Umibe no Onnanoko

"I just know that tonight again, my brother will be calling me from outside the window.


Help."

First off - the elephant in the room: there's sex. Lots of it. But I don't get how poeple are surprised by this if the whole story is about a "no strings attached" (read: sexual) relationship, it's even in the synopsis. But it isn't an ecchi/hentai type of sex, in my opinion the sex scenes are there to show the sexual relationship the story is about, as - you know - showing a s e x u a l relationship without s e x would be hard. Though some of the sex scenes may be hard to swallow (if you get what I mean *cough cough*chapter 14*cough cough*), so this may not be a suitable read for the faint of heart. But enough about that.
What a terrific manga.

Story: 9
The manga is about two teenagers, who both went through their own shit, and decided to form a "no strings attached" relationship to just feel better. Author tackles topics quite rare in this type of media, such as unhealthy relationships, suicidal thoughts, and more quite standard real-pessimistic Inio Asano specials. Though I don't quite know how to feel about the ending, but the rest more than makes up for it. A great and unconventional love story.

Art: 9
Love him or hate him, Asano's cityscapes are absolutely stunning. Some people say the way he draws eyes makes them uncomfortable, but personally I'd rather look at his sometimes uncanny, closer-to-human-proportions style, than another generic-looking manga with "the Clannad complex". lol

Characters: 8
I actually think the author did a pretty good job writing teenage characters (in a bit of a pessimistic way of course): depressed, stupid, sex-obsessed, often egoistic. Thanks to the time skips, we can see them slowly growing up and learning new things about themselves.

Enjoyment: 9
I loved it. One of the few pieces of media which _almost_ brought me to tears. (But that's kinda unfair to say, 'cause there's only on piece of media as of writing this which made me cry actual tears :P)

Overall: 9

TL;DR: Cool, you should read it as long as you don't mind sex scenes and you aren't really, really easily disturbed.

After completing the first volume of A Gril by the Sea, (or Umibe no Onnanoko) I can say that Inio Asano has done it again. The main character of the story is a girl named Koume Sato, who experiences the ups and downs of relationships, mostly downs, with Inio brilliantly showing readers what emotions come with it. Just like every other manga by Inio Asano, reading A Girl by the Sea is an experience all its own; unique, heart tantalizing, comedic, and enjoyable. I gave this manga a 10/10 across the board because I believe that the story is excellent, the art enhances the characters by portraying beautiful scenes that fit the mood said characters, and the characters themselves are interesting and are what gives this manga, in my opinion, the qualities to become Inio's best manga, possibly surpassing oyasumi punpun in the future.(POSSIBLY) The best part about the story, art, and characters are how they are all put together perfectly by Inio, leaving it impossible for me to give this less than an overall 10/10.

A heads-up before reading: This story includes a lot of sexual content and can be quite dark and gloomy. If you do not enjoy these type of stories, I recommend that you stay away from this one.

WARNING! Subjectively Speaking, this review contains spoilers.

Review: Through a sleepy, small town,a story is told of two lovers( Koume and Keisuke), that love each other, but are not brave enough to admit it. However, that does not stop them from using each other, reflecting the term, "friends with benefits". However, as time passes by, they become more fond of each other, but as mentioned before, can not admit this because of the complex situation that they are both in. On the side however, actions are portrayed that show they really care about each other, and wouldn't want the other to go away. Some of these actions even risk their lives, putting danger in front of their own self for the benefit of the other. However, as the story comes to a close, Keisuke is tired of doing these things, and decides it is better for both of them if they don't continue their love interest. At the same time, Koume is falling in love with him, and cannot believe the denial she receives when she asks if he will go out with him. The story closes with them in their high school (11th grade I believe) and shows that Koume has found someone else, and has accepted the fate of what transpired years ago.

My thoughts: I was kind of shocked at first with the amount of sexual content at first, but overtime, it made sense in my head of why they were doing it. The characters themselves don't have a large personality, but it is fine in this story to not have a huge one. Both characters are seen struggling in different scenes, and it is portrayed in a very realistic manner, and can be quite relatable. The artwork is exactly like other Inio Asano works, in the fact that it gives off a ugly character, but beautiful art-style, and shows a more realistic protrayal of events. It is a great read if you like drama and romance, because it gives you a variety of both.

Hope you enjoyed the review!

I really thought this mangas art was literally out of this world and the way it portrayed teenage sex, made me feel pretty much uncomfortable if I'm being honest here. I wish the story expanded more by exploring the two main characters, that includes the side character's also. I know the boy is coping with the death of his brother and his folks aren't always at home. The girl in the other hand, she has a big family. Then we see the side characters trying to "out" their relationship and the boy was mostly bullied for it. That was basically it for the 20 chapters it seems....

Btw the song mentioned in this Kaze Wo Atsumete by Happy End is such a bop, it's so friggin good!

I've read nearly all of Inio Asano's mangas since I discovered Oyasumi Punpun back in 2015. But Umibe no Onnanoko was, for me, like finding a hidden gem.

The plot is simple, as we're all accustomed to it: girl meets boy, they became friends and, during the process, it evolves onto something more complex; not quite a romance, not quite a friendship, either.

And just when the story reaches this point, it turns upside down.

Everything you thought you knew about the characters, changes. Their facades start to crumble, destroying our assumptions about them but, at the same time, helping us rediscover how they really think and why do they act the way they do.

I cannot begin to explain how amazing this manga is: the story, the characters, the beautiful scenery that's so characteristic of Asano (with real-life pictures of Japan used for the backgrounds). It all spoke to me in a way that none of his works did, at least not with that strength.

So, if you enjoy Asano's work, this is a must-read for me.

Asano Inio's work has always been - according to what I have read - telling the truth of fantasies that cannot be fulfilled; make us see reality more really as it looks, showing the constant depression of its characters in the struggle to find true happiness. Umibe no Onnanoko, is not an exception, but it is not a marvel, honestly, since it falls back on the repetition of perversion, which is not bad, if a sub-plot that we had not thought about expands through it It was done,but moderately and almost at the end of the story.

Work is not bad, it is only a perception of something that is gradually seen in our lives, which we have not dared to accept as "reality." And it is not that he has not enjoyed the erotic scenes, it is that when it becomes repetitive, by simple whim it falls in value.

tl;dr: A short manga that shows character growth in a broken relationship very well.

This manga is pretty short, being only two volumes, but it uses them incredibly well. The two main characters were really interesting and also felt like they had good chemistry, even though they really shouldn't be that way. Now by that I don't mean the standard story of two archetypes that shouldn't be getting along, though that's also somewhat the case, but rather their personalities just don't seem very compatible and their relationship was incredibly unhealthy. However, despite that, while it is certainly turbulent, there is somewhat of a calm peaceful feeling that is conveyed when they're together that just makes them being together feel incredibly right. Isobe undergoes a lot of development over the course of the manga, wherein he starts depressed without any real hopes for life and hatred for everything, but ultimately ends up overcoming all that, and ending on a heroic note. Koume was different, in that her problems seemed to be more related to her being self-centered and not honest with herself, which she does manage to overcome. However, despite all that, their relationship doesn't develop, or rather I suppose showing how and why it couldn't develop was how it developed. It felt fitting, incredibly emotionally impactful, and in context was a necessary end to their character arcs, so I can't say I was dissatisfied with it. However, it still made me really sad, and quite a bit more than I would expect for such a manga with only two volumes. This is mostly directed towards the second to last chapter however, as I felt the last chapter was entirely unnecessary, as it didn't really add anything, and furthermore softened the impact of the previous chapter. The art was pretty good to look at, but more importantly it along with the pacing definitely helped in terms of creating the right atmosphere and tone throughout, wherein I think this manga used what I call empty frames, where there's no dialogue or anything actually happening, really well.

I'm not sure what I would have liked with Umibe no Onnanoko, but as of now I can say I'm disappointed. All I can say about the moral code in Umibe no Onnanoko is that I've seen it done, and better. I struggled through all 20 chapters waiting for something to pique my interest, but I was all but disappointed. Keisuke seems to find no value in the feelings of others, and no interest in living, and that's all the development of his character that I can comprehend. He's depressed, and probably depressed to cater to all those other misanthropic teens out there who might find enjoyment in this book. Koume seems to be an unfortunate girl with the fault of falling for assholes such as Keisuke, and that's really all I can gather.

The ending was less than disappointing and really didn't hold much weight to it, and neither Keisuke and Koume developed more depth to their character. Maybe I'm missing the whole idea that humans are shallow creatures and do not hold much value, but I look for narrative and am left disappointed when I can't find one. The art is fine, not average but not fantastic either, as I've also seen this style in other manga. There were a few disproportionate neck to head lengths, but I'm really just nitpicking with small details when looking at Asano Inio's drawing skills as a whole.

While this is my personal opinion, I still think that Umibe no Onnanoko is a lacklustre manga without story or character development, and that many people would find it to be rather shallow and boring throughout the 20 or so chapters. Maybe some readers might find enjoyment from the sexual scenes in Umibe no Onnanoko, but I really couldn't have cared less. I've seen the whole misanthropic theme done better in loads of other manga, and think that if a manga is a struggle to get through, it doesn't deserve more than 5 stars out of ten using a numerical rating. While it's not completely terrible, I really don't think it deserved my time.

Umibe No Onnanoko is quite possibly the worst piece of literature that my hands have touched in the past decade.


Now to be fair, I knew absolutely nothing about this manga prior to buying it. Perhaps I should have done my research. When the first sex scene came by I was surprised because, again, I knew literally nothing about the manga. But it was fine. Sex scenes aren't that bad right? I'm sure they have meaning. Oh look another sex scene. And another one. Another one. Another one. Dj khaled can't save me here this book is literally sex and bad story telling.


The actual story is quite ridiculous and while the characters hold resemblance to what real teenagers feel at certain times- how they act as a whole is entirely exaggerated and unrealistic. You'd think that the author is a dinosaur based on their interpretation of teenager relationships. Yeah yeah, maybe I was the only teenager in highschool to not have sex every 5 minutes, but to be fair their rampant sexual behavior isn't the only problem. These kids are assholes to each other and its a wonder why any of them interact with each other.


The only reason I recommend you to pick up this manga is if you want to watch teenagers have sex. Well.. that's actually a pretty sketchy reason to pick this one up. I found no redeeming qualities in this book- no deep symbolism (wow people get sexually frustrated 2deep4me) and in general this was a bad and awkward read.


This is basically porn- bad story and characters but okay sex scenes.

This manga is not the type of manga
you should read to enjoy.It's nothing
like a rollercoaster,not a rocket
nor a speedboat. It's a slow
and quick ride towards subtlety..
I wouldn't say it's boring either,
because it promises something in each
new chapter. It's like witnessing a story
or a happening
in real life, it's nothing too exciting
but hey it's 'something'.

The first thing I'd like to point out is
how the characters are built. They're
built upon pessimism,nothing new
and nothing good either. They have their
own
emotions and personalities that don't
shine at all but that's just how the author wants his characters to be. 'Realistic' enough that they become dull,common and predictable.
Next is the
desperation of the author to give the MC a little bit of
substance and sparkle in his role by giving him a depressing background. It feels forced,just like Oyasumi Punpun. It's so transparent it's almost hilarious. Should the sex scenes be mentioned? Should that be pointed out? Is it worth it? Hmm let's see.. The sex scene doesn't add much. It takes a large chunk of space but it's nothing special or intimate at all. It is shown that the girl wanted him badly, she offers herself to him because she 'loves' him,but in the end, she's just another girl who wants self validation. I don't see anything romantic in this manga. For me,it's just
a story. Nothing special,nothing beautiful
but definitely something I would never pick
up again.

To be completely honest I didn't hate this, I wasn't expecting some of the more uncomfortable sex scenes but I don't think that this story deserves some of the complaints that are brought up.

I understand the sex scenes are uncomfortable but I don't think they exists for no reason, this felt more like the author writing about the experience of getting lost within someone else's mental illness, its like an all devouring blackhole.

I do however think this manga is not as good as it otherwise could have been, I found myself waiting for that Inio Asano spark that makes all of his works so thought provoking but it just never came, I felt uncomfortable but I don't think for the right reasons overall.

It pains be to give this work a 7 because the art is fantastic, but I just don't think theres much story here, there's more than what some of the reviews give it credit for, but not enough for me to be satisfied.

Before I begin this review I just want to say that if this is the first manga by Asano Inio that you've read, please please do not be put off the rest of his work. This is the single worst piece of work that he's done. Not even one of the worst, the absolute worst. I don't update here all the time but I think I've read all of his work and I'm a huge fan, but this one is pretty terrible overall. Also this is my first review! Sorry if I ramble a little

Story:
Honestly, this is just another teen romance but with a heavily dark and sexualised theme. I've read a lot of shoujo and josei manga but I feel like this story was meant to expose the realities of romance (rejection/you won't always end up with the person you like/sometimes sex comes first and love comes after) but also exaggerate and dramatise it too. The thing that ruined this manga for me was how the two main characters' relationship literally revolved around sex (plus the fact that they were like 15 in middle school just put me off a lot - never swiped through pages of a manga so fast), and there was a lot of unnecessary sex scenes involved - like, entire chapters of it... Perhaps some of it was intentional for character development? But as much as I think I can't really find the point in a lot of them.

There's also the darker theme of suicide and depression, which at first felt like a side story but eventually consumed the manga. This actually could have redeemed it because I feel like this theme is much more suited to the author, but in turn I felt like the ending was very rushed and kind of random (trying not to add any spoilers here).

Art:
None of the author's manga are meant for those who read manga just for visuals and fan service. I gave him a 10/10 for art, maybe I'm a little biased as an artist myself and a fan of his work though.

Characters:
I'd like to point out that Asano's characters across the board are always very complex and flawed. Majority of the time, you will not like the characters that he creates, and this is because he makes sure that you won't. It's realistic in a sense - how many people do you know, that you actually like? One character from Oyasumi Punpun (one of Asano's more popular works and honestly a masterpiece) quotes that "It's not a manga you read to escape from reality, it's a manga you read to fight reality". In my opinion, he does not write to give you false hope, even his art style doesn't depict every person to be perfect. In fact, he tends to amplify the flaws in character and in the way they look too.

Enjoyment:
I really did not enjoy reading this manga much at all. I feel like the whole sex thing just really put me off, and if it were taken out it might be much easier to read and also it would give the author some space to expand on the characters a little more - because when you look at his other manga you'll realise that the character development is everything. The sex scenes are just a huge shock to the system and after you recover from that shock you realise that the characters are lacking in this one and the story is very average and generally quite played out.

However, once again if you've read this and don't like it but enjoyed certain aspects of it (mainly how dark it is + themes of suicide and depression) then please check out Asano Inio's other works - you will not be disappointed!

The art is outstanding.
The whole text below is SPOILER-ish.
I don't like the stuff that didn't happen because the stuff that did did. The point in that for me is that I did grow to care about it. One of the things I was not entirely in sync with was the certain 18+ scene. I love the significance that I had thought it represents though; Him loving her so much that her everything is perfect.
In another life.. I hope I'll get to have someone to have some perfect moments with, such those few for me perfect moments in the story.
I guess the word for this story is "realistic".
I was reading it without thinking to myself "Yea, sure.". Isobe's back story and the way he handled his response to the blogger were unquestionably realistic for me.
I would like to see Isobe and Sato see each other once again, by accident, with the whole meeting lasting a moment, making it immediately apparent how even still in that moment of the future they'd jump back in to their old selves and act immaturely without coercing themselves in to doing the "right thing" and prolonging the encounter, their image triggering a relapse of the past for each other.. That's just one way it could happen.. Stories that do this to me, make me think like this, what more can I get, I guess.
Will they ever grow up to look back thinking how what they've had was exotic, perfect, rare, and be put on a smile by the thought, knowing it's already been 10 years since and that the past is dead..
Sato did such a huge thing for Isobe in the end and he'll probably never have gotten to know of it.
During their time, it was just time, as it was coming to an end, the value of it became more palpable by the day.
In the end, you don't know what you have until you've lost it, and with that experience of the past, Sato is at the end seemingly on the beginning of another story. But is it another story, or will it now just be living? That stage of her life was already writen.
Will it bring to saying the words "I love you.", before she actually feels the feeling, will it make everything hard because she'll be awkward with herself not feeling the feelings she thinks that she should feel and if the situation was over would feel? This is getting too subjective of me.
Sato's childhood friend, Kashima.
Perfect implementation.
Exactly as it goes with some "childhood friends", from my experience.
They're not some big existence, they're just people you've known for a long time.
Full on spoiler from now on:
In the end, on the last few pages, you can see how there could've been told a lot more, were Inio to have included how Sato and Kashima had met. That time when Kashima called for Sato to come to him, so his squad of friends could tell him if he's taller than her yet. She unhesitatingly obliged. That surprised me, I literally thought that they were going to bully her. On the last few pages, I was given so much more context. He casually goes about hinting at her that he wants to be with her. And it's not just that, it's that he hinted at her that he STILL wants to be with her. Like with NieR:Automata, it seems to me that a whole segment of plot took place before the narration began. He's obviously been head over heels for her for such a long time, BUT, I think that the unnarrated plot part is that she knows that. He was ever truly only her childhood friend though. The sort you're good with, but the sort that isn't so much an anime childhood friend, but a real life childhood friend.

This manga was so great that I hated it by chapter 2, but I kept reading anyway, and you know, I got an even greater love for this manga the more I read. Things happen, then more things happen, then things that happened before are just kinda dropped or lead to anti-climax, then you wonder why they happened in the first place, then it's over. It's great.
With story-telling that falls flat, characters that are all uninteresting assholes, an unfulfilling ending, and foreshadowing that's on the level of the girl protagonist wearing a shirt that says, "You will love him", what's not to absolutely love?
Being more serious, this manga tries to tell a story it itself finds interesting, and tries to convey messages, but it all falls pathetically flat upon execution. Virtually all of its messages were hand-fisted, and in one case that came out of no-where, it felt like the author took one of the themes they wanted to get to in the story but couldn't find an appropriate place to write it in at, put it into a potato sack and just slammed it into the back of the reader's head over and over; "Hey, this is a pretty clever thing I'm trying to make a point of, right?!"
The art is okayy, the paneling isn't terrible except for a few points where I had to go ahead a couple panels before understanding what the hell was trying to be conveyed a couple panels before, and the pretentiousness is arguably high.
There's no reason to read this manga. Unless you want to look at two 15-year-olds going at it or feel as unfulfilled as two actual 15-year-olds going at it, don't go near this.

To a certain extent, all great artists are broken, in that finding something deficient in the material world, they seek to envelop themselves in the gaudy film of imagination. One of the traits of being broken is overwhelming sincerity. When loosened with the function of developing an exterior persona, comes the great gushing forth of black heinous bile, because much of life is raking through black heinous bile to find the glistening gems of Beauty and Meaning, and the Artist is the strange depraved entity who would rather seek to make Meaning and Beauty through sculpting the bile itself rather than dig like all others. Well that’s not to say that the Artist can’t dig, but that he finds interest in globbing together various blotches and shades of brown and black in his spare time rather than follow into the process of unmitigated digging.

Sincerity, as an aspect of writing, is a very strange thing to grasp, because it involves the meeting of two completely subjective solipsistic souls somehow, in all the tempest, fog and rain, seeking each other through a few slight glimpses of clarity. Perception of Truth and Falsity are unequally distributed in the whole conglomerate of humanity, which makes one person’s Catcher in the Rye become another person’s pretentious overrated pile of shit. Much less, developing a ‘style of Sincerity’ is a completely ludicrous idea, given that if we accept the vast differences between human beings, we can’t foresee how anyone could even begin to develop a style that somehow gels with a large enough percentage of souls in the world that one could call it a ‘style’ in the first place, because style implies that the form has been crystallized through a continuous development, and the ‘style’ of an author is hardly developed in a single book.

Yet somehow Inio Asano, like Salinger, like David Foster Wallace, like Chris Ware, like Robert Crumb, like Hideaki Anno and like Charlie Kaufmann, has developed a cohesive aesthetic of Sincerity. Actually it’s a testament to the universality of Modern Ennui and Alienation that so many souls could feel so dreadfully and unspeakably disjunct from their souls that enough people actually appreciate a ‘style’ of Sincerity provided it comes from the context of modernized loneliness and despair, which is where much of the above mentioned authors write from. You could never conceive of this sort of Literature or Art in the ancient times when people lived in such drastically different contexts and had such separate lives. Most likely too, anyone who has not lived in a sufficiently developed and Modernized city would not be able to understand the aesthetics of Sincerity.

But the other thing that actually makes these artists and authors, well, Great Creators, in the first place, is that while coming in from a unified context, each brings their own innovations to the table. For Salinger it’s his unnervingly witty and powerful conversational style, for Ware it’s his absolutely clean and powerful grasp of the medium of comics, for Kaufmann it’s his twisted humor, for Crumb it’s his ludicrous and great anger towards society that spills over in all his weird cartoon depictions.

Inio Asano is a grand traditionalist (like how I’m aiming for a ‘traditional’ formal analysis here instead of a philosophical or a half-prose experimental analysis) in that his works are grand based on the power of formal content alone. That’s not to say that he isn’t ‘experimental’, but that unlike Ware, who experiments with form over content, Asano’s weirdness and off-key Surrealism takes place within the context and boundaries of the work, rather than stabbing the frame in the so-famous meta-fictional techniques of the postmodernists. Umibe no Onnanoko especially, is a through and through traditional work that aims at that very old and outdated concept of Beauty in detailed and distinct representation. While Punpun may have widespread moments where Asano cartoonizes, expressionizes or satirizes with a subversion of content, the form is never really broken. Panels are still placed normally without any form of ingenuity like that of Watchmen’s symmetrical placement or that of Ware’s complete destruction and manipulation of panels altogether.

But in terms of everything inside the frame, Asano has free reign. Following the tradition of Japanese atmosphere building, the very first chapter already builds up with a series of aspect-aspect shots of different parts of a seaside town, with a gradual buildup of dialogue bubbles spaced in this sceneristic void. The shots are all profoundly empty. The first appearance of Koume is effaced by the speech bubble. Below that frame, both Koume and Isobe’s heads are cut off (chapter 1 pg 6). The beginning scene is already rife with displacement and a lack.

Of course the aesthetics of Sincerity are mainly manifest in the ‘reality’ of the interactions and the dialogue. For a novelist this is easier because novels, no matter how much people want to deny this fact, are still at the bottom all Tell and no Show. The highly conversational Literature of Salinger and Foster Wallace make use of description, rhythm and psychology to weave up a tapestry of human conflict and emotion. Asano understands this and so likes to break up his works sometimes with textual interjections. Punpun was noteworthy in that one of the textual interjections was so massive that it had to take up the whole front and back cover of Volume 9. Chris Ware is the king of manipulating image and textual interjection and can lace his works with all sorts of literariness through the rigor of his placement. Since Asano is still firmly traditional in his framing (considering too that he’s writing more for a manga magazine rather than, like Ware, making her own entire book) he can’t control it as well as Ware so he has to use it sparsely. Yet, in that chapter 1 interjection, you can almost feel the ASMR-y whispering of a young girl in your head. (“Burnt out fireworks, seaweed, a child’s hat blown off by the wind” chapter 1 pg 7 Sparseness of imagery for poetic effect is especially prevalent in Japanese literature, most notably with the very tight flash fiction and stories of Kawabata and the whole tradition of Haiku)

Asano’s poetics of Sincerity are based around two things. The first is the willingness to depict the extraneous moments and actions of life. This means that the people in an Asano manga will talk about all sorts of things completely unrelated to the current story, as well as (going by the English translation) all the strange cuttings and meanderings of real conversation. Also because his style is more detailed and realistically oriented (closer to Real than Symbol in McCloud’s Big Triangle) he can pull off all the facial nuances of his characters. So when in the first chapter Isobe tries to kiss Koume, not only do their stances alone emphasize the awkwardness, but her arms drawing backwards, and the slight upwards crease of her lip to indicate a slight displeasure, and then turning her head away to fend off his advance, are all manifested in an absolutely small 3 panel moment-moment exchange (chapter 1 pg 14). Characters also make all kinds of references to Japanese media and talk about small things.

The second is in the impressionistic framing. Like a Roeg film, Asano will not really draw a linear line of events but make a psychological landscape. So when Koume realizes she’s menstruating (chapter 1 pg 21), the frame cuts to a parallel imagined image of Isobe naked, then cuts to a first person view of her looking at her bloody underwear, then cuts to the moment where she makes her move on Isobe, but then will draw back to a different point in their ordinary class life. For Asano it’s all in the details, not just in the big moments, but in the small. So when Koume talks about a date with Misaki, Asano will cut to a small brief picture of Kashima eyeing her out of the corner of his manga (chapter 1 pg 23), and the next frame doubles as both a point of view shot of Kashima voyeuristically viewing Koume’s body, as well as a displacing Koume’s face in awkwardness when she tries to defend Misaki from her friends. Then when Kashima interjects into Koume’s talk, he’s shown upside down to emphasize his playfulness, while her frame is diminished to show her being embarrassed by his interjection, only to enlarge again when she notices Isobe is taking notice of her. Awkwardness, mood, and mental state are all manifest in the placement of the frames alone.

You could say that Umibe no Onnanoko is ‘cinematic’ but there are still things that could only be done through manga alone. So in the same way the teachers in Punpun are exaggerated comically, Asano also exaggerates Misaki with manga specific traits (chapter 1 pg 26), like onomatopoeia. Yet this is still, like Solanin, the more ‘cinematic’ of his works.

Now to get to that very dark dusky vulgar area of sexuality. When you translate the pitch perfect composition of Asano over to the sex scenes, what you get is extremely high voyeuristic sensuality. Asano mixes up the points of view and frames to really subjectivize the experience of sex in a way that makes you feel like you’re really looking straight into the base primality, awkwardness and fluttering excitement of two souls trying to unite in the physical realm. Yet she can just as easily cut back to make the moment seem like an empty endeavor, to rehighlight the theme of whether love and sexuality are distinct, or whether a person can indulge in base pleasure completely cut away from connection altogether. The whole crux of the book is the sex scenes solely because these depict the pushing and pulling away of Isobe and Koume from each other. So the first scene is awkward, while the second scene is more detachment and comical because of the location and later it vacillates between sex done out of vacuous boredom and brief enjoyment to aggressive sensuality as the emotions between the two characters also go through ups and downs. Like one of the scenes (chapter 7 page 5) completely effaces the facial expressions altogether and while the scene itself is a brief montage of parts, the real connection comes with Koume and Isobe talking idly after the moment, in a scene that floats through their closed eyes and half tired faces, dreamily floating over their bodies and then pulling backwards into a shot of the city.

Asano is a true example of how far mastery of the form can get you. How much more real your characters become when your composition is a perfect mirror with the feelings of your character. These two volumes, and all of Asano’s works, deserves to be studied by any comic artist who wants to make it out there in the world and go beyond the ordinary and the banal to create really powerful art.

I only bought Umibe no Onnanoko because of the author, while i didn't expect it to be as good as Goodnight Punpun i did expect some level of similarity between the two.

A Girl on the Shore feels like its replacing deep, thought provoking mature themes with sex. I did come into it expecting at least one sex scene but it was a bit ridiculous at the amount of them. If it focused more on the character's psychological state more i think it would've been more enjoyable. Don't get me wrong, it does show the character's psychological state, just not as much as i would have liked. The ending was also weak in my opinion.

The art was amazing, as expected. Had a few full page panels which were really nice.

Overall an enjoyable read that i would recommend. If it had focused more on what the characters are feeling rather than what they are doing, it would've been better.

Symbolism or whatever you want to call it. These manga speak volumes behind their images of what is happening and what could have happened. The boy might have ignored her, but he didn't; The girl could have been more sincere, but she didn't; The boy could have committed suicide, but he made the decision to hit his attackers, etc. Now to understand it in a simple way, The boy in the 1st chapter caught a USB memory, the girl, even though she was close to the sea, never caught anything. Can you imagine these two protagonists in a different setting? They could have been kissing at the seashore like two young men who met each other
(symbolically they appear at the end). But the setting is different, the seaside or adolescence is not the same for everyone, some are lucky to find something soon, others go round and round to get out of this complicated shore. Works that call for reflection and leave you that sour taste because they appeal to your circumstances as a person that led you to act in such a way.

PS: The first impression I had of the girl was "wtf this ugly", I thought it was a bit mediocre for art, but then I saw the backgrounds and knew it was part of the symbolism of the character's development, they noticed that every time the chapters the girl was prettier? ... that certainly is something I had not seen in another manga, or I do not remember, having done that on purpose to symbolize the beauty of a character while you develop it, gives an extra point to my opinion.

Teenage romance is very unique and special. Its something that everyone or most people in their life has gone through. Its not perfect, more like it was never meant to be perfect.
Its bleak. It has an edge of its own. And somehow its a kind of romantic feeling we can never forget. Its always there hidden deep in an unconsciousness mind. Having a
personal experience with teenage love I can really relate to this manga. So much that it makes me want to cry my heart out.

Umibe no Onnanoko is about teenage love. And its really very realistic in that topic. Its heart wrenching from every aspects. Asano really delivers when it comes to writing heartbreaking stuffs with realism. The artwork is really beautiful. Some panels and even the portrayals of the sex scenes are very well drawn out. And there is always an underlying sadness in the sex scenes.

A lot of people might hate this manga. And I can clearly see why. But to me it was amazing. Short and cold and miserable at times. But still mesmerizing. Mangas like this really makes me sad.
Makes me think about going back to the past and rectify the mistakes I have done. Overall this was quite an enjoyable yet painful read.

Maybe instead of a review, this is more of like an afterthought. First of all, everything gets a 10. The art just fits perfectly with this type of story, something more realistic compared to the normal exaggerated type of style. (Nothing wrong w those styles btw but I feel as if a more realistic style for this matches the type of story more.)

As we grow, we're sure to experience several of these feelings. Relationships with people all happen eventually and what happens, happens. Life just goes on, with the many conflicts we experience and the solutions we come to. I think that's expressed very well in this story.

This story covers a girl growing up and her romantic (?) relationships. After a heartbreak, she flocks to this boy who likes her, who she also rejected previously. As things go on, they involve each other more and more into their daily lives, with the boy still in love and the girl only using him for her comfort. And as the girl realizes she has feelings for the boy, the boy tries his best to not focus on her too much. Of course real life isn't as nice or romantic but in a way, I'm sure many people can understand or feel the same. It's one of those that end with a bittersweet ending and that's perfectly fine.

I read this after I read Oyasumi Punpun, so I had great expectations. After I finished it, I wasn't disappointed. The story focused on a topic that I've never seen before from a manga. It was sexual, yet with underage characters. It was astonishing, and realistic to a point.

The two main characters are really just teenagers with really messed up experiences and that leads to their more messed up relationship. This manga showed loneliness and the emptiness of their characters very well, both in the normal day-to-day scenes or in their sexual intercouse scenes.

I generally liked Asano Inio's art style, and how he potrayed his character. His art style really suits his story and I really enjoyed it throughout reading this manga. Other characters besides the main character seem ordinary and not really complex and easily forgettable so the story was only focused on those two characters and it might be a way to show how different they are from the others. And it does, it makes the two characters more distinct and cut out from the world.

Even though it was short (only 20 chapters long), the character decelopment was adequate. The ending wasn't ideal for me, but it is an ending that was needed. It showed the consequences resulted from all of their actions, and that's realistic. After reading Punpun and this, I'm certain that I have to read all of Asano Inio's works.