Ottoman: The Seinen that Proves Love is Might!

Before you read, check out these bullets where I condense the highlights of this series. 

• Lovable MC
• Striking artstyle that is both easy on the eyes, and accentuates the character designs
• Brutal fights that get that blood pumping
• Interesting couple dynamic between MC and wife

How many times have you been scrolling online through manga sites hoping to find a new series to spend your time on, only to find a lot of generic "my friend's are my power" type bullshit? If so, I share that pain with you. Sometimes when you grow up with battle anime or mostly read battle manga you tend to reach the "shonen ditch". Which is where everything feels copy/pasted from somewhere else to varying degrees of success. 

Thankfully, I have just the cure for this "shonen ditch". The wide world of manga aimed at adults is littered with seinen and josei series that tackle stories with more mature themes and ideas. But wait?! 

What exactly are seinen and josei manga? Well if shonen and shoujo are aimed at young boys and girls respectively, some even written for young adults, then seinen and josei are written for adult men and women respectively. That does not mean that only men can read seinen or women read josei, it simply means that the target audience is usually in that ball park.

I am more than happy to give some recs later on for more mature reads, but for this post I wanted to focus on a seinen that caught my eye. And that is of course, Ottoman, written by Kanazawa Shinnosuke it tells the story of Souya who is a busy salaryman who spends his workdays on meeting deadlines, all while keeping his dream alive of one day becoming a manga artist. Aside from manga, his one and only light and support in his life is his wife Yuuka, a somewhat tomboyish realist who has no direction in her life and decided to stay home and take care of the apartment. Though somewhat emotionless, she deeply loves Souya. This proving that opposites do indeed attract. 

What makes this a battle series however is the fact that aliens have invaded Earth and are planning a hostile takeover, while treating the humans as their own food source or worse in some cases. The delicate yet intricate line work is juxtaposed by the brutality of the more disturbing scenes where humans are killed, this making it even more tense when we see that Yuuka is targetted by an alien posing as a deliveryman. Which leads one to think; where is Souya in all this?! 

After clocking out for the day, Souya is seen heading back home when he is caught in an accident where a vehicle impacted him. At the same time this is happening, a glowing somewhat snake-like alien is looking for a host to take over. Seeing the accident take place, the alien dives into Souya and revives him...with some perks. Souya opens his eyes, and barely feels any pain. He shoves the truck back a bit as if it were a toy, and rushes back home to tell his wife what happened.

Yuuka is no pushover, having a black belt in martial arts, she is able to hold the alien off for a good while, but sadly gets her leg and arm eaten. Just as this happens, Souya arrives and due to the extreme shock of seeing his loved one in such a horrid state, transforms into a what looks to be a full bodied version of the alien that revived him. Normally, the alien is fueled to fight by negative emotions, but senses huge untapped potential in a more positive and dangerous emotion: Love!

That's right, our hero in such a bleak world and circumstance is fueled by the love he has for his wife that he quickly defeats the attacker! Of course this leads to even more intrigue as Yuuka is taken to a hospital and is sent to a mysterious facility that wishes to run tests on both her and Souya!!

And that is a brief synopsis of chapter 1 of this fantastic series! If you ever feel like life can be too much, and want to genuinely escape and have a fun time while reading some manga, this is the one for you. The positivity and optimism of Souya is almost infectious to the point that you want the very best for him and Yuuka. Seinen is known for serious and mature topics, and there is definitely an underlying dark tone to this story later on, it initially sucks you in with the mystery of the aliens and the organization who take the couple in. What awaits the couple duirng this new twist that fate has thrust upon their lives? Find out for yourself in Chapter 2!