the art is fabulous, but the story is so pseudo-american and over-the-top melodramatic that i kept laughing out loud at moments when i am sure i was supposed to swoon from the "depth that is barely expressible". and that's just the first chapter. i am not sure i can convince myself to read more, because it's painful.

well, onward. we must suffer for our art. eric, who is supposedly full of wisdom and inner peace, blows his top and goes emo on steve at the slightest provocation, including jealous fits while in the process of a mission -- he's a thinly disguised girly-girl. steve, who has enough testosterone for both of them, oscillates between "we are in this together, for our country" and "i'm in this alone for my own reasons" flippity-flop back and forth, and during the "i'm in this alone" phase disappears without much ado from the side of his supposed loved one for 2 years to off ouroboros members all on his lonesome. after he's back in ch3 he gets all upset and flops back because ouroboros killed a bunch of innocent people in his presence -- this is supposedly a hardened special agent, well familiar with terrorist organisations, has been on countless missions, and NOW he gets upset? what about all the innocent people who died before? they didn't register on his conscience?

*gah*, i gotta stop; this is just too ridiculous. no, wait -- there's just a 4 koma extra left. WTF? what happened to the story? we have some lovey-dovey interaction at the end of ch3, and that's it? all this setup for nothing? i can find no continuation anywhere. well, that's good; at least i actually finished it and don't have to feel guilty about giving it a bad rating. 2 points for the art, 1 point for at least attempting to tell a story that's not typical for BL.

... Last updated on March 28th, 2011, 8:33pm

The army-mystery-trauma story line that runs constantly throughout the tankobon is left hanging at story close, but to me, it was never played up to be more than it was meant to be: a tool to explore the two men's psyches. The true story lies in a much smaller sphere, within the unseen dynamics of Eric and Steve.

Love morphs and changes over the years, and the depth that it can attain--depth that is barely expressible, so we turn to poetry and art--is captured within 'My Life With You'. The dialogue is tight and yet expansive; the art is emotional and flows easily and intensely.

This story's downfall: some of those significant moments that should have been explored for cohesion within this tankobon, never manifested. And it was most shocking when an important emotional issue was blue-balled since most scenes were plotted with artisan precision.

One of my favourite stories for the way the relationships morphs over the years is 'Kizuna' by Kodaka Kazuma. While not as explicitly illustrated, this one is very much in similar style. The plot is mysterious, compelling, action-packed, and engaging while still remaining highly erotic and angsty, reminding me of Higuri You's 'Gorgeous Carat'. Like that one, a lot of the full play-by-play is left to the imagination, but masters that art of the implied moment.

Story telling technique wise, the reader's emotions are manipulated to connect with characters profoundly with her creative delivery style: flashbacks of important past events which directly affect the current scene's happenings are interwoven. She also takes a flash of a future event and then transports the reader into the past, curious for the explanation.

Based on her excellent story telling not aligning up with the missing pieces of the puzzle, I would bet dollars to donoughts that there is a planned second book. It is fairy recent (2008), so maybe she does have plans.

Fantasy Shrine did a professional scanlation job.

... Last updated on January 1st, 2010, 8:57am

It's kinda action-packed and lots of details are thrown into the writing for certain intrigue. I can't vouch for the accuracy of the writing but well, it's very common for action manga to throw in all sorts of names, even if the functions of said groups and organisations diverge from reality. Still, it's fun to read. A shame the story was ended just like that.

Btw, this manga is as realistic as most of those action movies and books are, haha. There's no way conspiracies, evil organisations, justice enforcers, mercenaries, paramilitary groups, etc. could exist in such abundance. And yep, it's probably as realistic about America, as most Hollywood movies are about Asia or even about America(especially when Southern people sound more like total rednecks or savages).

The characterisation is just okay... it's not always that consistent, I guess but it's decent enough for me. The characters are rather emotional and the plot has a very Asian soap-opera feel. Many of the dramatic moments remind me of their tendency to rack up the drama and toy with the viewers' emotions, in order to leave a strong impression. Some probably dislike it though and see such writing as "cheap". And as for Eric's guilt about the usage of weaponry, I found it quite realistic 'cos I know an engineer who creates bullets, guns and other sort of weaponry and machines for the military. She was filled with lots of guilt when she saw her own creations being used on the battlefield and it took a long while for that guilt to surface. Yet as a researcher and engineer, she still continues for her interest in science. Same for many of her colleagues.

I did wish the characters were a bit more masculine but oh well.

There's heaps of potential here, and it's unfortunately skipped again and again.

The reviewer below had explained it more further and I overall agreed with him, except that one factor bugs me a lot; adding more of my own, there's lots of "huh, wha?" moments and the moment it's done, the amount of "huh?" still remaining is probably one of the most in yaoi. Too bad, since the relationship itself goes very smoothly in terms of growth. In terms of paneling and pacing it's kinda unbalanced, tho. Some scenes felt like other scenes around which was supposed to span longer. The two years span felt very quick and rather rushed.

That, is probably the only bad aspect here. Too bad, and I'd go with the reviewer below; Because give it one, two other volume, and it could have rocked the military-secret agent kind of yaoi. Nyeh, it has potential to beat Kizuna in less volumes.

Lol ok so I agree that the manga is sometimes cringingly pseudo-American, but doesn't that make it more interesting to read? I was cracking up reading it b/c I think the mangaka intended it to be a little bit of a satire--like the needle necklace thing? Oh my goodnesss--you KNOW that's what you see in all of those crazy action movies. As an American, it was interesting to see how the Japanese mangaka views the military lol

BUT from the viewpoint of a fujoshi, it was pretty hot haha and the story is cute. The characters are funny, and that sexy man is in a special ops uniform which was a serious turn on *wiiiiinks*
Yeah, this is not supernal mind-changing manga, but it's definitely a fun ride!

BL manga usually doesn't have the best script but this one kept me going "wat" then and "wat" again. I'm pretty sure it's the fault of Tsurugi and not the fault of Fantasy Shrine-- no matter how you word them, some of the lines here were just ridiculous. I also don't believe this is how Tsurugi usually is, because I've read and was impressed with her other works, especially her FFVIII doujinshi. I think Tsurugi's desire to make this story what she perceived to be 'American' (with a homosexual twist!) was what made this manga so terrible. My Life With You is a rarity in Japanese manga but the schlick will be familiar to you if you've mainstream Hollywood blockbuster cinema at all, so prepare to be disappointed. This manga is very much a Michael Bay movie. Starring, idk, Ethan Hunt from Mission Impossible. And Otacon.

On a lighter note, the art is absolutely amazing and kept me reading the whole way through regardless of the amount of times I laughed out loud at the speech bubbles. And despite my many complaints, this work is still a mile ahead most BL manga.

... Last updated on January 28th, 2011, 6:37am

Not only was the art outstanding, but the story was quite nice especially for one being Military/War-centric. This story isn't just "Oh, hai thar, I think yer pretty cute. Let's get together and have a perfect life, y/y?" like a lot of BL manga tend to be. The truth that relationships aren't perfect, nor are humans and their emotions themselves (which are sometimes hard to accept) shows quite heavily in this manga.

The main two characters don't hit it off right off the bat, their love for on another grows throughout, but they don't flat out tell it to each other so easily. Also, being that they're in the middle of war, it made me happy to see that they weren't always 'unharmed', I guess you could say-- it made the story seem more real/meaningful.

Either way I really enjoyed this, not just because I have a thing about uniforms or scientists, but because it was a good story with lovely eye-candy. I totally recommend reading this~ ;>

I really liked this since it was military-based [I have a thing for uniforms and such], although I felt that the ending was lacking, since I wanted to know more about Ouroboros. ]:

While reading it, I felt it was similar to Metal Gear Solid and I kept on thinking Eric was Otacon and Steve was Snake. Ha ha...

all the other comments almost made me pass on this but it was actually really nice. you could tell they really loved each other and the hesitation was realistic. i felt my self saying "omg...i know exactly how he feels!" lol. all in all it was a good read.

Filled with the tropes of Ye Olde Yaoi Times (early 2000s). The art is pretty (tho the artist does have a tendency to draw pupils smashed so they look more like octopus or goat eyes?) and the characters are all right. They aren't cardboard, but they're very much the same as any other yaoi manga you'd find from the same time period. If you're a fan of Snake x Otacon, or have a thing for military and scientists you'll find plenty to like. Just don't expect too much.