A lot of times, hentai and manga paint the women in them as meek and submissive. They’re shy childhood friends or inexperienced first-time lovers most of the time. What about the other side of the coin, though? What happens when the tables are turned, and the women are the confident and experienced ones in the situation? What happens when the women are dominant, and forceful, and get what they want, no matter what the guy says or does? Over the course of nine chapters and 210 pages, Marui Maru answers those questions in spades with his femdom-focused anthology book Cherry & GALs.
Cherry & GALs is an anthology collection of standalone stories with various characters and settings, but they all carry one common theme: femdom. If you enjoy dominant women asserting their will on all sorts of shy or unwilling boys, this is the book for you. The book runs the whole gamut of scenarios, from domineering high school girls all the way to bondage and pegging, but each chapter differentiates itself from the last with unique characters and scenarios. A few of the stories are light enough in their femdom emphasis that it’s easy to enjoy them if you’re just looking for standard vanilla fun. A good chunk of the book goes a step beyond that, though, and might only be appreciated by true femdom fans.
It’s a shame there aren’t any full-color pages or bonus illustrations in the book, because the colored cover illustrations by Marui Maru are absolutely incredible. The artist does a great job of using shiny light-bounces and soft skin tones to render the delicate lips and bodacious breasts of his characters. It would have been nice to see more of that detail in the book. The fine touch of colored tan lines and sharp, vivid eyes adds even more to the art. That same attention to detail with tan lines is present in the rest of the book, but in his color illustrations, Marui Maru really makes them pop.
Thankfully, the black and white art throughout the book is still incredibly well done. Marui Maru does an amazing job of drawing slender girls with big breasts and plump butts that never seem fake or unnatural. There are wonderful softness and squishiness to every curve on every page. The girls also have incredibly erotic eyes and beautiful lips that add to their appeal even further. There’s a great variety in character designs throughout Cherry & GALs to ensure that no two girls look similar, and it’s an appreciated effort that adds to the quality of the book.
The localization and decensoring effort for this book by FAKKU is absolutely stellar. Character dialogue flows naturally and never comes across as awkward, and the work redrawing and editing the sound effects throughout the book is also great. A lot of care was put into the anatomy of the characters on every page, so getting to see it all in full detail without any blurs or censor bars is worth the price of admission alone.
The first story in Cherry & GALs, “I Think I’m Hooked”, focuses on a couple of tanned and curvy highschool ko-gals. Ruruna laments the fact that her friends only talk about sex when she herself hasn’t ever done it. When she confides her problems with her friend Ria, though, Ria tells her that she’s been having sex almost daily with her younger brother… and Ruruna is more than welcome to join them. It’s a wild scenario, but the way Ruruna goes from being shy and inexperienced to confident and sex-crazy is a treat to see.
Things get a bit more extreme in a later story, “Onii-chan and the Baby Making Squad.” In this chapter, an older brother is left home with his three sisters when their parents leave for a work trip. When he happens to mention how he can’t wait to get married, the sisters freak out and refuse to let some random girl take their big brother away. He goes to sleep that night thinking it was all fun and games, but soon wakes up restrained and bound by leather straps and a facemask. His three sisters reveal that they’re going to ensure he can’t survive without them. It’s an extreme story, but the group action is pretty fun and it manages to do a lot without ever going quite too far.
One of the highlight chapters of the book is “For Medical Use Only.” In this story, a young man named Asano is about to be discharged from the hospital after an extended stay. Asano hardly wants to leave, though, because he absolutely loves being pampered by his two beautiful and curvaceous nurses, Ayasaki and Shiori. He’s also downright depressed that he’ll have to say goodbye to the skimpy uniforms they’re wearing. When he keeps pleading for them to let him stay, the nurses decide to bring him somewhere secluded, tie him up and blindfold him, and toy with him all night long to celebrate his recovery. The way the two nurses flow between being tough and toying but then warm and caring is a treat, and this chapter also boasts some of the best art in the entire book.
Cherry & GALs knows what it wants to do, and it does it well. The entire book is a wildly varied assortment of stories that, despite being about totally different girls in wildly different scenarios, all manage to carry the femdom theme that ties the entire book together. Every story is erotic and entertaining, balancing fun and naughtiness without ever becoming too grim or serious. The great art on every page is just the icing on the cake. If you’re in the mood to see some tough and dominant women in action, look no further than this release.
