Sundome, Vol. 1

by Kazuto Okada

The "Roman Club," a school group interested in the occult, to which he's practically enslaved, has become boring for one Hideo Aiba. In fact, he finds his entire existence pretty tiresome until, one day, when a girl named Kurumi Sahana shows up and wants to join up. When the two are left alone in the club classroom, Kurumi makes a special "request" of Hideo, which makes him (understandably) freak out. Though he doesn't know what to think, one thing's...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0759528500
• ISBN13: 9780759528505
• Release Date: January 2008
• Publisher: Yen Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.0" x 7.6"
• Age Range: 16 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 11 and higher

Customer Reviews

Literary panty book

"Sundome" (which means to stop just short of finishing) is all about the tease. It is all about that overwhelming feeling of desire you get, and the frustration of having the object of your desire just out of reach. You can brush it with your fingertips, but you can never get your hands around it. Oh, and "Sundome" is also about panties. The story is a bizarre twist on a typical set-up, the kind of things you see in all sorts of Japanese comics like Pastel. You have a shy, nerdy guy without a chance in the world of getting a girlfriend. Thrust into his life an incredibly sexy girl who seems to be interested in him for no particular reason. Hijinks ensue. Only, in this case the nerdy boy, Hideo Aiba, has a pretty strong submissive streak and the hot girl, Kurumi Sahana, is ready to play. Aiba belongs to the "Roman Club" (Not Ancient Rome. "Roman" is a Japanese expression meaning "romance," but not boy girl romance. Think more of "Romance of the High Seas" and you will get the picture.) All the guys in the Roman Club take a vow of virginity, and dedicate themselves to a life of adventure and boy's spirit, in a way that is right out of a Mishima book. However, their adventures mostly consist of looking up pictures of ghosts and monsters on the computer. Kurumi, the new transfer student (of course!) joins the Roman Club mainly to torment Aiba, who she decided will never achieve orgasm unless she gives him permission. Kurumi gives Aiba a series of challenges, and he gets a series of rewards when he succeeds. Most of these rewards involve Kurumi's string panties, naturally. Of course, there are more characters than Aiba and Kurumi, because you have to have a supporting cast. A chesty rival for Kurumi is the ditzy Kyoko, who also becomes attached to the Roman Club. Aside from Aiba, the club members all have their own sexual fetishes and obsessions, like the octopus-faced Kattsun (peeping tom), the shy Tatsuya (leg fetish and doll fetish) and the Ex-president who was kicked out for failing the "virginity clause." One of the things I loved the most about "Sundome" is how squarely it fits in Japanese literature. All the obsessions, the sexual perversions, the powerful and abusive women are straight out of a Tanizaki Junichiro novel, especially his classic Naomi where the title character rides her husband Joji around like a horse and he puts up any indignities just to be with her. I don't know if the Mishima and Tanizaki references are intentional on series author Okada Kazuto's part or not, but it is too similar to be coincidental. Props to Okada for bringing some of Japan's literary roots to the soft-core manga scene.

Twisted Love

I found this a while back and flipped throu a few pages boy was I surprised. If your not familiar with the many types of japan's voyuristic perverts you will be after reading this. It is a story of high school boys taken a vow not to make love to girl till after granduation. But the main charater is tested to his limits by a new girl who joins the club. If you love skimpy school girl uniforms and lots of upskirts and close ups this is for you. But you might be push to sexual frustration by the story.

Amazingly good mature content title.

Is constant sexual arousal and torment better than being rejected by the girl of your dreams? It is according to the male lead in Sundome. I've read manga and watched anime for years now, and I have to admit that I wasn't expecting anything more than another book with a generic plot and loads of fan service or no plot and over the top sexual content. Neither of those definitions describes this book. The story isn't about sex (as in the act of sex), it's about what makes you WANT sex. To that end there is a load of fan service, but rather than being accidental, cute, and somewhat embarrassing for the characters involved, it's intentional, provocative, and intense beyond embarrassment. By the time I had finished the second volume I was ready for the main characters to 'seal the deal', but true to the way the story plays out...it just left me waiting for and wanting for volume three. It's brilliant, I want it to happen. But it would almost be a letdown. I'll admit that the plot starts out a bit thin in volume one(they have to get you drawn in), but by the end of the second volume you can already see a gradual shift towards something a little deeper than what the cover art would indicate. Sexy? Oh yes! Smart? We'll see, but certainly a big improvement over the majority of the content out there. It should go without saying that the content in Sundome is largely inappropriate for readers who are A: offended by nudity and strong references to sex and/or B: too young to properly deal with these issues. So, as a previous reviewer said (and I'm paraphrasing). Keep the kiddies away, but involve your significant other (spouse, girl/boyfriend).

Good Tease

I completely agree with N. S. Michael, this book is really good, the pages will turn themselves when you get into the story. Not henti but one step away.

What is your biggest turn on? Would you call it a fetish?

First of all... **GENERAL WARNING: THIS MANGA IS NOT FOR CHILDREN** It is most certainly a mature audience manga as it's sole subject is turnons... and the variety and depth of humiliations a person would endure in the pursuit of their sexual obsessions. Take our hero... a newly sworn president of a club that swears off women who has recently met the woman of his dreams... his very naughty dreams. She is everything he has ever desired in a woman, and seems to enjoy his company to boot... but she will never, EVER sleep with him, and even says as much. Of course, that's not to say she won't tease the hell out of him and abuse their "no sex" relationship to the hilt (in some cases, the hilt being his own... but never enough). Okada walks a very fine line with this manga, in several ways. First of all, it's purely about what turns people on... nothing really to do with the deed itself, just what gets them started. That would seem to me to be a very difficult subject to focus on without ever doing the deed, but Okada does it well. I think he's plotted this DOM/SUB couple, with enough side characters to keep the variety in, well enough to keep readers begging for more for quite a few volumes to come. Secondly, he toes the line between art and porn. While I know this manga would certainly not be for everyone, I just can't find myself relegating it to the darkened corners of an adult video shop. It doesn't have the narrative to save it like Dance Till Tomorrow does, but it also doesn't go that far beyond shadowplay when it comes to titillation. It's sexy... very much so, but it's not porn. Personally, I'd call it mature fiction in comic form. Say, the kink of Laurel K. Hamilton without the actual sex... or vampires. Third, this book is populated with many different versions of the perpetual deviant. All of it's characters have a fetish of some sort, and almost all of the characters are illustrated versions of what most of society would deem the creepiest of "harmless" perverts. There's the guy who's into dolls, for one. Definitely a paraphillia, but nothing really all that wrong with it, either (from a "live and let live, save by harming none" kind of perspective). It's more than a little freaky, but not in a "call the police" kind of way, which I think would be most people's first instinct... and yet another reason why I like this manga. It challenges us to view quite a few different sides of fetishism in a different light while not being self-righteous due to looking at it through the lens of comedy. In any case, I found it an interesting and sexy read and am unashamed to admit I'll be looking forward to volume two... just, parents, keep your kids away (though you might want to share it with your spouse after the kids are asleep).