Silly but Cute: Yankee Shota to Otaku Oneesan

Synopsis

Saeki Kazuko is an ordinary otaku who has a thing for “two-dimensional shota.” In reality, there are two things that she has trouble dealing with, boys and Yankees. Two things that her neighbor’s elementary school child exactly are. Aikawa Ryuou is a true Yankee boy with a blonde dyed hair and a tough attitude as he seems to constantly bother Saeki. Behind his rough approach, however, lies an earnest young boy trying to win her love.

The Good

First off, let’s all just take a moment to breathe a sigh of relief that this is not some awkward/weird love story between a woman and a kid. No, this is basically the story of a kid who wants to act like a cool and tough guy while trying to get this woman he has a crush on to like him. While there is a chance of things taking a slightly off turn for the weird, it is majorly innocent and has a lot of cuteness and hilarity to enjoy.

The exploration of the different characters and their perspectives also helps in keeping the tone of the story while also adding to it. On the note of the characters, both Saeki and Ryuou hold a nice yet subtle development to them and the dynamics that they have with other characters and each other are rather fun to read through. Simply put, they are characters have an almost realistic development to them with the way that the story is going.

The Bad

There are moments when things can be considered as awkward. An example is with Saeki’s liking towards shota characters, but the scale isn’t all that large. The real weird side that placed the series onto left field was in chapter 9 when a female classmate of Ryuou’s was introduced. Just everything about the chapter seemed off-kilter and out of place with the who gorilla head antics that she did.

And what’s more, we just about never see her again in later chapters, not even a frame, which doesn’t help with the whole out of place feeling. On a smaller note, it would be nice to see more explored on Ryuou’s parents other than them being the hot-tempered mom and the oblivious dad who yell a lot.

Conclusion

It’s a series that could have ended largely weird but for the most part, presents a rather cute and hilarious story. Each chapter develops the characters in different ways and offers a new perspective which really makes the story interesting. There are some awkward moments but for the most part, each chapter, except for one in this writer’s opinion, has something that will either make you smile or giggle.

Rating: 8/10