I know this manga's a bit old to be doing this, but every time I reread it, I feel like I get a more refined sense of all the aspects that make this work so interesting. This is one of my favorite GL series, but I also...don't like it much.
As a story, it's actually not very good. To use some other words I've seen thrown around, it's dry, melancholic, unsatisfying. But it's not written to make readers laugh, or cry, or swoon. It's written to be real. Real life is rarely satisfying in the way we expect from stories. The fact that Takemiya Jin is an out lesbian in Japan just strengthens my conviction that this is the case.
GL and BL tend to inhabit an ocean of tropes, which is not a bad thing, necessarily. But, reading this, every time I recognize a situation but not the resolution thereof, it's striking. Not stimulating, but impossible to ignore.
I would describe this manga as sobering, if not numbing. While it may seem hard to justify a story from which there is so little emotional impact, positive or negative, to be experienced, I personally don't think of it as needing justification. Most stories exist because the author wants to write them, because the author wants people to read it and be entertained, and/or because the author wants money.
Omoi no Kakera exists because it should. People should read it not because they'll enjoy it, but because they won't. Perspective is important. But, I'm tired and rambling, so I'll stop here and hope this makes sense to others.
If you want a TJ series that's a bit less...severe, I reccomend An Absurd Relationship. To this day its ending is one of my favorites.
I know this manga's a bit old to be doing this, but every time I reread it, I feel like I get a more refined sense of all the aspects that make this work so interesting. This is one of my favorite GL series, but I also...don't like it much.
As a story, it's actually not very good. To use some other words I've seen thrown around, it's dry, melancholic, unsatisfying. But it's not written to make readers laugh, or cry, or swoon. It's written to be real. Real life is rarely satisfying in the way we expect from stories. The fact that Takemiya Jin is an out lesbian in Japan just strengthens my conviction that this is the case.
GL and BL tend to inhabit an ocean of tropes, which is not a bad thing, necessarily. But, reading this, every time I recognize a situation but not the resolution thereof, it's striking. Not stimulating, but impossible to ignore.
I would describe this manga as sobering, if not numbing. While it may seem hard to justify a story from which there is so little emotional impact, positive or negative, to be experienced, I personally don't think of it as needing justification. Most stories exist because the author wants to write them, because the author wants people to read it and be entertained, and/or because the author wants money.
Omoi no Kakera exists because it should. People should read it not because they'll enjoy it, but because they won't. Perspective is important. But, I'm tired and rambling, so I'll stop here and hope this makes sense to others.
If you want a TJ series that's a bit less...severe, I reccomend An Absurd Relationship. To this day its ending is one of my favorites.