Asobi Asobase

[Gagweeb]

These are the stages of a hentai consumer :
First stage : you see nipple, PP go diamond, heck, you don't even bother with the tags.
Second stage : nipples ain't enough, i need 'Plot', so you read 'Romance' tag.
Third stage: you first discover 'Netorare' and you feel disgusted, traumatized even, you feel hollow and empty, your PP go soft, and start having trouble sleeping just because you remember the ugly bastard or the ahegao when the heroin got corrupted by him..... ultimately leading to you garing the genre, even avoiding it, and you get PTSD's every time you see 'N', 'T', and 'R' close to each other ...........
Fourth stage : you find wisdom, you don't like NTR but you got used to it, so you don't care anymore....
And so, you see nipple PP go Diamond

 

[ImDanGrow]

@Gagweeb why is this so accurate

 

[Mirza_Shahbaz]

10/10 just because of the cover

 

[akman]

Fellas, will we ever get an official english translation?

 

[quitelot88]

So Kasumi was Palps all along?

 

[selverinet]

I just realized that the girl on the bottom left of the Vol. 11 cover is the Shogi President. Looks like she's fully healed now.

@quitelot88 That's a pretty cool theory.

 

[tblst]

@selverinet

Spoiler

Actually it's the smartest girl in class with a boyfriend whom Hanako was always envious of.

 

[selverinet]

@tblst
The colour confuses me. I think you're right.

 

[Clone_Nero]

@quitelot88 Mah Man AHHAAHAHAHAAH

 

[xyzzy]

As of today, the entire series is now available on Comikey if you want to read the rest.

 

[ManiaEla]

Hanako my queen.

 

[ImNotCreativeEnoughtForThese]

Too bad this never got finished here, this manga is one of my favourites and I love having the ability to comment on each chapter.

 

[SleepyDemon]

After some years after having a blast watching the anime, I've finally read all of the manga.

And...uh...yeah. I guess some of the things I've heard about it are pretty spot on. First half is where it's at its Asobi Asobase-ist (relatively simple interactions, punchy humor, primary focus on the trio) but it spirals into basically another genre later on.

The main trio as they were essentially become cameos in their own manga as increasing focus is placed on the art + news clubs. And on top of that, a lot of the trio's hanging out time is reduced to Hanako + Olivia feeling like awkward strangers while seeing Kasumi get friendly with Aozora or just hanging out with other characters due to it. Heck, there's even a chapter where Kasumi basically breaks the 4th wall to say what's on the reader's mind regarding the situation and send some ire toward the interlopers for infringing on the rare chance they had to hang out again.

And that's another thing. The comedy kind of...dries up. Rather than short and sweet set-ups it switches over to long form character interactions without any real punch line. Most of it reserved to show how psychologically disturbed the art club people are...and unlike the main trio they aren't really funny, it isn't really played up for laughs - they're mostly just off-putting with the rare sprinkle of wholesome.

And the ending. Oh boy, the ending. We learn that Kasumi's older sister

Spoiler

essentially killed her in every parallel universe by making an Egyptian god angry through breaking its artifact and falsely using her name to get out of a punishment for a death game she kept losing at

and that Aozora is

Spoiler

a genderless otherworldly homunculus meant to absorb the misfortune of this world's Kasumi - the last Kasumi - to keep her alive, hence why they're so attached to her and distant to literally everyone else. They get called over for maintenance by the freaky teacher who's a mad scientist/serial killer that created them, act reluctant over it

and that's where it suddenly ends as Olivia + Hanako plan a trip that Kasumi can't attend due to a lack of a passport.

The art is always great, the characters (even the art club!) are interesting but if you wanted more of what you saw in the anime I'm sad to say that it doesn't maintain that level of fun zaniness. On the flipside, if you liked the art club's shenanigans they have an entire prequel spinoff dedicated to them in Outsider Paradise

 

[Speedmarque]

but if you wanted more of what you saw in the anime I'm sad to say that it doesn't maintain that level of fun zaniness.

Thanks, I guess it was appropriate that the anime didn't get a second season, if the manga lost focus. What a shame as the anime was absolutely fantastic.

 

[irr]

I would like to see if anyone has interviewed Rin regarding the shift in the series and the clear desire to focus on the art (+news) club to the point of just ending this series and starting one based on them.