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aria34 's review for:
Boy Meets Maria
by PEYO, Kōsei Eguchi
I’ve read this manga so many times now I’ve lost count. It’s so poignant and beautiful. Taiga comes off as an idiot and unlikeable at the beginning; he’s not socially aware, he doesn’t even know his friends beyond a surface level, his hero complex causes him to push his way into Arima’s life unaware of the damage he’s caused. Arima meanwhile is struggling with the effects of childhood sexual assault, and his mother’s high expectations of him and forcing him to live as a girl regardless of his own wishes. Growing up only praised for being feminine combined with his rage and trauma at the sexual assault he endured in the third grade and wanting to put on a more masculine appearance so he wouldn’t have to get hurt, tears him apart and makes him unable to perform the way he wants to in his drama club.
Some unexpected parts of the story I really liked: I like how in the end Airma isn’t forced to chose a particular gender performance, he may live as a boy but he makes it clear that he wants to be the type of performer that can transgress gender lines. I also like how Taiga never had that “eww gross gay shit” moment that sometimes happens with this type of clueless male lead in BL tend to have when they’re not explicitly said to be gay from the beginning of the story. For him it just was not something he considered until he realized he was in love with Arima, and he realized that both the masculine and feminine sides were attractive to him. (This was something that mirrored my own realization that I am bi, so I saw myself in Taiga.) I also like how even Taiga’s father who was a hero to Arima isn’t perfect. He’s a shitty husband who got mad at his wife in front of their kid and who fell in love with someone else while he was married, but from what we can tell in this story he seems to be a good father and good with kids even if he was not a good husband while his wife was alive. He saw a little girl in danger and ran to save her even at the cost of never getting closure with his wife, and to Taiga he seems interested in his life even if Taiga doesn’t think highly of him, wanting to come to his play even when Taiga didn’t expect him to come. He has problems, but of course in this manga there is no perfect heroes, only people trying their best through the pain.
God, that scene in the classroom near the end where Arima and Taiga finally tell each other how much they admire each other and how they have changed so much just by having them be a part of each others’ lives…. It was so intense and moving, I cried so much.
And that last cute date chapter after all the pain and catharsis? *chef kiss*
These characters are flawed but so endearing. They grow so much in just one manga, you can’t help but root for them. And you know that no matter what happens after the end of the story they can face it all together.
Kousei Eguchi, aka Peyo passed away at only 23. Boy Meets Maria shows us how much we lost with his passing, and what a promising future he had. He was truly someone with a big heart and and the emotional intelligence to deal with the conflicting emotions of youth.
Some unexpected parts of the story I really liked: I like how in the end Airma isn’t forced to chose a particular gender performance, he may live as a boy but he makes it clear that he wants to be the type of performer that can transgress gender lines. I also like how Taiga never had that “eww gross gay shit” moment that sometimes happens with this type of clueless male lead in BL tend to have when they’re not explicitly said to be gay from the beginning of the story. For him it just was not something he considered until he realized he was in love with Arima, and he realized that both the masculine and feminine sides were attractive to him. (This was something that mirrored my own realization that I am bi, so I saw myself in Taiga.) I also like how even Taiga’s father who was a hero to Arima isn’t perfect. He’s a shitty husband who got mad at his wife in front of their kid and who fell in love with someone else while he was married, but from what we can tell in this story he seems to be a good father and good with kids even if he was not a good husband while his wife was alive. He saw a little girl in danger and ran to save her even at the cost of never getting closure with his wife, and to Taiga he seems interested in his life even if Taiga doesn’t think highly of him, wanting to come to his play even when Taiga didn’t expect him to come. He has problems, but of course in this manga there is no perfect heroes, only people trying their best through the pain.
God, that scene in the classroom near the end where Arima and Taiga finally tell each other how much they admire each other and how they have changed so much just by having them be a part of each others’ lives…. It was so intense and moving, I cried so much.
And that last cute date chapter after all the pain and catharsis? *chef kiss*
These characters are flawed but so endearing. They grow so much in just one manga, you can’t help but root for them. And you know that no matter what happens after the end of the story they can face it all together.
Kousei Eguchi, aka Peyo passed away at only 23. Boy Meets Maria shows us how much we lost with his passing, and what a promising future he had. He was truly someone with a big heart and and the emotional intelligence to deal with the conflicting emotions of youth.