The Fall 2023 Manga Guide

Playing with a Proper Butler

What's It About? 

Eliza's dutiful and humorless butler Sylvan has never smiled as long as she's known him. When she sees him blushing after he walks in on her in the bath, though, she becomes determined to tease and fluster him more until he admits his feelings for her.

Playing with a Proper Butler has a story and art by Starling-chan. The English translation is by K. L. Davis with lettering by Wooser. Published by Irodori (September 18, 2023).


Content Warning: The following manga contains sexually explicit material. It should be read by mature (18+) readers only.

Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

Like all romance novels, Playing with a Proper Butler is a fantasy, and I bet you can guess what it's about. If hot, shy butlers are the stuff your dreams are made of, Starling-chan has sixty-five pages of smut for you as Lady Eliza sets out to seduce her exceedingly proper butler Sylvan – and succeeds in a big way.

Despite the butler aspect, it's a contemporary setting and, quite frankly, light on the plot. But there's still enough of a romance storyline in place that if you prefer your erotica with a story, this may still work for you. It also hits a lot of very specific catnip elements: not only is Sylvan very proper, but he's also a virgin, afraid to admit that he's in love with and attracted to Eliza, and a very enthusiastic participant once she teaches him the joy of sex. Silly? Yes. But I don't think you'd expect anything else.

In terms of tropes, this errs more on the semi-realistic side. There aren't a lot of ludicrous plot points; the text uses anatomical terms (except for one moment when Eliza is insisting on dirty talk) and a basic grasp of where everything is on the body, which isn't always something you can say for this genre. Although it's primarily about Eliza and Sylvan having as much sex as they possibly can, the root of the book is in their feelings for each other. Admittedly, this could be uncomfortable for some readers since Eliza's significantly younger than Sylvan – they both note that he's been caring for her since she was a child – and the imbalance of power is a real dynamic in the beginning. But other than that, this is a book that attempts to blend its plot elements together (and having some plot in the first place), and it's a nice little bit of vanilla spice.

Christopher Farris

Rating:

I'm always happy to see a new spicy release or two from Irodori, and one of their deliveries this season is Playing With a Proper Butler. It's a somewhat simple premise, a take-off on the nascent "teasing romance" genre. We watch as this upper-class Lady flusters, frustrates, and wholly fucks with her stuffy yet still super-sexy butler Sylvan until, well, until they get down to exactly what you're here for. It's an earnestly fun arrangement in that it comes off as a pretty solid fantasy for all readers to imagine themselves on either side. The Lady is an incorrigible evil mastermind in her tempting techniques, and there's something inherently amusing in the way Sylvan remains an adorably pathetic teasable mess of a man even as his charge brings him around. His composure has collected a little more in time for some morning-after action late in the book. Still, this story wholly understands the audience here to watch a repressed thirty-year-old virgin get hot and bothered.

Being a comparatively short doujinshi release of extremely specific utility does mean that Playing With a Proper Butler can feel a little light on the plot and other parts before the porn kicks in. The house that Sylvan and his Lady occupy is an absolute void, with only the barest setting details sketched around them when necessary. It undercuts the upper-crust atmosphere you'd think a story like this is going for, especially when the perspective between the leads can look awkward when they're doing anything but rolling in the hay.

It's just as well since once the seal is finally broken, things turn into nonstop passionate porn for the entire length of the volume. Therein, you're getting plenty playing off the leads' uniquely contrasting personalities, including an appreciably amusing name reveal in context. Plus, there's lots of lovingly detailed anatomy that ought to make you glad Irodori was able to get a fully uncensored release for this one. All that and those comparatively unique character dynamics make this entertaining enough indulgence for an evening in.