August 30, 2023

A 38-year-old salaryman, Ichirou, gets into skincare and then makeup and finds it helps open up his world. He makes a new friend who helps him understand how all of these new products work.

This manga is partially educational about how skincare and basic makeup products like foundation work (there's even a few pages of product recommendations), but there's an actual story in there, too. The beats were about what I expected, but I still enjoyed it; it was nice to see Ichirou grow in self-confidence and learn that it was okay to do things like talk about your eyebrows with other guys or ask what products they use in their daily routine. And one of the arcs in the story isn't really about makeup, but about reaching out to friends and being able to talk about how you feel.

I liked that the main character is in a friendship with a younger woman he calls 師匠 and, at least in this volume, there's never a hint of romance, and Ichirou explicitly rejects the idea of it being that kind of relationship. I also liked that while much of the manga is about exploring men's makeup and its increasing popularity despite traditional gender norms, it also loudly states, both in and out of story, that it's okay not to wear makeup. It's not that it should become expected of men as well as women, but it should be something that people do or don't do because they want to.

I'm not into makeup myself. But I could still feel in the story why it brings people like Ichirou joy.

Language-wise: if you want to learn skincare- and makeup-related terms, this is the manga! I recognized a few from from my Japanese sunscreen, which helped but didn't cover me for all of them lol. Outside of that, language mostly stays in the everyday life/business realm, so not generally too difficult. There's occasional furigana on more difficult words. I found the author's handwriting slightly scribbly but not to the point of causing difficulty.

Gradings:27
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Mizuki graded
on October 14, 2024
similar in difficulty toclass XL24
Mizuki graded
on September 22, 2024
similar in difficulty to明烏夢恋唄L25
Mizuki graded
on March 9, 2024
harder thanアヒルのバレエL22
Mizuki graded
on February 26, 2024
harder than水の館L23
Mizuki graded
on January 1, 2024
Mizuki graded
on October 20, 2023
similar in difficulty toナイト・ワーカーL26
Mizuki graded
on September 21, 2023
Mizuki graded
on August 30, 2023
harder thanちろり 1L18
Mizuki graded
on August 30, 2023
Mizuki graded
on August 30, 2023
easier than藏 1L26
Mizuki graded
on August 30, 2023
Mizuki graded
on August 30, 2023
harder thanルックバックL20
Mizuki graded
on August 30, 2023
Mizuki graded
on August 30, 2023
easier than星守る犬L24
Mizuki graded
on August 30, 2023
similar in difficulty toサトコとナダ 1L24
Mizuki graded
on August 30, 2023
similar in difficulty toあめのちはれ 1L24
Mizuki graded
on August 30, 2023
Mizuki graded
on August 30, 2023
similar in difficulty toわたしのすきなひとL23
Mizuki graded
on August 30, 2023
similar in difficulty to蝶のように vol.1L23
Mizuki graded
on August 30, 2023
similar in difficulty to昴 1L24
Mizuki graded
on August 30, 2023
similar in difficulty toモーメント 永遠の一瞬 1L23