Imaizumi Brings All The Gyarus To His House 1 (Adult Content)

I will confess that I was very curious to read Imaizumi Brings All The Gyarus To His House for one reason and one reason alone; it seems surprisingly popular.

What I mean by this is that I encountered this series long before I started covering doujinshi. I remember my first encounter being a tweet from a YouTuber who teased his audience by sharing a screenshot from the adaptation and asking them to guess what anime he was watching. He would go on to create a very positive video covering the series and I admit that piqued my curiosity. Additionally, I peruse MyAnimeList on occasion and, curious about what titles were being warmly received by audiences, I took a glance to see what hentai manga scored the highest.

Upon seeing that, as of when I'm writing this review, Imaizumi Brings All The Gyarus To His House was the top rated on the entire website, and by a quite notable margin at that, my curiosity continued to grow and grow. What was this series that seemed to be capturing people's hearts?

Finally, I got a surprise one day when I saw a list of upcoming manga releases in English and saw these characters on a cover surrounded by what seemed like typical pickups by Seven Seas Entertainment. Was Seven Seas Entertainment releasing hentai now? Turns out, after some quick research, that the confusingly named Imaizumi Brings All The Gals To His House is a spin-off manga that shows the cast interacting in their everyday lives between chapters of the doujin! I don't know how common something like this is but it was the first time I'd ever come across it myself and I was determined that the title was worth looking at now that I'm covering doujinshi for the website. So, with all of that out of the way, how does the first chapter of Imaizumi Brings All The Gyarus To His House hold up against my lofty expectations?

Our lead character, Keita Imaizumi, is a student who lives alone due, in his own words "to some circumstances". Three girls from his class, Reina, Yukina and Ruri, have learned about this and have decided to make his apartment their gathering spot where they hang out, play video games and eat snacks. One evening, Imaizumi gets dragged into a game match against two of them while the third, Reina, clings to his back, telling him that he'll have a punishment game if he loses. However, he finds himself distracted by Reina pressing herself against him from behind and, upon noticing certain 'reactions' from him, she decides to tease him even more. This, of course, causes him to lose the match and it's up to the girls how they wish to 'punish' him.

For a series that has garnered such a following, I do confess that I was rather surprised by how straightforward and, dare I say, simple the plot and characters are. There isn't too much that I would regard as twists and turns and there aren't particularly notable character arcs either. Whether this changes in future chapters or even in the spin-off series remains to be seen but I wouldn't regard the plot as a selling point of the first chapter. However, I would be remiss if I didn't point out some aspects that I was very impressed by.

Far and away the most noteworthy of these would be the pacing which I think is simply superb. Rather than leap straight into sex, Norigorou spares the time to build up to it with Reina's teasing serving excellently as foreplay. Even once the sexual acts begin, Norigorou doesn't rush, letting things simmer. There are even a few bits where the girls ask him whether he wishes to stop, making him ask them to keep going. They clearly know the answer already but delight in having him make the choice himself. There was even a moment that caused me to laugh out loud at how absurd one of their ideas was!

Now let's take a look at the characters. Imaizumi is mostly a passive participant, pushed around by the girls with only a scant few moments where he takes control or manages to voice his opinions. We learn later on that this seems to be how he acts in general and is related to the reason why he lives alone. I wouldn't say he stands out much as a main character although I do see potential growth for him in future chapters if he manages to confront his insecurities. As for the girls, I would say that their personalities are quite similar with only a few differences. Reina is clearly the most assertive and is the one to initiate sexual contact although the others are clearly very sexually assertive as well. Yukina seems at first to be the sensible one but she quickly abandons this when the action gets started while Ruri is the most playful, taking great pleasure in exacting Imaizumi's 'punishment'. While not deep characters by any means, their interactions are surprisingly enjoyable and, just like the plot, the result is a sum that is greater than its parts.

The artwork is presented in full colour and is very pleasant overall. The characters are highly distinct and appealing in design while backgrounds are detailed and blend in with the rest of the artwork. Depth of field and motion blur are used effectively and the paneling emphasises the action with dynamic closeups and angles as well as highlighting the character's bodies. Admittedly, some of the body parts seem a little unconvincing and there were a few shots where I thought Reina looked off-model, but these are relatively small criticisms.

So, considering my high expectations, the question is whether this first chapter of Imaizumi Brings All The Gyarus To His House has managed to impress me? To be frank, I came away feeling a little mixed with my experience. On one hand, I can see why people enjoy it with the superb pacing and great artwork but I also can't help but feel dissatisfied with the lack of depth when it comes to the plot and characters. Do I recommend reading this? Yes. This chapter is available to read for free on Irodori Comics website with the option to purchase for a DRM-free version so it's frankly quite easy to check it out for yourself and form your own opinions. I do admit that I'm a little curious to see how the series progresses and whether the plot and characters get some much needed development but it does prove to be a satisfying experience overall even if I don't necessarily see the reason for all the hype yet.