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About:
Warning:
This review will contain spoilers for the manga and anime series Can an Otaku Like Me Really Be an Idol!?. While the manga may vary slightly from all other forms of media, it may have similar story elements and could be considered spoilers.
Content Warning: There may be references to sexism, implied pedophilia (not between the main couple), blackmail, coercion, obsession, dubcon/noncon, bullying, being outed, inciting suicide, extortion, violence, and blood, as they appear in the manga.
Synopsis:
Takumi Suzuki is living a double life. By day, he’s an idol otaku who keeps to himself at school. By night, he goes online as Rumepi, singing idol songs and sharing his love for idols. He never intended to pretend to be a girl online, but because of his small stature and high tone of voice, all of his viewers just assumed he was, and Takumi couldn’t bring himself to correct them. Takumi’s love of idols is very public, in more ways than one, but this obsession leaves him pretty lonely in class. While cleaning his classroom solo, Takumi puts up a desk, only to discover some idol merch left behind. It isn’t his desk, which means that someone else in the class is a secret idol fan like him.
Wondering who it is, it isn’t long before Takumi’s fellow idol fan’s identity is revealed as they rush back in to get their missing merch. It is none other than Misaki Hayakawa, one of the popular boys in his class and none other than Takumi’s crush. Takumi is ecstatic. He can’t control himself and ends up spewing all manner of questions and compliments regarding idols and the merch, but Misaki is not interested in fanboying over their shared love. Instead, Misaki wants Takumi’s deepest, darkest secret. Why? So he can blackmail Takumi with it and ensure his secret love of idols stays a secret.
Takumi is very open about most of his preferences, so Misaki decides to create something. Misaki takes Takumi home, forces him into some girl idol costumes, and then takes pictures. But once Misaki sees Takumi dressed as a girl, he is mildly attracted to him. Likewise, Takumi, dressed as a woman, alone with his crush, finds himself wanting to take Misaki right then and there. Just what is stirring between these two idol otaku?
Review:
I have to be real; I hate this art style. It’s not that it’s ugly by any means, but it’s very inconsistent, and Takumi looks super young. I’m not a fan of shotacon, and though he may not be a real shota age-wise, his design gives me shota vibes, and I don’t like it. It just makes me feel icky, which is super disappointing since the more petite, cutesy guy being the top is pretty rare, and I was really looking forward to this depiction. It can be very cute, but it’s hard to enjoy with all the smut alongside that shota design.
While I dislike the art, I like that our main characters both live very different private lives from the ones they live publically. Interestingly, both of Takumi’s lives are public, though one is much more public than the other. As someone who is considered a “nerd” and “otaku,” Takumi is much more extroverted about who he is. In his daily life, Takumi has no problems being an idol fanatic. Similarly, he uses an alter ego named Rumepi to create content about his love of idols and idol culture. Both of his personas are much more open than I would’ve anticipated from him as an otaku, which was very refreshing.
Meanwhile, the popular Misaki is much more reserved with his love of idols, which he feels compelled to hide in order to maintain his image. This hidden self also hides a much more loud and rude character, entirely counter to the mild-mannered and kind student he portrays in school. I love how, though he comes off as the cool and almost golden retriever-like top type, beneath the surface, he turns out to be the somewhat bratty bottom instead. I love that Takumi and Misaki not only challenge the norms when it comes to their sexual positions, but they are also very different personality-wise from what their traditional tropes would be. These two bring me lots of joy on that front.
However, story-wise, this is very weak. Each chapter feels very disjointed from the next, and while I love a smut-heavy story, the smut does this title no favors (granted, I already said I hate Takumi’s shota-leaning design, so I’m pretty biased on this point). After Takumi has his way with Misaki, Misaki admits that he had been saving himself to have sex with an idol, so now Takumi must become an idol to take responsibility. This is actually a pretty fun premise, but what follows is a lot of minuscule training segments, followed by Takumi’s gender being outed and Takumi performing on stage, only for him to fade into anonymity despite getting a fairly positive reception at his performance. Each of these “arcs” is overwhelmed with smut, making the story feel a bit needless. I feel like if they wanted a rising-idol narrative, this needed to be so much longer to accommodate the smut, or the smut needed to be pared down. But that’s just me.
I also want to briefly mention the extra side story that is completely separate from the main story, which has a nerd with a delinquent. I actually liked this little side story way more. It’s a one-shot chapter, so there is little to no story, but it has that same role reversal when it comes to their sexual positions, and we get a delinquent power bottom, which is always a nice addition. I hate that it was put in this title because I think it’s a really fun read, but it’s not worth reading the whole main story to get to it.
Results:
This was a pretty big miss for me. As much as I like the bigger bottom with a smaller top dynamic and how their personalities are counter to their archetypes, there is just too much lacking in this title to recommend. I will readily admit that much of my negative opinions are rooted in Takumi’s shota-esque design, but I feel quite strongly about that. If it’s your thing, all the power to you. I’m not here to yuck anyone’s yum. However, beyond the design, the story is just not up to par for what it sets out to be. I’m just very disappointed overall.
Have you read Can an Otaku Like Me Really Be an Idol!?? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!