Throughout this, something seemed off, and it wasn't until I read Baniita's comment that I was able to pinpoint what exactly: first, it's that Reiji is presented as more and more feminine; and second, it's that Kasai isn't involved enough with Reiji from a romantic standpoint, to convince me that this is a relationship that will last.

Reiji compares himself to a "wife", then that other guy says he "moans like a girl", then Reiji fawns over Kasai like a girl from a shoujo manga... It's not like male characters can only be gruff testosterone beasts, so it's distasteful to compare them to girls if they're anything but that. That's one writing choice I dislike in yaoi: that's a man, so why are you comparing him to a woman?

This ties into the other complaint, about Kasai not looking invested in having a romantic relationship with Reiji, who's doing all the heavy lifting and taking the "pester him until he falls in love" approach. Kasai comes across as aro-ace — he's uninterested in pursuing either on his own, and has to be pushed into it because Plot. Even in the extra, two years into their living together, Kasai isn't initiating anything unless he's drunk, which is...just sad, man. In the end, he seems to just go along with what Reiji wants; he would've been perfectly content to remain a mentor figure to him, and was downright uncomfortable with all of Reiji's advances. But this is a yaoi, so they have to get together and have sex because Plot.

It's not a downright bad story. The art is good, and I did like the revenge porn subplot and how Kasai cared about his students. But it really, really needed more active, enthusiastic participation from Kasai, and less shoujofication of Reiji, to make the relationship credible.

... Last updated on November 28th, 2023, 12:38am

I'm not totally hate it but Kato seems the only one try "extra hard" to make their rs work , sensei seems to treat him not like a REAL partner in heart , he seems always wanted a wife not a man.
It's never work like that irl bcz if u try so hard alone , u will get so tired, insecure and lost your confident.
It's better to moved on instead begging and working so hard for a one side rs.

... Last updated on May 22nd, 2023, 9:45am

The thing about it that makes me dislike it so much is that it could have been good. The set-up was decent, the first part of the development after the time-skip was sad, but not unbelievable. But the more it kept going the worse it got. Any chance of the seme falling for the uke in a believable way was destroyed by his frankly creepy obsession and delusional persistence. It was pretty disturbing. I found myself disgusted with the uke. There was nothing cute about his behavior. It was pushy, delusional, and manipulative. And having it evoke pity or jealousy in the seme was totally unbelievable. Poor writing and character development. At least the art was clean, if not particularly interesting.

I actually wanted to like this manga and for the most part chapter 1 was a decent setup for the meat of the story that's about to follow. Unfortunately as it unfolded I just grew to become more and more tired of both main characters and gradually lost any desire I have left to root for their romance or even care about them. The mangaka's execution played a big part in this, and I certainly also wasn't a fan how the seme always looks so apathetic and disinterested and sometimes even scornful as if he doesn't know how to display any other nuance of emotion and doesn't care shit about his surroundings or what's happening to him, even if that's not how he actually feels. You can blame the art for that. Oh well, Yuki Ringo's style in general has never really been my thing anyway.

Over the years of reading manga I have seen how my own standards have changed. And, this change has been for the better. If I had read this before then I would have simply loved it, but now I can appreciate it, which is a whole new level of loving it. I would urge everyone to not drop this series; please read it till the end. It’s worth it. If you have extremely high standards of translation, narrative consistency, and pacing then yes, this manga will surly rub you the wrong way, however, the manner in which these little slips(?) are resolved in the end is quite endearing to say the least. Actually, even before that Yuki-sensei is setting up the stage and resolving some these problems along the way; for example, Katou is positively affirmed regarding his sexual orientation instead of guilt and shame being the constitute parts of his identity of being gay.
The strongest point that I have in favour of Goodbye Lilac is how it is seduction of the heterosexual gaze that is upturned. For me it was this aspect of that manga which was the most annoying element of all. From the very start it is the male gaze which is privileged and used to define Katou and his desirability. That is why I cannot express my immense joy at seeing the explicit rejection of the heterosexual gaze.

A teacher/student plot is a popular one, particularly because many folks have similar fantasies and the genre is not unwelcome for me. The summary of this title, a relationship being pursued after the student graduates was another reason why it piqued my interest, but it turned out to be distasteful. While it's not unheard of for former students to f-ck their teachers after the fact (and of age), Katou and Kasai seem even worse for each other as adults.

Katou is literally delusional over Kasai from holding onto a crush for years and Kasai is to blame for it. The teacher was the one who began to talk about past relationships in his attempt to cheer up an injured Katou. This intimate conversation alone is definitely enough to influence an adolescent mind into viewing his teacher differently. As an adult, Katou has become irrevocably damaged from the lack of support over his sexuality during his youth and throughout a repressive society. This is evident when Kasai brought up his confession and blamed a teenage Katou for making it "weird." Some pages later, Katou is asking to be treated like a pet. This is clearly a man who desperately wants comfort and I just had to stop reading at the end of chapter 2. Since Katou's (what we can assume) coming out was a disaster it had a lasting effect on him and he needs to heal. I don't feel comfortable continuing this title if this is going to be lost as proof for their destined relationship.

... Last updated on July 5th, 2017, 9:53pm

this narrative was so refreshing compared to the other bl works out there dealing with a relationship between a student and teacher. im so thankful that the teacher puts the brakes on the relationship katou was trying to form instead of getting strung along like teachers in other bl stories.

like baniita, i didn't like the scenes in the gay bar or whatever it was...i thought it was completely unnecessary to the story. i don't think the ideas expressed by the weird patron were necessarily reflective of the author, just showing an "example" of how flexible sexuality can be sometimes, although i think this example was clumsy.

and LOL @ himeowchama, i thought the same lmao. im glad that their relationship wasn't defined by sex, tho. so many teacher/student stories are focused on the seduction and sex and power plays involved and none of that was in this story, which is great.

in the end i really enjoyed this story and thought it was quite cute and pure. katou is too adorable! i wanted to protect him as well, i don't blame sensei lol.

HOW IS THIS YAOI OMG THIS IS SHOUEN AI. I'VE SEEN SHOUNEN AIS THAT LOOKED LIKE YAOI LOL I AM SO PEEVED THAT I GET TO SEE KATO MAKING LOVE WITH SATA BUT NOT WITH SENSEI EUGHH I MEAN COME ON!!!! Lololol anyway a good read.

Firstly, the narrative reeks of mild homophobia.
Having a queer guy say he's 30% woman and thus 30% able to do it with a man is a disgusting display of the author's lack of understanding of sexual orientation, which is common among Japanese people. They had to write the older MC to see the other as feminine to
That aside, the romance is incredibly forced and not believable. The couple has 0 chemistry and is actually kinda creepy and unrealistic. And again, the narrative paints the younger dude as "a wife"/"housewife" and here I am just looking into the camera like I'm on The Office like..... if you were this desperate to write het, why didn't you just write that instead instead of using gay characters as replacements.

Writing is unoriginal, characters are completely unlikable, art is not great...
Why this has a 8.5 rating completely baffles me.

... Last updated on April 4th, 2017, 12:51am

It's an old formula but carried out so well you can forgive that fact. The art is lovely too. This is the second time I read Yuki Ringo's manga, the first is Tamayura. They both share a somewhat bitersweet and nolstagic theme, but Goodbye Lilac is a significant improvement in terms of characters. Both of them are fleshed out and seem like real human being with feelings and expression. Back in Tamayura, Tachibana sometimes looked more like a fangirl dream or plot device rather than a character... Yuki is now on my watchlist and I hope her work will be published in English in the future.