Nonsensical Story With Threesomes/Cuckolding Between Actors
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Warning:
This review will contain spoilers for the manga and anime series Erotic Actor. 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 dubcon/noncon, shota-like character design, child labor (acting), sexism, cheating (nonconsenting polyamory), gossiping, missing children, gun violence (in the context of acting), blood (in the context of acting), mentions of murder, mentions of death, mentions of strained familial relationships, manipulation, self-deprecation, arson (in the context of acting), being orphaned, and mentions of religion, as they appear in the manga.
Synopsis:
Hijiri, Aikichi, and Kyotaro have been in the entertainment industry together for a long time, and their relationship is… an unusual one. Hijiri and Kyotaro are in a committed relationship, but Kyotaro enjoys watching Aikichi pleasure Hijiri, too. So, despite Hijiri’s hesitancy, the three are constantly tumbling in bed together. Still, despite having been entangled with each other all this time, there are walls that linger between them.
Hijiri, having lost his childish charm and child prodigy status after going through puberty, feels useless and unable to do anything without Kyotaro’s help. Kyotaro, though immensely popular, talented, and powerful, isn’t sure he has the ability to love Hijiri the way he should. And Aikichi, the extra in this coupling, longs for Hijiri and isn’t sure if he should continue to love them both despite knowing he’s a wedge in their relationship, or resolve himself to heartbreak and loneliness without them. In the meantime, as they struggle with their various relationships with one another, they must make their latest acting gig a success without giving away their strange relationship.
Review:
I have to admit, I was coming into this with a pretty high bar. While Making My Little Fox Mine is inconsistent, it is very pretty overall. Unfortunately, I think the high bar was part of my undoing. If you liked Making My Little Fox Mine, you might be extremely disappointed. There are some similarities, such as the bottom being extremely young-looking. He is not technically a shota, but Hijiri is shota-designed. If that isn’t your thing, steer clear. It isn’t my thing either, but it was the least of my concerns. The anatomy in this is beyond wild with broken backs (and butts), faces that look like they are melting, and some of the most unflattering hairstyles I’ve seen. Consistency and beauty are not the name of the game here, so if you need that in your BL, you are going to be very disappointed. Also, the smut is near-indecipherable, so if you want to actually be able to see what is happening in your smut scenes, that’s not here either.
But maybe worse than the poor art is the story. It is as nonsensical as nonsensical gets. The first major issue is what the relationship between each character even is. It is clear from the beginning that Hijiri only has eyes for Kyotaro. Meanwhile, Aikichi clearly has affection for both Hijiri and Kyotaro. I love it when the tops interact with each other, so seeing Aikichi and Kyotaro kiss frequently was very nice, but it seems like Kyotaro and Aikichi are more attracted to each other than is revealed later on. It takes far too long for Hijiri and Kyotaro to be established as the core lovers, with Aikichi being a fun third, but it doesn’t get much clearer even after that.
As the story goes along, we learn that Aikichi fell for Hijiri and has been longing for him ever since, but the chemistry between them is nearly zero. They try to expand on this with flashbacks of Aikichi seeing Hijiri on the street for the first time, but that contradicts the story that Aikichi found a much younger Hijiri hiding in a cupboard first. Meanwhile, we get nothing on the relationship between Aikichi and Kyotaro. It is clear that Kyotaro brought Aikichi into his relationship with Hijiri, and the two kiss all the time. The chemistry between them felt far stronger than any of them, but we know the least about them. It was a huge missed opportunity.
Part of what makes everything so muddled is the interjection of the movie they are filming. Of course, it is the reason these three are currently together, as they are all actors in it, but mixing that with flashbacks makes everything so much more confusing than it has to be. Add in these small side quests, like the child actor going missing and such, and the core parts of the story that would actually benefit the main story become confused or weakened. This could’ve been cut in half, and I think it would’ve only helped. But ultimately, with everything mixed up like this, it’s just a nonsensical mess.
Results:
This was a huge disappointment. The art is beyond rough, the story is nonsensical, and the chemistry between everyone makes little to no sense. There were strong opportunities here. There was a chance of a poly relationship (not acted upon), a chance of a true top x top relationship (completely ignored), or, at the very least, more time to enhance the relationships among everyone (replaced with unnecessary entertainment industry scenes). This was not worth the time or the money to read. If you are interested in Henrietta‘s work, I implore you to try Making My Little Fox Mine. This, however, is a very poor showing.
Have you read Erotic Actor? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!
