Seinen Moteki by Kubo Mitsurou

Kaiten

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Moteki
By: Kubo Mitsurou
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Serialized In: Evening
Publisher: Kodansha
Publication Status: Complete, 4.5 Volumes
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One day, Fujimoto, a 29-year-old temp worker (whose age equals the number of years he’s lived without a girlfriend) suddenly receives a surge of calls and emails all at once from the women connected to his past. That’s right, he’s finally hit popularity, something which comes only once in a lifetime for everyone! Feeling elated, Fujimoto decides to meet them one after the other…or so the story goes.

By the Mangaka of Again!!

2010 Manga Taisho Award Nominee
 

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Re: [Featured] Moteki by Kubo Mitsurou

Oh, I'll definitely check this out since
  • it's from the mangaka of Again!! (love her art and style)
  • Kaiten posted it in the OPR thread.
  • The plot sounds fun
  • it's an award winner nominee

Hope the Edited Manga becomes regular and frequent.:hee
 
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Kaiten

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Re: [Featured] Moteki by Kubo Mitsurou

I enjoy Kubo-sensei a lot too, in the future I plan on reading some of her older manga.

This is a manga I have been hoping to read for a long time, even before Again!! debuted. I was very glad to see new Edited Mangas. After two chapters, I am reminded of Again!! I already love the central theme, that Fujimoto's lack of love life was not due to rejection, but his own insecurities. His lack of confidence, and poor self image, let opportunities he did not even notice slip away. He kind of reminds me of Imamaru, who took no initiative socially, assuming he would be disliked. In the end his classmates came to perceive him as he perceived himself, something of a self fulfilling prophecy.
 
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raDar

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Re: [Featured] Moteki by Kubo Mitsurou

You're actually right that it has some parallelism with Again!!.

After reading up to chapter 2, I could already say that I like it. And what I'm actually curious about is that who Fujimoto end up with (maybe none?) before the whole moteki period is done. Will the story be introducing all the girls in the start, then will advance with Fujimoto having to interact with all of them, get to know them, and end with him choosing who he really wanted to be with. Okay I just got that from The Bachelor.

Kubo-sensei really knows how to write a typical slice-of-life story BUT with an added fantastic ingredient and charm to it. Really expecting this to be an awesome read until the end.
 

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Re: [Featured] Moteki by Kubo Mitsurou

What is 4.5 volume series?

Seems like a interesting one. Will try it latter.
 

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Re: [Featured] Moteki by Kubo Mitsurou

You're actually right that it has some parallelism with Again!!.

After reading up to chapter 2, I could already say that I like it. And what I'm actually curious about is that who Fujimoto end up with (maybe none?) before the whole moteki period is done. Will the story be introducing all the girls in the start, then will advance with Fujimoto having to interact with all of them, get to know them, and end with him choosing who he really wanted to be with. Okay I just got that from The Bachelor.

Kubo-sensei really knows how to write a typical slice-of-life story BUT with an added fantastic ingredient and charm to it. Really expecting this to be an awesome read until the end.
lol. It could well be just like the Bachelor. My guess is that Fujimoto will meet the third girl after returning from his trip with Itsuki. I do think, in typical harem fashion, he will choose a girl in the end. I also think that "moteki" is a figment of his imagination, as such it shall never end. Fujimoto was always more popular than he thought; low self-esteem prevented him from rightly seeing that these three women had feelings for him all along. Aki has already confirmed her feelings, and frustration, in chapter one. I imagine Itsuki shall soon express similar feelings. That I think is the primary point of the story, that being "unpopular" often has more to do with self-perception than with how others see us. Fujimoto projected his own insecurities onto others, when the truth was far more positive.
 

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Re: [Featured] Moteki by Kubo Mitsurou

lol. It could well be just like the Bachelor. My guess is that Fujimoto will meet the third girl after returning from his trip with Itsuki. I do think, in typical harem fashion, he will choose a girl in the end. I also think that "moteki" is a figment of his imagination, as such it shall never end. Fujimoto was always more popular than he thought; low self-esteem prevented him from rightly seeing that these three women had feelings for him all along. Aki has already confirmed her feelings, and frustration, in chapter one. I imagine Itsuki shall soon express similar feelings. That I think is the primary point of the story, that being "unpopular" often has more to do with self-perception than with how others see us. Fujimoto projected his own insecurities onto others, when the truth was far more positive.
I dont know if i agree with u on that one, just read all 7 chapters and while i believe all this experience with the "moteki" will help him grown and finally find love it is really hard to tell if those relationships didnt work out because of his low self-esteem. The author seems to do all he can to keep the readers just guessing and u can never be really sure about any of the girls feelings.

The first girl Aki while they barely ever spoke while working she invited him to a concert, during the concert she held his hand tightly and she kind behaved like she might have being interested, at this point he thought she might like him. Right after she leaves his side and goes talk to another guy that is soon revealed by her friends to be her boyfriend, Fuji leaves thinking he misunderstood the whole matter. Now when they meet up again after the "moteki" this page makes me think she aint in love with him: http://mangafox.me/manga/moteki/v01/c001/41.html

Unless i didnt understand it right she broke up with her boyfriend right after that because he thought she was cheating on him with Fuji and she blames it on Fuji as she said "everything went wrong because of him". I could be mistaken and she was actually saying that her boyfriend got in the way of she getting Fuji, either she loves Fuji and really wanna be with him or she wants him to fall in love with her in some sort of delusional revenge.

Itsuki is a more complicated matter, they have always being nothing but friends but along the trip she looks like she is deep in thoughts, she asks if Fuji sees her as a girl and when she goes to the bath alone she stays away for 2h deeply thinking about something, all that seems to lead to believe she has feeling for him and is thinking if she should take the next step. When Fuji has the courage to ask to sleep with her she says yes and it looks like she really likes him but when she figures he is not a virgin anymore she pushes him away and says she was doing just to help him get over his virginity.

After that every time Fuji trys to get a bit more intimate with her she pushes him away like when he grabs her hand and she says it is too hot and get it off or when he is talking about they going to all sorts of places together and she shows no excitement at all. At the end she says that they should just be friends but still kisses Fuji on the train. Right after the trip she sends a message saying that being friends is also hard and she needs her space and stops taking his calls and emails. Might be just me but Itsuki sends alot of mixed signals hard to tell if she likes him or not cant blame the guy for being confused.

Natsuke the third girl is also hard to figure out. Cant tell what goes on her mind, she turned him down the first time he confessed but they kept in touch but after he confessed whenever they went out her sister ways always together. I dont know if she was doing it on purpose to avoid being alone with him or because her sister liked him and she was trying to set them up or something.

Fuji finally asks her for a date just the 2 of them and she agrees, on the date she drinks up and he invites her over and she accepts but midway to his house they see a love hotel and she wanna go in there with him. They end up not going in and go to his home instead but she passes out and nothing happens, on the next morning she seems pissed and when he is walking her to the station he says he loves her and last year she only wanted to be friends and asks if it is the same this year she replys "i just cant see u as a man sorry".

After that Fuji meets up with her sister and Shimada and they tell him Natsuki sleeps around when she gets drunk, Fuji gets drunk and ends up sleeping with her sister. Cant tell what Natsuki is really thinking, it is stated she never drunk when she was with Fuji so he might be special in some way, could be just as a friend or maybe she really loves and dont wanna mess it up or maybe she is just avoiding it cause her sister likes him. Why was she mad when she woke up on his bed? Was she mad cause they didnt sleep together or because they almost did?

While it sounds a bit far fetched Natsukis sister being in love with him wouldnt be impossible, she was always around and we dont know if she wanted to be or if she was asked by Natsuki and she did sleep with him when he got drunk and made a pass at her. When they meet up after his "moteki" he cant hear why Natsuki rejected him and a little after she explains that while she didnt dislike him she didnt love him either. When he leaves and says he cant stand her being nice to him she goes after him and they end up in bed but he cant manage to get it up. Hard to tell if she loves him or if she is just keeping him around as a safety net of some sort.

All the girls send alot of mixed signals, cant say all the blame if any falls on the protagonist, u cant say for sure that any of them trully love him and that if he had done things differently they would be together now. Well at least for the chapters i found translated i cant point my finger at anything :teehee
 
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Re: [Featured] Moteki by Kubo Mitsurou

What is 4.5 volume series?

Seems like a interesting one. Will try it latter.
It comprises of additional chapters, sketches among other things. The 4th volume ending is kind of open-ended, The author wants to close the story in a more better way, I suppose.

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Like I said in in another thread, this manga is surprisingly enjoyable, and It tells us a more mature (and realistic) version of harem. I admit that Kubo's drawing in general was the main reason for me to read this manga for the first time, and it turned out that the story is good too. The manga ending is a little bit different compared to the TV Drama ending or its follow-up movie, I suggest you to watch it too if you're loving this series as much as I do.
 
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