The Spring 2024 Manga Guide

Accidentally in Love with a Crocodile-Man

What's It About? 

In twenty-something Rion's world, the spotlight of the pop idol world has recently shifted from ordinary human stars to beastfolk stars -- people with some animal characteristics such as ears or tails. Rion is a beastfolk idol super-fan, and when she gets the chance to go on a date with a beastfolk friend she met online, she's super hype...until he turns out to not be furry and fluffy as she imagined, but pointy and scaly -- a beastfolk man with CROCODILE features like a long tongue and icy cold skin! Which will prove to be more powerful -- Rion's deep aversion to reptiles, or the pair's blossoming feelings for each other?

Accidentally in Love with a Crocodile-Man has a story and art by Kashiwagi Zonbi. English translation by Lily M. This volume is lettered and retouched by Firadi Pramana. Published by Irodori Comics (March 18, 2024).

CW: This manga contains graphic depictions of sex and is intended for mature readers only.

Is It Worth Reading?

Damn, I'm not a scaly or anything, but this was way hotter than I was expecting it to be. Accidentally in Love with a Crocodile-Man is very simple. I thought this story would be about a young woman trying to overcome her uncomfortable fears of crocodile monster men. Then, a blossoming romance occurs, and the two leads live happily ever after. I was partially right because that happened in the first fifteen pages of this book. Then the question is, "What happens that fills up the remaining three-fourths?" Well, we probably get one of the most interesting and well-drawn sex scenes I have ever seen for the preview guide. Accidentally in Love with a Crocodile-Man checks a lot of boxes with its incredibly nice artwork, engaging back-and-forth banter between our two leads, and surprising attention to detail. The way that the writer expands upon the beast man aspect of the story is appreciated, a slight step up from just having an aesthetic gimmick with a sex scene, and in all honesty, I did like the rapport that our two leads had.

If anything, my biggest disappointment with the story is that it's so short. The priority was getting to the sex scene, but I would've loved a couple dozen more pages about our two leads just exploring this new relationship dynamic. There is an interesting setup at the beginning about our female lead having a trauma about scales, which is off-putting when a friend who develops feelings for you is covered in them. But it abridges the time they spend together, which causes her to get over that very fast, and I would've liked to see more of that. At worst, it's a bit of a missed opportunity, but at best, this is a solid, sexy one-shot that accomplishes everything that it's looking to do.

What if you thought you were meeting a furry but ended up with a scaly instead? Yes, that's the sort of hard-hitting question Accidentally in Love with a Crocodile-Man dares to ask while also assuring us that while he may have scales on his fingers, his dick is 100% scale-free. These are the important questions, after all.

It's also smut with enough plot to qualify as one, albeit thinly. The premise is that beast folk idols have taken over the industry, and Rion is obsessed. She geeks out with her pal "Tsuki" about their favorite fuzzy group, and when she lets it slip that she'd love to date a beast person, he mentions that he is one. (She then promptly apologizes if she said something offensive, which I thought was a nice touch.) She agrees to meet him, but then it turns out that he's a crocodile person rather than something fluffier, and wouldn't you know it, Rion's not good with reptiles. The first thirty of eighty pages is Rion learning to overcome her dislike of what he looks like to see the person underneath and to remember that he's someone she cared about before they met in person. It's quite sweet.

Then there's a fifty-page sex scene because this is a doujin from Irodori, after all.

At this point, it becomes a question of your preferences in explicit content, because this has the romantic portion of the story down pat. His scales aside, this is pretty vanilla as far as graphic sex scenes go – just him, her, and lots of consent. The artist does enjoy drawing the interior of Rion's vagina, so if that's not your preferred angle, this may not be your thing. Still, the art doesn't go overboard on things like fluids, and as I said, consent is a significant element of the entire thing. There are also some unintentionally funny bits about how crocodile person sex is different from human sex, but really, I think that goes with the territory implied by the plot and title. If you like a little emotional content with your smut, this is a pretty good place to find it.

The premise of this book might make you bawk but until you've tried it, don't knock! It's niche enough that its appeal is hardly a lock, but I can't mock it. The setup being a fantasy that author Kashiwagi Zonbi has carefully considered is something I clock. It's ironically filtered through a main character who finds this scaly experience more of a shock! Leading lady Rion is nominally a fan of a fluffier flock, but when she agrees to go out with her online friend Mizuki, she's taken aback to find out he's actually a croc!

Being an Irodori release, this book isn't all talk. It largely speedruns Rion getting over her insecurities so the audience can get straight to watching her and Mizuki's boots knock. While the lusty lizardman rocked Rion's world, I feel that one of this book's shortcomings is its lack of daring with its scalie schlock. There's some effective playing around with Mizuki's cold-bloodedness and some mildly odd dirty croc talk. But he's otherwise a simple, devilishly handsome man with sharp teeth and an underutilized tail—very stock. They even chicken out on the netherregions, equipping him with a regular human cock, albeit at a size that presumably leaves it difficult for Rion to walk.

At the end of all that, is this a release I can hawk? It ain't exactly Bach, but neither does it earn a block. The scenes of sexy art are appreciable enough to grok, but not so wild that it'll make you gawk. I could take it or just walk. Wishing this were just a bit more creative in how my reaction can be chalked. Being a series with such an out-there idea that only goes off half-cocked, now that's the real crock!