Oshioki! (おしおきっ!) is a 4-koma manga that starts somewhere and ends up somewhere and in between goes totally off track three or four times.

Minato is an utterly average person. She gets average grades, comes up right in the middle of the pack in footraces and has not a single distinguishing characteristic. So when she sees smart, athletically inclined Student Council President Shion, she’s impressed, kinda crushy and a little jealous. Circumstances bring her into Shion’s acquaintance where she learns that Shion, when she wears her glasses, is a studious and polite young lady, but when she takes them off, becomes a schoolmarm sadist. To “punish” Minato for some small, meaningless infraction, Shion commands that Minato will be her dog. At which point Minato learns a life-changing lesson about herself…she is a masochist.

Oh, they never use that word, but we get it. ^_^

So Minato hangs around the Student Council, trying to stay close to Shion and trying, from time to time, to be punished. Hence the title.

Most of the strips are about average school-life details, but Minato has clearly begun to fall in love with Shion, and Shion’s obviously interested in Minato…but it takes a lot of stories about stolen puddings, and the school festival and the like to get through before suddenly, Council member Momoka pushes Shion to admit she has feelings for Minato and Minato to return the feelings…and they kiss…and the book ends.

Shion’s sadistic behavior is implied, not shown, Minato’s submissive tendencies are kept relatively socially acceptable and her humilation only shows up in dream sequences and once or twice as a gag. So it’s not like this is a high school BDSM fest or anything. Momoka and the other student council member Chitose fulfill specific roles and are not unlikable – and they genuinely like Minato and become her friend early on.

The best moment, IMHO, was towards the end, when Shion thanks Minato for all her help over the last few months, and asks her to officially join the Student Council. Minato is overjoyed, because she wants to be close to Shion, but also because she is no longer average. That was a sweet scene and pretty much the turning point of the book from silly gags to “getting Shion and Minato together.” The handwave kiss and happily-ever-after was a nice addition to the “Good” column.

Ratings:

Art – 4
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 8
Loser FanBeing – 5

Overall – 7

Although the book wasn’t bad, I don’t know if I recommend it. Whether you will like it will greatly depend on how you feel about S&M and 4-koma as a comedic mix. I didn’t hate it.