Flip the Thirst Switch: hentai that’s simultaneously supernatural and vanilla
When it comes to my own personal hentai tastes, I have to confess that I’m fairly “vanilla” for the most part. That’s not to say I don’t find mildly unusual stuff interesting to explore — our recent looks at Viewer Discretion Advised and The Job of a Service Committee Member should be proof of that — but for the most part, if I’m looking for some hentai to simply enjoy as intended, I tend to gravitate towards the vanilla side of things. And Flip the Thirst Switch, an anthology of hentai manga from RegDic published by FAKKU!, is one of my favourite collections of relatively vanilla hentai of late.
I say “vanilla”, but Flip the Thirst Switch actually has a fairly significant supernatural angle, too; several of the stories revolve around a succubus called Satsuki and her equally ravenous mother Yuzuha, and there are a few vampires in the mix, too. Despite this, there’s not really a “horror” angle going on at all; the presence of these supernatural beings is primarily as a means of getting some sexual shenanigans going on with various flimsy justifications.
Hentai, of course, doesn’t need “plot” to be good for its intended purpose — but it does help readers enjoy it on a deeper level than simply being enjoyable masturbation material. And with that in mind, it’s clear that RegDic regards the characters they’ve created for Flip the Thirst Switch with a certain amount of affection; Satsuki and her family in particular have been crafted with plenty of attention paid to their background, including an attempt to explain why a succubus and a vampire might have ended up together and had a child in the first place.
Satsuki is particularly adorable for how she is presented as a relatively normal high school girl who just happens to be a succubus. She’s embarrassed about her uncontrollable urges when she feels them, and when her friend Kazuma offers her an opportunity to slake her thirst without having to assault anyone — an offer he made entirely selflessly, I’m sure — she is quick to accept, and they end up dating.
This, of course, doesn’t stop Satsuki’s mom Yuzuha from jumping him given the opportunity, ostensibly on the grounds of teaching him ways that both he and Satsuki can derive enjoyment from the situation rather than simply being milked dry whenever she feels the urge. It’s a scene with a variety of levels of appeal to it: there’s the MILF with a younger guy angle; the experienced sex veteran with a relative newbie angle; and, of course, the succubus-on-human angle. Delightful.
Satsuki’s vampire dad gets some action, too, as a young vampire with a preference for bishie types ends up biting him and discovering that a vampire sucking another vampire’s blood has some… undesirable (or desirable, depending on how you look at it) side-effects. Again, there’s multiple appeal elements at play in this scene: an older-looking male partner with a younger-looking female; an experienced veteran “corrupting” an innocent virgin; sexual awakening; and just some good old-fashioned boning where everyone involved has a lovely time.
Flip the Thirst Switch arguably loses its sense of “focus” a bit as it progresses after the initial stories featuring Satsuki and the members of her family, but author RegDic does at least appear to have made something of an effort to “transition” from the Satsuki-centric stories to more freeform sexy tales. A “beach episode” features Satsuki in a minor role rather than being the focus of the sex scene, for example, and from hereon we start to see some sexy scenes involving other, unrelated characters.
There is still, however, a recurring theme to a certain degree: the idea of sexual desire at times becoming so overwhelming that you’re not sure what to do about it. The story Milky White Therapy concerns a reunion between a senpai and a kouhai who have both quit their (not literally) soul-sucking jobs getting a little out of control at a quaint little inn; Hand-Me-Downs is a fun story about a jealous sister and a manipulative girlfriend offloading her unwanted, overly horny boyfriend; Fall in my Trap initially seems to be a cheating wife story but pulls the rug out from under the reader (and the male partner of the scene) at the last moment.
Pleasingly, the book’s last, previously unpublished story Done and Drained actually brings Satsuki and her boyfriend Kazuma back for one last tale, drawing reference to both Kazuma’s previous encounter with Yuzuha and the “beach episode” where Satsuki, despite being a minor character, played a key role in bringing another couple together.
Wrapping the book up like this gives the whole thing a nice sense of closure that works well; it doesn’t necessarily “end” the story of Satsuki and her family, meaning that RegDic is free to return to explore this further in the future, but it forms a satisfying conclusion to the volume as a whole.
On the whole, Flip the Thirst Switch is an enjoyable volume of hentai manga. It’s perhaps not as ambitious as some of the other titles we’ve looked at recently, but it very much achieves what it sets out to accomplish. Not only does it provide a selection of enjoyably straightforward and mostly vanilla sexy stories with just a hint of spice here and there, it also does a good job of introducing us to some entertaining characters and making us feel a sense of attachment to them rather than simply regarding them as sex objects.
Flip the Thirst Switch’s art is lovely, with RegDic displaying a particular talent for curvy women, well-coiffed pubic hair and energetic but plausible sex scenes, and the characters all having distinct, immediately recognisable designs. The addition of some enjoyably substantial character profiles and creative notes at the end of the volume is a nice bonus, and one gets the impression that RegDic is, on the whole, very pleased with what they have created here.
And they should be! I’ve enjoyed my time with Flip the Thirst Switch a lot — and I’m sure I’ll be returning to it quite frequently. Particularly those first few colour pages. Good Lord.
Flip the Thirst Switch is available now in both physical and digital formats from FAKKU! The paperback version is also available on Amazon.
Join The Discussion
Rice Digital Discord
Rice Digital Twitter
Rice Digital Facebook
Or write us a letter for the Rice Digital Friday Letters Page by clicking here!
Disclosure: Some links in this article may be affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on them. This is at no additional cost to you and helps support Rice Digital!
- Letter from the Editor: passing the torch - June 30, 2023
- Super Woden GP 2 is looking promising - June 30, 2023
- Inti Creates is making a 32 bit-style Love Live action platformer - June 26, 2023
