The Man Who Cleans Up Makeup is a joint effort from the late Vizima Seiichihan and Kazuo Umeishi. The series, which began publishing in manga magazine in Japan in 2021, is drawing popularity not only in Japan but in other Asian countries as well. Viz Media, which publishes The Man Who Cleans Up Makeup, currently has four volumes scheduled. Currently, the third volume is out.
The Man Who Cleans Up Makeup revolves around the life of the super-powered “Man” (also referred to as “the Man” or “the Man who just uses his head”). The story begins when he was a young boy who loved to play with his grandmother’s wooden milkpots. One day, while his grandmother was cleaning the pots, she dropped a few drops of the beautiful liquid on the child’s face. As a result, the boy absorbed the magical essence of the liquid which changed him into the “perfect man who cleans up makeup”.
This manga is definitely not for the squeamish. It’s filled with cursing, gross-out humor, and violence. The Man Who Clean Up Makeup’s protagonist, The Man, is a master at using his powerful “sense” to clean up the mess left behind by his former friend Mina after she was burned by the enemy’s acid burns. Along the way, he learns the value of friendship, and how Mina inadvertently turned him into the monster he was trying to avoid. He also discovers the mystery of why his former best friend is so mad about him and why, after spending several years trying to be a good “Man”, he gets back together with Mina.
Masane Amaha is the illustrator of the webtoon. The way she drew the manga was truly amazing. In one chapter, the story switches to another part of town, and Masane’s drawn “man” suddenly has become a “woman”. The way she drew the two different versions of the man who cleans up makeup also added some real comedy when the readers find out that they are supposed to assume that the woman is female.
There are many different kinds of these Japanese webtoons.
The man who cleans up makeup by himself is entitled to more than one, while others have the main hero as a man who owns his own makeup shop. Most of the time the main hero is a chef who takes up the task of cooking after getting his employee Mina fired from her job. In some of the best ones, the woman who tries to be a home-cooked chef becomes the “master chef” and the hero must help her complete her latest menu.
One thing that I liked about the webtoons was the way that the story was told through the point of view of the man who cleans up makeup. It showed a side of him that I hadn’t seen before and it was interesting to learn more about. He was funny at times but also had moments of depression. These were the kind of characters that made me laugh every time, especially when there was some Japanese joke at the end.
