Pastel

[MangaDex]

 

[Purplelibraryguy]

Pastel . . . there's something about it. It's old school, feels like it practically invented a lot of the worst tropes in shounen manga (total wimp hero, endless focus on chances of getting laid with zero actual progress, lame pseudo-harem even though the romance is really only between him and one girl, MC getting constantly teased and jerked around by an assemblage of so-called friends and a bunch of girls who can't decide if they want him or just want to break his balls). It never goes anywhere, takes dozens of chapters for the MC and the girl to become significant others and as of this comment there's STILL been no real hanky-panky. Its slowness is legendary, up there with Yesterday wo Utatte.
And yet, somehow, it works. It's oddly good. I don't know why--I guess somewhere in between the teasing fanservice and the sometimes funny, sometimes comfortably lame comedy they slip in enough characterization that you get to like the people. There's something comfortably homey about it, like an ugly worn old pair of slippers that's great for shlepping around the house.

 

[FredFriendly]

Pastel is an endless series of chapter after chapter involving the protagonist, Mugi, having erotic fantasies about nearly all the women in the series. It's also an endless series of the protagonist being cock-teased, cock-blocked, tortured (physically, and sometimes violently so, as well as emotionally), humiliated, treated like a punching bag, like a "volunteer" guinea pig for pain-inducing experiments, like a servant, a housecleaner and, especially, like an unpaid and unappreciated cooking robot.

As with many harem series like this, it is unfathomable what the women all see in such a pathetic milquetoast wimp of an MC that would make them want to seduce him, but about a dozen of them try: almost all the women the series try at least once except Yuu, who becomes his girlfriend early on in the series. With her, apparently the only thing allowed before marriage (at least with Mugi) is a non-passionate kiss once every 30 or 40 chapters. But, with 219 chapters, that means he gets to kiss her about a half-dozen times or so...

 

[xaraphina]

This is, and probably always will be, the virgin butler chronicles. Manami was probably the only chance he had of being in a any kind of productive relationship. If Mugi stopped cooking and cleaning for other people they would forget he even existed after a month or so.

 

[FredFriendly]

@xaraphina: I donno. I think they would bust his balls even more if he were to seriously stop being everyone's manservant for more than a day until he gave in to the resultant torture. But it would never happen as his balls aren't big enough for him to stand up for himself. The thing that bewilders me most is why his girlfriend goes along with all the cock-teasing and torture the various women put him through instead of putting a stop to it all. I guess she enjoys seeing him suffer just like the rest of them.

 

[havelmom]

pastel actually starts with a ton of potential, it's sad to see how it refuses to evolve.
The setting is great if you think about it: Unique place for a school life manga, wimpy guy gets broken up with girlfriend, at his lowest, meets the girl of his dreams.
The LOGICAL process of storytelling would be: MC slowly picks himself up, changes himself along the way and gets the girl, the idol of the school.
But instead, we get some living together forced shenanigans, MC stays the same, fools around with some other girls for some reason and then picks the main heroine for some reason, and she accepts for whatever reason, and then it's 150 chapters of light fanservice with no fucking plot.

This is a classic 4. The setting would call for a 8 rating if it stayed conventional. But since it doesn't deliver anything, cut that bitch in half and you have the 4, jus Bad.

 

[FredFriendly]

These group delay policies are really a joke. New chapters are invariably already available on aggregate websites (such as mangago) within a short period of time after they appear on the group's own website. Sometimes when I post a new chapter of Koi Inu to my website, it's already on mangago before I have finished uploading it here on mangadex.

Oh, and, yeah, chapter 150 is another talking cat chapter that just isn't worth reading...

 

[Exile]

if anyone is wondering, it ended because the Magazine it run on was cancelled ... after 44 volumes (grated, it didnt started on Magazine Special but Weekly Shounen Magazine and then moved) otherwise I bet it would still be going.

I think some people are giving it too much importance, it started in 2002, Ah! My Goddess is significantly older and have a somewhat similar MC and the archetype might be annoying to some but the problem is Pastel never ever does anything with the characters, as someone said there is no story in terms of it going anywhere as other series do, such as Love Hina (that also predates Pastel) but I guess it doesnt do awful things like other series *cough*spottedflower*cough* so its just a question if you like seeing the same thing repeating itself again and again.

 

[Shinobu]

This shit is still getting translated? lmao

 

[buttler]

There's something comfortably homey about it

That's exactly it. It's like being on a weekend trip to one's cabin. Just chilling and feeling home in a nice atmosphere, where nothing ever changes.
For more action, romance or even character development there are other manga. I'm taking it as it is: a static slice of life.

I'm not yearning to read the next chapter, like with other infrequently updated manga. But it's a nice surprise, when it's there, like the visit of an old friend.

 

[Ihatemimes]

No one's picked this up...

 

[FlamingCygnet]

I am ever waiting...I will wait till the day come that itll be translated,and till that day comes,i shall stay waiting.

 

[arnal]

is there no hope?

 

[JennieGucci]

I'll wait even if it is a thousand years...

 

[aznsouljah253]

the art was so much better in the beginning

 

[moneng85]

good old days

 

[themoobz]

feelsbadman

 

[nodicaL]

I remember reading this like 15 years ago...
It still isn't done being scanlated...
I guess I can still wait, or learn Japanese.

 

[Dundun123]

So...anyone wanna pick this up where it left off or...

 

[Procot]

I hope in the future my grandchildrens read this manga to the end.