I'm quite a fan of Nekota Yonezou, but In God's Arms is a little disappointing in comparison to her other pieces of work. You'll find that this series is full of her usual, delicious artistic style but hindered by the over-used, cliché story lines.

The story follows a group of boys enrolled in a very strict, all-boys private Catholic school and that's where the trouble begins. As well you all know, if you're in an all-boy's school (especially a dormitory), you're going to have some gay fun. That's a passable cliché. Things start getting downright ridiculous when one character is inflicted with stigmata (wounds and/or pain resembling those suffered by Jesus during the crucifixion.) Of course; we have a gay priest, overzealous leaders and spoilt rich-kids.

If you happen to be of the religious-fantasy type, this is your kind of story. The characters (one or two of them...) are struggling not only with family issues but the issue of their homosexuality and its religious repercussions. Sounds like an interesting storyline, right? Well, it could have been. The problem is that In God's Arms just never seems to get there. Nekota seems to happily scribble away her clichés - religious guilt, sex in the church, sex with minors, gay priests... There's so much to work with, but no real depth goes into any of it.

For those of you who like these themes, you will definitely love this series. But for the rest of us, you're in for quite a shallow and unnecessarily melodramatic read. Take your time to enjoy the wonderful art and try not to let the story annoy you too much.

This is a hard one for me to rate. Most of the stories ARE well written and they all have wonderful, expressive art, but most of them are pretty disappointing. The religious aspect is largely silly, with priests openly discussing their romantic relationships as if it's nothing/etc. I had gone in to this in the beginning with hope for a deeper exploration of the emotional complexities of such a situation, but I gave up on that quickly. In the end, it's no different from any other series revolving around the many couples at an all boys school(which I always found silly to begin with). I did keep reading though, because the style is enjoyable and I am a fan of the mangaka.

... Last updated on August 29th, 2014, 11:18pm

ah.... yaoi, yaoi at its best. All boys school, pointless, cliche, lots of smex and so beautiful. xD

Still, I'd rather recommend you "Michiru Heya", the doujinshi made by the same author which is the spin off of Kamisama, different couple but in the very same school. Strange that it was just a doujinshi, since it has more aim, stronger characters and even longer stories lol

I thought this would just be like all the other stuff Nekota has, cute, sexy and a little plotless but i think this is just gold. Sure there isn't a grand plot or scheme of things, but I think many of her stories are just really meaningful, I liked many of the couples.

And make sure you give vol2 ch2 a read... I loved it, that was my favorite chapter ;o;

Exotic, dark-skinned muslim Marius torn between drug-dealer seme Ginger and meek uke Uran.
It seems that it's time to say goodbye to Ginger.

There is some brat Schio Gutajiano with kind of stigmatas. He has nightmares.
Emilio fucks Won... then probably the priest...
Then Schio comes to sleep together with Emilio becouse of his nightmares...
Dorm-leader Shutorausu Strauss was on the night patrol and fell of the stairs...
Later Won tried to give Shio some oral but Shio collapsed...
Later Won was hit by Shio's crazy follower.
That follower triad to have sex with Shio, to drink his blood, but Won kinda saved him.
Later Won fucked Shio.

In the past Ginger kissed Strauss. Lol.

Then more focus on Emilio/priest story.

Guerlain/Basil

Young master Lancelot fucked his servant Etta...
Emilio Applegate has a new servant Kiiro(?)
Feels way too pedo...

Student Youin teches his Kishi-sensei how to dance.

Blond Ernest and brunet Jose...
Jose engaged with Ernest's sister, Elenor...
In the end Ernest fucked Jose..

Rafael fucks priest Noah...

Sasha Melbank - typical young master
Ayato Morishige - fucking psychopath
so twisted it hurts...

... Last updated on May 5th, 2015, 4:12pm

Some of the stories made me cringe while others left me feeling pretty neutral. BUT THEN THERE'S CHAPTER 2 OF VOLUME 2. Like it's all sweet and fluffy and they're fishing together and taking baths together and then end gently crumbles that light and happy feeling to bittersweet angst. That story by itself I would have given an 8.5/10, but since I'm rating this as a series it only gets a 7.

Whoa, that was a ferris wheel full of emotions. I really, really like Nekota sensei's works. She never fails to make me emotional. All the detailed expressions, the way the story reveils characters... all of it is magical. The sroty of Sasha and Forrest even made me cry!

There is so much emotion shown on her character's faces I can't bear it.

9 to the story about candy wrappers because it's solid and delightfully bittersweet. The rest is really messy. ...And why everyone hits each other constantly? Violence should not be 'normal'.

Especially the whole story in Vol. 4. That was the mostly good one! Very very good and the long one! And it's give me a big surprise on the extra that talking about Dorm president. But still good. ♥
Except the very 1st story in vol 1. About the Muslim character. I'm not talking about the religious, but how the character act on his state. But the others is very great! Thought i think i forgot the few...(eh?)
Well... I LOVE IT!!! It worth to be read! ♥ ♥ ♥

I was a bit disappointed when I read it. I usually like a lot Nekota sensei's work, but this one just doesn't got me.

First, for the series of stories, that it's lasting for 4 volumes (and it's not finished!) is a bit too long for me, as you don't follow the protagonists along the volumes. It would have been better if we were following a bunch of couples all along, but we have new couples here in each volume so we don't have the time to get really attached to them.

Plus, the environnement of an all-boys catholic school feels more like a pretext for gay love than a real element of the stories. The questions of guilt due to the religion seems to be simply put aside as if not important. So in the end, the result would have almost been the same with or without the catholic element, it's getting kinda boring. This added to the fact the stories doesn't last long, they end up lacking depth and feel a bit superficial.

But, I still rated it at 6, and I have to say that it's thanks to the great art of sensei. As she's taking her time to describe the loving scenes, we have the chance to enjoy pages of details and kisses, which is really good.

And as the characters are quite well presented, if you can overlook the environnement and the clichés situations, you might end up going from a story to another. So if you're feeling bored, and just want to enjoy some silly stories with great art, this series is for you !

... Last updated on February 26th, 2012, 3:09pm