What's It About?
Hinata wonders if she might be doing it wrong with her boyfriend Ryota—sex just isn't fun for her! She knows the interactions of intimacy are supposed to be built on communication, but while the rest of their relationship is working just fine, she has no idea how to broach this sexual subject. That is, until Hinata notices that Ryota seems to be more sensitive to touch in certain areas, and finds she's actually turned on by seeing this more vulnerable side of him. Can Hinata actually get Ryota to open up about his preferences and stimulate some more sensual sexytimes between the couple?
You Can Feel Better Than That has a story and art by Kaname Kinuco, with English translation by K. L. Davis. This volume was lettered by Joe Lou. Published by Irodori (October 14, 2024).
Is It Worth Reading?
Christopher Farris
Rating:
It seems like every Manga Guide there's at least one or two of these releases from Irodori—illustrations of erotic awakening framed by the unbelievable notion that there are guys with the slightest inclination towards femdom as well as women just waiting to accept them. Get these people to spend some time perusing my Twitter mutuals, you would be shocked. It's common enough that it might make you trot out the ol' "Are the straights okay?" concern, especially as You Can Feel Better Than That opens with leading lady Hinata confessing that she straight-up does not enjoy sex as she's having it now.
Hinata concedes that issues between her and boyfriend Ryota are likely down to communication, but notably this lack doesn't seem to be impacting their romantic compatibility otherwise. In fact, the latent love between the couple is what spurs Hinata to try for more engaging sexytimes with Ryota at all, and there's a notable point where she realizes that getting more information out of him about his sexual preferences and hangups also leads to them opening up more about their pasts and lives with each other. Imagine that.
If this all seems rather rote and vanilla, that's because it is, but I can't deny that I generally see the value in manga like this for the kids out there who might be struggling to get it still. Lord knows it's probably more helpful than regular-ass porn, and You Can Feel Better Than That has its own moments of personal appeal. The book's attention to sensitivity belies Kaname Kinuco going so far as to include the essential male nipple on the cover, and there's an appreciation for the very human, often embarrassing interactions that occur during casual sexytimes. I also enjoy the effort made towards the concerted contrast between the very unsexy sex at the start and the more properly passionate lovemaking the couple are getting up to during the, uh, climax. Even if it does just loop back around to them having man-on-top missionary position sex. Baby steps, I guess. This isn't really the best one of these that Irodori has put out, but it'salso hardly offensive, and I'm sure this is the preferred kind of porn for some selective audiences out there. That's another thing I can't judge about these releases.
Jean-Karlo Lemus
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Summary: Hina and Ryota aren't quite satisfied with each other; Hina barely enjoys their intimacy, and Ryota is too scared to try anything out of the ordinary. After a chance encounter, the pair have an opportunity to really learn what they both like—and maybe walk away happier for it!
Sex is all about communication, but it's also all about vulnerability. You're showing a lot of yourself to your partner, even stuff you think would be a turn-off. This isn't easy, people can have a lot of hangups from ingrained societal expectations or experiences from prior relationships. Which is where we find Hina and Ryota. A lack of communication has left things rather trite in the bedroom for them, and it's only with a bit of poking and prodding (or licking, rather) from Hina that the pair find what makes each other tick.
There's a lot that I appreciate about this book; it's not just Hina learning that she likes to be on top and watching Ryota struggle, it's also about Ryota learning about Hina and what she enjoys. The crux of this book is that the pair communicate with each other. There are a lot of mutual vulnerabilities that the two have to be consoled over, which I think most anyone can identify with: Ryota worries about being gross because of how sweaty he gets, and Hina is self-conscious about her weird faces. But, of course, that's just part of what it means to love someone: accepting all the “weird” parts about each other.
The book doesn't go much deeper than that, but it does open the door for further continuations from Kaname Kinuco—and I look forward to them. I'm rooting for these two horny idiots. Strongly recommended—but this one's only for folks 18 and up.
MrAJCosplay
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Sex can be gross. If you really sit down and think about it, I'm not surprised that there are people out there who think sex could be one of the most unattractive things that human beings can do. You have to be physically exhausted and in many cases, emotionally vulnerable. When the deed is done, you feel sweaty and gross. Our world also over-hyped the hell out of sex so it's very easy to find yourself disappointed or let down by what it's supposed to be. But that's it, a lot of people don't know what sex is supposed to be about and this can create problems. If you don't know what you want, how can you tell your partner? Fundamentally at its core, it's just another form of communication.
Communication is at the heart of this story. It's a very simple short story about a couple that has skewed opinions of sex due to their past experiences. One is afraid to be vulnerable due to how they treated them while the other was never really given a reason to find sex interesting in the first place. However, they hide these facts from each other and so, since they're not communicating, their sex life just isn't that interesting or engaging. It's a situation where a snake eats its own tail and the cycle continues until they're finally given a reason to talk about it.
Suddenly, they can explore things about themselves and each other that they never thought possible. Sex finally has meaning in their life and the relationship is better for it. I appreciate stories like this that go into what sex can mean for people at an emotional level. The artwork is nice and I love how the facial expressions evolve into something a lot more exciting as things go on given the context of the story. It's short and fun, but I think this story does well to pass the time.