I could understand why people would be unsatisfied with the main story, I mean even I myself feel the demand for a more proper ending to it. Despite that, for some strange reasons i think I kinda agree to some extent with the mangaka's choice here, and leaving an open ending like that has its purposes I could vaguely comprehend. Nonetheless, setting all that hassle aside, one cannot deny the author's talent in delivering the stories, when all of them have certain charms making it hard for readers to resist.

Btw, did anyone notice Nick's shirt in chapter 1, page 16 (or page 8 if you're reading double-paged scanlations)? It has a duck pointing its middle finger and the heading "*uck" above it? I thought that was pretty clever yet amusing, haha. Yeah I've got a strange sense of humour, got a problem with that?

I'd have to echo that the storytelling was somewhat scattered around. It was a little hard to grasp the main story at first, but it smoothed up afterwards. Artwork is unique and pretty. Intriguing reads, though not too memorable. Couldn't really recall some details of the story after a few days. Still love the minimal drama storytelling though.

I would almost call this amazing. I really love Est Em. Such intelligent manga and gorgeous artwork. I just wish the main story had more of a conclusion. It didn't have to be a happy ending or have total closure, but it was like someone was telling a story and just sort of got distracted and trailed off. Beautiful all the same. I bought a paper copy right after reading it online.

The main story had a lot of potential, and don't get me wrong, it was pretty good, and the ending was alright. It just... didn't feel complete though. I enjoyed how it showed how Nick and Billy's first encounter/early building of their relationship (as friends), but I'm not really sure what else to think..

I did however fancy the last couple of chapters, though the endings to those were a tad depressing, kind of. I felt like those characters grew on me more than those in the main story, but that's just me.

Definitely not my favorite of Est Em's works, but it's still worth reading.

WHAT?! I totally agree with faerygoddyss! This is one of the few manga I thought I could call "amazing". It's not really long, but not so short either - enough to get such deep feeling in what seems to be only some pages! But then the ending screws it up! So much that I had to wait a couple of days to get less frustrated with it and be able to read the short stories (the last chapters).

I first got interested in this because it suits all the categories I want in a manga: angst, heartbroken, loneliness, love-hate relationship, unexpressed feelings, unrequited love, and even had musical stuff to it as a bonus! Well, the two first chapters and even the third one were really what I was expecting and probably even more, since it was all subtle in a very angsty way - which I love. The 3rd chapter itself's not even bad, the problem is that there should be some more and not stop there, it feels as if the manga's been discontinued.

What I especially like about this, though, is that it's so.freaking.painful! And not in an ordinary way. The narrative is constructed in a way I've never seen before, with lots of flash-backs, passing time and background story to top it off. It didn't even seem like a common manga, the storytelling was different from the usual feeling. I love it.

Billy's feelings towards Nick were really deep, not the superficial way a lot of yaoi portrait it, and he seriously got to me. I can relate to him, understand him and feel for him too. Some parts were he cried really touched me, and there was no need for words, explanations or thoughts about it. And then you can also see Nick's vision of things, and maybe he just wanted to monopolize Billy because he also couldn't get to say how he felt either. I could also feel their passion towards each other on that one single kiss!

It was so realistic in some ways that I even held my breath. The drugs, Nick's over-the-top carefree personality and, most of all, their struggling and how they even fell for each other. Nick was the first, in my opinion, as soon as he heard Billy's guitar, he fell in love with it and then gradually with Billy, over Kate (which leads me to the everlasting question: how did he get to break up with her?). Billy was slowly captivated by Nick's clever way of chaining him by being spoiled and depending too much on him.

I also like 'The Rebels''s past. After all, Joe and Pete were in the same situation as Nick and Billy, but they couldn't get together and Joe couldn't handle the pain. Then again, did he kill himself? Was it an accident? Another list of unanswered questions.

As for the art, it's also unusual, maybe even a little bizarre and dark, but also pretty once you get used to it.

Over all, I really enjoyed it, but I don't recommend it because you'll get frustrated with the "end", and that's never a good feeling =/

... Last updated on June 3rd, 2011, 12:43am

The art is exquisite and different than any other I ever saw. The stories are mature (not the regular yaoi stories) but very interesting. The main story that develops in several chapters is about a musician and his friends, it´s well written but didn´t caught my attention. I liked better a short story about an artist and a young man he met and pose to him. It´s a good book, overall but not for all tastes.

This story had a lot of potential. I gave it a low ending because you're left with an ending that doesnt feel like an ending in the slightest. I'm disappointed. There should have been so much more.