Koibitogokoro

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This review will include Otokogokoro (2 chapters) and Koibitogokoro (7 chapters).

When it comes to a manga that involves a romance between a seme and uke with a huge age gap, a regular Yaoi reader would expect a whiny, indecisive uke and an annoyingly overprotective seme creating drama at every turn. This manga is far from being related to that, which makes the love story more realistic and the characters more lovable.

A pure first-love story begins. All it took was for Saki to come down with a fever in order for Jun to be united with his crush. Something that was supposed to be a one-time ... meeting transitioned to something memorable and everlasting as Saki and Jun instantly became strongly attached to each other. There are lovey-dovey scenes with the couple expressing their feelings through words and action. Experiencing homosexuality for the first time together contributes sexiness and comedy towards the manga. It also lightly addresses the challenges of same-sex relationships, but the characters overcome all obstacles with compassion and understanding. The supporting characters were positive and supportive, and the wise choices made in the relationship were all thanks to them.

There is a 15-year age gap between the couple. Jun is a slightly naïve yet independent college student. He is the pure-hearted uke who is easily flustered and clueless about most things, making him responsible for the majority of the comedy presented in this manga. Saki is a rich businessman who is so gentle with Jun and spoils him to the core. Jun and Saki both are respectable and straightforward with each other, despite their first time being in a same-sex relationship.

The art is beautiful and makes Jun look so young, adorable, and innocent. Saki is drawn as a mature and attractive gentleman with his poise, manly figure, and fancy attire. The sex scenes are graphic. The settings are not extremely detailed. The surroundings are mainly outlines, but the character design and story itself outweighs that minor con.

Overall, this manga is pure romance, and the affection between the couple makes Koibitogokoro a promising and attractive read.

This review will be putting emphasis on this story and it's sequel.

SPOILERS MIGHT COME UP.

So. what exactly is Koibitogokoro? Well, it's a little complicated to explain.

If you ask me to summarize this manga in three words, they would be:

Smut, smut and smut.

The thing I sometimes, dislike in yaoi manga is the way they portray the main characters. I'm sure you may have heard many good things about this manga, like it has a nice storyline etc. but the reason I gave it an average score is because it really doesn't have much good in it. Trust me, when I say this isn't that good. The ... score of 6 is considered high for this manga.

Why did I give an average score to this yaoi manga?

This is me being nice and appreciating my inner fangirl. Because, believe me when I say FanGirl: this manga has a load of smexy sex scenes and kissing.

But, that's really all there is.

the storyline isn't very special. You may have seen this overused plot many times. And as usual, the seme (top) is overpowering and very rich. The uke is a waiter who takes care of this guy while he's drunk. The uke, as usual, is very cutesy and shy. The sex scenes are hot. But there is little to no character development. The only development I've seen so far is in the sequel but it is very minimum. The seme comes into the uke's house everyday, bangs him and gradually this so-called story of their 'love' blooms.

I liked the art a lot. The emotions are displayed just right on their faces.

Other than that, I still recommend it. WHo knows? maybe you might take a liking to it.

But for me, I think this manga needs a little work.

Honestly speaking, I'm quite shocked by this manga's score. What's so good about it? Even as a person with no real standards, I truly believe this was nothing more than something steamy you can read when you're in your horny hours. Small premise apart, let me explain properly.

This review covers not only this manga but his prequel "Otokogokoro" as well.

The story was mediocre from the start until the very end, the way the characters just fell in love was nothing special and not realistic at all. The premise was just so plain and useless details were not brought up or analyzed in anyway after that. ... It would have been interesting if some problems about their age gap or their relationship as a whole showed up, but nothing. They literally gave us nothing.
I also wanted to add that yes, I get it that everyone (me included) loves clichés - they wouldn't be used if no one did - but if they just fall flat without any development the result is shabby and pretty boring. I feel like the only reason worthy reading this manga is the presence of pretty good sex scenes because other than that, what is left is just... meh.

The art was quite good, the only thing I truly enjoyed. Nothing much to complain about, the style isn't really my type but I acknowledge the fact that it's still pretty good. The characters all had different designs and you don't feel like they're one the copy of the other.

The main characters were both pretty flat. Again, no character development, they just fell in love at the beginning and their feelings didn't change at all throughout the story. About the secondary characters, they had no role AT ALL. And since there's no character development for the protagonists nor something important to remember about the supporting cast, there's nothing much to say for this section either.

All in all, this manga deserves nothing more than 5. It could have been much better if the author decided to analyze even only one aspect of their relationship or the characters themselves.

Sorry for my English!