Part 1: PG-13, Part 2: NC-17?

Warning! Spoilers for Houkago Play Volume 1 . Also slightly NSFW.

The 4-koma manga series Houkago Play had its second volume released recently. Having enjoyed the first volume, I decided to place an order for Houkago Play 2 at Kinokuniya NYC. However, I received a call telling me that the book could not be ordered due to “content.”

Wait, what?

A call back had them explain that Kinokuniya has a policy about sexual content, which is perfectly understandable, but I didn’t even realize that Houkago Play fell into this category. The first volume is certainly sexually charged, as the story features a sadistic tsundere character frustrated at not getting any alone time with her guy friend, and there’s even a brief portrayal of sex at the end of the book, but there is zero nudity in the book, and the sex takes up only three pages out of an almost 200-page book. Next to some of the stuff that Kinokuniya sells already, such as josei manga, certain seinen titles, and even harem or shoujo romance stuff, this seems like small potatoes. So what gives?

This is literally as far as Houkago Play goes.

One possibility is that the second volume of Houkago Play may be significantly more graphic than the first, which is in itself odd. If that’s the case, where is the line of “content” that Volume 1 manages to keep clear of, but Volume 2 tramples over on its way to the other side? Or is it that the constant sexually charged nature of the comic itself is what takes it over the edge?

If anyone can tell if there’s a significant difference between Volumes 1 and 2 of Houkago Play, that would be very helpful.