I saw the cover and instantly recognized the art. I'll read it because I like the artist (I know Horimiya was written by HERO and only illustrated by Hagiwara), since the premise itself isn't all that interesting, so far. The age gap is off-putting, however I will give it a benefit of doubt that maybe the romance isn't between those two. It would be surprising, but I wouldn't put it beyond the realm of possibilities. On the first page we see a guy seemingly interested in the female MC behind her on the bus, so the signs are there and both of the have their own lives and circles (school and other mangakas respectively).
If the romance will be between the two of them, then it will be time to drop. Although, there are some extenuating circumstances, since despite the supposed premise of them knowing each other it does seem like their interactions were both limited and very long ago, so they are basically strangers at this point and it's hard to talk about any sort of grooming or similar things. Also, the romance in many Japanese manga is so slow she might be past college by the time they decide to move past hand-holding. I do have to say that also I have friends that did date older guys with a similar age gap while in their early twenties, so from experience I know it's not something that doesn't happen in real life and it's not necessarily terrible, thought I didn't approve of them doing that and they were all adults already, so similarly I wouldn't like it to happen here. Once again, if they really date it's time to drop. They could have made the age gap much smaller and it would still work with the plot.
As for the guy drawing adult manga, this is also slightly off-putting but less so. There's nothing inherently wrong with adult content. Like, for example, "Game of Thrones" was one of the most popular shows worldwide when it was airing and it was extremely adult and that didn't take away from it being able to tell a compelling story and be good overall (except for the last season, but that's for reasons unrelated to my point). If it's a proper story that also has adult elements in it, there's no issue in that. It's rather straight-up pornography with no plot but just objectification of bodies that is no good. And people consuming it. I wonder whether at later stages they will say more about what exactly he is writing or if it will just remain as adult content for the sake of jokes. Similarly, a lot of context comes from how one consumes adult content. It's not like people in cinemas start slipping their pants off once a sex scene appears. Just because he draws adult content doesn't mean he enjoys it in those ways. Although, if it indeed is just pornography then it would be unusual to read it even if just for the sake of reading it. In any case I would prefer if this part of the story was different. I wonder whether the author has any interesting story to tell specifically in relation to this or if this is just a quirk to grab attention.
If the romance will be between the two of them, then it will be time to drop. Although, there are some extenuating circumstances, since despite the supposed premise of them knowing each other it does seem like their interactions were both limited and very long ago, so they are basically strangers at this point and it's hard to talk about any sort of grooming or similar things. Also, the romance in many Japanese manga is so slow she might be past college by the time they decide to move past hand-holding. I do have to say that also I have friends that did date older guys with a similar age gap while in their early twenties, so from experience I know it's not something that doesn't happen in real life and it's not necessarily terrible, thought I didn't approve of them doing that and they were all adults already, so similarly I wouldn't like it to happen here. Once again, if they really date it's time to drop. They could have made the age gap much smaller and it would still work with the plot.
As for the guy drawing adult manga, this is also slightly off-putting but less so. There's nothing inherently wrong with adult content. Like, for example, "Game of Thrones" was one of the most popular shows worldwide when it was airing and it was extremely adult and that didn't take away from it being able to tell a compelling story and be good overall (except for the last season, but that's for reasons unrelated to my point). If it's a proper story that also has adult elements in it, there's no issue in that. It's rather straight-up pornography with no plot but just objectification of bodies that is no good. And people consuming it. I wonder whether at later stages they will say more about what exactly he is writing or if it will just remain as adult content for the sake of jokes. Similarly, a lot of context comes from how one consumes adult content. It's not like people in cinemas start slipping their pants off once a sex scene appears. Just because he draws adult content doesn't mean he enjoys it in those ways. Although, if it indeed is just pornography then it would be unusual to read it even if just for the sake of reading it. In any case I would prefer if this part of the story was different. I wonder whether the author has any interesting story to tell specifically in relation to this or if this is just a quirk to grab attention.
