Holiday Review: UZAKI-CHAN WANTS TO HANG OUT!

As far as shonen romance goes, it seems that it is where it always is: torn between sincerity and sexuality, and in this particular version the results are obnoxious.

UZAKI-CHAN WANTS TO HANG OUT! (Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai!), by Take.  First published in 2018, and first published in North America in 2019.

PLOT:

Sakurai Shinichi is a college student who wants to just enjoy some quiet down-time once in a while, but it seems like every attempt is foiled by his childhood friend Uzaki.  Uzaki is tiny, loud, and determined to keep her favorite sempai from getting lonely, whether he wants company or not.


STORY:

I wasn't expecting much in the way of depth or story from Uzaki-Chan, which is basically a gag manga.  What I was expecting were some actual jokes and a title character who I didn't find annoying.

Maybe I'm taking it a bit personally as a fellow introvert, but I found Uzaki to just be too much.  The story makes it clear that her intentions are innocent, but that doesn't counter the fact that she's a childish mooch who follows every impulse without thinking.  If I were in Sakurai's place, I would want some sort of safe space away from her to recharge.  Yet she insists on being everywhere he is: lunch, work, even at his apartment.  He tries to discourage her with snark, but he's innately too nice and too familiar with her to enforce any real boundaries.  This isn't helped by his coworkers, who consider their arguments to be entertainment.

So already this series started out on a bad foot with me, but what took it over the top were the out-of-nowhere sex jokes.  I swear half the punchlines in this book are about Uzaki saying something suggestive really loudly in public or the two of them getting into ridiculously (and unwittingly) pervy positions.  These jokes get more and more frequent as the story goes on, and each is as painfully forced and unfunny as the last.  You get the feeling that even before this volume is over, Take is running out of good ideas and instead leans on the crutch of cheap sex jokes.

ART:

So I have to address the elephant in the room at this point...or more accurately, the pair of elephants.

Uzaki is defined not only by her obnoxiousness, but also her giant boobs.  Everything is meant to draw the reader's eye to them: the framing, the jokes, Uzaki's wardrobe, even the embossing on the cover.  At first it seems like a weirdly sexual element in what is otherwise a fairly chaste and down-to-earth manga.  As it goes on, her boobs only get bigger (Take points out as much in an author's note) and their role turns towards more blatant fanservice.  Take's artwork is fine otherwise, but it's remarkable how much a single pair of tits can just derail a manga.

RATING:


Uzaki-Chan might want to hang out, but I just wanted to be done with this as soon as possible.  The last thing we need is another comedy manga that revolves around unfunny personalities and equally unfunny fanservice.

This series is published by Seven Seas.  This series is ongoing in Japan with 3 volumes available.  1 volume has been released and is currently in print.

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