Hagure Idol: Jigoku-hen

If I need to choose one word to discrebe this manga it would be "Inconsistency". What I mean by that is that the story can't decide where it want to go; Is this a hardcore ecchi/soft hentai manga that show sexy girls in a ton of erotic situations? Is this a comedy which explorer the good, the bad and the crazy about the trash entertainment industry? Is this a slice of life about a model who get attached to the adult industry and want to grow to be more popular? Is this a grim story about a girl who was lure to enter in this job and now is lock in a monstruos world that treat their employees like non-human garbege? Wait, I forgot the martial arts thing.

If only the mangaká chouse one of these opitions it would be great. There are some chapter that, isolated, have a solid plot and context, but than they come glued with this chimera with idententy crisis that don't want to make its name on anything. The jokes about human exploration and rape are not funny, the sexy scenes feels off, the martial arts can be forgettable and the dark, more violent moments shows out of the blue; and, just as easy as it show up, it goes away, leaving a bad taste for the reader to remember.

At least, I really like the art, the choreography and the fighting trivia. If the author decides to wright a martial art manga with hot girls, I definitively gonna read it. This one, though, is trash.

I will keep reading, must because of the art, but also to have a good exemple of a bad manga and what you shouldn't do with it.

If you have dealt with at least 3-4 so-called "pantsu fighting" manga and the words "near-hentai" you associate with certain trends in ecchi manga, then you do not need to explain what Hagure Idol is. This work is a fairly well-made old-fashioned example of such, you know, the female lead with the soul of a shonen's teenn boy and the hentai heroine's breast fights with grotesque dirty men and lustful lesbians, incidentally falling into scenes that can make Yabuki blush. Two things make this work unique: Misora ​​Haebara, this title protagonist, and unusually weird attempts to declare feminist messages, not only being terribly sexist and homophobic, but even directly bragging about the "problematic" nature of work in its original synopsis. In simple terms, it is as if JoJo from the 2nd or 3rd part tried to criticize "toxic masculinity", while also starting to promote itself as "brutal violence for real men".

Speaking of the first unique element, Misora, it's hard for me to resist praise. Although her image of gyaru makes no sense, her naivety and libido with each volume goes further beyond the bounds of mental retardation, she is one of the hottest and coolest female action characters that I have ever seen. Every time you see a hentai or a Baki-inspired fighting scene with her participation, it always captures your eyes and you will love every detail. Even when her logic or behavior will force you to put your hand to your face, it will still be difficult for you to think something bad about her. I can say with a clear conscience that Misora ​​is the most important find of this work or even the entire Rui-sensei career in general.

Regarding sexism and feminism ... oh ... Dude, this is a very weird thing. First "Wait, what?" begins already in the second volume, when the lesbian rape of the main character is portrayed as a joke after the entire first volume was literally devoted to how Misora ​​defended her chaste from men trying to rape her. This attitude will continue even when Misora ​​realizes own bisexuality (that the manga is ambiguously trying to connect with her libido) and directly calls the lesbian and straight experience equal, which, perhaps, for the first time probably made me talk about open hypocrisy in a manga.

From this point on, the author begins to troll you almost openly, at the same time making rather traditional feminist comments against sexual violence or homophobia, and using lesbian sexual abuse as a source of hot fanservice, almost openly implying that harassment or unacceptable behavior by other women is not serious even if the victim herself is queer woman. For example, one chapter plays the deliberate deception of your partner for laugh, including the direct use of her inexperience to manipulate her, the other tries to justify the lesbian cheating by the fact that you are far from your girlfriend and therefore very horny and this is only a small part of this. Should I tell you that when men try to do this, it is perceived as a big deal and Misora ​​always quickly suppresses any attempts to do this?

The only thing that somehow mitigates the negative impression of the two paragraphs I wrote above is the general grotesque of everything that happens. Most of the problematic moments are almost always as ridiculous and darkly funny as toxic, all the relationships depicted are so silly completely sexual and has zero of any romantic interaction or affection that in one chapter they even tell you directly, that physical attraction is a sign of romance and so on. Not to mention that most lewd scenes are so random and weird that it would be funny even in the hentai douji format.

Ultimately, I would definitely not recommend this manga to politically active folks, and especially to people who were victims of some kind of abuse. This work literally enjoys its sexist insult. On the other hand, if you are a big fan of So bad so its good content, this kind of thing simply amuses you with its absurdity and weirdness, or you just don't care, then this can be a great action and / or smut material.

7 from 10.

Holy shit this is terrible. The only reason it isn't a 1 is that the art is pretty nice. This thing is disgusting. The characters go through situations like literal rape and it's played for laughs. This is genuinely some of the most degenerate shit I've ever read and I got it from a previously trusted source. I don't know about that friend's recommendations after reading this garbage. Main character gets almost raped every other chapter and side characters actually get raped all the time. Not to mention the character Sarah is actually the worst but she never gets punished, not even by the main character. How the fuck can someone read this then look their girlfriend/mother in the eyes afterward.

2/10

A very good subversive series that explores the life of an gyaru idol who also happens to be a god-gifted karate master. The series has some less-than-tasteful moments, so I wouldn't recommend it to the feint of heart, it deals with some pretty fucked up shit too, like sexual assault, mental illness, family trauma, etc.

One of the things I noticed while reading this series was the influence that the author drew from the Baki series, specifically in the artstyle (many panels are inspired by Baki, specifically in fights), and that leads into the best thing about this series, despite how the MC is often placed in obscene situations, more often than not she overcomes them with her martial arts skill and sheer power. The series truly comes into its own when the tournament arc begins, and a whole cast of female martial artists are introduced. The fights are all amazing and don't drag on with excessive flashbacks or explanations, drawing inspiration from Baki while still managing to have its own style.

Fear Chinese Loli Kuroki, for there is no escape.

Ok, this manga is horrible. This review will have some spoiler from the second/third volume, but honestly you are better knowing those things before reading it. The first volume we are introduceded to the main premisse of the manga. Strong girl fighting to not get fucked and is literally what the manga is about. Which is whatever is a weird and bad premisse but the writing in general is pretty bad in this manga. During the second volume is that when shit really gets worse. Trigger warning: Rape and probably child abuse. This volume already starts weird when one of the mc's friends that is pornstar tell her that her first experience was with her step father when she was 10 or something. Some chapters after this the mc's new manager is raped and beat up by her old business partners and becomes their sex slave for 2 chapters until she is finally "freed" by the mc after the mc and her friends are almost raped. I mean the mc is almost raped the other characters are always being raped during this arc, and after that the manga gets weirder where rape is joked around a lot and even the girl that girl that got beat up and made a sex slave becomes a background character and no one talks about it that ever again. The guy that made the whole underground sex slave arena gets a punch to the face and thats it! If this was doujin I wouldnt give a fuck but this is supposed to be a comedy manga. In general after that the manga gets very ''rapey'' with the jokes on it and I dropped it