A review by pastelwriter
Therapy Game, Vol. 2 by Meguru Hinohara

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

2024 mini review

I would risk life and limb for these two 😭 This volume continued to be one of the best in this series. I just love how the conflicts these two have in their relationship is always realistic. It hurts in the best, and comforts in the best way. I regret nothing 💖


2022 review
I fucking loved this as much if not more than the first volume. I just love Minato and Shizuma so much 😭💖

I’m not gonna lie tho for a second there I was fearing for my life. As someone who is bisexual, I’m touchy as fuck when I start sniffing biphobia. In this volume, Minato is dealing with feelings of jealousy as he’s never seriously dated, and there’s the added layer that he’s dating a bisexual man. He knows he shouldn’t be worried because Shizuma is an angel *cough* I mean a wonderful man, but the worry is still there. Minato also has some toxic ass “friends” that feed into his insecurity, and so he spirals for a bit worrying Shizuma might eventually leave him to be with a woman because it would make his life “easier.” However, the narrative makes it very clear that it is on Shizuma’s side and that Minato doesn’t really have to worry. Shizuma is fully committed to Minato. We love to see it. Even if it was still painful to read the biphobic comments of Minato’s asshole “friends.” 

On to more pleasant things! The smut in here was 🔥🔥🔥 It was sooooo fucking good. I loved every second of it. The mangaka finally fed me and fed me well 🙏🏼 I’m so blessed by it. I just love how much intimacy there is between these two, and how Shizuma loves to spoil the shit out of Minato and shower him in compliments. 

I also appreciated the balance of seriousness with lighthearted moments. In this volume we learned the truly tragic backstory of Minato and why he has such serious trust issues, and you couldn’t help but feel for him. He went though some truly shitty things. I just wanted to give him a huge hug 😭💖

All in all, I love these two clowns and how they’re both eventually willing to put things on the line for each other. I literally just rushed to Barnes & Noble so I could get Therapy Game: Restart just so that I can continue drowning in these two 💖