Usotsuki Paradox

RingoStarr1991 Mar 25, 2014

4.5

***I apologize but unlike my other reviews this one contains spoilers throughout the entire review.*** Never in my life have I been so motivated to write a review even though it's like 2AM here. What started out as a funny ecchi comedy ended in the worst possible manner. Let's dive into why Usotsuki Paradox is a manga you should avoid. Story: 2/10 I'll admit that the opening chapters had me quite interested in what was going on. Essentially the main female lead is part of a "long distance" relationship and decides that it would be ok for one of her co-workers to provide "emotional support". It starts out all innocent but they eventually move onto things that can never be forgotten. The thing is, this is not a bad plot device. In fact I really enjoyed the manga up until this point. The drama was intensifying as we had almost no data on the mystery long distance boyfriend and all our eggs was in the current basket. What happens later on of course is that she goes to see mystery man and that just fu$#s up the whole rest of the manga. No joke it gets to the point where they actually tag team her. Gross. This manga had a lot of good things going for it but it descended into a lackluster reverse harem and when it tried to redeem itself by giving the main male lead a new flag to pursue, we get the cliché "they end up together anyways" (talking about the main male lead and the female lead). What's worse is that the author tries to make you think that it was the main male's fault for everything even though the female lead was ok with cheating on her own boyfriend. The only positive things I can say that were constant throughout the entire manga was the comedy and art style (see below). The reason why I am not supplying names is because most of the manga is un-translated and while my Japanese is ok, names are still tough to pick out of the mess.   Art: 9.5/10 This aspect of the manga I actually really, really liked. Even though it looks a little messy and undefined, the way the characters were drawn really had me engaged. The female lead had really large inviting eyes and the male lead looked quite mature. The background scenes were very well done and all the side characters looked amazing as well. Characters: 2/10 They really fell off the deep end in the second half of the manga. We get introduced to some asshole that we are somehow supposed to root for. The one strong female character in the manga decides to go soft and allow the male lead to get away, and the friends of the female lead do little to no help in resolving the conflict. The only character I really liked was the main male lead as he was pretty much tricked and provoked into initializing the faux relationship. Overall: 4.5/10 The ending chapters really made me want to gag. Not only was it cliché as hell and disgusting beyond belief, it completely ruined what the first part of the manga tried to establish. If you want an ecchi comic then here is one; just be warned that any emotional attachment will just make you want to hate it even more in the end. Enjoyment: START 9/10 ENDING 0.001/10 Thanks for reading my review! If you liked my writing style, would like to see some other reviews, or just want to talk, please stop by my page! Sincerely, Awesome Drummer

Saphiro01 Oct 8, 2019

9

Don't let the NTR tag scare you, this manga gives full agency to all characters involved but deals with the complexity of adult relationships. Anyone who is older then say 25 knows that humans are complicated in our relationships and Liar's Paradox doesn't shy away from a lot of points most manga don't cover. Sure you could write this off as porn, but in all honesty though it is HEAVILY implied we never actually see any direct penetration. So in that way it is more on the level of The Big Easy in that there is some super passionate love making going on in multiple chapters (read almost all of them) but it's almost all decent classy stuff.So I was supposed to do a plot summary... welll... It's a woman based straight love triangle story. That description is kind of like calling the Titanic 'just some big boat'. While accurate, it in no way gives enough gravitas to the contents therin or signifigance of what happened to it.Seiyuu Hinako is an Office Lady and division lead in a company in Tokyo and is in a long time relationship with a boyfriend that in the past year has been stationed a long distance away from where she works in Tokyo. 'Nagoya' will become a pretty signifigant character later on, but for now he is only getting to see Hinako about once a month. One day Hinako has a little bit of computer trouble and asks one of her coworkers, Yokaidou, to help get her laptop back up and running. Chapter 1 starts a very steamy office fling that turns serious pretty quickly and the great part is, that despite Hinako seeming to be very selfish, the manga doesn't use mysogeny or villanise sexuality. All of the twists, changes in relationships and openness or asides about office iinterrelations and love are dealt with maturely. As an example without giving away spoilers, this is one of the few media I can think of that portrays exactly how unprepared for going um.. "in the back way" that a real life couple would have to deal with. Also knowing about polyamourous relationships in real life that have both worked out and not, the love triangle in UP is believable. Granted the two male leads if any other nationality then Japanese might not have agreed so quickly (I know being a 'hole brother' as it were in the US is rather frowned upon but then again, we do also have the neo hippy movement and free love movements too).tl;dr This manga is not the sum of it's cover and looks. It was a fun read and had a satisfying ending that felt earned. The leads were always true to their own character and feelings while still having to deal with the lies that all adults have to tell themself and others to fit into societies moors and expectations. That and we got some threesome action which... I'm not going to argue with even if it is two dudes and one girl. *lennyface*

nathandouglasdavis Jun 12, 2020

10

My 400th Review! I hate the way this manga makes me feel. I can only read about ten or fifteen chapters at a time before the pit in my stomach and tightening of my chest becomes too much. I've walked away from each reading session frustrated. But I'm not frustrated at the manga itself (like I would be with a lower quality manga), it's more that I'm frustrated at humanity, at the aspects of human nature which this manga portrays. To be able to evoke such emotions in me, a manga must be well-written. So even though reading this manga isn't exactly a positive experience, I can appreciate its storytelling and characterizations. I can empathize with basically every character, which makes the infidelity and yearning all the more painful for me to read through. And I do feel interested in how the relationships will play out. There were a few short instances when I felt that the manga was just introducing drama to jerk me around, but for the most part, the developments felt like they made sense and were a natural course of events. I wouldn't always make the same decisions as the characters, but I can believe that each decision is one someone might make. At the end of the day, it's a story about love triangles with a recurring theme of wanting to be with somebody in any capacity, even if it means being a substitute or replacement for the person fe truly cares about. The boobs are drawn really well. And the sex scenes are erotic and don't outstay their welcome. My one complaint, from a morality point of view, is that much of the sexuality involves issues of consent--with an aggressor pressing forward despite the partner expressing a desire to stop.