kilrazan

First off; don't let the cover image scare you off. I'm not sure why they made that the image, but it's quite ugly compared to the actual content inside.

More to the point; this is a surprisingly good and complex narrative that far exceeded my expectations. We follow the MC into a mysterious area that he has unwittingly stumbled into, where a predatory "Data creature" lurks. This creature has been mimicking a pheromone emission to draw in anyone nearby and submit them to a gruesome death by absorbing their memories and personal identity. Lucky for the MC, he draws the attention and favor of a much more powerful "Data creature" who claims to be a goddess and offers assistance. MC accepts the offer, but unbeknownst to him this 'assistance' involves some seriously strange sexual stuff, up to and including changing his body into a girl, and then taking him over.

Story: Based on the tags and the synopsis, I was expecting some nonsense excuse of a story that serves only to bring out some H scenes, but I was genuinely surprised and impressed by this one. The story and H aspects blend together a lot better than most 'borderline H' stories. Now, that being said, there's still plenty of room for improvement; first off I was quite disappointed in how short the story ended up being. There was a lot of opportunity squandered where we could have seen development of the side characters, as well as exploring more about this strange world where beings made of data can arise and interact with the real world. All things considered, though, I'm glad it ended up being too short rather than dragging on for an eternity with repeating themes and pointless battles like it could have done.

Art: Stunning, really. Gorgeous detail in both foreground and background with plenty of attention to character design and so forth. Really the only thing that could make this better would be having it in Full Color, but even then I think there's a certain charm of the greyscale use as it stands. It definitely looks a lot better on the inside than the cover art indicates; that cover art is pretty atrocious.

Characters: Pretty amusing characters all around. The characters that matter are given plenty of characterization and background so that we have context for their actions and understand their motivations, and it doesn't linger on the characters that don't need such context. Most of the human characters behave in a very believeable and even relatable way, and the data-creature characters are given enough humanization and characterization that we can even relate to them as well. Really my only gripe here is the MC's love interest; there's some conflict between the MC and his love interest at one point in the story, but almost immediately afterward the love interest basically confesses and comes onto the MC full-force, and it seems a little too quick of a turn around based on how the MC treated her during the conflict.

Overall: A surprisingly enjoyable little hidden-gem of a manga. Definitely worth a read. The vast world-building and beatuful art are going to stick with me for a while.

Note about tags: The Gender Bender and Borderline H tags are very much deserved. Breasts on full display in a large number of panels, and very heavily suggestive depictions of other lewd parts/actions. Also, **SPOILERS** the MC isn't the only one that ends up with some Gender-Bending going on.