Reviews

A romance that incorporates hobbies? Sold! I was really interested in the "2 movie lovers" plot, so I went into it really wanting to like it. While I did like it, it felt a little lacking. But still it was a good quick read that doesn't waste time.

Art: The art's clean and pretty, however it isn't too detailed or anything. They're a couple pretty bare panels, but it still does it's job at looking good. There are alot of taking heads though, they look well drawn there's just too many of them.

Characters: Nothing really special. But the author does try to give them quirks, backstory, etc. Like Wataru is a bit grumpier and Chiharu's more calm and laidback. In fact it made it easy to tell who's talking at times, because of their personalities. They do give a bit of unique backstory to Chiharu which I appreciate. But since it's so short Wataru isn't that defined, I guess in the sequels they'll probably expand the characters.

Story: The story is fast paced and a light read. My main nitpick is the movie theme isn't really used too much, besides the plot of them seeing movie locations. It seems kinda bare bones, but the romance is really good I think. It's rarely tropey or fanservice and it feels natural and doesn't drag. I like how the drama is handled, there's not meandering around about it. So if they used more of the movie theme I'd easily give this a 4.5.

All in all a pretty good beginer's yaoi.

mehsi's review against another edition

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4.0

I received this manga from Netgalley/the publisher in exchange of an honest review.

A wonderful sweet manga that I just couldn’t resist and boy I am happy to have read it! It was a sweet manga about two friends, one has feelings for the other and confesses. We see a summer of feelings, of movies, of friendship, and more.

I loved these two characters and I loved getting to know them better. I loved seeing them at school, loved seeing them go to the cinemas to see movies (and afterwards of course discuss them), go on a pilgrimage of sorts to visit scenes of movies (which I totally loved and I wanted to just hop in the book and go with them for real). I really liked these two characters and their personalities and I am glad we got some backstory on a thing in their past that made this connection in the now.

When Saeki confessed I was a bit worried, I have read some shounen-ai manga in which things progress superfast, which I am not a fan of because if just never feels natural. I was hoping this would be more slow-burn, and I can happily report that it was. Wataru is definitely figuring out what to do about that confession, where he stands, what to do, and I love how he keeps the friendship intact even if it is a bit awkward at times. I loved how he calmly answered Saeki as Saeki was definitely worried that their friendship would just fall apart after the confession. I loved seeing Wataru slowly discover his feelings, slowly finds him looking at his hot friend Saeki just a tad more and a tad longer. Wondering just a bit more. Blushing when Saeki gets close. I am happy that it took all volume and that Saeki gave him all the room to figure things out. Well, OK, almost all the room given the ending.

Yes, the ending, or well the last part of the manga, in which something happens that just pissed me off and I found it very selfish of Saeki to do that to someone he likes and someone who just needed time. And even if all that wasn’t going on, they are still friends. You don’t do that to anyone. I just wanted to give Wataru a big big hug. I loved what happened in the last pages and I was cheering for Wataru.

I loved the bonus stories that were added at the end. One continues the story we just left, the other is about them meeting up again… at Wataru’s home squee, and the other tells us some backstory on Saeki and what happened when he found Wataru again in high school.

I really enjoyed the art and found the style quite pretty!

So… will I be reading the rest (as apparently there are more volumes)? I am not sure. On the one hand I want to see how Wataru and Saeki get on in college or later, but on the other hand this one was pretty much a clean ending. We even got bonus stories to wrap it all up. So I may check out the next volume, but it won’t be a priority.

I am very happy with this cute and fun manga and I would recommend it.

Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/