Gal☆Kuri!
a review by saulgoodman
a review by saulgoodman
Gather 'round, kids, and let me tell about the gyaru manga boom of the late 2010s. I'd argue that it had all started with a little miss Hajimete no Gal, the manga first published in 2015 and the anime airing in 2017. Don't ask me why, but gyaru-centric manga exploded in 2017 and ongoing in the present. Gal Gohan, Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru, Yancha Gal no Anjou-san, among others, were sensational for romcom fanatics in the community for, most notably, the gap moe between the rambunctious girls and their innocent personalities. Truly, it was escapism paradise for many. Other than the reigning titles that I've mentioned, the majority of other gyaru series were pixiv/Twitter or pixiv/Twitter-adapted short series and recycled the same or similar premises, character archetypes and tropes. Still, I and many others could binge off these quick escapism fixes. One of which was a series called Gal Cleaning.
I'm a sucker for cheap premises that don't take themselves seriously, and Gal Cleaning's was exactly that initially. An unpopular male student suddenly having his hormones tested by the sudden arrival of an eccentric, revealing gyaru classmate by the will of the gods. Or rather, her father offering his father to take Daisuke in while his father was away. What ensued was your good, ol' fashioned lucky pervert moments, panty shots and other ecchi staple tropes, with touches of relationship development between the two. A bit too ripe for my taste, personally. What gave it a somewhat unique identity, however, was the series' informative aspect. And as you'd have guessed it, house-cleaning tips. And surprisingly, they were quite helpful when I tried out a couple of them out. This amalgam of cleaning advice and ecchi romcom was strange, to say the least, but more than satiated my appetite for gyaru manga.
Chapter 8 was the peak of this series. Thereon, I don't attempt to recall my memories of what events unfolded. The episodic premises became a bit too ecchi for my tastes, from 8.6 to 8.93, but I could easily tolerate it in favor of the relationship development. However, when the count hit 8.94, all hell was set loose. Dante's 10th circle of Hell opened. Satan quivered in fear and crawled into fetal position at the birth of the colossal abysmal development that took place.
A potential rival was introduced, another dear-to-your-heart character archetype, the strict class president. Certainly nothing out of the ordinary, with an accidental kiss scene and a reveal that she likes the protagonist. What ensued immediately after her introduction, though, gave me great strife.
When it comes to sexual violence in non-h manga, I generally see a respectable level of restraint in explicitness on the artist's behalf. Either that it's off-screen, simply suggested, or brief and censored. Any normal individual has a decent enough moral code to not depict something so horrendous at its full, uncensored extent, right? ~~Barring Berserk and Wolf Guy~~ Well, Shuwata Ramunemura gave no fucks.
4 chapters of an unapologetic, full throttle, balls-to-the-wall, pedal-to-the-metal rape flashback scene of the class president. I'm a reserved agnostic, and a strong reason for it being that this was greenlit to be released. I've heard whispers and rumors that the author was venting his anger over this series' reception and pulled this disgusting shit in response, but nothing concrete has been confirmed as far as I'm aware. Whatever the reason, I'm scrambling for words to describe the feelings I had towards this development. Anger? Hatred? Disgust? They all feel underwhelming terms, and all I can convey is that I felt nothing but hollowness inside. After the flashback hell ends, a stale confession scene ensues resulting in an equally stale misunderstanding and a stale resolution slamming the door on this clusterfuck. Certainly, there are much more gruesome and violent sex scenes, as I've already mentioned Berserk and Wolf Guy, but the whiplash development from juvenile ecchi romcom to this disaster is unrivaled.
I don't have any try-hard witty or flowery words to end this review with. So here's a slightly altered Angry Video Game Nerd quote that summarizes everything.
"Cowabunga... Cow-a-FUCKIN' PIECE OF DOGSHIT! This manga is diarrhea coming out of my dick! This manga is as appealing as a fuckin' ooze-infested dirty fuckin' sewer rat shit! I've had more fun playing with dog turds! Daisuke's my ass and Chiriko's my balls, this manga is an inside-out asshole regurgitated putrid anal fecal matter! I'd rather fuckin' yank all the hairs out of my scrotum! I'd rather drink diarrhea vomited out of a buffalo's anus! It suckin' fucks, it fuckin' sucks, IT FUCKIN' BLOWS, IT'S A PIECE OF SHIT... and I don't like it."
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