ll still read the next volume because I really want to see how this goes on. Does that make me a hentai?? hehe

The thing that’s keeping me coming back is in truth Kurumi, I really want to know about her past, what makes her as warped as she is, what her past is, and what’s going on with all the weird rumours that suddenly sprouted up in this volume.

Okada’s story is good, but if he’d handled it in a different way, I think it would have been great. Toshiue no Hito is a prime example of how this could have been handled better. The relationship in that series is just as weird as this one, but is done so much better, and in a way is more ecchi and perverse. 

Yen of course do their usual great job with the release, though like the previous ones this suffers from guttering at times, though it wasn’t as bad as in previous volumes.

I do feel sorry for Christine Schilling having to read stuff like this though, I always wonder what the translators think of the stuff they’re working on hehe

As always I’m impressed with her skills though, the translation is smooth and consistent and nothing feels out of place or out of context. Though the editors need a kick in the rump, to much wasted space in some speech bubbles, and in others there’s cut off words. Though it’s not as bad as I’ve seen in some other series over the years.

Sadly it still doesn’t make the grade for getting on my Essential Read List, though if you’re looking for something make you feel a bit on the dirty side, this is the series to read >.<

Where to Buy

Here’s the usual suspects:

• Brits: Waterstones and the Book Depository
• Yanks: Amazon.com
• Canadians: Amazon.ca