PiNKS

When I was a kid, I didn't know what gender was. There was a time when I was playing with my neighborhood who was a girl (is also actually my aunt who's one year older than me). I couldn't remember exactly why she groped my crotch and it was hurt. She then ran and I successfully caught her and tried to grope the thing between her legs in hoping she could feel the same pain as me but I was surprised that I didn't feel anything there. I was asking her why she didn’t have that thing there and she didn’t answer. It was years later that I came to an understanding that I am a guy and she is a girl, that’s why we are different.

Curiosity is something that couldn’t be separated from a kid, that’s why childhood times is amazing. Everyday is like an adventure to discover new things. We saw, we heard, we felt and later we formed our pre-conception of the things surrounded us and did some research to clarify it. Some of kid like to make the concept by their own, while some others like to ask their parents or other adult people to understand the thing better. But there are some things considered as taboo or strange to be known as a kid, and one of them is regarding love and gender. So adult tends to lie or hide it and told the kids that there will be a time when they’ll understand. It’s normal and that’s how it is.

PiNKS is about two young kids, a boy and a girl, who’re curious of what sex is and how it is related to love. The main girl, Akagi, blatantly shows her curiosity to her peer and adult and finds it strange that people avoid to talk about the subject with her. Soon she tries to discover it together with one of her classmates, Yahiko, who’s also curious after Akagi provokes him. And their adventure to a new discovery begins.

Their attempt to discover it is rather simple, it’s just to find a H-book. Well, what you expect from young kids, anyway?. But it doesn’t mean it’s not interesting to see. In this simple premise we could see the two young kids try their best to get a H-book and develop a bond each other.

Sadly, the manga is so short it doesn’t go beyond its premise. But still, it’s already so unique and interesting for its premise alone. Not mention that the manga still manages to tell us the reason behind Akagi’s curiosity despite how short it is.

The art style for the background artwork is also interesting and adds the seinen vibe to it for using a similar technique with a well known seinen mangaka, Oshimi Shuuzo, while the character are still drawn in normal fashion using the author unique style and design.

I’m surprised this manga hasn’t been read by many people yet.