"Usotsuki Paradox" Manga Review

***I apologize but unlike my other reviews this one contains spoilers throughout the entire review.***

Never in my life have I been so motivated to write a review even though it's like 2AM here. What started out as a funny ecchi comedy ended in the worst possible manner. Let's dive into why Usotsuki Paradox is a manga you should avoid.

Story: 2/10

I'll admit that the opening chapters had me quite interested in what was going on. Essentially the main female lead is part of a "long distance" relationship and decides that it would be ok for one of her co-workers to provide "emotional support". It starts out all innocent but they eventually move onto things that can never be forgotten. The thing is, this is not a bad plot device. In fact I really enjoyed the manga up until this point. The drama was intensifying as we had almost no data on the mystery long distance boyfriend and all our eggs was in the current basket. 

What happens later on of course is that she goes to see mystery man and that just fu$#s up the whole rest of the manga. No joke it gets to the point where they actually tag team her. Gross. This manga had a lot of good things going for it but it descended into a lackluster reverse harem and when it tried to redeem itself by giving the main male lead a new flag to pursue, we get the cliché "they end up together anyways" (talking about the main male lead and the female lead). What's worse is that the author tries to make you think that it was the main male's fault for everything even though the female lead was ok with cheating on her own boyfriend. The only positive things I can say that were constant throughout the entire manga was the comedy and art style (see below).

The reason why I am not supplying names is because most of the manga is un-translated and while my Japanese is ok, names are still tough to pick out of the mess.  

Art: 9.5/10

This aspect of the manga I actually really, really liked. Even though it looks a little messy and undefined, the way the characters were drawn really had me engaged. The female lead had really large inviting eyes and the male lead looked quite mature. The background scenes were very well done and all the side characters looked amazing as well.

Characters: 2/10

They really fell off the deep end in the second half of the manga. We get introduced to some asshole that we are somehow supposed to root for. The one strong female character in the manga decides to go soft and allow the male lead to get away, and the friends of the female lead do little to no help in resolving the conflict. The only character I really liked was the main male lead as he was pretty much tricked and provoked into initializing the faux relationship.

Overall: 4.5/10

The ending chapters really made me want to gag. Not only was it cliché as hell and disgusting beyond belief, it completely ruined what the first part of the manga tried to establish. If you want an ecchi comic then here is one; just be warned that any emotional attachment will just make you want to hate it even more in the end.