There are a lot of big names in the world of hentai manga, and people are sure to agree or disagree on who belongs on the list of all-time great artists. For me, though, it’s hard to argue that Yamatogawa doesn’t deserve a spot on that list. I’ve been a fan of the incredible art and stories created by this artist for years, all of them containing a perfect focus on gorgeous art and memorable characters. If you needed any convincing that Yamatogawa was a legend in the industry, his new book Power Play! is sure to be all the proof you need.
Unlike most of the hentai manga published by Fakku, Power Play! isn’t an anthology of separate stories. Instead, it’s a full length adventure made up of 10 chapters and 239 gorgeous pages. Things start off in our first chapter with a fantasy kingdom in ruin, thanks to the nefarious actions of the Dark Lord Shadal. This demonic emperor has stolen every beautiful woman in the kingdom to brainwash them with his incredible sexual might and make them part of his endless harem. Things are going great for him and his erotic plans, until a band of brave heroes storm his castle to put an end to his reign. Eclair, Mina, and Maria are slender and scantily clad heroines ready to defeat Shadal once and for all, but not with swords and fireballs. Instead, they’ve come prepared to ring him dry and drain him of all his sexual stamina in order to deplete his powers and render him useless.
What follows are over 20 pages of intense, wild, and over-the-top sexual action. There’s something genuinely funny about the heroines going on about using all their strength and utilizing special energy draining magic as they proceed to just fuck the dark lord silly instead of actually battling him. It’s a goofy spin on things that added a lot of charm to the story, but even more charm comes from the gorgeous art of Yamatogawa. While the girls in Power Play! are tall and slender, they have beautifully bouncy butts, slim yet well-defined curves and a selection of gorgeous busts that vary in size but never vary in quality. Every inch of anatomy, whether male or female, is drawn in exquisite detail that is only amplified by the stellar uncensored artwork exclusive to this Fakku release of the stories. Even beyond the naughty qualities of the artwork, Yamatogawa excels at drawing expressive, cute, and silly facial expressions and dynamic poses that keep the entire book fresh. While there are only a handful of girls taking the spotlight in this story, each of their designs checks a different box that is guaranteed to ensure that there’s something for everyone in this book.
However, these girls aren’t the main focus of Power Play!. We have an entirely different protagonist once the next chapter of the book kicks off. It turns out that the events of that opening chapter were nothing more than part of a story being pitched by a fledgling artist named Sadaharu. He’s a video game creator who specializes in making illustrations for indie porn games, which seems to explain the raunchy nature of his latest pitch. Unfortunately, he’s had zero success with video games or with women, leading to his current status as a broke 30-year-old virgin. After his pitch fails to impress, he utters his personal motto, “Man, it’d be so nice if a girl would just fall from the skies.”
The joke’s on him, though, because almost immediately after the words leave his lips, it happens. The small feathery servant of Shadal from the fantasy world crashes headfirst into the window that Sadaharu is sitting next to, screaming in pain and transforming into a beautiful, brown-skinned girl. She enters the diner and fails to convince Sadaharu of the fact that he’s actually the reincarnation of the Dark Lord Shadal, and this story that Sadaharu came up with is simply Shadal’s memories coming up through his subconscious. Even though he doesn’t quite believe her at first, she decides to get some first-hand experience with the reincarnated dick of Shadal, and eventually the two end up living together so that the dark lord’s dark-skinned servant, Sara, can teach the virgin reincarnation of Shadal how to be just as much of a sex god as the original Dark Lord.
Out of all of the girls featured in Power Play!, Sara is absolutely my favorite. The contrast between her chocolate brown skin and her pale white hair is incredibly gorgeous, making every page she’s on an absolute treat. She’s also got a smug face and bossy attitude that I couldn’t get enough of, especially whenever that smug aura was washed away by her shock and uncontrolled enjoyment of Sadaharu’s surprisingly impressive sexual skills. Our reverse-isekai protagonist is a bit of an idiot, and the initial chapters of him having no idea how to engage with a girl physically were a little exhausting. Eventually, though, he gets the hang of things, leading to some great action between him and Sara. I loved their dynamic a lot, and if the entire book had just been about the two of them, I would have been satisfied.
There’s a lot more to this book than just Sara and Sadaharu, though. As the story progresses, the three heroines from the fight with Shadal each find their way into this world in order to defeat the reincarnation of Shadal. Each of them tries and fails, as their separate powers aren’t enough to win over the temptations of even the reincarnated Shadal. It’s really fun to get a couple of individual chapters focusing on each of the three heroes, and the stories focusing on Eclair and Mina get especially creative. If anything, I wished there could have been more action involving the heroines in regular life, to take advantage of the scenario of them being transported to another world a little more. Still, what I got out of Power Play! was a silly and charming adventure, and as a fan of Sara, I was especially pleased with how the last few chapters turned out.
It isn’t often that I read hentai manga volumes that aren’t a collection of standalone stories. There’s a huge challenge involved in trying to craft a single, massive story that can keep readers just as engaged and interested as twelve shorter, simpler stories. Thankfully, Yamatogawa succeeds with Power Play! at creating an interesting world and a fun set of characters that kept me glued to the book from beginning to end.
