Mirai no Kioku
Future Lovers

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Two men, that have nothing to do with each other, end up having a one-night stand in a very unlikely situation. Kento is your average straight guy, his dream is to have a perfect wife and loving children, but he wants that future so much that he always overlooks an important detail, love. Thus, his straightforward personality leads him to be dumped by his fiancee when he proposed to her. Heartbroken Kento wants to get drunk and doesn't really care about the company, a man who seems to be just a harmless onlooker and was affected by the ex outburst. Well, it turns out that ... the charming stranger is no less than a very loose homosexual, and, what's more, he's looking for fun. As expected, alcohol, plus broken, heart plus debauchery incarnated in a man, are too much for our ordinary guy to bear, so of course, he just drowns in the sensation, deciding to forget later. What looked like an awful mistake, that should be buried in the depths of his mind, became a really troublesome situation when Akira, the seductive stranger, appears as the new teacher in the school where Kento works.

Future Lovers is a sweet story, there is no denying it. It has such a common plot, but it presents it in a brilliant way: a slice of life/comedy, with a proper flow for each situation. Also, it 's not overly dramatic, even when the characters are so deep, and it doesn't focus on sex, even when it begins with it. In the end, it can make you laugh and even cry with such simplicity.

Kento and Akira end up developing a relationship that wasn't supposed to be, and wasn't even wanted. You could probably say that it is all thanks to a dream of the future that Kento has. Certainly, the memory of the future helped to make things smoother, but in the end what brought these two together was the fact that they are very suited for each other. So, while Kento struggles to get a family and make his grandparents happy, Akira only wants to enjoy and forget his loneliness, no strings attached. They decide to act like total strangers, two ordinary teachers in a high school, but somehow they can't really avoid each other.

These two are truly opposites. Kento is very ordinary and even boring, always following the proper path. Akira only wants to have fun, feel pleasure and do whatever he pleases. Kento looks really plain, Akira is flamboyant!. Kento is very straightforward, sometimes rude, Akira knows how to play with words, he is charming and a good liar. Kento is very considerate while Akira is really spoiled and mean....There is no end to it, but they seem to share something that has only surfaced when they are together: loneliness. Kento and Akira find solace in their relationship, in the way they complement each other and they decide to pursue a dream that goes against their better judgment, to be happy together.

Kunieda Saika's style it's really funny and really weird sometimes. Future Lovers happens to be her less twisted manga, also her most famous one. Well, she used only a bit of her weirdness here (I almost tripped of my chair with that spark of dark humor) and the rest is just hilarious, cute and hilarious.

Even the art is made to work with these mood changes, sometimes very serious and detailed and others a bit messy, with funny expressions. She jumps from one to other with such an ease...one minute we see a very romantic scene with beautiful faces and the other we get the little devils and those tacky kiss marks! I love her art-style, is unique and very appropriate for each situation.

Future Lovers shows us, from the usual problems that a couple has to face, to other more specific situations as the inconveniences of a homosexual relationship. Even so, it is a pretty light manga, every situation is overcame with their love and a fair amount of silliness on the sides. The story is not an excuse for the sex here, in fact this is almost a soft yaoi. Nevertheless, it has a bit of sexiness, mostly in the beautiful art along with Akira's perverted behavior. Well, I have to admit I can't stop laughing at invisible genitals here, but that's fine, the feelings are the focus in these short scenes.

This is a happy story, one of those that lighten your day, even so it strikes me as a mature one...maybe because things seem to be way more normal than how this plot is usually portrayed. Memory of the future is about their encounter and how they deal with it and, the sequel, Kaze no Yukue shows us the ups and downs of their relationship and how they achieve their dream of being together as a family, forever.

Future Lovers is one of the jewels of BL, not a masterpiece, but very outstanding and different. The focus here? Love, just that, there are some complex feelings on the side, but it's the beautiful relationship the one that gets our attention the whole time. And the funny moments too!