I can't get enough reading this even only chap 1 was released by Nakama and DP. I read it many times. The story started nicely and sparks interesting premise between step brothers. The art is no doubt gorgeous and emotions are conveyed perfectly.

The whole series, the uke swing back and forth, back and forth. The poor seme keeps waiting and waiting. Not to mention the annoying undeveloped third party. At the very end, the author got tired and let the uke became strong. The story offers no solution, they are still blood-related, risk of scandals, seme doesnt have chance in his basketball career. If anything happened, its just the seme suffered mental breakdown and looked bad in front of the coaches. LOL
Gonna give credit for the art though.

This is one of my favorite manga e-v-e-r. It's hard to pinpoint why, but the feelings are conveyed perfectly and the artwork is absolutely beautiful. It is a little angsty, but I love that too. I recommend this absolutely =)

Finished three volumes and I got the feelings that I got trolled by the author. What on earth, really.
The story started off awfully well, both Yuusuke and Atsushi seemed to know what they wanted. The author gave the impression that the characters are confident and would do anything for their love.
That's how a yaoi manga is supposed to be. A seme is supposed to do his job, sweep the uke off his feet and make it seem as though everything else does not matter while the uke is supposed to respond to it.
But not here.
In fact, we're thrusted into a world of drama but not quite like it (you'll probably understand what I mean after reading it), wishy washy characters, not knowing what they want and characters that keep going back and forth. Just when you think you see some progress between the two of them, things get reversed in the next chapter as if previous chapters that made progress were a mistake. Yuusuke will suddenly backtrack to where he was while Atsushi will then be left hanging. Meanwhile, Atsushi didn't seem to have enough guts to get Yuusuke, did not seem interested enough to abandon everything just to obtain Yuusuke. He gave in too easily to things that hindered him, did not seem to have thoughts of his own and it was as if Yuusuke was the commander and the one and only who could command his actions and feelings. He did not pursue for his love enough just because of few things that upset him. A poor seme.
Things were good until half of volume 2, then things became complicated. Not because there's any serious issues going on, but because the author complicated them. Back and forth, back and forth until the last chapter. The whole of volume three except its last chapter is a waste of time and effort.
Instead of focusing on the issue, the author seemed to be more into providing fan service (no complaint there, such as how others seemed to be easily attracted to Yuusuke and things like the washroom scene). They're alright, but if the author just settled on focusing on the two of them more and provide more scenes of them together I think that will be better. They should have gotten together by end of volume one / half of volume 2 and focused on Ito falling for Yuusuke next. Instead, I've no idea what the heck happened all the while. Things got mixed up unnecessarily.
And suddenly, in the ending, there seemed to be some miraculous character progression to the point that I've no idea what they're thinking. The answer that they were searching for was just in front of them. All Yuusuke had to do was go for Atsushi and that's it. NO need to prolong it to three volumes long. Things got poorer when the author failed to communicate what the characters are thinking to the readers. One minute they're saying this yet the next they changed their mind and goes to the opposite direction.
I've always been happy if there are more chapters available but if it's just going to be filled with unnecessary things then things should be cut short.
So. Why this rating? Because the art is to die for and it had a good plot in the beginning. Half of it was good while the other half was just a downfall.

The only thing good about this manga I suppose was it's art and that the characters looked cool. Disliked everything else and was happy when I finally finished it and could stop reading such bad plot.

I went blind reading this. The story is very good and well developed if it isn't all too original. Emotions are strong and visible, with enough depth for it not to feel boring and useless like some yaoi I come accross these days. So yes all that is very good on it's own to make a nice and enjoyable read... but OMFG the art is drop-dead gorgeous O_O. It's even better than the other works of this mangaka that I read. It's woow, up there with the very best.

I think I'd even read it if the story was crap, just to see the art. But thank god all the rest is good too, which makes it a great read. Absolutely recomended!!

By the way, I'm a sucker for super dedicated lovers, so if you are too, you'll enjoy it. ^^

... Last updated on April 3rd, 2012, 4:06pm

very good build up but ending is abrupt, the drama was good but the ending felt like the author had to rush things and packed the conclusion in one chapter without tying the loose ends nicely.

I usually really love Maruya Kae's work, but Toshishita no Ryuugi didn't really sit with me. I'm giving it 7 solely because of the art, otherwise it would get 6 at max.

But contrary to Kinky-chan I felt that the first volume was boring and not even the gorgeous art could keep me interested. So I put it on hold and waited for the whole thing to be translated. I actually had to convince myself to pick it up again.

It got more interesting in the second and third volume.... It's not original by any standards, but it's well developed and it seemed to me that, compared to almost all shounen ai/shoujo manga I've ever read, Yuusuke's acted almost reasonably in that situation (of course he felt hesitant, who wouldn't?) and he wasn't super annoying, moping and crying the whole time.

BUT. The end was a let down. It was like going at full speed and then suddenly stopping.

EDIT: When I look back, I have to lower the rating to 4, because... yeah, it's sub-standard.

... Last updated on October 2nd, 2015, 6:34am

I feel cheated. This story was so great, from chapter 1 up to the very end, and then it ended, just like that. Give me a break?

That ending took one point off the rating.

I'm loving this so far! The plot itself is great with a wonderful pace and very endearing characters. If you're looking for a quick fix of fluff then this isn't quite it, because so far (up to chapter 15) there's never been a completely steady moment for this couple. But having said that it won't make you want to rip your hair out and scream at them to hurry up, instead you'll just cross your fingers and hope for the best.
The love they have for each other is very deep and sweet; for one of them it's been a very long one-sided love, and for the other it was a slow realization. They're both so loyal and dedicated to each other <3 Although neither of them are really aware of how the other feels which causes misunderstandings and such. While it would be easier if they just honestly spoke to each other about all their worries, I can understand why Yuusuke is hesitant. He wants to do what's best for Atsushi no matter what, and this creates a lot of inner conflict for him. Plus it doesn't help that Itou is always meddling >.<
Normally I get tired of stories that have this many problems but for some reason I just can't put this one down. The main characters are so loveable, and I've come to really like Mike as well - his thought about becoming Atsushi's onii-san was great ^^
Also I just love the intimate scenes. It isn't at all rushed or forced like in most yaoi, it builds up gradually from kissing then eventually up to sex quite a few chapters later. -- Which isn't too good if you're looking for lots of smut, but it's still hot as it shows how desperate they are for each other even if they don't go all the way.
All in all, I love this manga ^^ It's held my interest from the start and I can't wait for the next installment~

EDIT: I've now finished this manga and I agree with what some others have said, the final chapter was a bit of a letdown. While it was a happy end, it just wasn't enough... I had been expecting a bit more but hey. So because of the slightly disappointing end i'm going to change my rating from a 10 down to a 9. It's still a wonderful manga and i'd still recommend it though ^_^

... Last updated on December 9th, 2012, 2:10pm