Sex Education 120%, by Kikiki Tataki, with art by Hotomura was a very good book. I’m saying that right up front.
I won’t belabor us all with the details of how execrable “health” education is in school. We all have our own excruciating tales of teachers unwilling or unable to talk plainly or parents bent out of shape at even basics. I probably am old enough that my sex education, despite it’s heterocentrism, was at least still accurate…if not wholly adequate. And since then, it’s pretty obvious that the adequacy has dropped even further, which is why I think I would definitely give this book to a tween if I knew one to give it to.
The story is straightforward, Tsuji is the health teacher in a Japanese high school who is teaching the kids actual sex education, despite the constant push-back from her colleagues and administration. But that’s only half the story. Yes, the sex education as far as it goes (and it goes relatively far) is both accurate and adequate, but the story is about a lot more than just sex.
There’s a chapter on coming out, as two of the girls admit to being in a relationship – and we get a discussion of dental dams and how they work. Same sex couples are given some quality time. A goofy chapter ends up educationg readers on the fact that love hotels are not allowed to discriminate against same-sex couple. There is a chapter about masturbation. There’s also a lot of (mostly useless and goofy, ala Heaven’s Design Team) tidbits about animal behavior, and a nod to omegaverse and BL. We learn enough about Tsuji to root for her and enough about sex to pass part of an exam…there are notable bits about heterosexual stuff left out, presumably either to appear in later volumes.
The characters were likable, the lesbian couple is cute and Tsuji’s enthusiasm is just exactly ridiculous enough to keep you rooting for her and this was an incredibly fast and fun read. Thanks to CW for letting us know about it just before it was licensed by Yen Press. On the sensible premise that the sex education most people get is limited and barely adequate, I highly recommend this series.
Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 10
Service – Not really, except to make a point about salaciousness.
Queer – 10 the lesbian couple is out by the end of this volume
Overall – 9
I picked this book up on Global Bookwalker with some extra coins I got from Yuri Day specials and was very pleased with my purchase. ^_^ It’s also available on Amazon, RightStuf and a manga seller near you! Volume 2 will ship in October.
Thanks for the review! I also really enjoyed this one. Going in I expected a series of explicit sex ed lessons covering the stuff we didn’t learn in school… which was there, but what elevated the manga for me is, like you say, it’s not just about the sex ed. The love hotel chapter was cute, and it was also a nice touch to see an adult WLW passing on knowledge to a teen lesbian couple – making up for what she probably wasn’t taught.
Growing up in late 2000s / 2010s Britain, my sex ed while very heteronormative was quite explicit quite young, but never really covered issues like body image, so I really appreciated the chapter about body hair. I was never drawn into it but it makes me sad knowing how many teen girls that did and still do, so I think that’s an important issue to cover here, especially with how so much of the expectations are being set by porn and the like.
I was also delighted to see an aro / ace character… heavily coded, anyway, hopefully they can come out in the next vols. After the last sex-ed manga and anime O Maidens left me a bit burned with how the cast member who was giving ace vibes turned out to be the most well-adjusted to hetero romance out of the cast (and also how the lesbian member of the cast didn’t get her arc till near the end), so this was a welcome contrast. I’m looking forward to seeing where the next vols will go with her and both the teen and adult lesbian couples ^_^
This is a great recommendation! I’m not that old, and while I think I managed to get semi-decent sex Ed (went to school in not the USA), I was surprised and happy to see such frank and thoughtful discussion of dental dams and masturbation. My own sex-Ed was super heteronormative, so it’s nice to see something like this available for people today.
Any kind of animal facts are interesting to me, so I liked the section on the animal kingdom.
Also, the manga managed to sneak in an Evangelion reference which I was not expecting and hit me like a truck, but made me laugh, so points for that.
Thanks for the rec! I’m excited to see where this series goes!
Oh you know, I forgot the Eva referenced. LOL
I’m so glad you enjoyed it. I’ll definitely be getting V2, myself.