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Description
From DMP: After leading anything but a fashionable collegiate life, Kaitani is entering his third year at a major cosmetics company. His boss is the Adonis, Fujiwara. Although any number of women have had their eyes on Fujiwara, Kaitani can't think of him as anything but an ill-mannered snob. Word around the office is that Fujiwara keeps his clothes on even when making love! Things start to heat up when the two clash over a marketing campaign for a new line of men's cosmetics.
At first I was really puzzled. Some of the situations happening in the first vol really made me wonder "wtf?!" and I even considered abandoning this story however I'm really glad I didn't.
After giving it some thought I realised that reading the story from Kaitani's point of view made it unique ( I can imagine how hated he would have been by readers if we could see all of Fujiwara's thoughts ). At first he seemed like a totally-out-of-this-world creature whose actions I couldn't understand but it changed at the end of vol.1. He turned out to be an interesting character- dynamic and complicated (or maybe plainly stupid xD). In the end I liked him.
In contrast we have Fujiwara who seems pretty normal but turns out to be astonishing . I fell in love with his way of reacting to Kaitani's weirdness xD
In the end, those two characters in the same place provide some really funny and messed up situations.
This was my second yaoi novel and I was pleasantly surprised on how much I loved this novel. I was never bored and the story went on quite well. The intimate parts was gorgeous, the author did a wonderful job in describing those scenes. The two characters are likable and 3-dimensional. They had both flaws and good points
What I loved most was how they fell in love. The transition from the beginning to the end(the second novel) was beautiful. I come back to this quite a lot actually because I want to witness those moments in the novel. Trust me when I say that this story is a really good one
This novel is not the worst I''ve read, but honestly I didn't feel it as strong as the other readers. The background wasn't anything new, just an office romance and how many aren't out there? As for the characters I don't know if to say they were complex or just inconsistent. Up until the actual sex scene I didn't know which one would end as the seme, because their personalities kept bouncing from strong and confident to pathetic. Kaitani was a jerk, I really didn't like him. Fijiwara was developded a little better, but towards the end he kinda went down the drain as well. He was so set on verifying facts and basing every decision on strong evidence, but he just broke up with Kaitani based on some office rumour. Well, these were my complaints, though I wouldn't reread it, the story wasn't a complete waste of time, but don't start it unless you don't have anything better on hand or just want to relax with a very light read.
Pleochroic you seem to write that alot... it may not be manga striclty speaking but it is japanese, has illkustrations and uses the same themes as manga, so whats the big deal? I appreciate them posting novels here as well as manga. I also appreciate them posting wannabe-manga, comics and novels which have manga themes and appearances but are produced outside of Japan. Nothing wrong with that the way i see it so long as it has the right look and feel.
Anyway, these two novels swept me away a little ^^ i read the loosely related sequel and enjoyed it very much, but I think i prefer this sequel. The characters grow as the story grows and i find it refreshing that the author always manages to show us surface elemtns of each characters personality and appearance before delving deeper - it feels realistic in that sense, in the way that most of us judge a person by initial appearance and feel and only later feel more as we get to know more. The developing relationship between the two characters works in the same way and feels natural whilst also proving to be rather humorous at times as well. I had some minor issues with the characters, mainly Kaitani - why, why WHY is he so stupid? xD He keeps falling back on blackmail to get his way when theres no need for it. Ok, Fujimara needs an excuse to accept his relationship with Kaitani, but blackmail seemed far too rough a solution. I also found during the second novel, after the relationship truly begins, it seems to rush things along a bit. It just threw me a little because the story had otherwise has a fairly even pace and then all of a sudden is sped up only to slow down again xD but thats the only occurrence of that happening thankfully. I had hoped for more illustrations in these two novels as well but theres a bare handful D: which is a shame because i like the art style and representation of the characters the illustrator managed.
Overall enjoyable, not too fast, not too slow, no pointless sex scenes (they all have their purpose) and the relationship is not rushed but is built up gradually, albeit through some duress on Kaitani's part *pokes the idiot*
the wits had me laughing hard reading this novel. it's my first time to read a novel where at first volume i had many laughs. the dialogues and play of words were intelligently done. the author sure knows how to entertain readers. the first volume was really well done. in the second, i have some questions and longing that i hope the author explored more like how Fujiwara fell in love with the Kaitani in much detailed way.
oh btw, i started reading this like 11PM and can't let go till 5:30AM the next day. Argh, I broke my record in reading that long till dawn. I feel like shit that day and my head keep thinking of continuing it ASAP.
Narise Konohara has a talent in making rough, unlike-able characters endearing and understandable. In a touching way, she reveals slowly and intelligently why they have arrived at the persons they are in the present. The surface of her characters: the pain, the joy, the fear, the preferences and they way they react or make choices, are all explainable by their past histories. The future of her characters is challenged and changed when someone throws a wrench into their smoothly running machines. That is what happens with Kaitani and Fujiwara. (Although, Kaitani's 'machine' is a quite a bit more random and rattly and has to be thumped occasionally to make it chug along.)
Kaitani is immature and hot headed, causing him to make a few decisions that are dramatically, desperately over-the-top, but he is balanced with his large-hearted, affectionate, quick to realize his mistakes and not ashamed to ask for forgiveness components. His forcefulness was a fire!
Fujiwara seemed so uptight and haughty, but it was only armour he had developed over the years that allowed him to not fall apart, to stay strong and become successful. Alas, it has also given him a very cold, very untouchable and sadly lonely life with meaningless relationships and a shallow perception of romantic love.
The first volume was hilarious! Kaitani and Fujiwara are both so extreme and their hatred for each other oozes off the pages, but it's fun to read because I could relate to both of their choices and feelings.
The second volume continues on seamlessly from the first. In fact, the two novels do not stand alone.
The secondary characters complement and fill out the story, rather than detract, but they are definitely secondary. Yuichi (from Don't Worry Mama, is one advice-giving friend.
I found the second volume lacking in cohesion. It seemed like the story and the characters' emotions were under done. There were a few follow up scenes that should have been extremely intense in emotion, based on the preceding elements. They seemed out of tune, or anti-crescendo somehow.
It was an enjoyable read with a little something to chew on along with the lusty fantasy.
Hmm, well I didn't really find the characters to be unlikable. I really prefer flawed characters, physically and mentally, both of which were featured here.
The writing is in my opinion the best I've seen in any of the series of BL novels that have been released, and yes, I have read them all to date. At least part of I'd say would be the translator, because I also read Konohara Narise's Cold Sleep and while the story was nice I didn't find the writing quite as enjoyable. On the other hand I read Little Darling which was translated by the same person but written by a different author and really disliked the writting style, so I suppose I have the author and the translator to thank for the tone of this novel ( and Don't Worry Mama.)
Be aware that there are a LOT of typos in this novel though, as in every other page at times, sometimes even on the same page multiple times. Mostly just little things like a tense shift or a grammatical mistake, but it's a pattern I've noticed with all of the BL novels from June, DMP, please hire a proofreader, it will be worth the money I swear.
Onto the actual story, it was interesting from the get go to me, I have to say that the only character I grew to dislike was Osada, the women that the main characters work with. But the story didn't really seem to stall any where, it moved along at a good pace without rushing anything. The characters were well defined by the end and were all distinct. The story itself I found to be enjoyable, even the parts that didn't pertain to BL at all. The humor here wasn't as obvious as some other stories but I found myself laughing at times, even the description on the back of the second book made me chuckle: "Is their snarling rivalry hiding a secret that one of them doesn't have the balls to reveal?" Clearly some one has an odd sense of humor.
Any way, I'd pick this up and give it a read. Even if the cover art does nothing for you, or even repells you (This is not the kind of book you want to read in public if you don't want to get funny looks, trust me, been there.) The author is no Shakespeare and this is no Romeo and Juliette, but it is a love story, and it's sweet and a little sad. So just try it.
I thought it was a great novel. I liked the characters (they were likable!) and I thought it was pretty funny at times. A very fast read as well. But if you were to read this for the illustrations I suggest you read something else. It didn't have plenty of them, but they weren't really needed.
I love Narise Konohara's stories!!! In the end you are completely in love with her characters, no matter how strange and detestable you find them in the beginning. It's quite a transformation, and I love the way she makes my feelings make a 180 degrees turn by the time I finish the story
it's not a manga, it's a novel. the few illustrations don't qualify it as such.
i wrote a long, scathing review of this on amazon and my pissy attitude hasn't worn off yet, but i'll make it short: nobody in this novel is likeable, and the protagonist's behaviour makes him go from "what a whiner" to "toss him in jail and let starfish (-> under grand hotel) show him the ropes" in my book. and maybe it's the translation, but konohara's writing seems even worse to me than the average harlequin romance auhor's.
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I appreciate them posting novels here as well as manga. I also appreciate them posting wannabe-manga, comics and novels which have manga themes and appearances but are produced outside of Japan. Nothing wrong with that the way i see it so long as it has the right look and feel.
