Sora to Hara
Classmates: Sora and Hara

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Sora is a wonderful ball of energy and he truly is the best thing about this volume. He is bold and spunky and genuine, and he has his whole future ahead of him, which he is still trying to figure out. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend Sora to Hara to anyone on account of the fact that the entire premise is about a child predator abusing his power to date a child. Despite Hara's insistence that "I have a policy of never touching students" whenever Sora approaches him, anyone who has read Doukyuusei or its sequel can attest to the fact that this is a boldfaced ... lie. His backstory tries to portray him as a more sympathetic character so we'll root for him in finding love with this child, which is disturbing in how it portrays his supposed guilt as noble. The most tragic thing is the reveal that Hara is just another player in the cycle of abuse and it isn't even addressed.

Once again, the fact that every teacher in this series - and seemingly every adult this man knows - is a pedophile creates an ominous atmosphere where children are brought up to accept that this dirty secret goes hand in hand with homosexuality. After all, it isn't just Sora who mistakenly thinks there's nothing wrong with this situation. Given that this is the plot of the entire story, there is no escaping it, so please keep that in mind when deciding if you want to read this detour in the series.

Unfortunately, if you want to read the later volumes and understand the context for why adults are dating children, you will have to read Sora to Hara. But if you don't mind skipping over those parts, then luckily you won't be missing much here and won't need this knowledge going forward! There is one scene between Hara and Sajou that is supposed to "resolve" the sexual harassment plot established in Doukyuusei, which offers at least some accountability and allows them both to process what happened all those years, but it unfortunately falls flat in the end. Regardless, Sajou and Kusakabe were a delightful breath of fresh air during their cameo, so if that is the only part you're interested in reading you should get something rewarding out of it.

If I had to praise any one feature of this book it would be the art style of the series. It's simple and the characters can be very expressive as a result, but even that wasn't enough to make these chapters enjoyable. The new relationships all felt poorly established and there's very little to get genuinely invested in if you aren't a fan of the premise.

Why...Why...oh why I waited this long to read this manga. Well, maybe because I was not too fascinated with the art style. But then, Nakamura Asumiko sensei's art is not the typical art you see in a Yaoi manga. The line drawing style, the not so perfect faces or the blank expressions...yeah at first glance they will not fascinate you. But as you start reading, you get immersed in the story and the characters and you feel that the drawing style suits the story perfectly.

Story - 8: For all those who have read the "Doukyuusei" series...this is a continuation of Hara Sensei/Hara sen's story, ... the music teacher, and how he moves from a heartbreak to getting a chance in love. The story starts where one broken hearted person - Hara sen, meets another broken hearted person - Sora/Sorano. From that point onward starts the journey of Hara sensei trying to ward of his overly enthusiastic student Sorano from minding his own affairs and leaving the poor Hara alone. Well, as the old saying goes "love happens when you least expect it". Our Hara sen has a rule "not to get involved in relationships with his students", but Sorano had some other plans. There are parts of this story, especially the part of an "old flame" coming in, I felt that the story had a bit of a disconnect, but the author brought all the characters together quiet well in the end. I hope I'm not giving any spoilers, but to see the sweetness of how an unusual love story can develop between two very different people, you have to read this one (although you will not be getting a lot of Yaoi action, its a Shounen-ai -.-).

Art - 7 : As mentioned before, the art style is way different from the usual style you have seen in BL/Yaoi mangas. But, I think you can get used to it once you start reading the story. The art blends well with the story and its characters. I'm not sure how much I can like the flowing line drawing style, but the face and expressions were clear and good. Shounen-ai's do focus more on the dramatic aspect of the story and you can see that in their art.

Character- 7: Well, for those of you who have read previous series, Hara sen has been a constant character and I always wanted to see his "happy ending". I'm glad that we get to see a side of Hara sen that previous mangas did not portray, his "desperately and idiotically in love" side ^.^ Sorano is a refreshing change from a typical uke, although I wanted to see many more moments of his with Hara sen, that's why I felt his character development lacked something. Maybe pulling in other characters help in understanding Hara sen's past relationships, but Sorano and Hara sen's ending up together to me looked a little rushed.

Enjoyment-7: Enjoyment is definitely there, especially the conversations between Hara sen and Sorano. I love the way Hara sen gets flustered in front of Sorano whenever he tries to act like an adult, but not so convincingly:D

Overall - 8: The story is a good continuation and conclusion of a wonderful series. Of course, it leaves a lot to be desired from the Yaoi part, but if you are into Drama CD's, I highly recommend listening to it. The voice acting cast is awesome ♥♥♥ - Fukuyama Jun (Aoto Sorano), & Ishikawa Hideo (Hara Manabu).

This story happens after Sotsugyosei and talks about Hara sen, ou favorite gloomy music teacher.

Now we see how Hara sen deals with his heartbreak from the end of the last installment and are introduced to Sorano, a happy-go-lucky first year he happens to meet before the start of the school term in a very "interesting" way.

Ok, this is totally cute. Sorano is such a cute baby and is like heavens justice being paid to Hara sen, poor boy. He's destined to a school-teacher relationship, looks like he can't run away of this fact.

There's some good situations on this manga:

1. The way Hara sen and Sorano ... met on the bar. And when they meet each other at school. Super sexy at first, super funny later. I was very pleased with this, makes total sense and is very "fated meeting", just a pleasure to read.

2. When Sorano meets Saijou. Saijou really became a very fine specimen of a man, Hara sen got really shook by it and Sorano saw EVERYTHING with a magnifying glass: how much Hara sen liked Saijou and how beautiful Saijou really were. He felt like he couldn't really compete, but decided to meddle in this story, just cause. Apparently he felt like, if he could find a way to resolve Hara sen's fellings for Saijou, he could benefit from it.

3. Hara sen and Saijou's date. Hara sen was SO HANDSOME. Just my type. kkk The date was very normal, it was funny to see Sorano and Kusakabe tailing after them all the time, tho. I think Saijou's blushing to Hara sen's question was the star of the scene, so cute. But, even though I wanted this feelings to find a closure, It was already chapter 3, and I was done with the Dokyuusei couple already. They are cute, but it's not their story?

4. Sorano's past. He lived a very pure one sided love with his middle school friend with a buzz cut form baseball. Cute. I was glad I got to see buzz cuts and a gakuran.

5. Arisaka-sensei. Why he's back? That's some real struggle right there, I even made me change my story score on this review. Unexpected to the core. I can bet I can ask anyone and none of them would say they were expecting this sensei to return to this story. He's already a old man, but still cute. He's even divorced. Life is tough for Sorano, who really became irrelevant with his arrival.

6. Hibiki-kun. The foreshadowing of him asking Sorano which school he was attending was nice. We all kind of knew who he was from that point on. But we were all wrong and that was NICE! I was still wishing this story would focus on Hara sen and Sorano's romance already by that point.

7. Sorano falling in love. He's a little boy with some attitude, isn't he? The whole apartment scene was cute and the dream even cuter!

8. Am I angry that the main couple's relationship got resolved in between other people's relationship issues (and what a issue!)? I am, kinda. But it was cute. Sorano is just like a ray of sunshine. His crying face was too much!

I really hope to see more of them. I luv them. As always the second couple is better than the main one of the series.

(Spanish review below).

When I first read this spin-off, I didn't think there was anything wrong with it, because I was certain that Hara was behaving like a responsible adult. But nothing further from reality.

Hara wants to behave like a responsible adult, but he always ends up giving in to his wishes at the first opportunity. We can't blame Sorano; first, because he is FIFTEEN years old; second, because even if Sorano insists on certain things, it's Hara's responsibility to say no.

The problem isn't just the relationship between Sorano and Hara, it's Hara's character as a whole. Let us remember that Sorano isn't the first student ... that he is attracted to, but that Sajou was there before and Hara was always chasing him, no matter how much he tried to convince himself and the reader that this wasn't the case. First of all, as an adult he should not be attracted to ANY minors.

I like the story of the manga itself, broadly speaking. But I can't ignore not only the relationship of these two, but that of Arisaka and Hibiki, because the exact same thing happens, even if Hibiki is two years older than Sorano. The pattern of student-teacher relationship is repeated throughout the volume: Arisaka-Hara, Hara-Sorano, Arisaka-Hibiki, Hara-Sajou. And on top of that, the rest of the teachers and other characters aren't alarmed by this, but it seems natural to them as these characters are surrounded by "temptation." At one point one of the teachers even tells Hara that many years ago there was a boy he couldn't stop looking at (and vice versa, the boy was always looking at him) and that now he wondered what would've happened if he had advanced in that relationship.

The only one who finds all this bad or strange is Kusakabe, but in the previous volumes.

It's a shame because I believe that Nakamura is quite conscientious and treats many sensitive topics with the respect they deserve, but she doesn't seem to realize how much she's romanticizing this situation, hiding behind "we'll wait until you graduate."

I didn't care about Hara before, but now I see him as a predator. When he's not around these guys he's attracted to, the character is fine and even makes me empathize with him (that is, in other aspects of his life).

On the other hand, I like Sorano a lot. He seems quite original to me in his way of being.

The spin-off itself didn't seem necessary to me because I don't find Hara interesting enough for him to have his own story. Apparently, the author made this volume because many people demanded a happy ending for Hara. And I think it's good... but not this ending. See could've done millions of things different than this.

Honorable mention to Koma, a secondary character who we know a little more about in O.B, but who I like a lot.

...

La primera vez que leí este spin-off no me pareció que tuviera nada malo, porque tenía la certeza de que Hara se estaba comportando como un adulto responsable. Pero... nada más alejado de la realidad.

Hara quiere comportarse como un adulto responsable, pero siempre termina dando el brazo a torcer ante sus deseos a la primera oportunidad. No se lo puede culpar a Sorano; primero, porque tiene QUINCE años; segundo, porque incluso si Sorano insiste en ciertas cosas, es responsabilidad de Hara decir que no.

El problema no es sólo la relación entre Sorano y Hara, es el personaje de Hara en su totalidad. Recordemos que Sorano no es el primer alumno que le atrae, sino que antes estuvo Sajou y a él siempre lo andaba persiguiendo, por más de que tratase de convencerse y convencer al lector de que no era así. Primero que nada, siendo un adulto no le tendría que atraer NINGÚN menor.

La historia del manga en sí me gusta, a grandes rasgos. Pero no puedo ignorar no sólo la relación de estos dos, sino la de Arisaka y Hibiki, porque pasa exactamente lo mismo, incluso si Hibiki es dos años mayor que Sorano. El patrón de relación alumno-profesor se repite durante todo el tomo: Arisaka-Hara, Hara-Sorano, Arisaka-Hibiki, Hara-Sajou. Y encima el resto de profesores y otros personajes no se alarma con esto, sino que les parece natural al estar estos personajes rodeados de "la tentación". Incluso en un momento uno de los profesores le dice a Hara que hace muchos años hubo un muchacho al que no podía dejar de mirar (y viceversa, el muchacho siempre lo estaba mirando) y que ahora se preguntaba qué hubiese pasado si hubiese avanzado en esa relación.

Al único que le parece hacer ruido todo esto es a Kusakabe, pero en los tomos anteriores.

Es una lástima porque considero que Nakamura es bastante consciente y trata muchos temas delicados con el respeto que se merecen, pero no parece darse cuenta de lo mucho que está romantizando esta situación, ocultándose detrás de un «esperaremos hasta que te gradúes».

Antes Hara me daba igual, pero ahora lo veo como a un depredador. Cuando no está alrededor de estos muchachos por los que se siente atraído, el personaje está bien y hasta me hace empatizar con él (o sea en otros aspectos de su vida).

Por otro lado, Sorano me gusta un montón. Es un personaje bastante metido, pero no llega a ser pesado. Además, me parece bastante original en su forma de ser.

El spin-off en sí no me parecía necesario porque Hara no me parece lo suficientemente interesante como para que tenga su propia historia. Al parecer, la autora hizo este tomo porque muchas personas le exigían un final feliz para Hara. Y me parece bien... pero no este final. Podría haber hecho miles de cosas diferentes a esto.

Mención honorífica a Koma, un personaje secundario del que sabemos un poco más en O.B, pero que me gusta un montón.