Avant-garde Yumeko

An exploration of the importance of art disguised as a silly ecchi manga. This is an early work by Oshimi Shuuzo of Aku no Hana fame, and it contains many of the themes and tropes (and even a character design) that continue to pop up in his manga to this day, i.e. obsession with art or a particular artist; an unhinged but attractive female corrupting a quiet, socially awkward male; perversion of all kinds; etc.

Avant-garde Yumeko isn't a good starting point for those new to this mangaka; it's too shallow and goofy to be representative of his more well known work, but it's an interesting read for fans looking to see how his style has developed and evolved over the years. There's also dicks and boobs! Yay!

" The source of my self-expression is a sexual urge,libido,thus turning my libido into something abstract is art. "
Maybe that's just the best sentence which you can find in the whole manga,the whole story is just as that, however I would like to point out a few plot holes that is pretty funny if you think about it;it seems as if there is nothing named as internet in the manga because then the girl could have easily got what she wanted, another case is there was an easier way she could have just gone to a sex toy shop or again could order online,but these didn't happen because then the dear mangaka couldn't have expressed what he wanted.
With all of this,there is an interesting point that the character wants to get to what true passion lies in thus she doesn't mind crossing some lines ,which shows how powerful passion can be.
Not wanting to spoil,in a point in story the male character expresses an simple, yet effective sentence; I am a guy!,the girl character throwing away basic needs and dedicating herself to the whole purpose of art ,gets misleaded in the way, implying that one shouldn't forget the basics.

After all of this,this isn't a bad manga but not a good one either.its NOT a must read ,so if you have the time read it (takes an hour)if you don't then simply don't!
Thanks for reading,hope you all embrace the moment.

I actually only read Avant garde Yumeko because I have a fascination for the Mangaka Oshimi Shuzo. Since that Manga is only a One-Shot and separated in less than 10 chapters, I didnt really expected that much anyway.

The Story is about a Girl named Yumeko, who experienced a strange interest in cocks. She can't barely handle it and is getting more and more curious about what a cock actually looks like. (Seems like there is no Internet at that time) .
After hopeless tries in getting in touch with some "material" to look she gets the clue about joining the art Club to get a nude sketch to fullfill her desperation. This is the moment where the secondary Protagonist appears, Honda. She is forcing him to become her nude model.

This pretty much summarizes the plot in short. I can barely say much more, even the end is kinda fast paced and very open. I dont really got that feel of a finished work though.

The Art is very..very mediocore, and im pretty sure its one of the first works of the mangaka. Thats why you cant expect much more than a Doujinshi-Art Level. Anyway I was pretty confident with the expressions of the characters. The proportions, backgrounds and panels are on a lower Level.

For a short manga in a pevert gag-setting the Characters are also very flat. Yumeko's strange nature and curiosity about cocks makes her funny to follow through the whole Story. Especially the authors note in the end expresses the way you should handle the manga.
Honda is a standard, shy Highschooler who makes his first experiences with a Girl (thats why he can barely handle her behaviours). Together they make out a pretty cute "couple" and I liked to see how the Story between them went out.

The Enjoyment-Level is on a good base, since I like the way the mangaka tells the Story. Since the manga is als pretty nude in several ways (even though the "Special parts" are censored) it was enjoyable the way its made up.

Overall I can say, if you are interested in the mangaka its pretty much worth a look. Its barely an hour of reading, and I love too how the mangaka developed over all the years in his art-Level and Story-telling.

Yet I dont think you will enjoy it very much if you randomly picked up the manga. You should really dont set any higher Standards.

Avant-garde Yumeko is about a teenage girl who uses her art to manifest a growing interest in the male body and sex. Whenever she thinks of or sees a dick, she gets the urge to draw! And her work is quite impressive.

This concept could easily be turned into a hentai. Knowing this medium, it probably already has. Oshimi Shuzo is more concerned about the importance of art in the hands of someone who needs a way to channel their curiosity in a private and productive activity. Needless to say, sex is a really hard thing for teenagers (and even adults) to talk about openly - many never have any sort of education or "talk" from their parents to prepare them for what their bodies are designed to do. This manga presents a constructive solution to that curiosity that I found to be quite endearing and funny. It's probably relevant that Japan's obscenity laws prohibit depictions of genitals in their media, further limiting the agency of a teenager to learn about sex through the media they consume. Yumeko then has to satiate her curiosity through her own imagination, and with the help of a willing male club member.

That said, there are a lot of drawn dicks in this manga. So I can imagine readers being too grossed out to even care about what themes are being conveyed. It doesn't help that this is an early Shuzo work before his art style became more refined as it is now, making it a bit harder to take seriously and to identify what the point of the story is.

Personally, it didn't bother me enough to take away from the enjoyment of the manga. and I find this to be a good precursor to later works with similar tropes that you may recognize as a fan.