New Manga: Monster Therapy-Themed “Youkai Massage” Debuts

Rensuke Oshikiri, the manga artist behind gaming romance series High Score Girl, is authoring a new manga called Youkai Massage. Unlike previous titles, Oshikiri is solely in a writing position and his student and assistant, Ichiro Imiki, is providing the artwork.

Youkai Massage is the story of Atsuko Momiyama, a young girl who ends up working at a massage parlor for monsters. Though one of the young workers there underestimates her, Atsuko apparently has some secrets to her success.

Compared to his teacher, Imiki’s art style is a lot more conventionally cute than Oshikiri’s weirdly proportioned yet oddly charming aesthetic (pictured above). However, there are still clear signs of Oshikiri’s influence on Imiki’s work, as shown with the old lady in the image below.

Oshikiri’s writing is generally very clever and his humor finely tuned, so it remains to be seen whether it can work when Oshikiri isn’t drawing.

Given the success of massage videos on sites such as YouTube, Youkai Massage also has the potential to garner an unconventional fanbase who are interested in the act of viewing massage without necessarily anticipating the arrival of a “happy ending.” Youkai Massage does not appear to be explicitly erotic, although the magazine it runs in, Young Champion Retsu, does carry some fairly fanservicey titles.

Source: Comic Natalie