otakulys's manga / #shounen ai(68)

UGH. GOD, MY HEART. My face hurts from crying. I wanted so badly for them to be best friends forever. Regardless of what Kirino chose. The fact that they never saw each other again kills me. So heartbreaking. But their friendship was so beautiful and important. I'm glad they had it at all. Man, this manga was brilliant and tragic. You never see yaoi that really tackles the challenges of being gay in Japan, or just in general. It comes with so much baggage, navigating the good and bad, deciding whether or not to live a lie. This story really explores all of the outcomes based on different decisions and circumstances. My heart hurt so much by the end, knowing that not all of them would have the happy endings they deserved, but this was so well done, and so unusual. Typically, realistic seems to mean everyone dies or something, which honestly isn't realistic at all. It isn't all misery and despair. There are moments of hope, and moments of sadness. It may not have been perfect, but there's always more living to do. And it's never too late, really. Let's hope Kirino eventually finds the life that's right for him. Another thing I loved was the emphasis on friendship. It's so rare to have two gay male characters (though Kirino may have been transgender) without the two of them having romantic or sexual feelings for one another in yaoi. I really appreciated that they just loved each other platonically. They were best friends, which is very important, and romance didn't enter into that. It feels like we're so often told that romantic love is the most important, but I don't think that was the case here at all. Familial love, the love that comes with friendship, even self love. They're all so critical to happiness. "I'm sure there'll be a lot of people there... like us." That line broke my heart knowing that Kirino chooses to deny himself. It also hurts just knowing how isolated and scary it is for them, being gay, in such a small and homophobic community. The fact that they loved one another so much and were best friends like that... it just breaks my heart. The choices they made meant they couldn't be together, and that wasn't fair. That they'd even have to make those choices, to live the truth or to live a lie. They helped one another survive, and they never got to see each other again. Despite how much this manga killed me, I'm glad I read it. It really was beautiful, despite being so sad. I wish there'd been a more hopeful ending, but I enjoyed the good times when they were there. I'd love to read more just like this, only with them all being happy together in the end.

Wtf. There was nothing here, and then it was abandoned. I only gave it three stars because I love the other work this mangaka has on here. It sucks that she doesn't seem to have anything else translated. EDIT: Uhhhh.... So like a few years later, three more chapters uploaded, and now it's saying it's finished. Basically these are weird, crack comedy stories that are very short and kind of hard to look at. It's like if only the disturbing scenes from Smells Like Green Spirit got their own manga. I feel like chapters are missing or something. The whole thing is weird and hard to follow, lots of snapshots with no real story, but comments from the mangaka that make me feel like there WAS indeed a story here. As is, I feel like giving it even two stars is generous, because wtf. I still love her, though. I wish more of her work were out there and translated. EDIT: Oh my god, THANK YOU. Thank you for fixing it, whoever you are? It was a weird, disjointed mess, missing tons of pages and making it unreadable. Since so little of this mangaka's stuff is out there, I really wanted to read what she DID have available, and this was such a disappointment. But finally someone fixed it! The first few chapters should just be deleted. The new upload has the entire manga, it looks like. I haven't finished reading, but from what I've skimmed, it seems to all be there. EDIT: Okay, so I finally read it. But I skimmed a lot of it because it was kind of weird, haha. I'll go back and read it more carefully later. It's a weird comedy, for sure. Lots of crazy faces. But it's cute and wholesome overall. I wish we'd gotten more time with those two idiots being cute together and kissing and such, but whatever. I still like it well enough.

Really sad. I read this ages ago, and it broke my heart. Pretty and tragic. I guess it's one of those things where, if you're going to be separated eventually anyway, you may as well have a moment of happiness. Can't read this again, though. I'll just cry.

Too short, but a sweet little snapshot. Had it been a full manga, I think it might have been pretty great, even though it had that "it's okay if it's you" air about it, which is the trope I hate most next to "rape to love." I'd like to see more things focusing on depression and mental health, guys getting through it together as friends or more. But since it was so short and didn't dive into it much, I had to give it three stars.

Sweet and sad, short little story about a guy who loves someone who doesn't love him back, and a potential love that's nearby. Not as heartwarming as I was hoping, based on the tags, but the ending is certainly sweet. More development, length, and time to see their emotional connection would have helped.

I'm definitely a fan of this mangaka. Her art is so pretty, and her stories always have a nice little hint of hope between the main pair. And other characters, apparently, haha. This is a cute one, though I wish she'd explored the homophobia element more. Usually I prefer a world where being gay or bi is the norm, but when it's slice of life, coming of age stuff like this, I enjoy seeing the boys come into their own. The snippet with the poor bullied boy was interesting and sad, and I was looking forward to the guys facing and overcoming bigotry thrown their way. Oh well. It was a sweet manga regardless.

Aw, that was a cute little short. I like that it lets you fill in the rest at the end. Light and fluffy. I like that old man who keeps popping up, lol.

The more this drags out, the more I hate Ken. I really wish that Kirara would give him the cold shoulder for once. The tsundere thing gets old after a while. Anyway, it's still a cute manga. I hope the other two end up together. They'd be a cute couple. Hope it updates soon, and that the story starts to pick up a bit with the main two.

Ugh, I love this mangaka already! Why does she only have a single chapter up for all of her stuff? At least the newest one isn't just a oneshot. The art is great, the characters are cute, and I just want more. Mooooooooorrrrreeeeee!!!!

I don't like how much he says gay sex is gross (plus I hate the "it's okay if it's you" trope, barf), but this is adorable otherwise. I wish it weren't a one shot. I wanna see them get it on. Maybe there'll be another part? Here's hoping.