@jyuichi While I know very well not to draw cultural or habitual conclusions from these media based on how many portray or may have a swimsuit try on scene/moment.. I'd be surprised if such wasn't a thing in JP.
Trying em on is 'normal' in Canada too so. shrug.
I highly doubt the author set out to write some deep meaningful peace on parallels of a flipped society and was probably just going for the "only man in the world who can do the special woman only thing" and to do that with the rest of their idea, they flipped things.
Again far as I recall that whole mall chapter was pretty much as blatant as it gets maybe and then goes back to mostly being just the background plot thread as it was in previous chapters.
Personally I genderbend lotttttta male MCs ta women to suit my preferred preferences.. it's a pain to find good yuri blended with other genres. sob.
I.S. is one of the few novels I read where this doesn't work and there are lots of "wtf" and "realllly.. thats what you're gonna go with?" moments but it has it's good points, else I would'a dropped it ages ago.
There is eventually real character growth (more noticeable in the girls than blockhead) and fun to be had.. lot'a laughs, good action, teen angst, some really decent sci-fi ishy stuff, though lot'a it gets glossed over using blockhead as a means to not have to explain or come up with every lil detail cuz it "goes over his head."
In some ways I think the author's own development shows in the writing, the first 3 volumes all originally were printed in 2009, he was 25ish back then. Speculating, perhaps still finding his footing as an author, this is his only published work so I can only guess at how many unpublished things he may also have.
I mean we can easily boil the book down into typical romcom tropes.. alllll the miscommunication, all the blatant coyness and never being direct about which meaning of the word with X number of meanings the girls are intending by saying w/e at the time. The girls blaming him for doing, or not doing something, or being literialy a victim of the actions of one of the other girls so they get mad at him instead of said girl..
Him being /that/ much of a blockhead despite having been raised by his sister who is like OP badass last boss type and realllly doesn't give the impression she'd have not tried to give him some proper guidance on things.
It's kind'a knock-off/Sub-par Sci-fi older rom-com.. I get some Love-Hina vibs personally.. and yet it's still fun as hell to just go along for the ride an not think too hard about alll the things.
~Isto
