Life: Senjou no Bokura
Life: Happiness depends upon ourselves

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Since no one did a review for this amazing manga, I will do it!

It’s my first review ever + English is not my first language, so I’m sorry for any possible mistakes.

So, this manga. WOW what a great surprise, for real. At first I wasn’t expecting much, I just thought it would be a cute cliché BL manga, but I was wrong. Even though it does have some cliché, it also has some things that I really miss in most part of the yaoi I read.

The story follows these two boys who met while playing a silly game on the street, and obviously fall ... in love. While most BLs (and romance in general, right?) show us just a little part of its characters relationship, Senjou no Bokura goes further. The manga shows the characters' relationship through all their lives, and in a really realistic way.

Like any couple, they go through problems. However, doing different from the other yaois, their crisis really make sense. It’s not because of jealousy or because a girl is trying to separate them. Indeed, it’s something that a gay couple in a really conservative and homophobic society may go through, unfortunately. Of course that if this was actually a real story things probably wouldn’t end up fine, but since it’s fiction we got a happy and sweet ending.
The end is also something that I love in this manga. While I was sad at first, the last few pages made me so happy and at peace. It was kind of cliché, but at the same time, it wasn’t. It’s hard to explain.

So mixing reality with the cute and sweet fiction, without rapes and abusive relationships, Life: Senjou no Bokura doesn’t fail in delivering a great BL, with a great relationship build up and a great ending. A true gem in this yaoi world.

This manga has a poignant ending that resonates with me and which still replays in my mind now and then. This is a cute love story between two guys. What makes it different from other romances is that it follows the couple from high school to old age. While the majority of stories end after the characters confess and become a couple, this manga shows the trials that await a long-term relationship.

The problems which the characters face are realistic instead of cliched drama. For example, it addresses the societal pressure of having a heteronormative relationship, and feeling like a gay relationship is abnormal and just ... a passing desire that will ultimately result in regret.

I really liked the story’s use of a line as its visual metaphor. The line represents a person’s path in life, and how even when one might stray from that path and end up lost and confused, there is still hope of finding the right path again.

The manga does have some flaws though. The frequent time skips make the story seem a bit rushed and shallow. I would have prefered the manga to spend more time on each section and delve deeper into the plot and characters’ thoughts. However, its strong points are what stick with me in the end. All in all, the story is very sweet and heartwarming with just the right dose of realism.

Life: Senjou no Bokura is a cute manga with an original premise… for the first chapter, that is.

That one chapter is quite nice, using the silly and mundane action on walking on pavement line to develop interest between characters naturally and show the increasing interest in each other. Than it goes the way of the usual horny BL and speedruns to the explicit sexual scenes. You want story? No, here’s some porn. Of course, some people read those exactly for the porn, but it just feels so sudden and unnatural.

With next chapter I’ve noticed what this manga is trying to do. It is in ... fact speedrunning the whole life story. Now, the idea of following the characters until old age is quite nice. Not a new one, but not so common in this genre, and can be enjoyable if don right. Unfortunately, this is one of the cases when I’ll have to say it would actually benefit from being longer. 5 chapters just simply wasn’t enough for this kind of project (the extra chapter doesn’t count). What this resulted in was the manga trying for an emotional payoff it didn’t build, emptions based on relationship we were shown only shadows and glimpses of.

This manga had some good ideas and some not so good ideas, adding up to a score of average. However, for BL standards, it belongs among the better one, so if you’re here mainly for that, you will still very likely enjoy this one.