#Mako Higari

[w2beastars]

W2′s thought on “Bota Bota” AKA “Drip Drip” (part 1)

Okay, I been postponing this long enough. I’m gonna share my five cents on Paru’s possibly most controversial manga.

And keep in mind, she wrote a series about a guy falling in love with someone he tried to eat and she loved him back. Also, a dude who makes a living of stuffing dead guys.

Let’s take a look at chapter one.

Be warned. Lots of blood involved.

Our surprisingly feministic tale starts off the best way possible:

With a little girl hammering her face in a pile of garbage in a trash can, resulting with blood splashing everywhere.

Don’t worry. I know what you are thinking, and it’s not that sort of manga. It is a completely different sort of freaky tale!

Our hero is Mako Higari, a woman in her mid twenties who works at a food container factory called Sparkle Industries.

She is also the office slut. We actually see two men who also works there who discuss how she will apparently, if the company gossip is true, go to a love hotel with any guy who asks her. That and that she apparently once almost bled to death. The two dickweed are apparently the only ones who have not asked her for sex yet and are excited to see if Mako will bang them.

Douchebag 1 agrees to be the first to thread the unknown waters. But he barely gets a chance to try smooth-talk Mako as she is extremely frank and has no shame hiding both rumors about her.

Hell, she practically throws herself at him:

In case you were wondering: No. It’s not that sort of manga either. It is totally freakier than you expected.

After work, Mako and the shithead go to the nearest love hotel while having a pleasant conversation about Mako and her love for cleanliness. Something that plays a big role in her life, part of why she chose her career at a food container factory where she is responsible for hygiene.

And we get a flashback to her mother teaching her how to sterilize properly. The word “clean” plays a big role in her life.

... way bigger than we could have thought.

As they get to the hotel, they get showers separately on Mako’s request. The jackass is wondering what is going on as he sits naked on the bed, waiting for Mako to be done with it and noticed how she cleaned and polished her clothes and shoes after taking them off.

He also hopes for them to be “friends” after they are done banging...

Mako returns from the shower wearing a blouse and then asks the fuck-boy to describe how he cleaned himself as before she gets completely naked. He assumes it is some sort of fetish and gives her the details, something that excites her.

We get a couple of very not-censored panels of Mako completely naked and straddling the dirtbag. See, this could have been a very typical manga that involves something that rhymes with scorn... if it wasn’t for what happened next:

AGAIN, it’s not THAT sort of manga. No, it’s something... new.

Recall that first panel of Mako as a girl where she hammered her head in a trash can? See, Mako has an... let’s call it allergy for anything that is dirty. If she is in physical contact with something not completely clean for too long, her nose will start to bleed in a very extreme way. So much so that she could bleed to death. As a kid, she tried to shove her head in garbage cans or toilets to make her body used to dirtiness, make her nose stop reacting to being near filth.

As we see her blood spill on the jerkwad’s chest, it is pretty clear that her nose is still very much a problem. As she got older and began to think about sex, she realized that her nose might get in the way for her to enjoy human touch so to say.

That’s why she is the “office slut,” why she is very agreeable to have sex with practical strangers. It’s a case of try-try-and-try-again. She has a naïve hope that, if she is persistent enough, she will find someone she can make love to without it being “dirty.”

... Did I mention that Paru is completely bonkers?

After Mako shares this intimate info with him, the son of a bitch rudely tells her that she is batshit crazy and that they are not gonna be fuck buddies.

She then chase him around with a kettle filled with boiling water. She hopes that if she disinfect the dick’s dick, sex might be possible so she can be like “everyone else.”

She then chases the asswipe as he runs out of their room, then out of the hotel, still naked and with her blood on his chest. I do hope this results in him being so traumatized that he will never have a sex life. Also, if he could get arrested, then that would be nice as well.

Yeah, I really don’t like this guy. BTW, his name is Kinoshita... not that I give a damn, I keep thinking of him as Captain Asshat, he is such a punchable little shit XD

As Mako gives up chasing him, she stands in the rain as it cleans her blood-covered body, disappointed but not discouraged as she is sure she will one day find someone clean enough to make love with.

Well, that was insane :P

This all may seem very random to you, but there is a higher meaning to Mako and her nose. As you may have realized, the ass-banana was dirty in a sense that doesn’t involve physical germs. Note that Mako is asking him for love, not for sex. She wants something “clean”, something ideal. But her way to look for it is less than great, it’s the method of a desperate woman.

Even if no one shares her nose-bleed, I think a lot of people share her situation.

I like how Paru once again plays with our expectations, juggles around elements of a horror story and an ecchi manga, making us unsure what to expect and then throws something completely different at us, like she did with “Sanda” where we at first assume it is a classic teen romance manga and Paru instead makes it into a story about the relationship between an adult and the children who needs him.

That’s end of part one. Expect more in a near future.

... Don’t laugh, I’m serious.

I’m Waezi2, and thanks for wasting time with me.

[redsnerdden]

Paru Itagaki's Drip Drip: A Strange, but Fascinating Look Into A Woman's Journey for Intimacy

Advance Review: Paru Itagaki's Drip Drip: A Strange, but Fascinating Look Into A Woman's Journey for Intimacy *Warning, Contains Mature Themes and Topics* #ボタボタ #manga #DripDrip #VizMedia

Before we begin this review, I would like to thank Viz Media and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this title. Also, a warning that this review will contain Mature Themes. Today’s review finds us exploring a strange area in Life, Love and Intimacy. Paru Itagaki brings us a story called “Drip Drip” about a young woman named Mako Higari , who has a strange problem. Whenever she comes across…

[jesuis-melodrama]

Cleanliness in Body and Mind: The Filth that Sabotage Relationships with Others and Self in Bota Bota.

Bota Bota is a tranquil phrase meaning drip-drip in Japanese, a sound effect commonly used in manga, meant to dredge the zen imagery of dripping water. In the context of Itagaki Paru's, the author of the revered and famous BEASTARS, 2021 seinen manga Bota Bota, however, the term is anything but peaceful, alluding to the sound of blood dripping from the nose of compulsive and deeply lonely protagonist, Higari Mako.

The audience is introduced to Mako from the perspective of her co-workers at the food canning factory she works at in Chapter 1: A Shower in a Neon City. We see her through the eyes of the two male colleagues fascinated by her beauty and mystery, and knows only about her what they believes of her personality. She is "a goddess who will let any man sleep with her", "a goddess who descended into this dreary food container factory"

That is the feverous and eager belief of one of the men, however the other is less quick to assume and more wary of Mako's aloof presence. We feel about her as cautiously as Kinoshita (the second male employee) does. She is drawn wonderfully, no arguments, and has a confrontative and confident demeanour which projects the attractiveness of any person. Helplessly drawn in by her charm and the promises that she makes:

Kinoshita accepts Mako's invitation of walking with her to the train station, a decision that will lead the two of them into a night at a local love hotel.

On their walk, Mako divulges secrets of her persona, and the audience along with Kinoshita begin to understand the seeds for her strange temperament.

A side-note into the art of Bota Bota: Paru-sensei themselves have made no great claims at being a distinguished artist. In BEASTARS, their style is rough and sketchy, with wide eyes and stretched lips which perfectly emulates the exaggerated features and inhumane traits of BEASTARS' anthropomorphic characters, allowing their mien to present expression familiar to homo sapiens readers while not straying from their animalistic roots. In a story like Bota Bota however, featuring only human characters, the shortcomings of Paru's style can be seen; ratios are switched every other panel, body proportions vary depending on set, and the unique technique makes in no way any attempts of replicating the popular shoujo and shonen art styles of revered mangas which had as much a hand in the fame of the novels as the plot itself. But despite its flaws, Bota Bota's raw and spartan art contributes significantly to the ambience of the story. Mako's journey and her progression from aimless wanderer to self-lover would not have as much impact if the style had been polished and cutesy. Much like how the dark and disturbing art of Hajime Isayama's Shingeki no Kyojin creates as much impression as the contents of its story.

The reason for Mako's famous nosebleeds become clear when Kinoshita submits to a bed rest with her. Mako is obsessively and dangerously frantic about cleanliness. She washes yen bills and spends them as soon as possible to avoid touching diseased notes for longer than she should, she cleans her shoes each time she wears them outside, she disinfects her coat each time she takes it off.

And when she comes into contact with anything 'filthy', like the men in her bed for example, whom often falls short of her hygiene standards, her body viscerally rejects the contact, causing her body to launder itself through cleansing, violent nosebleeds.

At 29 years old, Higari Mako is still a virgin, because her own propensity for sanitation makes life decisions for her. She has not a single friend, nor ever a lover. Like all favourable characters, Mako has a strong element of self-awareness, she is perfectly coherent on the unhealthiness and drastic loneliness of her lifestyle, seeking to overcome her urges by attempting to have sex with men, teaching her body to become used to a natural and healthy amount of filth. Like all other terrors in becoming intimate with another person, Mako ceaselessly desires to accumulate herself with the hypothesis of trust, because her cleanliness is, at the depths of it, a self-preservation technique embedded in her by her own mother, whose traumatic experience of a cheating, 'filthy' husband, has implanted with Mako well-intentioned by ultimately delusional ideas of protection and purity.

Kinoshita's co-worker believes that every man in their company has had their turn of copulation with Mako. As Kinoshita finds out, this is not only not true, but the truth has been hidden by the Mako's would-be lovers' consequential terror of her slightly askew psyche.

Self-awareness is often not enough to solve the problem. In stories, complications cannot be dissolved via ironing a simple misunderstanding, and in real life, plenty of people hold cognition of their failures and shortcomings, yet continue to entrench themselves in their mistakes due to a variety of factors, at the very least, an uncertainty that their circumstances would be better should they attempt to pull themselves out of their pit.

Mako's attempt to 'correct' herself by laying with Kinoshita fails miserably, ending in a rather American Psycho climax, although instead of chasing him with a chainsaw, Mako chases Kinoshita through rainy streets with a kettle of boiled water that she hopes to disinfects his penis with.

From there on, through Chapter 2 to 5, the audience is introduced to an array of potential suitors and Mako's attempts of copulating with them. Such endeavours usually end in comedic and disconcerting fashions, mostly for the suitors, as Mako seems to have long shot past the capabilities of feeling shame or regret.

Her attempted seudction of a bank teller in Chapter 2: Disaster in Limousines.

To her fabrication of a disaster scene, hoping to invoke a suspended bridge effect, in Chapter 3: Overwhelmed by Rubble.

My favourite of her lovers is a rather gentle, and dark-haired phlebotomist who turned out to be clinically emotionless. His lack of reaction to Mako's constant bleeding and unusual penchants isn't because he was her soulmate but because he possesses an inability to summon any sentiments. But despite his alexithymia, this phlebotomist is owner to a powerful sense of empathy, is able to instantly recognise the emotions of others and take considerate, beautiful attempts of reconciliation. Like Mako, the unnamed phlebotomist has also grown comfortable with his condition, recognising the inevitability of it, and has settled into a state of cooperation with it. His confidence makes him bewitching. And he is right, Mako was simply overwhelmed by pleasure at meeting someone of her kin, and too hastily applied the label of romantic love to the unfamiliar sensation. The phlebotomist did the responsible, respectful thing by telling her so, and cutting off their nascent relationship.

The departure of this gentle soul marks the arrival of Mako's final suitor, and her adversary. Ryunosuke Tokuma, the manager of a humble street eatery.

An old high school classmate of Mako's, unrecognisable from his younger self by a significant weight loss. He is introduced into the story clemently, the audience feels an immediate affection for him due to his kindness and awkward sincerity. He admits to Mako almost immediately after their meeting that he has considered himself in love with her for years, and had hoped for a deeper relationship with her upon their reunion. Mako, initially charmed by the idea of another sex attempt, becomes repulsed by the sudden inaction of her nose. Usually when holding the hand of another man, even leaning close to them, the scent of iron would infect her nostrils, foretelling her coming bleeding. Except this time, for the first time in her life, Mako was able to touch and kiss another person without blood spilling down between them.

Despite Mako's attempts of riding herself of her condition, her deep and adamant desire to become a 'normal person', she has subconsciously come to rely on her nosebleeds as a form of self-protection over the years, and for the first time, was unable to count on her sickness. Feeling vulnerable, exposed, and horrified, Mako is ungainly unable to acclimatise to the rapid change of events, and makes to eject herself from the presence of the first real candidate she has of an intimate partner. Fear, at the root of her psyche, is the dominant emotion. Fear of intimacy, fear of connection, fear of falling into the same tragic fate of her mother, being attached to a man with nothing but filth beneath beautiful skin who will one day leave her to a lonely existence of misery. To try and fail is much more preferable to Mako than to try and succeed. Because succession would mean moving onto the next step, the terrifying and vulnerable experience of opening her heart up to another, a partner bound by nothing but a proclaimed promise not to shatter her heart. What is erroneous with Mako isn't truly her obsession for cleanliness, that is nothing but a symptom. Mako is plagued by an insecure and unshakable fear of being left behind, at being toyed with, at being abandoned.

Tokuma is a nice person. And despite Mako's panics and uncertainties, manages to slowly but surely worm his way into her heart and life. He learns to accustom himself to Mako's peculiarities, and Mako trusts him enough in return to open up her heart.

Mako has sex with Tokuma. Finally, at age 29, after a lifetime of stumbling through awkward sexual situations, pushing herself through some truly unfortunate scenarios is search for a suitable partner, Mako has achieved her mundane yet fantastical goal.

This seems to be where the story could end. This seems to be a happily-ever-after, in Mako's worldview, there shall no longer be any greater trouble than overcoming her own complications for the sake of building foundations with another person. Now, she is happy to pursue regular relationship activities, consider children, consider marriage, consider the future of her life with someone else holding her hand.

But when things are too good to be true, then maybe they are.

In truth, Ryunosuke Tokuma is not a humble manager of a steady restaurant. He has not liked Mako since high school, and he never had any intentions of helping her with her trauma, past what benefits he can gain from her body by playing along with her whims.

In truth, Ryunosuke Tokuma is a playboy with numerous other girlfriends on the side, a hobby for domestic violence, an alcoholic, and a sleazy gambler with a 7-million yen in debt.

To him, Mako is less of a puzzle to be solved than a leaking tape to be sporadically taped together, just enough so that he could gain what he wants from her without expending too much effort. Mako is convenient, and Tokuma is exactly the impure, lecherous, and horrendous kind of man that Mako's body has been developing all her life to protect her from.

So, why did her trusty nosebleed, that can detect filth beyond what is physically present, not come to her aid in the face of the worst suitor she has been presented with?

Maybe it is because Tokuma himself is a deeply tormented person entrenched in a pit he could not be bothered to pull himself out of. Maybe because he was once as pure and kind as he pretends to be, and it is only the hard years of living in a capitalistic, fast-paced city like metropolitan Japan that inspired his more negative attributes to take dominance of his personality. Or maybe Mako just make mistakes sometimes, sees the right things in the wrong person, as anyone in love would do.

But Toruma himself ends up being a convenience. The arrival of a person who could sneak past her defences and hits her where it hurts most turns out to be who Mako needed all along. It was their wedding day, quickly ushered, a dream on Mako's behalf and a necessity to have a safety net on Tokuma's, that allowed Mako to climb to the peak of the mountain of her trauma and begin to look past her dependency on others.

Her nosebleeds kicks in, wetting and weighing her dress in a dramatic display worthy of the term hell has no fury like a woman scorned at the sacred vow ceremony. Scorned, used, humiliated; mistreated, fooled, debilitated, Mako ends up in the exact situation she had been yearning to avoid. Almost permanently secured with a filthy man.

Her anger manifests in the redness of her gown, the crows who follow the scent of iron like death to its mistress. Maybe Mako's nosebleeds are of divine origins, because they have certainly been patient and merciful, giving Tokuma until the last second to redeem and reveal himself. Failure to do so...has resulted in a formidable Judgement Day.

Mako should be angry, furious. A lesser woman would've retreated back into bad habits and cowardly safety. But Hiragi Mako is nothing but bold and confident. She manages to smile in the face of such betrayal, and she manages to stick to the positives instead of mulling over her regrets.

No experience in life is wasted, and Mako took account of what has happened between them. She managed to have a somewhat heartfelt, genuine relationship. She managed to have sex. She has crossed so many barriers and emboldened herself that she almost tied the knot with another man. She had fallen in deep, deep love.

Does she forgive Tokuma? Of course not, but her experience with Tokuma renewed herself, and Mako is ready to try again, however many times is needed to gain her happiness. If Tokuma can stand her nosebleeds, surely there must be other men out there who could. If Mako can fall in love with Tokuma, then her heart is now ensured to work, ready to be gifted to someone else. Her cleanliness was a symptom of her fear, and her obsession on physical contact was a disguise for her true yearning for spiritual understanding.

Mako uncovers herself, and no longer places her worth on her body's ability to stand the touch of men. She's so secure on self-assurance, she never once stops to blame herself for what Tokuma had done. No, Mako is purely innocent in the relationship, she has ensured the purity of herself and now she has unlocked that final chain tying herself to her contentions with her body.

Her trauma is still there, but she is no longer bound by it. Her desire for a partner is still there, but she is no longer forcing herself through humiliations for it. In her search for a partner, Mako has managed to free herself, achieving a goal she was not even searching for, finally able to see clear and seek the real connections she longs for, the comforts of true love, rather than the press of another body against her own.

[gaijinschoollibrarian]

Manga Review: Drip, Drip

Manga Review: Drip, Drip

Title: Drip, Drip Mangaka: Paru Itagaki US Publisher: VIZ Media Status: Complete (Oneshot) Age Relevance: Adult How Essential Is It?: Nice to Have Reader’s Advisory Tags: Feminism, gender relations, sexuality Content Warnings: Gore, sexual content, generational trauma Publisher Synopsis: Whenever Mako Higari comes in contact with something she perceives as dirty, she gets a massive…

[beauty-marked-beauties]

Today's Beauty-Marked Beauty is: Mako Higari from Bota Bota

[tsunflowers]

Bota Bota's pokemon team?

HER NAME IS HIGARI MAKO

but mimikyu, hatterene, slowpoke, feebas, murkrow, and buneary

[ao3feed-tododeku]

Bloody Hero

Bloody Hero by DatOneGal

Izuku Midoriya is sick from a young age and not only is he horrible sick he's quirkless. A ruff rough a set ahead of him, he is forced to trudge through the mud just to achieve his long-awaited dream. Join Deku- No, all of class 1-A as they move to become hero's working alongside Deku.

Words: 7524, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: Multi

Characters: Todoroki Shouto, Midoriya Izuku, Bakugou Katsuki, Kirishima Eijirou, Nezu, Shuuzenji Chiyo | Recovery Girl, Thirteen, Inui Ryou | Hound Dog, Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Ishiyama Ken | Cementoss, Kayama Nemuri | Midnight, Snipe, Ectoplasm, Maijima Higari | Power Loader, Kan Sekijirou | Vlad King, Gran Torino, Aoyama Yuuga, Ashido Mina, Asui Tsuyu, Iida Tenya, Uraraka Ochako, Ojiro Mashirao, Kaminari Denki, Koji Koda, Rikido Sato, Mezo Shoji, Jirou Kyouka, Sero Hanta, Tokoyami Fumikage, Toru Hagakure, Mineta Minoru, Yaoyorozu Momo, Class 1-B, Toogata Mirio, Nejire Hado, Amajiki Tamaki, Shinsou Hitoshi, Hatsume Mei, Fukukado Emi | Ms. Joke, Yoarashi Inasa, Utsushimi Camie, Shishikura Seiji, Nagamasa Mora, Ikoma Komari, Todoroki Enji | Endeavor, Takami Keigo | Hawks, Hakamata Tsunagu | Best Jeanist, Kamihara Shinya | Edgeshot, Mirko, Nishiya Shinji | Kamui Woods, Ryukyu, Sakamata Kuugo | Gang Orca, Mt. Lady, Toyomitsu Taishirou | Fat Gum, Sousaki Shino | Mandalay, Tsuchikawa Ryuuko | Pixie-bob, Chatora Yawara | Tiger, Crimson Riot, Takagi Ken | Rock Lock, Shiretoko Tomoko | Ragdoll, Iida Tensei | Ingenium, Sasaki Mirai | Sir Nighteye, Shimura Nana, Banjou Daigorou | Lariat, Awata Kaoruko | Bubble Girl, Akaguro Chizome | Stain, Tobita Danjuurou | Gentle Criminal, Aiba Manami | La Brava, Gigantomachia, Kurogiri, Tomura Shigaraki, Sensei | All For One, Kyudai Garaki, Dabi, Himiko Toga, Bubaigawara Jin | Twice, Iguchi Shuuichi | Spinner, Sako Atsuhiro | Mr. Compress, Hikiishi Kenji | Magne, Muscular, Mustard, Moonfish, Nomu, Yotsubashi Rikiya | Re-Destro, Kizuki Chitose | Curious, Hanabata Koukuu | Trumpet, Chikazoku Tomoyasu | Skeptic, Geten, Chisaki Kai | Overhaul, Kurono Hari | Chronostasis, Irinaka Joui | Mimic, Boss, Nemoto Shin, Kendo Rappa, Tsuragamae Kenji, Tsukauchi Naomasa, Mera Yokumiru, Eri, Kota Izumi, Shirakumo Oboro, Bakugou Mitsuki, Bakugou Masaru, Midoriya Inko, Kotaro Shimura, Nao Shimura, Shimura Hana, Chizuo (My Hero Acadmia), Mako, Todoroki Rei, Todoroki Fuyumi, Todoroki Natsuo

Relationships: Midoriya Izuku/Todoroki Shouto, Bakugou Katsuki/Kirishima Eijirou, Asui Tsuyu/Uraraka Ochako, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead/Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Kaminari Denki/Shinsou Hitoshi

Read Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28926294

[w2beastars]

W2′s thought on “Bota Bota” AKA “Drip Drip” (part 3)

So... this manga has been fun.

And by “fun”, I mean “slightly disturbing in a way that I did not know.”

But we are getting closer to the end of this strange manga. And you won’t expect the ending at all, it’s pure Paru magic.

Again, adult themes will be mentioned, so read at your own risk.

Chapter 4 feels like the meekest chapter. I could have done without it. Not that it is necessarily bad, it just feels... meh... compared to the three first chapters.

Mako’s nose is bleeding once again in public due to accidentally getting mud of her clothes. And everyone is weirded out by it.

Except for this one guy:

The guy says he works for the Blue Cross and has seen enough blood to not be bothered. As a matter of fact, he thinks Mako’s blood is incredibly beautiful and thinks it is astounding how much she bled.

Before you ask, no. He is not a psychopath. Just quirky.

They talk about Mako’s problem with dirt. One thing leads to another...

And they go to the Blue Cross dude’s place to have sex. Like before, Mako is bleeding all over the place, but Blue Cross dude is not bothered at all. Mako feels like she has finally found the man she can not only have sex with but also love as he is kind and not bothered by her little problem.

But this was not meant to be. See the BC guy tells her that he can relate to feeling lonely and as an outsider as he has a quirk of his own:

Yeah, the dude is not capable of feeling love. 

He is not an asshole or anything, he is just numb to loving people in a romantic sense, even tried going to a therapist but eventually gave up as he felt like he could have a good enough life even if he doesn’t have interest in people in a romantic sense. And he very much enjoys sex.

Mako’s joy is replaced with utter disappointment. She finally found someone she could have sex with while bleeding like crazy. But it’s only half of what she was looking for. She tells him that she is in love with him, but he stops her from making it worse. He is gentleman enough to make it clear that he can’t give her what she wants and that he is terribly sorry for hurting her feeling with the naked truth.

I think it is important to note that he is sorry if the truth hurts her, not that he might have hurt her. He haven’t done anything wrong, he has been completely honest with her before they actually got started on having sex.

Mako then goes to her favorite restaurant called the House of Liver. The place specializes in dishes with liver as the name implies, so a good place to eat once you have lost a ridicules amount of blood and is low on iron. Mako is also drowning her sadness in beer as this failure feels much more devastating for her than prior failed hookups where she brushed it off, remaining optimistic. But time if feels like it was her last chance. The one man she could have sex with without being bothered by her dirt “allergy.”

But then, the knight in shining armor appears in chapter 5.

This is Ryunosuke Tokuma. He runs the House of Liver and has noticed Mako for some time since she is his most frequent customer, even gave her some spinach on the house since only getting iron from liver is not exactly the best idea. But once she starts bleeding like crazy due to two shitheads bothering her with wanting a selfie of her bleeding(she has become an urban legend after bleeding enough in public), Tokuma realizes that he knows her from when he was a kid.

He goes to Mako and tells her that he recalls her from school. He tells her that he has always been impressed by how hard she fought to do something about her condition.

In chapter 6, we finally get some more info about Mako’s mom, the person who is a key player to her body reacting in such an extreme manner when near filth and “filth.”

See, when Mako was five, her mother became obsessed with cleaning the house after she found condoms in her husband’s work binder. She realized that it meant that he was cheating on her, so she decided to clean the house in order to remove every single dirty trace of her bastard husband. And then she did it again.

And again.

And again.

Cleanliness became a religion in their house. And shortly after her mother getting her cleanliness obsession, Mako developed her nosebleed when near filth of any sort.

Mako tells Tokuma about her upbringing and about her cheating father and how his adultery affected her poor mother. She is surprised by how open she is to Tokuma as she has never revealed this to anyone before, which means she must feel exceptionally calm around him.

But then Tokuma does something that makes her world crumble around her:

He holds her hand. And her nose is not bleeding. Hell, she can’t even smell the faint sent of blood that warns her that a nosebleed is on it’s way. She is baffled, possibly panicking as she asks Tokuma if he has bathed recently or if had sex with at least a couple of girls, looking for a reason to why he should be dirty.

Tokuma asks if it is possible that she wants to have a nosebleed, that she is deliberately trying to find a reason to why he is dirty.

She tries kissing him since that normally is sure to trigger her nosebleed, but still nothing. She is so frightened by the lack of reaction...

AND HAMMERS HER NOSE ON A STONE STATUE!

You know, to force a nose bleed.

This is the moment where Mako realizes that the idea of possibly finding her soul mate, the “clean” guy she is actually allowed to have sex with, is downright horrifying. And “losing” her nosebleed is uncomfortable since it has always been a warning system. Despite her annoyance of the nosebleed, it has always also been reassuring to have a shit-head detector.

Sheeesh. Some people are impossible to make happy, am I right?

Joking, I can get why she is confused.

Tokuma is persistent in telling her that he is not dirty and that he loves her. He even claims that the reason to why she is not bleeding is that he really IS the one, that there is nothing wrong.

They then have sex. Mako is baffled by losing her virginity without spilling any blood. Well, her nose starts bleeding when they have breakfast, but she brush it off as a minor delayed reaction, something Tokuma agrees on is most likely the case.

And just like that, “Drip Drip” has a happy ending.

I’m Waezi2 and thanks for wasting time with me.

Yeah, no. Sorry. I’m kidding. It’s far from over.

This feels like way to good to be true, right? Because it is. The thing about a knight in shining armor is that he can hide all sorts of nastiness under said armor.

Tokuma is a player. He has had several girlfriends. When he met Mako he already have three active girlfriends, each of them for a different sort of need. Like a rich lady that he talks into giving him cash since he also has a drinking and gambling problem. Another he has since she has low confidence and he can push her around and then one who makes him meals.

Not scummy enough to be a total bastard? Well, guess what? Tokuma beats up some of his girlfriends when his charm is not enough.

Tokuma is a master predator when it comes to women. That’s how he knows how to make Mako relax around him and so her nose won’t shoot out blood till much later. He can’t stop the reaction that warns Mako that he is no good but he can give her a false sense of security so he can trick her.

And it works so well that when Mako’s nose can sniff that he has just been with his other girls, he can guilt trip her with not trusting him so she will ignore her nose’s warnings. Her nosebleeds are almost back to normal after dating Tokuma for some months, but she is under his spell.

And he manage to mansplain her so much that she will marry him despite her nose’s constant warnings. See, Tokuma knows that he is not getting any younger, so his bullshit won’t last. Heck, some of his current girlfriends are getting wise on him and beating them won’t work well for long. So he decides that Mako should be the unlucky gal who should be stuck with him as husband.

Then, we reach chapter 8. The final chapter of “Drip Drip.” Tokuma has gotten money from his parents to pay for a modest wedding. Poor Mako is over the moon, a willing victim of this prick.

But as they get closer to the big day, Tokuma starts to feel guilty. He sees visions of blood splatter everywhere he goes. Its kind of like the Poe book “The Tell-Tale Heart.”

We reach the wedding day. It really looks like Tokuma is gonna pull off his greatest scam.

But the nose won’t let him.

Blood slowly runs from her nose and her white dress is turned into a dark-red one.

This is not just a nose-bleed. This is the nose bleed of all nose-bleeds. A giant puddle of blood is created around Mako. And fricking crows comes from afar as they can smell the blood.

Paru once again manage to surprise us with how insane she can make this already head-scratching manga!

And just like in the “The Tell-Tale Heart”, our slimy son of a bastard finally breaks.

He throws himself at her feet, confess all of his sins and begs for forgiveness while crawling on the dirty bloody floor.

And here comes the big surprise... Mako is overjoyed. She is happy and laughing.

Tokuma is completely baffled by this reaction. He once again asks for forgiveness and claims that he is in love with her. Mako, still looking like a kid at the day before summer vacation, joyfully tells him that she will never forgive him.

This whole affair made her realize that she shouldn’t be unhappy because of her nose. She should stop trying to find ways to stop it or settle for dick-bags like Tokuma. She should stop letting it bother her that she is 29 and still not married.

She knows that she will find true love eventually. Even if she has to bleed an ocean to go through all the douchebags till she finds her true soulmate.

She leaves the church and Tokuma behind, still laughing. But not before giving her good-for-nothing ex-fiancé one last request:

It’s surprisingly normal that society tells women that they shouldn’t be picky. That they should get a boyfriend or husband (or wife or girlfriend) while they are still young. That being single and/or a virgin is something to be ashamed of. That you shouldn’t be “picky.”

In this manga, Paru says fuck that noise and gives a big middle finger to mansplaining. Mako is at first seen as a sad figure, but that is only because she makes herself one. She sees herself as a problem because her nose makes her have high standards. And even if her mother made her have unfair standards and a unnatural fear for dirt, then it is not the same as saying she shouldn’t have standards. She allowed herself to be the office slut, to try trick someone into falling in love with her in a fake life-and-death crisis and tried to pay her way to sex. But her nose wouldn’t let her. And after Tokuma finally fess up she can appreciate it for what her nose is despite its flaws.

So Mako’s happy ending is not getting the guy but to know she is worth one, even if she has to look harder for him.

That’s a wrap. I’m Waezi2, and thanks for wasting time with me.

[w2beastars]

W2′s thought on “Bota Bota” AKA “Drip Drip” (part 2)

As the story goes on, Mako get’s... creative in her quest for sex and love.

In chapter 2, we see how Mako handles money. That is to say, she handles them not exactly well.

Again, be warned that some very adult stuff will be mentioned here.

Whenever she gets her paycheck, she withdraws all of her money at once and then gets home and starts washing them due to how extremely dirty they are. She doesn’t even count them at the bank as she has no wish of opening the envelope they are in before she can get home. And then she tries to figure out a way to spend her money as quickly as possible so she doesn’t have to be with them for longer than what’s necessary... which is extra hard since she got a raise for her hard work, meaning she has in yen what equals 20.000 dollars.

And again, I think it is obvious that these money are dirty in more than one way for Mako.

After washing her cash and getting a bloody nose again, Mako gets a surprise visit. It the guy who works at the bank she uses, he noticed she had left her personal seal behind. In case you did not know, a personal seal is a stamp that Japanese citizens use instead of signing something. It can be used when you have been in contact with the police or if you have been at the bank.

Anyways, the cashier from the bank came to give Mako her seal back. She sees it as a sign from the universe since this dude works with cash. That if she could “love and be loved” by such a person, it might make it easier for her to be near money. Also, he made an effort to look up her address just so he could personally return her seal, so that makes him seem like a pretty decent guy.

... At least more decent that Mr. douche-canoe from the last chapter. But then again, that’s setting the bar pretty low XD

And then we get THIS ridicules panel :P

Mako decides to spend her money on a limousine for her date with the bank clerk. That way she can burn her recently earned money in a hurry as well as set the mood for the date.

Everything about this panel screams trying too hard XD I love hw the bank dude looks partly impressed and partly creeped out. Him still being in his work attire shows that they are doing this more or less five minutes after having met, even though Mako put on a sexy dress that I wonder if she just bought in for operation Be-Broke-Fast :P

It might just be me, but there is this little thing called “charity.” Heard about it, Mako?! XD

Anyways, the bank teller tells Mako that he was moved by her blind trust as she told him she didn’t need to count the money he had just given her (20.000 dollars!) and it’s nice to know that the world is not completely cold and cynically. Mako feels a tiny bit embarrassed since she just wanted to avoid touching the bills and therefor lied about trusting him.

And then they jump to the sex.

This is basically like the toilet and trash can experiment. She spends money in a very “dirty” way on unneeded luxury and is (trying to) have sex in an expensive car with a bank teller, a person with a “dirty” job. She is doing a lot of “dirty” things in a very enjoyable way.

But her mother’s wisdom words about how filthy money are rings in her head as she is undressing. And her nose once against taints her skin with her own blood as the bank teller caress her body. He notices and the mood is ruined. Sad thing is that he is nicer than the mofo from last chapter.

Mako is furious over the situation as she notices that the bank dude no longer has an erection.

In desperation, she throws around the money she still has, trying to pay him to get an erection again so they can have sex. But the sad thing is that money can’t give her what she desperately wants.

The driver of the limo notice all the blood and freaks out, crashing the car. No one gets hurt and Mako gives the driver the rest of her money. So she at least got rid of her dirty cash.

... What even IS this manga?

Next chapter, Mako tries to one again find someone she can trust enough that her germaphobia won’t bother her as... wait, one sec.

...

Right. She needs to find someone she can trust enough to share bodily fluid with!

XD What the hell?! XD

So she will try something new. Mako then share some interesting insight in action movie romances that I will show you instead of explain:

I think Mako is on to something. American action movies often have a hero and heroin only end up together after a mummy tried to kill them or something, so it feels like they have been though enough stuff that them hooking up doesn’t feel like they are JUST hooking up. That way, the young who might watch the movie won’t be inspired to randomly make out with people. They should ONLY do so after they have been in a stressful situation and the adrenaline is pumping like crazy and making them more impulsive compared to being in a calm situation where they can think an extra time before making a huge mistake.

Anyways, Mako wants to go through this gauntlet so to say. So she masterminds a disaster.

Mako makes an old building collapse around her when a poor schmuck drops by an area without much traffic, a construction site. And its during a weekend where the crew who works there wont come till Monday, meaning they will be trapped for two days. She seen the weather forecast that promise rain, meaning water for them to drink will fall from the sky so they wont die of thirst. And as the dot above the i, she steals the dude’s cellphone while he is panicking over the building falling around them and trap them.

... WHAT THE FUCK, MAKO?!?!?!?!

The name of guy who is unlucky enough to be the co-star of Mako’s little action movie is Yuta. After screaming and panicking, he manage to calm down as he realize that even if their situation sucks, then they are not gonna die. Mako is surprised by how surprisingly well Yuta handles being trapped. They even start talking and bond.

And that’s what makes Mako feel guilty... I would say she should have felt guilt as she thought up this whole scheme, but that’s just me:P

As Yuta gets closer to Mako for comfort since he is rather scared, Mako realize that this plan was doomed to failed from the start since the whole thing is fake. She set up the disaster, it’s not like the action movies where two people are in a chaos situation because of bad luck.

So this time, Mako has found a guy who is not dirty at all. And he even likes her. But she is the problem now. Her mom’s words once again rings in her head where her mom claims she would be a dirty slut if she was with anyone but her true soul mate... WHAT THE FUCK, MRS. HIGARI?! HARSH MUCH?!

As Yuta kiss Mako, the collapsed house collapse even more. Because METAPHORE!!!

Someone luckily finds them the next day and gets them out. They are naked, Yuta passed out and Mako is carrying his unconscious ass while she is covered in her own blood once again and still very much a virgin.

Next time, we will wrap up “Drip Drip” and it will be revealed what makes this a very feminist-like manga.

I’m Waezi2, and thanks for wasting time with me.

[tsunflowers]

What, not going to give Higari Mako a Nosepass on her pokemon team?

I didn’t even think about it since even though her thing is nosebleeds it’s not like her nose is particularly big or prominent. really it’s too bad there isn’t a hyperrealistic blood pokemon like in the creepypastas bc that would be just right for her