Masamune-kun's Revenge
Plot. Masamune Makabe was a chubby boy who had a close relationship with Aki Adagaki, a beautiful wealthy girl, until one day she cruelly rejected him and gave him the nickname "Pig's Foot". Seeking revenge against his tormentor, Masamune changed his name, began dieting and working out everyday to become a fit and handsome, albeit vain, high school student. When he encounters Aki once again, she does not recognize him and he commits to seduce her into falling in love with him before embarrassingly rejecting her to exact vengeance. Masamune ends up allying with Aki 's classmate and servant Yoshino Koiwai, who seems to know Masamune's nickname as well. Media. Manga. Writer Hazuki Takeoka and Korean female artist Tiv began serializing the manga in the December 2012 issue of Ichijinsha's "shōnen" manga magazine "Monthly Comic Rex" on October 27, 2012. Ten tankōbon volumes were released between April 2013 and July 2018. A spin-off titled is drawn by Yūki Shinichi and is serialized on Gekkan ComicREX starting from November 2016 issue. North American publisher Seven Seas Entertainment announced that they had licensed the series on September 4, 2015. The series concluded in 2018 , with the final chapter being released on June 27. Takeoka and Tiv launched a spinoff manga in "Monthly Comic Rex" on September 27, 2018. The short manga, titled , is a series of after-stories focusing on various characters. "After School" spin-off released in "tankōbon" as 11th and finale volume of the main series. Light novel. A light novel adaptation by Hazuki Takeoka, with art by Tiv, has been published by Ichijinsha in a single volume released on December 20, 2013. Anime. On June 23, 2016, publisher Ichijinsha announced that the series would receive an anime television series adaptation. The  anime is produced by Silver Link and directed by Mirai Minato, with Michiko Yokote supervising the scripts, and Yokote and Kento Shimoyama writing the scripts, featuring character designs by Yūki Sawairi. Toshiki Kameyama is the series' sound director while Lantis produced the music. The opening theme is performed by Ayaka Ohashi, and the ending theme is "Elemental World" performed by ChouCho. The AT-X broadcast uses the song as its ending theme; it was sung by Ohashi and Suzuko Mimori under their respective character names Aki Adagaki and Neko Fujinomiya. The series aired from January 5 to March 23, 2017 . It was broadcast on Tokyo MX, AT-X, and BS Fuji. The anime ran for 12 episodes and was released across six BD/DVD volumes. Crunchyroll streamed and licensed the series, while Funimation produced an English dub. An OVA of the series has been released and tells an "after story" for the manga. On April 2, 2022, a second season titled "Masamune-kun's Revenge R" was announced. Reception. Reviewing the first volume, Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network stated that the combination of revenge comedy and romance was "working thus far". She felt that Aki's servant was the  most interesting character, but also enjoyed Masamune, especially how he had to "think about the correct response for each situation he finds himself in". She called Aki "utterly detestable", and noted that it would be difficult for the series to turn around and make her a romantic interest. She wrote that the art was attractive, but noted that the drawings of women were often anatomically incorrect. The anime series' first episode received poor reviews from Anime News Network's staff during the Winter 2017 season previews. Theron Martin enjoyed the series the most, stating that with the clichés he should  have hated the first episode, but instead he found it quite entertaining. Other staffers weren't so positive. Nick Creamer called it a "fairly generic romcom premiere starring a very repugnant cast", while Bamboo Dong claimed it was "a plain piece of toast smeared with unresolved childhood memories of rejection" and complained about how males are portrayed as hapless victims of the heartless women. Jacob Chapman called the comedy "dehumanizing" and the episode was not engaging. Paul Jensen was more positive in that he found the story and characters were unusual enough to be interesting, but he had mixed feelings  as he was not sure what the series wanted to be. Silverman states that the episode walks a fine line between comedy and cruelty and her strong dislike of Aki is definitely coloring this episode for her. Fellow ANN editor Lauren Orsini chose "Masamune-kun's Revenge" as her pick for the Worst Anime of 2017, criticizing its "excessive cruelty" being delivered by the two main leads and the rest of the cast, concluding that, "This anime should only be viewed as an example of how not to win friends and influence people. The best revenge is a life well  lived, as in, not Masamune's approach".