Can I Use Your Bath (Adult Content)

Can I Use Your Bath? It seems like an innocent enough question to ask someone but, considering that this is a doujinshi title, you know that it'll be the catalyst for several very not so innocent acts! The question, however, is how does it lead up to this and how good is the work itself?

Our main character is Souta Kudou, a 21 year old college student who is not enjoying his university life. His neighbour is a shy lady who greets him when they encounter each other but is often too nervous to look directly at him. Souta considers her to be creepy for this (which seems a little harsh to me) but she shows up at his room one day, introducing herself as Suzu, and asking him "Can I use your bath?" As it turns out, her water isn't running and she has a job interview the next day which she needs to clean up for. Souta is hesitant but grants her request in the end. However, since her job interviews are not going well, she has to continuously use his bath to make herself presentable. As to be expected, sex eventually makes its way into this equation although I'll talk about that in a moment.

It's a simple premise and one that I was expecting, somewhat dreading, to go in a particular direction. Thankfully, it ends up becoming a rather sweet vanilla story and one that has a surprisingly endearing end that managed to get a chuckle out of me. There aren't any major twists (one crossed my mind as I read but it turned out not to be the case) which makes this a rather straightforward title but it ended up being more pleasant than I was expecting.

Souta and Suzu are the only two characters in this story. No, really! There aren't even background characters or anything! As for these characters, Souta takes a little bit of time for him to come out of his shell, he does seem oddly hostile in the beginning, but he manages to get there in the end as he begins to show kindness towards Suzu. Interestingly, Suzu herself also manages to defy expectation but in a different manner with her actually being the one to initiate their sexual relationship! Considering how short Can I Use Your Bath? is, they don't feel particularly deep or fleshed out but I think people will end up coming to like these two and their interactions.

With regards to the artwork, it turns out that Can I Use Your Bath? is an odd one for me. It has a clean look with appealing character designs, some very lovely (and funny) expressions and some nice backgrounds as well. So where is the oddity then you ask? As I read, something felt off but I couldn't immediately tell what the issue was. However, it was only when I looked back at some previous pages that I figured out what it was that felt strange; there is very little shading in Can I Use Your Bath?, very little indeed. Some panels look so white that it almost feels like we're looking at a work in progress that is awaiting someone to come and finish the shading! This may've been an intentional decision as the only black is typically Suzu's hair, which contrasts sharply with everything else and allows her to really pop out whenever she's present, but the result is an art style that feels sterile at times. There is much to appreciate about the art but this one aspect ended up becoming quite distracting by the end.

Can I Use Your Bath? is a rather simple but pleasant read that ends up being surprisingly heartwarming. Admittedly, it could've been a little bolder when it came to story and characters and the art, while nice, is too monotone with very few shades or shadows for my taste. Nonetheless, it's an enjoyable title and I think that many will find Can I Use Your Bath? to be an entertaining experience for its duration.