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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
I have mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, the cover caught my attention and the artwork was lovely throughout, and I liked the premise and want to see where it will go. However, it was very slow-paced with very little happening, and while this is the first in the series it would have been nice to see a little more of the plot. I also found it difficult connecting to the characters, until towards the end of the book. That said I think this manga has potential, and I am very interested to see where it goes in future volumes.
Rep: gay main character; secondary gay character
Warnings: homophobia
This book is narrated by two protagonists - Yuji, and Yamato. Yamato has a crush on Yuji's straight friend, and Yuji notices. Now, I find Yuji's perspective more or less boring, since he starts from a place of protectiveness over his friend aka the homophobic notion that Yamato might attack him, but by the time he gets confirmation Yuji is already friends with Yamato (they form a study group via Yamato's friend) so he just feels bad for him, and instead promises him that he won't out him and in general, make things easier for him. Now, Yamato's perspective is more interesting, in that he is unsure of whether he is being his real self by being in the closet; the only being knowing being the above friend and Yuji, he feels he is doing his own best friend a disservice by not telling him. Later on, he meets another gay guy through cram school, and he has a more wider understanding of living as a gay person in a homophobic society.
The theme of unrequited love and relationships is a big part in the start of this book. Yuji noticing Yamato's hopeless crush on a guy who can't reciprocate his feelings, starts to question his own actions in his relationship; he feels he is not being a good boyfriend to his girlfriend, and tries to be better. He aims to be a support system for Yamato, to have him talk to him about his feelings which he can't talk to about with his other friend. I will admit I didn't like him at the start because of his knee-jerk reaction to Yamato's interest in his friend, but I think by the end he was a reasonable and good friend to Yamato, giving him his space, but also lending a shoulder. Meanwhile, Yamato's experiences as a closeted boy in high school, and his reasons for being so are depicted so realistically. His relationship with his best friend, the rendering of male friendships, the relief of having someone else like him to talk to - all are rendered so sincerely. Is it entirely new in stories about queer high school students? Not really. It has more of a slice of life approach to the storyline, than having a particular path, but it is also very invested in exploring the relationships between the characters.
Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review from TokyoPop, via Netgalley.
Warnings: homophobia
This book is narrated by two protagonists - Yuji, and Yamato. Yamato has a crush on Yuji's straight friend, and Yuji notices. Now, I find Yuji's perspective more or less boring, since he starts from a place of protectiveness over his friend aka the homophobic notion that Yamato might attack him, but by the time he gets confirmation Yuji is already friends with Yamato (they form a study group via Yamato's friend) so he just feels bad for him, and instead promises him that he won't out him and in general, make things easier for him. Now, Yamato's perspective is more interesting, in that he is unsure of whether he is being his real self by being in the closet; the only being knowing being the above friend and Yuji, he feels he is doing his own best friend a disservice by not telling him. Later on, he meets another gay guy through cram school, and he has a more wider understanding of living as a gay person in a homophobic society.
The theme of unrequited love and relationships is a big part in the start of this book. Yuji noticing Yamato's hopeless crush on a guy who can't reciprocate his feelings, starts to question his own actions in his relationship; he feels he is not being a good boyfriend to his girlfriend, and tries to be better. He aims to be a support system for Yamato, to have him talk to him about his feelings which he can't talk to about with his other friend. I will admit I didn't like him at the start because of his knee-jerk reaction to Yamato's interest in his friend, but I think by the end he was a reasonable and good friend to Yamato, giving him his space, but also lending a shoulder. Meanwhile, Yamato's experiences as a closeted boy in high school, and his reasons for being so are depicted so realistically. His relationship with his best friend, the rendering of male friendships, the relief of having someone else like him to talk to - all are rendered so sincerely. Is it entirely new in stories about queer high school students? Not really. It has more of a slice of life approach to the storyline, than having a particular path, but it is also very invested in exploring the relationships between the characters.
Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review from TokyoPop, via Netgalley.
Thank you to NetGalley and TokyoPop for providing me an advanced reader copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.
This is primarily a story about self-discovery, as narrated by Yuji and his closeted gay classmate Yamato. At the beginning of the book, Yuji has some backward ideas about how Yamato being gay may influence his behavior. However, he eventually becomes more open-minded as both boys spend more time together. Personally, I don't like seeing homophobic mindsets in stories that aren't specifically discussing oppression, but I understand how the writer might have been compelled to display and disprove some common misconceptions about how gay men think and behave.
Unfortunately, this was somewhat derailed with the introduction of an older gay teenager who essentially assaults Yamato and plays it off as a joke. The inclusion of that event was very jarring and definitely soured my enjoyment of this book. While harassment from older people is something I and other gay friends have had experience with, I don't feel it's a wise idea to put into young teenagers heads that the first fellow gay person they meet will inevitably try to assault them. Older people taking advantage of children who lack an adequate support network and understanding of healthy boundaries is a complex and traumatizing issue in our community, and discussion of it needs to be nuanced and not played off as a joke, even in a fictional setting.
Aside from that event, the aspect of this story I appreciated most was that Yuji and Yamato are both written as narrators. Most stories I've read in which one character is learning to understand someone different from them typically don't include perspective changes. This often leads the protagonist's outsider perspective to inadvertently other the individual and community their increase in understanding is focused on. While this book is not perfect, I did enjoy seeing both boys' thinking displayed equally. Hopefully more narratives with similar intent will continue to utilize this pattern.
This is primarily a story about self-discovery, as narrated by Yuji and his closeted gay classmate Yamato. At the beginning of the book, Yuji has some backward ideas about how Yamato being gay may influence his behavior. However, he eventually becomes more open-minded as both boys spend more time together. Personally, I don't like seeing homophobic mindsets in stories that aren't specifically discussing oppression, but I understand how the writer might have been compelled to display and disprove some common misconceptions about how gay men think and behave.
Unfortunately, this was somewhat derailed with the introduction of an older gay teenager who essentially assaults Yamato and plays it off as a joke. The inclusion of that event was very jarring and definitely soured my enjoyment of this book. While harassment from older people is something I and other gay friends have had experience with, I don't feel it's a wise idea to put into young teenagers heads that the first fellow gay person they meet will inevitably try to assault them. Older people taking advantage of children who lack an adequate support network and understanding of healthy boundaries is a complex and traumatizing issue in our community, and discussion of it needs to be nuanced and not played off as a joke, even in a fictional setting.
Aside from that event, the aspect of this story I appreciated most was that Yuji and Yamato are both written as narrators. Most stories I've read in which one character is learning to understand someone different from them typically don't include perspective changes. This often leads the protagonist's outsider perspective to inadvertently other the individual and community their increase in understanding is focused on. While this book is not perfect, I did enjoy seeing both boys' thinking displayed equally. Hopefully more narratives with similar intent will continue to utilize this pattern.
This was so cute! i real slow-burn manga. I really liked how the story progress and how the main characters develop and thinks through the story. I can`t wait for vol 2.