IyaPan.
I've known of 40hara since 2014-2015; I thought it was awesome that an anime adaptation was coming when it was announced in 2017!
When the anime released, I was not a big fan. Honestly, I avoided it like it was a rancid plague. I just didn't get how something like that could even be remotely popular.
However, over two years after the anime aired, I was browsing for manga and stumbled upon this. The iconic 40hara art style and the maid girl... but, something was different. It wasn't just girls, it wasn't just a point-of-view. There was a boy on the cover who deeply clashed with the 40hara character. Immediately I felt from his tall, straight pose dominance was an unwaveringness, and a willpower that speaks waves of being undefeatable, uncrushable, and that it would attain anything it desired. There was something so... absolutely magnetic about this cover. Something about this character that I knew would change the game entirely.
The IyaPan manga stars a wealthy teenager of nobility named Issei. He has wealth, fame, intelligence and power. However, he also has one extra thing; An unwavering will that yearns to see the panties of specific women.
What makes Issei so magnetic is his unorthodox nature. He's incredibly direct and doesn't care about the human state of emotions; After all, he believes it is unlike his status to care about such things. He's a protagonist with an unusual drive for a familiar motivation; He wants to see panties, but leaves it at that. Even though he wants to see panties, he almost has an innocent nature. Because of this direct and innocent nature, he brings up some of the most interesting, yet comedic conflicts and confrontations I've ever read.
Upon reading ONLY two chapters of this manga, it immediately slid into my favorites. The comedy train never stops, the art is phenomenal, the character interactions take into care the nature of Issei's personality and is never NOT interesting. This manga prioritizes the story above the ecchi, which just happens to be an addition that you'll see maybe once a chapter. It uses detailed art for comedic immersion, then changes to simplistic art for comedic relief. There is resolution, context, and it totally changes the 40hara game.
IyaPan, or should I say, YoPan, is one of my favorite manga, PERIOD. I've only read three chapters and I absolutely adore it. Its sense of changing the established 40hara art is breaking the absolute boundaries and setting a new precedent, its characterization is like no other and gives a sense of comedy to always be entertaining. I never expected to be so invigorated by a manga adaptation of IyaPan, let alone EVER be invigorated by IyaPan.
I just wish that there were more chapters, but this is published in Tonari no Young Jump, which typically have larger gaps between chapters in contrast to Weekly Shounen Jump, and mangaka typically prioritize taking their time actually writing and drawing above all else, so I don't mind at all. In fact, two of my other favorite manga also come from Tonari no Young Jump: One Punch-Man and Kuro.
Overall, absolutely give YoPan a read. It is incredibly inventive and engrossing like no other manga I've read, and creates an unmatched magical atmosphere through its art and characters. Kudos 40hara, you started something amazing.
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