THE BLUE AND WHITE

The Metalhead Next Door by Mamita is a sweet one shot, easy to pick up and one I keep coming back to. It’s a light, fluffy read that leaves a warm feeling in your heart.

Kento’s a broke college student who recently moved into a new apartment. It’s cheap, affordable, almost perfect. However, the heating is currently out. He ends up passing out right in front of his new apartment, only to wake up warm and tucked in. Finding a black haired man hovering over him. The intimidating looking man is his neighbour, Soshi. Who, contrary to his appearance, is quite sweet and soft. He offers Kento a meal before sending him off.

Their relationship as neighbours slowly starts cracking as Kento keeps coming over to have dinner with Soshi, but Kento’s too scared to trespass the boundary of their relationship. After a pivotal concert, Kento’s forced to confront his feelings. 

The artstyle has a bit of a rough, sketchy feeling that’s somewhat inconsistent with the cover art. However, I really appreciated the contrast between cute chibis and the more detailed panels. The chibis depict Soshi as shy and awkward, directly contradicting his demeanor. 

A notable problem with one shots is that there’s only a certain level of depth to the characters and their world. There’s naturally going to be a lot of character arcs left with awkward conclusions, perhaps a lack of world building, but I found The Metalhead Next Door to address these issues rather gracefully. 

Mamita creates an intense, focused story arc that helps keep the spotlight on our love interests. Rather than developing the backstories of individual supporting cast members, they’re instead used to develop the character arcs of our main protagonists. Through this, our protagonist’s relationship feels a lot more rounded, focused and complete through the lens of the reader.

I do wish that we could’ve been filled in on the content we missed during the time skip between the fifth and sixth chapters. For what short time we spend with these characters, it leaves a lasting impression and a feeling of sweetness. I’m very satisfied with how Mamita chooses to close off the story, and The Metalhead Next Door most certainly changed some of the perceptions I had about one shots beforehand. 

T’s personal rating:

Spice: 1/5

Romance: 3/5

Fluff: 5/5

Art: 5/5 

Characters: 4/5