EROMANGA
HALL OF FAME

Holding a collection of short stories to a single theme is harder than it looks. "Kijoui Ecchi" enters the hall as an anthology that runs ten stories along one axis: relationships in which the woman takes the lead.

It is Asamine Teru's third collected volume, a set of short stories in the genre Japanese readers call josei-joui, where the woman leads. The partner changes from story to story, from a lover and a childhood friend to an older woman, a nurse and a landlady, while the core plot follows a woman who had been the devoted one moving into the leading role.

What reviewers mention first is this unity of theme. Several go through the contents one story at a time and confirm that even the apparent exception keeps to it. They agree, too, that every heroine acts out of affection for her partner, and that the relationships are sweet, with no undertow of misery. The sureness of composition and facial expression, and a comic touch, come up again and again.

Since "Kyuuai Mental" in 2016, Asamine has added a collected volume roughly every two years, with Bunendo's COMIC BAVEL as home ground. Of all the artist's books, this is the one with the most ratings on DLsite. Print and digital editions both appeared in 2020, and the digital-only edition adds a sequel to one of the stories.

Reviews on DLsite have kept arriving for more than five years since release. It came in through the sales gate and stands 221st among the hall's commercial works.