Publisher Summary
Makoto Kuribayashi is your typical high schooler with a not-so-typical after-school gig as a housekeeper. His latest client? None other than his school’s most popular teacher, the gorgeous Rumiko Hotta. But Hotta-sensei is hiding a dirty little secret: she's a total slob, the polar opposite of her flawless public image! Now, Makoto's got the unenviable task of cleaning up after her mess. Will his admiration for Hotta-sensei survive a dose of harsh reality in this irreverent comedy?
Author: Mao Nakada
Translation: M. Skeels
Lettering: Barri Shrager
I received You're So Sloppy Hotta-Sensei as an Advanced Review Copy from Azuki in exchange for an honest review.
Background
You're So Sloppy Hotta-Sensei was serialized in Manga Action Magazine on May 10th, 2022
The series currently has four volumes in-print inside Japan
Azuki announced at Anime NYC 2023 they licensed You're So Sloppy Hotta-Sensei for a digital release via their manga reading platform
Review
Meet Makoto Kuribayashi, a high schooler who's attempting to make ends meet through his part-time job as a housekeeper. He reveals to his classmate that he's not receiving any work offers. In response, the classmate said that people would rather hire adults than him. But shortly after, his classmate jokes that he would want to hire the school's popular teacher to take care of him. Who is this teacher? Meet Rumiko Hotta, a very outgoing person who is attentive about her appearance. We can see that she holds herself to a high standard, and the other students would consider her an idol.
Later that day, Makoto gets a call from his work saying that there was a last-minute request, and because he hasn't gotten any jobs, he immediately says yes. Once he arrives at the client's apartment, he rings the doorbell with no answer. Confused, he double-checks his notes to make sure he's at the right apartment. A familiar-looking "Rumiko Hotta" is on the work order. Makoto passes it off as a coincidence. It was revealed that he was sent to the popular teacher's apartment, and Rumiko greets him at the door. She noticed that Makoto goes to the same school she works at, which freaks her out. Rumiko attempts to stop the service before Makoto points out that it's more costly to cancel. Defeated by this reality, Rumiko then shows Makoto her apartment. As Makoto steps in, he notices that Rumiko is not the idol that he thought she was. But instead, she is someone who lives with trash everywhere. Impressed by his cleaning skills, Rumiko hires Makoto as her housekeeper. However, she comes up with a list of boundaries if Makoto wants to keep his job, thus beginning their housekeeper-client story.
Narratively, the story splits between two settings with the remaining chapters that're available: The High School Sections and Rumiko's Apartment. At the high school, we see both Makoto and Rumiko attempt to hide their relationship from staff and the student body. However, their "attempts" to do so often push them into situations where the boundaries that were established earlier would unintentionally get broken.
For example, right after Makoto agreed to the boundaries, he keeps finding himself unintentionally bumping into Rumiko at school. Fed up with this, Rumiko grabs Makoto, asking him why he is always looking at her. To find out, he goes to the same spots she does in school.
In Rumiko's apartment, we get to see a more vulnerable side to Makoto and Rumiko's characters. For example, we see this when Makoto cooks a meal similar to one that Rumiko enjoyed at her grandma's. I feel like these provided a good contrast and were my favorite aspects of the manga.
The artwork is fine for the story it's trying to tell, but it helps identify the tone of the chapter through Rumiko Hotta's "work" and "home" appearances. The "ecchi" moments in this manga are your standard cleavage shots, panty shots, and "risqué" moments. With that said, I am disappointed we didn't get to see more of Makoto's backstory. But after reading the available material, I felt like this story wasn't for me, and I did not want to continue further.
Final Verdict
While I found the set up of Makoto and Rumiko's relationship to be interesting concept wise, the manga did not convince me enough for me to continue reading past what's available .
However, If what I laid out up to this point does sound interesting to you, I think this title will be right up your alley as Makoto and Rumiko's relationship develops overtime along with it's ecchi moments.
You’re So Sloppy, Hotta-sensei is now available to read on Azuki's Website & App on both IOS and Android
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