What a smart, funny yaoi! Terribly un-fluffy, of course, but that's its greatest strong point: I appreciate being able to read a story about love without having to regress back into a fifteen-year-old romantic to enjoy. Once was enough!

Looking at the summary up there, why on earth isn't this clichéd? Instead it's an affecting story about first love and real love, how we're affected deeply by the little things we should by rights have left behind long ago, and how being grown-up can really stink sometimes. It doesn't hurt that it's also hilarious, helped along greatly by the *wonderful* translation - whoever did that job should get a medal.

... Last updated on June 28th, 2008, 2:17pm

i generally like "childhood friends fall in love" stories, but this one stands out as original, and proves that it's not the plot that leaves a story a mere cliche, but the execution. what makes this one original is mostly the protagonist, who's outwardly stoic, but what he thinks to himself is quite insightful in a laconic way, which often comes across as funny; he is a great "straight man" to his own thought processes. i also like that he's decisive when he has figured something out (or thinks he has). i had such a good time reading this, and i wish there were more to read about this guy. (and i thank the scanlation team; the translation is fluid and natural, which is so hard to achieve with japanese -- what a fantastic job!)

but. the ending. in one way it's quite good; it's fun to see the bespectacled noboru be daring, and i love how he just floors mitsuya who thought he had it all figured out. but it's over so fast, and after the meticulous buildup through mitsuya's inner monologue, it feels way too abrupt.

the other thing for which i am deducting a point is that several of the characters look too much alike; at the start i had trouble knowing who was mitsuya and who his brother, and who went with what name anyway, and later on i didn't immediately know whether mitsuya met noboru at his job (i was wondering why they didn't recognise each other), and whether it was nanase or noboru (with contacts) who was speaking at times. i know there were supposed to be similarities to establish mitsuya's "type", but it was too close.

but, neither is bad enough to ruin the story, not by a long shot. and it actually deserves to be ranked higher considering some manga that are ahead of it. highly recommended.

... Last updated on March 14th, 2011, 9:24pm

Highly recommended. It's rare to find humour, a good plot, emotion and great art all in one manga. All that I expected of Suuki Tsuta. I love her unassuming style- it's very down to earth.

The main character's personality is so, so adorable.

This was definitely a very good read. I was all tense and nervous and I really suffered with the main character Mitsuya. SUZUKI Tsuta is very good at creating complex and deep characters in a short amount of pages. I think this is her best story!

... Last updated on November 15th, 2011, 12:46am

This is what i call a nice gentle story, theres no huge dramaful twists, no nasty stuff to make things spicier, no pointless fluff or floweryness. But, its good that way. This story has some nice emotional work going on, it has realistic elements - its not teenage style love and fluff, its more realistic and mature than that. I can appreciate that ^^ i also like stories that move at a relaxed pace without losing any momentum - and this is such a story.

I say this as someone who's very picky about BL manga: this one charmed me.

There's not a lot about this that's very original, and the artwork can take some warming up to... but it's the details and the way the author makes the story unfold that pulls you in. My only real complaint is the ending... it was too rushed and didn't feel like a conclusion at all. (Or heck, even the same manga.)

this mangaka is boss at making characters with moe expressions. both seme and uke in both stories were hella adorable. i'll definitely check out her other works.

in regards to the first story however, im still reeling with how it all played out. like, what!? just like that?


kinda disappointed because i lovedddd the rest of the characterizations, from the gossip-loving coworker to the older bro with a brother complex. i guess noboru and some other key plot points didn't get the same attention to detail treatment. whhyy sensei whyyy!

This was a very fast paced manga, i mean what the hell kind of plot was that?
i really enjoyed the beginning of this manga when the boys were still finishing up in high school/middle school, graduating and getting ready to move on into adulthood.
i would have rated it higher if they continued the storyline like that and how

That would of made things more interesting and developed.

When the author did the sudden time skip, everything moved way to fast. ESPECIALLY when

Honesly i'm disapointed.

... Last updated on July 19th, 2012, 9:49pm

From its summary, I expected this manga to have a very cliché Yaoi plotline, but instead got a captivating story that caught my attention from start to finish. The author sure knows how to twist things up and make generic situations much more interesting and original, not to mention that she is also great at portraying the characters' emotions and development.

The only thing I'm not satisfied with is the ending. Events in the last chapter happened too abruptly and everything felt a bit too random to me; if the conclusion had been more flushed out, I would've given this a 9 instead of an 8.5.