“Straight like spaghetti, until it gets wet”
- Episodes : 12
- Genre : Drama, Shoujo Ai
- Airing Date : July 2017 - September 2017
- Producers : Creators in Pack
Contains Spoilers
Netsuzou TRap Introduction and Story (Spoilers)
Okazaki Yuma and Mizushima Hotaru are best friends since childhood and by the time they reached high school, Yuma got herself a nice boyfriend. New to this experience, Yuma asks Hotaru for advice, but things start getting complicated when Hotaru kissed her. Conflicted with her feelings, Yuma doesn’t know what to do with Hotaru and her boyfriend vying for her love. Will Yuma cheat on her boyfriend so she can fool around with Hotaru, or will her boyfriend found out and feel devastated by the betrayal?
NTR is a yuri anime series containing 12 very short 9-minute episodes about Yuma slowly realizing that she is falling in love with her best friend Hotaru, and discovering new things that Yuma wasn’t aware of like Hotaru’s sexual advances towards her, and Hotaru’s hidden relationship with her boyfriend Fujiwara. The first episode starts with Hotaru sexually teasing Yuma in front of her new boyfriend Takeda in a karaoke bar. Hotaru then admits she’s doing this in order to help Yuma about intimacy between lovers and eventually the joys of sex with Takeda.
Around half-way through, Takeda made his move by giving Yuma a sweet kiss on the lips, a kiss to make their relationship official. Yuma, who is also neighbors with Hotaru, talked about the kiss, and we see Hotaru showed a slight shock at the news. The episode ends after Hotaru baited Yuma to come closer and stole a very wet kiss. Hotaru said it was just practice and helping Yuma out but then bragged Hotaru got first dibs at giving Yuma a French kiss.h Hotaru all this time. The anime ends with them sharing a kiss that is genuine and passionate. A kiss, making their relationship official.
As the series progressed, Hotaru’s sexual advances increase to the point of Hotaru fingering Yuma while continuing to justify these sessions as practice. We were also given flashback scenes of Yuma and Hotaru back in grade school like Yuma protecting Hotaru from bullies, and how Hotaru got her first boyfriend and her frequency to change partners. The anime then made several hints that Hotaru grew an emotional attachment to Yuma and she gets into short-term relationships in order to make Yuma jealous.
The real meat of the story unfolded when we discovered that Hotaru’s relationship with her boyfriend Fujiwara is just a smoke screen -- Hotaru doesn’t want guys hitting on her and made a deal with Fujiwara in exchange for sexual favors. Fujiwara is in it for the sex and he hits Hotaru when she refuses to give in to his demands. Fujiwara even blackmails Hotaru to submission after he found out Hotaru is spending some private time with Yuma. For Yuma’s side, her relationship with Takeda is crumbling due to her mixed feelings between him and Hotaru. And there was a point in one of the episodes Takeda got suspicious, convinced Yuma was seeing someone else and she was stabbing him in the back and ended their relationship.
Around the latter episodes, Yuma found out Fujiwara was the one responsible for Hotaru’s injuries and tries her best to keep him away from Hotaru, though Hotaru insisted she wants to be Fujiwara. These series of events made Yuma realize that Hotaru’s actions were just ways of seeking Yuma’s attention, and Yuma was in love wit
What We Liked About Netsuzou TRap
Netsuzou TRap tells an unconventional love story between two girls while keeping it a secret from everyone, including their boyfriends. Yuri anime, as rare as they are, never tried to be serious about their romance by introducing male rivals. It’s always been girl meets girl story, with some quirky situations leading up to a confession and probably accompanied by a kiss.
NTR goes with a semi-realistic approach with a story of a girl realizing that she’s in love with her best friend, but has to contend with the fact that she’s currently in a relationship with a guy. And the best parts (or shocking part, depending on how you look at them) are always the cliffhangers that will keep you wondering how things will turn out in the next episode.
Netsuzou TRap, along with the upcoming Citrus and Asagao to Kase-san, is also a step forward in Japan introducing more anime adaptation of yuri manga.
Discussion Time
NTR is fairly short due to its runtime, so there’s nothing much else to talk about, other than these key points.
Story — If you strip off the yuri element, Netsuzou TRap is a story of a girl cheating on her lover. In Japan, it’s called “nerotare” or NTR (or Cuckold in English) is a type of story that involves a man or a woman cheating on their significant other, or the girl or guy got taken away by someone else. The anime didn’t delve too deep with this due to its short length, but it was prominent enough to establish that one guy didn’t realize his girlfriend is slowly getting taken away by a girl. This may be a negative to some because getting cheated on isn’t something worth praising. Is it right to cheat on your partner and is it right not telling them and get a proper break up instead of keeping the doubts and guilt build up? Additionally, is NTR really a yuri anime? Yuma had genuine feelings towards the boy and Hotaru is in a heterosexual relationship with Fujiwara.
Characters — The story unfolds in the perspective of Okazaki Yuma and how she is puzzled at Hotaru’s constant sexual advances and slowly realizing that she’s a lesbian after all. The second main character Mizushima Hotaru is a complete enigma throughout the series because she’s not very open to everyone, especially to Yuma, so sometimes you tend to question her motives. The male characters Takeda and Fujiwara get good character development, but they’re not as fleshed out as the main girls. Takeda was the sacrificial lamb because he was unfortunate enough to fall in love with a closet lesbian.
Sadly he got devolved into a cupid-like supporter helping Yuma out instead of him fighting back to whoever is stealing Yuma away from him. Fujiwara is a prick, and he’s proud of it. But unfortunately, his character never went further from being the show’s main antagonist. Did Fujiwara develop some feelings, after all, that time with Hotaru? Or does he truly hate women and he’s in relationships just for the fun of sex? Or maybe he’s gay towards Takeda? The two got featured in one of Japan’s prominent BL (Boys Love) publications after all.
Why You Should Watch Netsuzou TRap
1.) The Yuri Story
The main draw of Netsuzou TRap is the yuri story and the anime satisfies the itch of fans looking for more yuri anime in their list. And the story is very unconventional that you won’t find in other yuri anime. It’s very unconventional, controversial even, but the story of NTR is far from uninteresting.
2.) Yuma and Hotaru
A story is meaningless without a good main character and thankfully, NTR has 2 good main characters. You watch Yuma’s feelings slowly unfold every time she’s with Hotaru and seeing the struggle her best friend is enduring. Their struggles make them worth watching and seeing the two ended up together is both palpable and satisfying.
Why You Should Skip Kemono Netsuzou TRap
1.) The NTR Story
No matter how fair the resolution is, no matter how romantic the story is, or no matter how developed the characters are, the anime is still “netorare.” Takeda is a very nice guy, a gentleman and pure-hearted and seeing him lose his girlfriend for someone else is heart-aching, unfair and insulting. This is one of the reasons why NTR stories are usually exclusive in hentai.
2.) Short Episodes
The cliffhangers, as previously mentioned, were great because each episode is too darned short. The story could’ve benefitted with a 25-minute runtime by properly fleshing out the characters, especially Takeda and Fujiwara, and introduce more yuri scenes. Most of the time, the episode ended right after when things started to heat up. And the main reason why the episodes were short is the manga the anime is based on is still ongoing with 24+ chapters and counting. You’re better off reading the manga for more Yuma monologues and more lewd yuri scenarios.
3.) Open-Ended
The anime is open-ended because, as stated above, the manga is still ongoing. NTR anime opted for an original ending but it doesn’t resolve anything. But to be fair, this was partly intentional to get anime viewers to pick up the manga and read further. And you should be doing that.
Final Thoughts
Netsuzou TRap, as short and open-ended it may be, told an interesting story than you may not find anywhere else. The NTR aspect and elements that argues the anime legitimacy as a yuri anime may be a turnoff, but if you look close enough and give it a chance, Netsuzou TRap is one of the bold new steps for a new golden age of yuri ever since the days of Strawberry Panic and Maria-sama ga Miteru.
Author: Antoine Rizal
Recommended Post
6 Anime Like Netsuzou TRap -NTR- [Recommendations]
Recommended Post