Manga: Hidoku Shinaide, Treat me gently, Don’t be Cruel, Don’t be Coldhearted, 酷くしないで, 請別太過份, 请别太过分
Author: Yonezou Nekota
Genres: Comedy, Romance, Yaoi
Released: Jan 27, 2007
Status in Country of Origin: Releasing
Scanlator: BL-Gyaru, Crappy BL Scanlations, Essence of Purity, Hertz Scans, Liquid Passion, Madame Fujoshi, NijiNiji Nikubou Scans, Panda Hero, Psycho Pandas, Sentimiento Yaoi, Sneaky Bear Scans, Yaoi Is Life
Summary: The series consist of several volumes in the following order –
Volume 1:
1-2. Don’t be Cruel, Please & Don’t be Coldhearted, Please
3. Houkago no Himitsu
4. Wagamama mo Aishite
5-6. Pantsu de Ojama & Sailor Fuku wo Nuganaide
Volume 2-3:
Maya’s and Nemugasa’s story
Volume 4:
Maya and Nemugasa’s relationship faces new challanges as they become university students. Also story about Jutta (Maya’s cousin) and his relationship with his teacher.
Volume 5-6:
Maya is being scouted by his university senpai and goes to part time job.
Download Hidoku Shinaide Manga:
Hidoku Shinaide English Scans
Hidoku Shinaide Japanese Scans
Read Hidoku Shinaide Online:
Hidoku Shinaide Vol. 1
Hidoku Shinaide Vol. 2
Hidoku Shinaide Vol. 3
Hidoku Shinaide Vol. 4
Hidoku Shinaide Vol. 5
Hidoku Shinaide Vol. 6
Hidoku Shinaide Vol. 7
Hidoku Shinaide Vol. 8
Post’s Author Opinion:
Note: This is a personal opinion, it does not reflect YaoiOtaku’s official position towards the manga.
Story: When we have Nekota’s works on the stash, we all know – it is time for some high-quality smut content. Personally, I am indeed in for the smut – but if I have to rate it on more deep, psychological level, Nekota is not one to dive too deep in the darkness of angst and psychology. Rather, her works are generally slightly dramatic, but all over are very enjoyable and fun to read. Kind of justifies the comedy tag in her works, but do not imagine anything too forced on the jokes side.
Leaving aside the ‘generally speaking’, let’s focus on Hidoku Shinaide itself.
The main story follows the development of two guys’ relationship, who are initially classmates. Although the story contains the ‘forced sex’/’rape’ tag, make no mistakes – it does not really focus on that aspect. In fact, Hidoku Shinaide is one of the few manga’s which contain a seme male lead reflecting on his actions – so, to people who skip the title just because of that tag, you should give it a go even so!
Story-wise, we can follow their relationship throughout their high-school life up to the college, so far in these eight volumes, in between we get sneak-in’s with side stories which are as interesting to read as the main story and which I will be also reviewing separately in other posts. So, back to the main point – I have not mentioned the male leads’ names! We have a very beautiful picks, when it comes to their name choice. Let us head to the next section on the review!
Characters: Maya Hideyuki (真矢 秀幸) as a choice for the seme lead and Nemugasa Takashi (眠傘隆) for the uke lead. I would not hold back on reviewing the beauty in these names though! Let’s first speak about Hideyuki Maya, more commonly referred to, by fans and by the manga-ka herself, as Maya.
Supposedly speaking, the majority who has read the manga knows it’s rare for Maya’s first name to be used – Hideyuki. But that is so regretful! I mean, it is such a beautiful name! So, I will start from it. The name is made from two main components although used with special readings in his name’s case – 秀 (シュウ) with its meaning beauty, excellence and 幸 (コウ) with its meaning happiness, blessing. So, literally – his name is a beautiful blessing, ahaha. I believe it contrasts with the other part of his name or maybe complements it – Maya. Since Maya is also made from two main components – 真 (シン) with its main meaning truth, reality. What is interesting here is the fact that with the reading ‘ma’ or ‘mako’, its origins go deeper in history. Rather, it takes on more of a Buddhist nuance to it, but still holds the ‘true path’ idea within. And to complete the beauty of Maya, we have 矢 (シ) with its meaning dart or arrow. Of course, both characters adopt their Japanese, not Chinese, reading – ma and ya. So, we have a very beautiful content even here – a piercing arrow of truth! To be honest, I got a bit linguistic here but if I have to return to the character himself – I think the name truly describes Maya. In the early stage of the story his personality is rough, blunt and rather intimidating. But later on, Nekota-sensei lets us see the beauty under his roughness. He is a very sensual and caring guy. So, yup. That name is a great pick!
Now, let’s talk about Nemu-chan. I find his name a bit of…weird, but somewhat befitting. The character is more often referred to as Nemugasa, which leaves his first name a bit in the dark. And it should not be so, I mean exactly that part of the name is befitting! So, I won’t bore you much – just will mention them briefly. Nemugasa is made of two main components, 眠 (ねむ) which holds the meaning of sleep. I wouldn’t name the other meaning, for it is not the case here. And the second part 傘 (かさ) with its meaning umbrella. So, we get a very shy boy hiding behind his umbrella? I guess we can get abstract and think of it as his own bubble? Ahaha, but think of it – in the story Nemu-chan is often shown as a character who falls asleep or loves to sleep. So, the abstraction of the name, as I said, kind of fits him? I mean, he always looks to me like he is either bored or sleepy, lol. Okay, okay. Enough of the boring jokes. I said it’s going to be brief, so! Second part of the name, his personal name, Takashi. The name is made only of one single character 隆 (リュウ). Among its many readings and meanings, the whole idea of the kanji character is to express highness or nobility. Given the fact that Nemu-chan is seriously described as the role model of a Japanese student – neat hairstyle, smoothed out clothes, tidied up and organized – I believe I can see why would Nekota-sensei pick that one. Besides, in one of the chapters we are briefly showed Nemu-chan’s parent – his mother. Without meaning to spoil here and will not do so – his mother indeed completes that image of ‘being a proper Japanese citizen’. You know, in Japan image is a very big deal. Yes, it is like that everywhere but Japan has been driven way too much on that sole idea of one’s perfect image. So, if we have to go psychological on the manga character – I believe Maya’s name (arrow of truth) kind of shows another light in the stressing out and pressuring life of Nemu-chan’s. If anything, I believe Nekota-sensei’s idea was to make Maya like a sort of reality check on Nemu, a sort of light and a sort of hope. I really cannot explain to you how much I love their names!
Let’s head for the last section of my review, the art!
Art: I won’t lie to you, I am a person who enjoys a beautiful art. Well, indeed – you can argue on that one with me. I mean, it’s different from person to person. But Nekota’s art is one I would consider beautiful, so this is kind of my sense of clean and beautiful art. I am not a fan of the sketchy-looking manga titles, so yeah. I would rate her art with eight out of ten, joke you not. The lines are well placed, body proportions are also well developed – which I always pay attention to. You know, the infamous ‘big hands’ in yaoi genre kind of puts me off, lol. Although I have my own theory on that one, but hell, that’s not the point here, lol . If we have to talk about her art in the story and its development – it indeed improves actually. One notable point of improvement would be Maya’s appearance. Even though I also enjoy his delinquent’s look, I much prefer his college’s look. Below you can see three rows of his appearance’s change.
I believe, as you can see, the manga-ka wanted to express the mutual effect the characters have on each other. If Maya helped Nemu-chan to be more true to himself, Nemu-chan kind of made Maya into the proper man he can be. So to say, from a very messy style, Maya switches to someone who can fit Nemu-chan’s look. In fact, if I am not wrong, it was even mentioned in the manga itself – how Maya changes thanks to Nemu-chan.
Overall, the manga is worth the read and I am sure, if you have avoided it for whatever reason, you will not regret giving it a go. That being said, see you on the next review, where I will enjoy talking about the side story of the other characters, one of them related to Maya – Akira, his cousin. So, see you next time with Akira’s story!
What’s your opinion on Hidoku Shinaide manga? Please let us know in the comments below.
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