A Girl on the Shore (うみべの女の子) is a psychological romance hentai manga by Asano Inio. The series was originally published in Japan between 2009 and 2013.
As an average girl with few friends Koume is struggling to fit in at school. She confesses to an upper class-man that she likes. Seizing on the opportunity he gets her to give him a blow job, telling her he may like her more that way. She agrees to it, hoping to end up dating him. Instead she find's her self in a state of conflicted emotions. She desires to be with the upper class-man but feels ashamed of belittling herself to accomplish her goal. Instead she confides in Keisuke, a loner transfer student who knows what happened. Instead of sorting out her feelings she decides to use him as a sexual tool in order to work through her emotions.
Koume doesn't know what she feels as she continues to exploit Keisuke for sex. She struggles to understand what she is accomplishing and if she is doing the right thing, instead of figuring it out she is swept up in the trial of maturity. Keisuke uses the opportunity to satisfy his own carnal desires, but belittles Koume in the process. Struggling with his own mental issues he shuns everything around him, barely going to school, mostly left alone by his absentee parents. Part of him yearns for real companionship with Koume and the other part of him only see's her as a tool for his own satisfaction. His mind meanwhile is transfixed on righting a wrong he feels is responsible for his dramatic world view. As he continues his relationship with Koume he uses her to explore his darker fantasies and fetishes, hoping to push her away from him.
I'm going to through a warning flag on this one right here, this is an incredibly explicit manga, explicit enough given the normal Japanese censorship laws that it even caught me off guard. Asano stated in an interview after the series had run its course that he was lucky to have published it when he did, given the massive shift in manga that depicted underage nudity and sexuality to be banned from publication. While definitely a realistic representation of teenage sexuality at times the series did seem somewhat exploitative. The story could have been just as impact if it was less graphic. This brings back the discussion of when you cross the line between art and not? I don't want to get into that here, because it's too long and complicated. But I will make the warning of this is one of the manga that could lead to someone getting arrested for indecent material...even in places like Canada or the US. The main characters are 14 or so and there is a lot of graphic sex between them...a lot. But the manga doesn't seem to be specifically designed to masturbate too.
The writing is very realistic, much more grounded in the real lives of teenager than your run of the mill shonen romance title, of which the shut in otaku seem to obsess over. This deals with teens struggling with social acceptance, satisfying their biological urges and trying to figure out their place in society and their purpose in the world. At times though, because the characters are so typical of the depressed and out of sorts youth they represent it seems almost passe, almost too melodramatic. The series flows rather well though, between sexual exploits and contemplation of self worth until what could be considered the epilogue where you have to read between the lines a little to see how the main characters end up. All in all the best thing about the manga is the artwork and its realistic, sometimes too real, depictions of modern teenagers with too much time and not enough supervision. Not the best I have read but Asano continues to blow me away with his artwork.
The series, surprisingly, was published in North America by Vertical and is currently available in one large tankoubon.
As an average girl with few friends Koume is struggling to fit in at school. She confesses to an upper class-man that she likes. Seizing on the opportunity he gets her to give him a blow job, telling her he may like her more that way. She agrees to it, hoping to end up dating him. Instead she find's her self in a state of conflicted emotions. She desires to be with the upper class-man but feels ashamed of belittling herself to accomplish her goal. Instead she confides in Keisuke, a loner transfer student who knows what happened. Instead of sorting out her feelings she decides to use him as a sexual tool in order to work through her emotions.
Koume doesn't know what she feels as she continues to exploit Keisuke for sex. She struggles to understand what she is accomplishing and if she is doing the right thing, instead of figuring it out she is swept up in the trial of maturity. Keisuke uses the opportunity to satisfy his own carnal desires, but belittles Koume in the process. Struggling with his own mental issues he shuns everything around him, barely going to school, mostly left alone by his absentee parents. Part of him yearns for real companionship with Koume and the other part of him only see's her as a tool for his own satisfaction. His mind meanwhile is transfixed on righting a wrong he feels is responsible for his dramatic world view. As he continues his relationship with Koume he uses her to explore his darker fantasies and fetishes, hoping to push her away from him.
I'm going to through a warning flag on this one right here, this is an incredibly explicit manga, explicit enough given the normal Japanese censorship laws that it even caught me off guard. Asano stated in an interview after the series had run its course that he was lucky to have published it when he did, given the massive shift in manga that depicted underage nudity and sexuality to be banned from publication. While definitely a realistic representation of teenage sexuality at times the series did seem somewhat exploitative. The story could have been just as impact if it was less graphic. This brings back the discussion of when you cross the line between art and not? I don't want to get into that here, because it's too long and complicated. But I will make the warning of this is one of the manga that could lead to someone getting arrested for indecent material...even in places like Canada or the US. The main characters are 14 or so and there is a lot of graphic sex between them...a lot. But the manga doesn't seem to be specifically designed to masturbate too.
The writing is very realistic, much more grounded in the real lives of teenager than your run of the mill shonen romance title, of which the shut in otaku seem to obsess over. This deals with teens struggling with social acceptance, satisfying their biological urges and trying to figure out their place in society and their purpose in the world. At times though, because the characters are so typical of the depressed and out of sorts youth they represent it seems almost passe, almost too melodramatic. The series flows rather well though, between sexual exploits and contemplation of self worth until what could be considered the epilogue where you have to read between the lines a little to see how the main characters end up. All in all the best thing about the manga is the artwork and its realistic, sometimes too real, depictions of modern teenagers with too much time and not enough supervision. Not the best I have read but Asano continues to blow me away with his artwork.
The series, surprisingly, was published in North America by Vertical and is currently available in one large tankoubon.
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