Bokutachi wa Hanshoku wo Yameta

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If you struggle with stories about taboo relationships then you won't like this. However if you're open-minded enough to look past that, then what the author has crafted here is an enjoyable high-school romance between two characters very much in love with each other but tragically caught in a highly controversial circumstances.

Seeing their relationship struggle on and some of the more cute or edgy scenarios makes for an interesting read. You know it's wrong, they know it's wrong, but you can't help but root for them. At 26 chapters, there's a way to go with this story yet so it's too early to draw conclusions ... how the story progress but expect the stardard drama tropes with a conflicting love interest and several individuals discovering their secret.

Side characters are reasonable although nothing exciting and plot progress is at a decent pace. Artwork also is nothing to write home about but clear and clean enough to follow without too much background noise. Solid entertaining read for anyone who enjoys a bit of will-they won’t-they taboo drama.

[This manga brings up very controversial and sensitive topics, such as incest. Please consider it, before reading this review]

I'm very well aware of how controversial the incest theme in either manga or anime is, so I'm not surprised by a relatively low score for this title. In this review, I'll try to focus on the story plot, how it is built, and how the character development is going, more than on the incest theme itself. There are a few sentences about it in the "enjoyment" section. Before starting, it's worth mentioning I thoroughly enjoyed the whole manga, whether counting the incest or not.

[Story - ... 6]

The plot itself is just fine. With a lot of potential for something better. There are some unnecessary time skips and notable plot holes, but it doesn't affect the story in a major way. This manga goes way faster when it comes to relationship progression than anyone would expect. Even though I don't doubt there's a possibility to fall in love with someone at the first sight, Hitomi seems to be way into Shin from the very beginning. It makes their relationship a bit forced by this "fate". The plot progression is okay, and the story is pretty cute after all. Focusing solely on the romance aspect, the dynamics between the two main characters are really good. It won't be weird to say that in some moments it's really heartwarming to see them together. There was a lot of unnecessary drama, especially in the last few chapters. Behaviour of some characters was unexplainable in many parts of the story. The indecisiveness of Hitomi about their relationship, and her change of plans, just for the sake of her dying mother (don't get me wrong, I probably can't sympathize with Hitomi enough, but I don't think it should be the reason to resign from your love) is at least weird, and honestly adds a lot of unnecessary drama to the story from nothing.

[Art - 9]

It's surprisingly beautiful. Especially Hitomi, which looks stunning. I love every single drawing of her in this manga. The environments look really good and give the proper mood to every scene. It's worth noticing there are times when some characters' faces are looking a bit weird.

[Characters - 7]

Shin is a pretty shy guy, that has visible problems with his self-confidence. There are many times at the beginning of the manga, where he's comparing himself to Hitomi, saying how much inferior he's compared to her, or that he has no chance to be in a relationship with her. In some parts of the manga, it's becoming pathetic, which makes Shin looks like an actual loser. It isn't beneficial to the story at all. It's rather annoying to see this type of pathetic MC getting with the prettiest girl in the town (a theme that is used way too often in romance anime/manga). Throughout their relationship, Shin is definitely becoming a much better character. Especially when it comes to his self-confidence. It looks like he's much more mature, when it comes to his relationship with Hitomi, near the end of the manga than he was before. It's probably the character with the best development in this story.

Hitomi, according to Shin is the prettiest girl he knows. Hitomi is undoubtedly a very pretty individual, which was confirmed many times when she went somewhere in public. This can hint that Hitomi isn't aware of her beauty, or rather doesn't want to show that she cares about it to Shin. She seems to be a very reasonable and considerate character at the beginning of the manga, but as the story progresses Hitomi becomes much more indecisive and anxious, which causes many problems in the growth of her relationship with Shin. Considering all the factors that could make her behave like that, it's understandable, but worth noticing, towards the end, it's rather an underdevelopment of the character, even if finally she made up her mind, regarding her love for Shin.

Kozue and Koutarou - If there's someone that didn't have enough screen time in this manga, it's definitely going to be Kozue. Even if viewers got to know her a bit better, thanks to the flashbacks, she's still a character with a lot of potential. She was left off with a really shallow personality, and in the end, killed by the author (to add some more drama, because why not). Besides most of the time, she was rather annoying, due to her objections to the relationship between Hitomi and Shin. Koutarou didn't have much screen time as well, but I wasn't interested in more of his backstory either. It's worth mentioning he surprisingly reacted extremely well, after he discovered the truth.

[Enjoyment - 9]

The rating of 9 already suggests I enjoyed this manga. I, in fact, enjoyed it a lot. Considering it's an incest love story, there's a feeling of guilt with it as well. The romance is done in a very good way and the story of forbidden love is really moving for some reason. This is probably the best incest story I've read (although I usually try to avoid incest themes). The love between the main characters is pure and heartwarming. I loved how the main characters were only interested in each other. No one else. No NTR, no hidden motives, just love. Either way, it's fiction, and in fiction, anything can happen. That's why people are choosing mediums such as manga or anime, right? Besides some unnecessary drama, I enjoyed nearly every episode of this manga. The ending is also pretty satisfying, considering how many worse possibilities to end this story arose.

"Domestic na Kanojo, but it's actually good" gets a solid 8.
Leaving the review with "Mixed feelings", as I don't factor the incest theme as negative in my rating.

tl;dr: A serious incest story with an interesting enough execution but is let down by some horrendous lack of communication

*Review will contain spoilers







... Story:

The story follows a rather poetic tale about 2 characters who naturally fall in love only to later realize they were consanguineous siblings who were separated from birth. From there is focuses on the story of these 2 with their new found relationship and the challenges they face along the way.

Now incest is quite a relatively uncommon story in romance manga, much less serious incest (so no little sister harem member) and much much less with true incest (i.e., blood related) so to have one that tries to handle it in a somewhat more serious manner seems interesting at first


if only
people
could
fucking
communicate
half-decently

Seriously, the majority of the drama in this series comes less from the siblings' aspect and more because none of the characters (apart from the dad) can form coherent sentences. As a result, most of the drama happens because one character (mostly the ML) decides to play the silent treatment like some retarded tsundere and the other characters (mainly the FL) are left to misunderstand or try to handle his mental gymnastics

I'm not even kidding when I say most of the major drama in this could have easily been resolved with 1 or 2 sentences

Exhibit A: ML finds out that his GF (FL) is actually his sister? Proceeds to randomly act like a massive dickhead towards her in the hopes that she "forgets" about him
What he could've done: "Hey I just found out we're goddamn siblings idk what should we do with our relationship???"
done.

Exhibit B: Love rival (of course) comes into play and wants to steal ML from FL (doesn't know they're dating). FL can't really stop this because it would reveal they are dating (which is apparently no go because.........something?)
What HE could've done: "Sorry, I am not interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with you." Like bruh is it really that hard to mutter that kind of rejection given that you're fine with boning your sister and letting your gay friend know about it??????
done.

Exhibit C: Mother wants FL to have a kid after she's gone (reality she just wants someone who will stay by FL's side) so FL decides to break up with ML because she wants to hurry up and have a kid before the mother dies
What she could've done: Nothing, because she quite literally clarifies what she meant AFTER all the shit happens with them breaking up? Like how the flying fuck is it that hard to get across you're not wishing for your first year uni daughter to get pregnant right away?
done.


The actual romance aspect of this is not too bad actually. I think the moments they have together fwiw (when they aren't getting cockblocked by the universe itself that is) is pretty cute and passionate at times. If it wasn't for the brain-dead drama this could actually have been a nice series. Plus it's nice to sprinkle some of the parent's romance here and there


Art:

The art is pretty nice, it really does convey the "oh this is definitely a train wreck" type of series

Character:

As legends say, there is duality of man


ML - fucking retarded

FL - absolute chad
.
.
.
.
later becomes fucking retarded


Let's start with the ML. I completely understand his shock over things like he's banging his blood sister and stuff. That's completely fine with how puzzled he is about the situation. What isn't fine is how absolutely impossible it is for him to utter basic Japanese and instead chooses to inner monologue all his feelings in the hopes that the author misplaced the supernatural tag and the FL can secretly read minds or some shit

And like any other love triangle center, finds it really difficult to even contemplate the words "No" or "my own consent." But hey at least he knows how to steamingly make out with his sister when the time comes amirite

FL: Actually the better of the two for the most part. She fully knows about the sibling thing but chooses to stay committed to ML despite all this, even willing to toss aside her family for the sake of love. On top of all of ML's bullshit she still chooses to trust him and still puts her faith in him


That is until misunderstanding mother comes along and suddenly she turns into the type that easily misunderstands and can't talk, and the cycle of life continues


Enjoyment:

I think I kinda alluded to it already, but honestly the romance moments in this series are quite nice but my god, the drama in this is quite ridiculous. Honestly this is better read with popcorn in hand enjoying the shitshow that evolves rather than expecting a strong relationship or something