I'd like to begin this post by saying I didn't mean to make the "hate" in the title all caps. My hand slipped while writing it and struck the caps lock key, and I didn't realize until I'd finished the word. Rather than erasing and rewriting it, I took this as a sign from some ultimate being, somewhere, to express to the world just how much I loathe Shinjo Mayu's works. With that said, let's get down to business:
1. The main female is an airheaded baby face with big boobs who'll do anything anyone tells her to. This is true for all but one of Shinjo's manga i've struggled to read. As if blindly following the guy wasn't bad enough, somehow the main character manages to lower her already zero self-respect by doing it wrong. Seriously, it's almost bad enough to bash my head in. In case you're wondering how bad this gets, here's an example:
Guy: "chop off your left hand"
Girl: "why?"
Guy: *stares into girl's eyes, his oddly colored hair gleaming in the somehow flattering light of wherever they are, only serving to highlight his captivating eyes and telltale good-underneath-it-all bad guy smirk*
Girl: "okay!" *chops off right hand"
2. Every male character who isn't related to the female is a definite pervert who will attempt to sexually harrass/rape her before the manga ends. Even as a girl, I'm offended for the male species; Mayu portrays them as sexual deviants who are willing to do anything, anywhere. Not to mention, they're all possessive assholes who want the girl to sit in a trophy case all day, smiling at no men but themselves. To help illustrate my point, i'll continue the scene from above:
After girl chops off the wrong hand, guy, who refuses to get blood in his car, calls a taxi to take girl to hospital. In back of taxi:
Guy: *grabs girl's arm stump and squeezes, making girl almost pass out from pain. He leans toward her, holding his mouth against her ear and begins to speak in a low voice "I can't believe you cut the wrong one. You're such a fucking dumbass" he finishes with his signature smirk and a slight chuckle, which miraculously erases all anger the girl may have felt and leaves her soaking wet with desire
Girl: "b-but..I just can't help it! When you look at me like that I lose all my senses."
Guy: "of course I do. But don't worry, you won't need this for what I'm going to do with you" *he squeezes her amputated limb again, making her gasp with mixture of pain and, for some reason, pleasure. Meanwhile, the old cab driver is watching the entire scene unfold via his rear view mirror and licks his lips, eagerly awaiting his own turn*
3. "Heroine" will be repeatedly harassed by male characters in multiple places, at which point she'll cry, and then forgive them without even hearing an I'm sorry. No need to elaborate on this one, just read any of Shinjo’s works. Go on, I dare you. Wait at least an hour after eating, though. Don't ask why, you'll thank me later is all.
Continuing the scene from last time:
After cab arrives at hospital, guy runs (jk, he walks at a leisurely pace since bad guys- even the ones who're good underneath don't run) to go get a doctor, leaving the girl and cab driver alone in the car. He spews some obvious bull about having to check on the car and goes to the backseat where he proceeds to molest the girl. Despite the fact that the cabbie is a feeble old man whom girl could easily overpower with one hand, she does nothing but cry, say no, and shake her head from side to side. Guy returns and sees this happening. He yanks open the cab door, pulls the driver off girl, and punches him.
Guy: “you bastard!” *Grabs the half naked girl and holds her to him* “ This here is mine. Get your own.” *the couple strides off*
Several hours later, girl finally receives the treatment she needs, having deal with several more men attempting to rape her and having to locate her boyfriend to retrieve her dismembered hand (which he was using to pick his nose). Walking out of the hospital:
Girl: “I shouldn’t have tried to cut my arm off. I shouldn’t have listened to you; you don’t really care about me, do you?”
Guy: “Nope”
Girl starts sobbing uncontrollably and runs away from guy, and into a dark, deserted alley where she thought she could cry with nothing but the company of some dangerous looking men crouched down smoking cigarettes. As expected, the men begin to rape girl. They seem about to succeed when guy rushes in and defeats the men with one hit each, sending them flying through the alley. He pulls off his jacket (real men layer) and places it around girl’s shoulders. Girl sobs even harder and clutches onto guy, who takes her home where they have passionate, vividly drawn sex.
Girl: ‘this must mean he cares about me’ *wraps arms tightly around guy, though the reattached right arm doesn’t have full mobility yet*
Guy: “I’m still going to need your left arm, though. And then both of your legs, and maybe a lung or two. Don’t ask questions.”
Girl: “…only if you say you love me…” *pouts*
Guy: “my mother died when I was young and my father doesn’t show me affection.”
Girl: *grabs knife* “which did you want first?”
And there you have it, my top three reasons why I hate Shinjo Mayu’s very existence in the world of manga and my own little rendition of all of her mangas except one (Ai wo Utau Yori Ore ni Oborero /Ai Ore) which is the only one that I can stomach.
It’s difficult to peg her under any label: my first impression of her was that she was a misogynist because all of her heroines were idiotic living blow up dolls but she must hate men too since she draws them all as primitive, sex starved grown up children. I don’t know what to call her I just know that, whatever it is, I hate it. To Shinjo Mayu herself I have but one thing to say: please stop.
↧