Riko is helping her grandmother out while her mother is in the hospital. Asked to collect rent from Miki, a renter living in her grandmother's rented room, Riko finds herself finally able to freely express her love of risque underwear. With help, Miki is finally able to attain his goal of being a successful erotic novelist.

Virgin Ventures: The Hilarious Hijinks of Erotic Amateurs is written and drawn by Kuroseimu. English translation by Maddy Willette. Lettered by Cedric Macias. Published by Seven Seas (November 11, 2025). Rated M.

Erica Friedman
Rating:

Have to say, this was way cuter than expected. Maybe even cuter than it deserved.

Riko's love of underwear is given more of a backstory than most whole relationships in 18+ manga. Both she and Miki come across as totally sincere and a lot innocent, considering how sex-centered the story is, but you have to like them and want to see them succeed because there is a plot, and they are trying to do something. Yes, looking at a woman in unreal lingerie in close-up detail is the point, but the premise is more than just that.

There is a competing tension in this story – will they or won't they vs. that isn't the point!

Yes, we can read this at a superficial level, a mere landlord/renter scenario, but the lack of sex force us to consider it at a deeper, more meaningful level, in which Riko and Miki can accept each other's truest self, with complete, unjudgmental acceptance, allowing each other to strive for something important to them, to find their inner strength and be seen in a world that previously bullied them into hiding.

Or not.

The art is a little unpolished, but that works well with the narrative as it is presented. It might even be interesting if, as the characters developed, so did the art, but I imagine I'm asking too much of this story. What the art does not do is play fair. Riko's underwear fetish means she and the women in Miki's work are treated as sex dolls, rather than active members of their own sexual escapades. As Miki is presented as a sexual novice, this makes sense, but it would be nice if they worked past that, as unlikely as it is.

In any case, if two characters talking about, writing about, but not having sex isn't a problem for you, you can do way worse than Virgin Ventures: The Hilarious Hijinks of Erotic Amateurs.

Jean-Karlo Lemus
Rating:

It's nice when you get a sex comedy that actually explores how our protagonists relate to sex. Miki and Riko are a phenomenal twice-shy couple, equally inexperienced with romance or their own sexuality—but equally understanding of each other's position. Miki's passion for erotica and his fears over how it'll be received by folks, his struggles with impostor syndrome, and his desire to be read mixing with his fear of being perceived ring true to anyone who has dallied with any form of creative expression. Even if we see very little of Miki's struggles with his writing, it rings true for anyone for whom art is a part of who they are. Contrast with Riko, an otherwise mousey woman whose love for magical girl anime evolved into her being a lingerie aficionado. Her own form of self-expression is explicitly for the self; we're allowed to see how much it means to her personally, how it allows her to feel confident in herself and who she is—and how much she suffers from her judgmental peers (because obviously, women only do things for male attention).

Some of the scenarios Riko and Miki find themselves in strain credulity a bit; I think it's a bit much for the second meeting between characters to involve a prolonged sequence where one party has their face shoved into the other's butt cheeks. But on the other hand, the series does a great job of selling our two protagonists as loveable losers who are helping each other get a feel for their sexual selves. The sequence where Riko sits in on a shibari show is particularly enlightening, as we see Riko understand sexual submission through underwear choice. Sure, it's all being done with huge anime boobs out on display (also, I have to wonder how comfortable it is for Riko to go around all day in lingerie that otherwise exposes her nipples—yes, they're hot, but chafed nipples aren't). But—and this is the important part—it's all in earnest, and with no lack of respect for any party.

The nature of Virgin Venture bars it from anyone under the age of 18, and it's willing to play things a little fast and loose in the name of comedy (or fat anime boobs). But also, Riko and Miki are an endearing couple, and their joint journey of self-discovery rings true. Whether you're here for the cute losers flailing around each other while they sort out their feelings (and emotional baggage) or for Riko's scandalous sweet-nothings, Virgin Ventures stands quite proudly in the field of sex comedies. Strongly recommended.

Bolts
Rating:

I love when a story can generate arousal without showing any sex. There are so many different layers of sexual arousal and physical intimacy that can be explored in a variety of different ways. Most stories focus on the buildup to the sex itself and then that's it, but Virgin Ventures focuses on a different type of foreplay. What happens when you have two virgins who are so insecure about the very idea of getting turned on that they end up working together in order to explore different forms of sexual arousal? The pretense is that one of our main characters, Miki, is an erotic writer and he gets inspiration from his landlord's granddaughter named Riko, who has a particular affinity for sexual lingerie. Both of them are virgins and are very open about their lack of experience, but the main draw for this book is in how they understand sex through each other.

I feel like there are other stories that just use this premise as an excuse to get our two leads to bang and then call it a day. But the story is going out of its way to portray eroticism in a slower way. It plays with the idea of the two having sex with each other, but it commits to the idea that there are multiple ways of being aroused. Sometimes you can be aroused just by knowing that you are being trusted with somebody exposing their fetish to you. Sometimes you can be aroused just by exploring a sexually charged location, but not necessarily doing anything. Sometimes you can be aroused by the prose of a writer who is describing specific events. Seeing these two leads bounce off of each other was actually really cute.

I was surprised this wasn't a self-contained story because just knowing that these two were setting up the foundation to explore things together was fun on its own. But the fact that there are more adventures for them to go on makes me very excited. I will definitely be picking up this and looking forward to the release of the next one. If you want something that strikes that perfect balance between being wholesome and sexy, then I think you'd be good to check this one out.