I read through Self Portrait and thought the little gay guy with glasses was really cute, and so I was sad when he got pushed off to the side. I saw it coming, but I still had to hope, y'know?

So naturally I was excited to hear about this sequel featuring him. Instead I was just horrified. It quickly dissolves into a rape-is-love dynamic where Ayumu is abused, blackmailed, and is regularly raped time and again while having his nose rubbed in how his best friend will never love him back--how he'll be hated if anyone finds out he's gay.

I thought it had some potential, but instead it just resorted to tired cliches without any actual development. Just a very sweet, cute boy being literally raped by a violent sadist with absolutely no redeeming qualities, who hates his rapist's guts until a very forced and sudden turnaround.

This has been the single most upsetting thing I've read in a long while, and not in a good way. It this lacks the sense of self-awareness and depth that would be needed to make it anything other than deplorable.

... Last updated on December 15th, 2012, 1:11am

Ahhh, so angsty! Made me cry my heart out, just the way I like it! I always love manga in which the semes are jerks and bully their ukes till they're tormented enough tho think "he hates me? I don't like that" and fall for them! It's my kind of storyline!

Sawatari is indescribably amazing. The kind of seme I adore, who's suppressing his feelings for so long and so bad, he can't stand it anymore and all his anger turns into lust and force. I feel for him, really. Possessive and provocative are just my favorite qualities in semes - IF they're qualities =X

Ayumu's cute too, and I especially like that he reats rape AS RAPE - not that I mind...seriously, why do people hate non-con so much? It's so typical in yaoi you should probably get used to it and it's usually what makes the more psychologically developed plots to be so good. Anyways, he's NOT okay with it, he didn't like it and he gets nervous around Sawatari after it happens. That's reeeeally something for yaoi! And it's even more realistic since they have to actually deal with it once they're a couple.

I hate Taka, but that's probably because I didn't read "Self Portrait", so my vision of him's only as "the idiotic friend who's so dense he keeps touching and involuntarily playing with the feelings of the guy who loves him". Also, I totally love Shizuka!! She's just like me~! xD

As for the art, it was astonishingly beautiful, Sawatari was hot as hell.

And I simply LOVED the metaphor at the end of chapter 5: "That was the last kiss that tasted like cigarettes". It meant so many things at the same time: Sawatari stopped smoking because Ayumu asked him to and, more than that, that he started to care about things around him, as the cigarettes themselves where a metaphor to him not giving a damn about his surroundings. Also, it meant that they had a lot of other kissed for Ayumu to make that statement ♥

I do wish it was longer, because they finally got together and we didn't get much of the taste of that, but even so, it was perfect to end just there. That's one of the things that made it special, because it would turn into another sweet and ordinary love story otherwise. I especially liked that to give us the slight taste of their lovey-dovey couple's life, Itsuki-sensei made the smut convert all the sweet feelings, instead of showing cliché situations. Their love was pretty intense and we could see how deeply Sawatari loved Ayumu and how much Ayumu got touched by that.

What did I think this was going to be about? Ayumu being treated like dirt and raped by the cold and nasty Sawatari, but then... "Wait! He loves me!? Nevermind, I think he's actually not that bad. And I should feel guilty for some reason. And bam! I love him too." Cue mean seme suddenly getting a personality change and acting nice, and depressed uke feeling completely content now that he knows his tormentor loves him. Aw, how cute.

I really didn't like this, simply because it was your usual rape to love scenario with all the cliches. The only good thing was the funny two page omake at the end. I think Ayumu would have been better off with the yaoi fangirl girl, Tachibana, which Itsuki Kaname had been thinking about but then decided she wanted an uke Ayumu. Too bad.

Well, I don't understand some things in the manga. Did Ayumu actually fall in love with Sawatari? Because it was never said in the manga, well, as long as I didn't notice. It's kinda same as other yaoi mangas to be honest. The seme rapes the uke, and the uke eventually falls in love with the seme (maybe?).
Though, I did like this one better than its prequel. Self Portrait was hard to understand for me. But this one is (somehow) a short story and good for a quick read. It was pretty easy to understand.

This is the best out of the 3 related mangas.
It's worth it to read the two prequels even if they're not that great

This is the story of the blonde megane boy in the first manga who has a secret crush on his homophobic best friend. The characters all reappear.
While this manga also (like April 4th) contains rape, it is so much better handled here and isn't an annoying part of the story like in the other one.

The story is good, exciting, dramatic and keeps being interesting and the characters are all very lovable and well thought out.

Read this! Especially if you read her older manga (with way old art style!) "Self Portrait" first and you liked the side character who is the protagonist here!

This one offers that fantasy non-con titillation that yaoi is so good at including; all those components like tears and out-of-control, lustful anger are included. So, if you like that, plus a decent psychological explanation and redeeming qualities to the characters, you'll love this story! If you prefer the sweet, consensual, blushing yet respectful, restrained angst, try I'm sorry, Masumi-kun! by the same mangaka. It is also excellent, but completely different in psychology. I found her skill at story telling overrides whether it is non-con or completely consensual.

Self Portrait begins Ayumu's story and Interval takes his story by storm! This was excellent! It had a comprehensive 'full circle' feel to it.

Sawatari and Ayumu are both wanting the one they love to look at them; they choose different ways to deal with their anguish. When Ayumu realizes this, it was brilliant!

By the time this story was created, Itsuki's beautiful art style has started to really crystallize and become defined!

... Last updated on January 23rd, 2010, 8:48am

I love how ayumu isn't one of those weak, cry-baby, vunerable ukes. He actually stood up for himself and I thought that was cute. I also liked Sawatari aswell, I think they make an adorable couple! I wished it was longer though.

Okay, ten times better than Self Portrait. Better drawings, more interesting characters, just awesome. And you know, the noncon is actually done well here. Like, I don't want to start rocking back and forth, sobbing. More like, ooh, this shouldn't be hot and I so shouldn't be enjoying this, so WHY AM I? Sawatari is the epic seme, and Ayumu, come on, seme turned uke? Love it! If you enjoy original manga, try it.
PS. The cover art? Does not do justice to actual drawings.

... Last updated on August 16th, 2010, 1:30pm

I really loved the artwork in this one. It's so easy on the eyes! the sports related panels were particularly pretty and I don't even like sports. Like other reviewers mentioned, this story is very typical "cold seme secretly in love but does cruel thing to uke" so depending on how you feel about this trope you will either love or hate this story. One thing I definitely didn't like- the ending was somewhat abrupt and unsatisfying.

I'm definitely going to check other titles by this mangaka!

... Last updated on September 30th, 2009, 11:17am

At first I didn't want to like it, because as a rule I don't like/read rape stories or ones with uber possessive semes. This story has both. But both characters are unhinged enough that I wasn't too put off by it.

The art is lovely - I like it better than the author's older style.

... Last updated on August 24th, 2014, 4:07pm