Review: Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai.

Whenever a series is adapted from a LN you have to be sceptical as to whether in this new form it will ever finish the actual story. Most common in anime where a 12 episode series is used to advertise the ongoing LN (or manga) and you never hear from it again and end up being forced to read that source material if available or go without. Boku-H (to give it its short name) is in a similar boat as the anime, whilst having a good and semi-final conclusion the anime still did not finish the overall story. The manga adaptation doesn’t even get that far but is that to say it isn’t worth a read?

Lisara Restall is a Grim Reaper from a prestigious and noble household in the Grimwald. She comes to Earth to seek her the one who would become her Singular Man. Basically the one with a large amount of energy who is befitting a Grim Reaper such as herself. When coming to earth though she initially meets Ryousuke; a high school student. He invites her in from the rain and she senses something from him and stabs him with Gram a broken sword to effectively form a contract where she can get a bit of energy from him whilst he helps her find the one.

I liked this premise; it opens up the series with a clearly defined goal and gets right to it. It also doesn’t immediately portray the main character as an unrivalled guy who possesses great power. It may lead to that down the road but it sets out straight away that there is someone out there with great power and Ryosuke is effectively a cog in the machine to help get there.

Ryosuke himself isn’t particularly original, well not now anyway, back when this first debuted there weren’t that many like him if I recall. He is a pervert and proud, no hiding, no shying away and no embarrassment. It is a nice change. He is similar in this regard to Issei from High School DxD, a series which outwardly looks very similar but actually is very different. As for Lisara, well I love girls with red hair, it is a sure fire way to grab me and make me watch / read a series initially but they have to be more than a drawing. Lisara fits this to a tee. She is very strong, intelligent and innocent to Ryosukes perverted ways. Her chemistry with Ryosuke may be cliché in parts but it executed nicely.

Along the way there are a raft of characters each with their own traits, Quele is Lisaras mischievous cousin, Iria is a former friend and rival of Lisara, Mina who is Ryosukes friend and Hikaru who is stuck up and narcissistic. More characters pop up but it is these who form the core of the manga. Whilst all the characters do get development such as changes in attitude but it can appear limited as they still revert back to their old ways frequently.

There is a lot of humour here and this is where the above ‘cliché’ gets brought in more. Most is based around the fan service from accidental breast groping, accidental looking at the girls’ underwear to shower walk ins and misunderstandings. Yes this has been done before ad nauseam in just about every other fan service comedy but I still get a laugh or a smile out of it so I’m not going to mark it down purely for that but if you find that tedious (and I’m sure many will) then that is something to bear in mind.

The real problem here is the length of the series at only 5 volumes. Now, you can get a lot accomplished in that many volumes but starting from the beginning does mean the possibility of missing out when the business end starts to come to the fore. It seems they set out with the intention of a full manga adaptation only for it to be cancelled before it got to the really good stuff. I cannot really blame them for that as it is all too familiar but unfortunately it does harm the experience.

Don’t get me wrong, the ride is fun. We get to see some great battles, a lot of lovely fan service and some interesting characters but it really is only an introduction to these. A tease of what is to come and it hurts the series for it more than you’d think. Really I’m complaining about what is not there which is unfair in a way because what content there is works and works well.

From the initial character introductions, the world building (limited though it may be), plotlines and the finish with the divine swimsuit competition you will enjoy reading it if you like ecchi series. Each part wraps up nicely and to its credit never really leaves anything out when it introduces a new development. For example when Quele is introduced, we get a few good battles, nice interactions outside our main characters and a satisfying finale to it. It doesn’t leave you hanging over a thread that isn’t tied up.

The art is from Katsurai Yoshiaki who you may best know from his ero works as I certainly do! Suffice to say his artwork is lush and he draws the female characters exquisitely. Their breasts, buttocks, curves and just about everything else hits the mark as you’d expect. The same can be said of their battle outfits, they exude sexiness. This naturally goes hand in hand with the fan service which is both plentiful and diverse.

There are all kinds ticking off an array of boxes. Shower scenes, breast fondling and even some light humiliation play and control. One particular scene I have re-read multiple times is where an angered Hikaru seems to do something unworldly to her and forces her to strip. Sure it doesn’t lead to anything further but it was really effective and tantalising. If that makes me sound creepy then so be it but it sure hit the mark for me.

If, like me, you have the urge or need to see something out until its conclusion then you are going to be disappointed with this I’m afraid. It is fun, has lovely art and the making of a good series but the keyword there is ‘making’. As a standalone work it only partially works which is a shame because it has all the elements to make it stand out and become something so much more. My recommendation is to go watch the anime then come back if you want a bit more.

Mangaka: Katsurai Yoshiakai
Length: 31 Chapters - 5 Volumes
Published: 2010 - 2013

7/10