Jun 17, 2023
From the get-go I felt the pacing of this story and the way it gets to the heart of the character’s personalities was well done. There was a good mixture of show and tell, revealing Kyousuke’s character through his actions (i.e. showing us he’s a hard worker (read: workaholic) and has seemingly high morals through his work at the advertising company) and revealing Kasumi’s character through Kyousuke’s thoughts and feelings.
The conflict between Kyousuke’s morals and Kasumi’s actions and feelings are also apparent from their first interaction on the page, and solidified when they meet again. There are a lot of layers—not only the tension of
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loving someone unrequitedly and being so physically close with that someone, but also the tension of this individual having their own (unrequited?) love with a woman in a relationship…and believing that that is wrong, fundamentally, even though you love this person so deeply and have known them for years. (This is all without mentioning the generally openly—and internally—homophobic nature of the Japanese public as portrayed in the manga.)
Without revealing too many spoilers, things aren’t entirely complete from just seeing Kyousuke’s POV, and digging into what happened between the two throughout their school days (and how that ended) is what sets off the chain of events that make this BL so spectacular. It makes us ask harder questions, like: Does Kyousuke really have “high morals,” or is he jealous? That internalized homophobia of his that has so wholly convinced him that being in a gay relationship is an impossibility for himself or those he cares about—the belief that that is “gross” or “wrong”—is really what this manga gets to the heart of. It’s up to Kyousuke to grow from the past and accept himself in order to finally be there for the one he loves the most—before it’s too late.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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