Sorekara, Kimi wo Kangaeru
Then, I think of you

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This is a great example of a very well done one shot volume. Each story has a closure, except for the second one that leaves you with the feeling of wanting to know more about the story (it is also the shortest one).

The way the author transmits so many things in each story, so many feelings, in such different situations... it has been a really enjoyable reading.

The art at the beginning is not bad, but you can see the evolution of the drawings after each story. Really liked the art at the last story.

I definitley recommend to give it a try.

Rapid Fire Review
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Title: Sorekara, Kimi wo Kangaeru

A/M: Manga

Synopsis: Four separate short stories of gay male teen couples enduring high school angst and the pressures that eventually push them together or tear them apart:
-In “Then, I Think of You”, Yasu and Takashi must decide if one of them will leave or if both of them will stay in their small nothing town to be together.
-In “The Final Command”, a dinner party makes Sano reminiscences of a dark-ish period in his life when he fully submitted to the bully of his class.
-In “Young Oh! Oh!”, an unplanned ploy to dissuade the advances of a female classmate ... lands Sako in a relationship with a boy that he does not want. Or does he?
-In “It’s Darkest Before the Dawn”, Kaname gets terrible news about his family. He decides to run away with his closest childhood friend who helps him explore his sexuality in ways that he is not fully prepared to handle.

Pros:
-The inner monologues in each piece are lovely and even have a few life gems to remember
-“The Final Command” is 1/3rd the length of the other stories and, yet, tells the strongest story due to its brevity, lack of explanation and dark subject matter
-Sex scene is realistic and honest without being gratuitous or exploitative

Cons:
-Suffers from a what many Shounen Ai or most romance manga suffer from which is that two, arguably three, of the stories have little to no obstacle, high drama and somehow a forced romantic conclusion
-The spoken dialogue between the characters feels formulaic and predictable as are the outcomes of all the stories
-The manga suffers from lack of variety. The four stories seem to have almost the exact same characters assuming different hairstyles and varying degrees of angst or broodiness. With the exception of one, the manga is a paint-by-numbers romance manga that had missed opportunities to throw the reader a curveball.

Rating: 5/10