SP Baby Volume 2

What an unfortunate time to be publishing a series with so much “humor” dependent on sexual harassment and treating women as property. Thankfully, the series is over with this volume.

I didn’t think it was possible, but our “lead”, Tamaki, becomes even more of an object in SP Baby volume 2. Her crush and neighbor faces off with her boss while she’s sick, basically handing her off while she blushes and dithers. Her boss, called master, continues to grab and kiss her whenever he wants, with the implication that she really likes it so it’s ok for him to be decisive.

The neighbor rival is written out early, so the rest of the book becomes getting to the “happy” ending. Since boss needs her to feel anything, she mentally shrugs and goes along with settling down with him. Apparently, her feelings don’t matter. The only obstacle through most of the book, and it’s a slight one, is that he has an unseen, arranged fiancee that has to be disposed of.

There are a number of cliched scenes to fill out the almost 200 pages here, including the “I got drunk and woke up in bed with him” tease; the “I owe him so I’ll let him order me around” faux maid situation; the “although you don’t remember, we met when we were younger and you changed my life” flashback; and a weird “he made me see him naked” shower setup. (Shades of current headlines!) To try and add some depth, there’s a completely misplaced “the trauma in my past” reveal that is sadly out of touch with the tone of the series. Plus, Tamaki continues to demonstrate how stupidly bad she is at her supposed job of guarding his life.

This is drivel, and by trying to make harassment and assault romantic, it’s also disgusting. I’ve put author Maki Enjoji on my list of creators to avoid, because reading her stories just makes me grit my teeth. (The publisher provided an advance digital review copy.)