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Jan 7, 2025
Sasaki to Miyano is a breath of fresh air in the BL genre. Most BL stories fall into one of two categories, shounen ais which focus on the innocent feelings of love where often the characters never fully seem aware that they have romantic feelings for each other therefore a proper relationhip doesn't come to fruit or yaoi/erotica which focuses has a lot more on focus on R18 scenes and romance often becomes a secondary aspect. Sasaki to Miyano is different in the sense that while it falls more in the first category yet there is clear progression in the relationship, we can see the
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characters fall in love and how it changes their relationship from friends with ambigously romantic feelings towards each to actual boyfriends. Another big thing the story gracefully avoids is the toxic tropes that often plague BL titles. There are no nonconsensual kisses or forced contact of any kind.
Miyano and Sasaki meet at school where one day a student it bullied. Miyano wants to help him but as he is quite a short, frail looking boy he isn't really in a position to do so. That is when Sasaki strides in and puts a stop to the fight. This is what results in a chain of events, while Miyano makes friends with the boy who was bullied, Sasaki becomes interested in Miyano. First, their friendship is a rather one sided thing as Miyano thinks Sasaki is just a bothersome upperclassman who keeps calling him cute nicknames and won't stop teasing him. However, as Sasaki starts to show genuine interest in Miyano's manga addiction - and Miyano jumps on the occasion to have at least one acquintance he can talk to about his fave books - things slowly start to change. Oh, and the specific genre he reads? It's boys love!
While Miyano insists he just likes the writing style and the stories and he has no interest in men whatsoever, with the power of BL mangas Sasaki starts to realize that he actually has a crush on Miyano and that is why he wants to be around him so much. And as they get to spend more time together, Miyano also starts to question if he actually would be okay with dating a guy if it was Sasaki..
While the progress can be a bit slow, I like that plotpoints are not dragged out forever and eventually resolve. I like the relaxed athosmphere of the story, the focus on feelings, the introspective bits from the characters as they mull over certain conversations they just shared. The only reason I am not rating this a 10 is because while the dialogues concerning the relationship are great, the story has a weak spot in bringing in actual plot lines that aren't just your usual slice of lines scenes.
For example, I remember in one of the earlier chapter that the character mentioned several times an event (was it going to the movies or a cultural festival, I can't recall) and I got excited to see them there! Only for the next chapter start with a two sentence summary of: "oh yeah, we went there! it was great!" So happy for you..? And since the discussion of BL topics is always a bonding moment for Sasaki and Miyano I would have expected there to be a bit more details given, the way real people discuss their favorite movies. (Een if they made up fictional stories). But the discussions are often very vague and can feel like filler, with only some tropes getting mentioned. One thing that might put people off of the story is discussion of the seme/uke pairs (which has been a standard way to differentiate characters since the birth of BL) but eventually as the characters' relationship progresses they realize that it is silly to put people into such boxes as one word cannot exactly determine everything from your personality to your preferred position. It was a nice detail to add and made me appreciate how newer BL titles slowly but surely start to move away from the "fantasy BL tropes" towards real queer representation.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jan 2, 2025
Kietai Hatsukoi is the highschool version of Cherry Magic, essentially. It is funny, sweet and heartwarming. The main character is chaos embodied and I love him with all my heart, while the love interest plays his serious, dead pan counterpart perfectly.
The story should be simple, Aoki has a crush on a girl in his class. They have a good rapport and get along well. She even gave him a cake on Valentine's Day. Things don't seem completely hopeless, right? Well, one day when he borrows an eraser from her, Aoki's whole world is shattered to pieces when he finds out that she wrote another
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boy's name on the eraser - meaning she likes him, not Aoki.
The guy in question just happens to be Ida, the guy sitting in front of Aoki. Aoki is barely processing the fact that his crush is completely one sided when Ida accidentally sees the eraser, and in turn concludes that Aoki must be the one who likes him. Aoki struggles to convince Ida that he does not in fact has feelings for him, but he doesn't want to reveal the real identity of the eraser to him, and born from this misunderstanding the two start to spend more time together only to realize.. that they actually get along super well. While Ida is absolutely clueless about romance, Aoki soon starts to develop an actual crush on him..
The story has a few more smart twists in it and the comedy part is top notch. From Aoki volunteering to play Cinderella in the school play, to him being a total drama queen and wanting to flee to the countryside and becoming a hermit because of a minor misunderstanding. The supporting cast is just as ridiculous and lovable, from headstrong Hashimoto to Aoki's clueless but surprisingly considerate bff, Akkun.
There is also a live action drama version that covers the first few volumes, and it is even funnier than the manga. Go give it a watch on VIKI!
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jan 2, 2025
Neighbours, classmates, childhood friends.. For Shunpei and Koutarou all of this seems natural. As they get older and start to experiment, Shunpei worries that telling Koutarou that he wants to be lovers might change their relationship. After all, Shunpei's whole world is Koutarou, but the other boy has friends, easily gets along with others and plans to leave the countryside after graduation. The story centers around their changing relationship and some introspection on Koutarou's side. Despite the happy ending the story has a lingering, bittersweet mood sprinkled with some codependency. The art is great, however, do not let the cute cover fool you, the story
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has quite a few (often uncensored) R18 scenes.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jan 2, 2025
I don't know much about Japanese comedy shows or routines, only that as per tradition there tends to be comedy duos where one of them plays the straight, serious character and the other one is the funny guy with the jokes. Maybe that is the reason why, but the skits in the manga just fell flat for me and I did not find them funny at all. The manga talked a lot about how people get interested in the comedy show biz and what it is like to start out as a comedian but it felt soulless to me.
The art is really pretty and the
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base premise had some nice ideas, what it's like to navigate the difference of having a friend who is your comedy partner and having them also as your crush/romantic partner. The execution however felt lackluster, I did not connect with the characters or their struggles. We did get some shoehorned in flashbacks about their past but it didn't really have any emotional impact. One thing I appreciated was that the flashbacks were done from both sides and we learned both of the characters feelings. However, the dialogues were very skippable and the characters spent way too much time in their own heads instead of talking to each other.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jan 2, 2025
I was curious to see if I could find any bl manga that is drawn as a 4koma, since bl rarely seems to have that fun, comedic element that makes 4komas great. I am so happy I found this story! The set up is really cute and the main couple has just this really sweet connection that makes me want to keep reading about them.
Hitose is a transfer student who is noticed by his class and schoolmates on the first day immediately as that rando guy who stands under the sakura trees bawling his eyes out. As if that wasn't strange in itself, he immediately
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announces that he is setting up an after school club named the Four Season Club without providing details on what the club is even about. He ends up talking to the boy sitting in front of him in class, and tries to convince Haruno to join his club by feeding him treats under the sakura tree and having picnic.
Haruno ends up joining this weird club by declaring in front of their entire class that he "wants to be with Hitose". While Haruno only meant to join the club, their entire class, friends, and even Hitose himself is convinced that the two are now dating. While the humor can focus a lot on Haruno being an airhead and very oblivious to romance, thankfully such misunderstandings are not dragged out for too long and both of the characters are in the clear about the relationship they share. I like that there is some backstory for both of the main characters that is shared gradually and they get closer by talking about these things, next to the usual romcom routine. The side characters are also interesting and I cannot help but root for them to get together as well.
The story is also fully colored and I just adore the art style.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jan 2, 2025
I have a vague understand of omegaverse, but it is not something I was ever really interested in. I started reading this story for the isekai trope and the royal setting. The art is really pretty and despite talking so much about the omegaverse the story is pretty tame with R18 scenes except for a fanservice shot here and there. There is some SA (not between the couples) and noncon in the story but it is not the focus of it.
While I like the setting of the main character, Taisei, isekai-ing into his sisters manga and having background knowledge on the workings of the world
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and some character backstories it feels like he doesn't really take advantage of it. In general he feels like a rather passive main character, who only does things as a reaction to the main plot. He does not have any plan or goals besides trying to keep under the radar and attend the school he was sent to. I like the idea of him falling for Jasper, the antagonist, black horse character however I found the build up to it quite quick and not very well executed. Jasper has grown on me as he started to act less like a bully and more like someone who actually cares about the main character, but the switch between the two were quite sudden and could have been more nuanced.
Taisei and Jasper have some cute moments together and a shared confusion as the plot tries to push them together, but I wish the writer added a bit more build up to it and they actually got to connect on a deeper level. For example, in one of the early chapters the two of them get absolutely wasted, have a great time and black out.. only to wake up naked together. This implies that they do actually enjoy each other's company and have chemistry without any of the other omega nonsense but this night is just forgotten later on and never talked about again. The main character tends to flip flop around being completely drawn to Jasper and then "coming to his senses" and pushing him away, quite agressively. While he gradually seems to come to terms with his attraction to Jasper (based on when he saved him etc.) but I wish his crush was a bit more grounded in him actually getting to know Jasper as a person. In general, most of the characters seem to lack a distinct personality.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Aug 26, 2023
What an absolute banger of an anime.
The heroine is so refreshing and relatable - while others around her spend a lot of their time pursuing romance, she just prefers spending her time with what she loves: mainly, playing games, hanging with her beloved cat and eating chocolates.
That is until one day a “wizard” ropes her into a game, and forces her into romantic encounters after romantic encounters.
This series is insanely funny, and the wizard (who has no clue about how human romances work) trying to force romance on someone who is just not interested is very relatable to how society often reacts when someone is
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just not interested in dating. I loved that the heroine’s immediate reaction to being co-erced into doing things she didn’t want was to rebel and do everything in her power to make the plans fail. Why wouldn’t she? She didn’t agree to have her life upended. And I love that the anime’s main message followed in the same vein: just because certain situations can be forced, feelings can’t. The only times there were some romantic developments were when the characters were allowed to just exist and be themselves, without any sort of external powers trying to intervene. There were some unexpectedly deep themes covered as some of the love interests have darker backstories. I really hope there will be a second season, one where the heroine is allowed to just figure out what her new life can be without others meddling in it. I adored the love interests and the recurring characters- I just wish we could’ve spent more time with them, especially in the second half.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jan 23, 2021
I feel that shoujo ai (along with shounen ai, yuri and yaoi) are a still bit of a mixed bag of a genre on what you can get in the end. Unfortunately, there is still a distinction between the genres and actual LGBTQIA+ representation which is why some of the titles just feel very underwhelming. There are of course very good titles that deal with romances in a satisfactory way: the classic Utena, the symbolism ridden YuriKuma or the newer generation, Bloom Into You. And then there is the second category which depicts couples with just enough chemistry and longing for the fans to give
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something to get invested in, while bringing up the good ol’ anime no homo rule “we are both girls so this doesn’t mean anything (romantic)”. While I felt that Adachi and Shimamura had an interesting set up that could have made it special I felt they also ended up falling into the second category with a lackluster execution and somewhat harmful dynamics. Let me explain in detail, spoilers ahead.
Adachi and Shimamura are not very similar but they have one thing in common: after entering high school they both realized they didn’t care much for it. Adachi is a loner with no friends and instead of attending classes she spends her days hiding at the PE classroom’s upstairs room. Shimamura is not really interested in her classmates or studying so one day when she skips classes she accidentally stumbles upon Adachi’s hiding spot. The two start to share the place when they are skipping classes and slowly a companionship starts to develop.
As the two grow closer they motivate each other to do better at school and start to wonder what their relationship means to them. While Adachi is shocked by her realization that she wants to have a more intimate relationship with Shimamura, the other wonders if she will spend her days alone once Adachi leaves her life or if she even needs anyone to be by her side. The romance in the anime is very one sided, with Adachi putting in the effort to ask Shimamura out for romance coded events (spending Christmas together, Valentines) and Shimamura half-heartedly agreeing. The fact that Shimamura insists on calling and treating Adachi like her little sister makes the dynamic feel a bit creepy after a while.
I felt that while Adachi made progress on her own, figuring out what she wants from Shimamura and asking for it, Shimamura lacked a lot in this sense. She spends a lot of time thinking how bored she is among other people, and after a while starts to think how she prefers Adachi’s company to others but still remains in a very passive state. She never seeks out Adachi on her own which is a rather big red flag even in friendships. Both of them think of their dynamic as Adachi following Shimamura along like a puppy and waiting for when she pays her any attention and that is not a really healthy thing.
In the second half, Adachi’s fears come true and Shimamura makes new friends. Adachi literally runs away, instead of trying to socialize or even see if Shimamura invites her to join the group. Shimamura never actually seeks her out, despite thinking how boring the others are and wondering what Adachi is doing. I felt that this could have served as a great time to progress their dynamic, with Shimamura proving Adachi’s fears are not real. Instead, we have Adachi coming to clamor for her attention once again, and Shimamura agreeing half heartedly. She didn’t say to Adachi anything about the new friends she madenand she never spoke to them after. There is even a scene where Adachi speaks up about how the only friend she has is Shimamura, which in it self is nothing wrong but the fact that they joke about her being possessive and Adachi getting sulky after she learns Shimamura has other people to talk to is what makes it feel rather creepy.
In the end I didn’t feel like the conclusion really leaves us at a better point than where we started. Adachi kept getting jealous of other people’s relationships, of others who talked to Shimamura - all stemming from the issue that she feels so insecure about her place next to Shimamura. And Shimamura while admitting to herself that she likes spending time with Adachi, still ends up saying that she will settle for this relationship for the time being, which I don’t have to say is how unhealthy. Kids, don’t settle for friendships or relationships, it never works out.
The setting itself is a normal slice of life story and it focuses mainly on the internal thoughts of our two main characters. While this flow of thought can work well in light novels and even in manga, I felt it was a bit overdone in the anime and sometimes took away from the significance of certain scenes. While it is great to hear what they are thinking when you hear both a conversation going on and the characters internal thoughts at the same time, it can get confusing and takes away from the scene’s importance. I also felt that often the thoughts the kids have about the human desire to socialize, loneliness and companionship sounds like something a 30 year old depressed adult would say - which again is nothing wrong in itself, but sounds rather unbelievable coming from teenagers.
The supporting characters were forgettable, albeit with more balanced dynamics. A supposed couple who were not dating officially but held Valentines together and sleepovers, which was cute but only seemed to act as a fuel for Adachi’s jealousy on what she was missing out on. We also had some distant family members, Adachi’s mom left a rather strong impression with how neglective she was. And we also had a glowing haired 800year old alien loli who I suspected to be symbolic but couldn’t wrap my head around if it really served a purpose.
I hear that this is based on a light novel, so things could progress there in a more satisfactory way given that the anime was only twelve episodes, but ultimately I felt a bit disappointed with how this ended.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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