Sweet Poolside Review

Name(s): Sweet Poolside
Author(s): Shuzou Oshimi
Format(s): 1 Volume
Genre(s): Coming-of-Age / Psychosexual Drama
Release Date(s): June 14, 2014

While reading Shuzou Oshimi’s popular Flowers of Evil manga, I took a look at the rest of his works and noticed recurring themes of adolescent sexuality. Some premises had more of a… questionable nature than others, and after sharing a few with a friend, we each decided to read a different one-volume work from the author. Curious if the rest of his works would have the same nuance and tact as Flowers of Evil, I decided to give the most absurd premise a shot: Sweet Poolside, a manga about a hairless boy shaving a hairy girl. And thus, my life sank further into the abyss.

This romantic drama’s largest issue is not its controversial subject matter, but rather its lack of justification for it. In stark contrast to the Flowers of Evil, Sweet Poolside doesn’t use its premise as a philosophical vector. For the most part, this is an atypical framework for a typical plot.

It’s organically cute how embarrassed the two main characters are of their bodily problems and their learning to support each other in their uniquely empathetic way. This relationship and also the characters’ contemplation of their own self-consciousness are the highlights of this coming-of-age story. However, what could be expanded upon is instead covered in hairy exposition.

Misplaced Priorities

When I first read Sweet Poolside, I felt the shaving scenes were given far too much focus, to the point where they almost seemed fetishized. Since becoming more familiar with Oshimi’s style, I now give him the benefit of the doubt. I suspect he was pacing the sequences slowly to imply a delicate tenderness. The two leads are vulnerable in these scenes, and the shaving is an appropriate metaphor for gradually letting go of their insecurities.

All the same, the story does not give itself a lot of time to develop its characters. One could argue this to be redundant, blunt characterization taking pages from other elements needing exploration. The initial shaving scene is the only one that “needs” to be shown in full. After this, the manga could’ve focused solely on the characters growing after finding someone to trust. That development is there, but buried under this worn, dull razor blade of storytelling. Seeing multiple pages of shaving, yet only one page of the female lead reflecting on its emotional impact is disappointing. It may be a waste of possibly sincere intent from the author.

Final Details on Sweet Poolside

Beyond that, the art’s decent but frequently cartoonish in a gag manga-esque way rather than Flowers of Evil‘s detailed realism. There’s also a one-shot manga chapter included in this release entry, but I can’t find it anywhere. Fine enough, I suppose, as MAL grouping unrelated stories is dumb, anyway. If that bonus chapter exists out there, please let me know.