Years after all the men on Earth died suddenly, women developed a method of reproducing without them and then, inexplicably, enforced a 2-“gender” society on themselves. Survivors are split into Adams and Eves, and Eves are, predictably, given lesser status. Oh yes, let’s please bake internalized misogyny into this man-less world, that’s a great idea. Grrrr.
In Volume 1, Koshiro Aoi has come to the toppest of all the top schools to take her revenge on the Kokonoe family for the insult done to her mother, but instead falls in love with a scion of the Kokonoe family, Sakura. Both Aoi and Sakura are Adams so their love is forbidden. Grrrr. What will happen, since the two of them are ridiculously obvious? Well, in Volume 2 of Love Gene Double X (恋愛遺伝子XX ) , they continue to be ridiculously obvious to pretty much everyone. Erika-sama, the Top Eve at school hatches a plan to separate them permanently, but the plot fails and instead they are discovered together after having been intimate. Erika-sama becomes sympathetic to us when we learn she became an Eve for Sakura (she had been an Adam to that point) and she ultimately is nice to her pawn, Momiji.
The Toppest Top Star evar, Sakura’s sister shows up (in a Helicopter!!!), whisks them away, provides helpful expository about the grievous insult done to Aoi’s mother (she lost her rank as Adam to be with a Kokonoe, who left her for another dve…which really is a shitty thing to have happen,) why there’s an Adam and Eve system at all (when the men died, there weren’t many lesbians and the survivors were assholes about it,) and how she has every intention of changing society when she’s in charge.
Any lingering positive feeling about the ending is crushed in an epilogue that made me want to spit. Erika returns to being an Adam and gets Momiji, Sakura becomes an Eve so she and Aoi can be together and the general frisson of heteronormativity just exhausted me.
The only positive moment is when Sumire basically points out the utter stupidity of heteronormative laws, both now and in her time. Other than that, the story was a rubber band ball of disappointment. Every layer of disappointment one peeled away left one disappointed all over again in a brand new way.
Everything about this manga has rubbed me the wrong way since I read the very first chapter. Now that it’s over I cannot honestly say I hated it, nor can I say I liked it. My first and most consistent reaction to it is to bare my teeth and growl. Grrrr. It could have been a terrific Yuri fantasy story. Instead it started off as fake BL, then shifted towards what looked like it might actually address an issue, then veered away into sex scenes (both “bent” by the rules of this world, as one is two Eves and the other two Adams) then sort of nodded in the direction of dealing with the problem, then threw that out with the bathwater. The end.
Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – 5 I think about it, and sigh heavily
Characters – The characters are still the best part. By the end I actually almost liked a few of them
Yuri – 9
Service – 5 Mostly breasts, some full, generic nudity
Overall – 6
In a perfect world, I would have been the editor for this series and it would have been a grillion times better. Coulda, woulda, shoulda.
