This is heartbreaking. Why do I do this to myself? No, Doushitemo Furetakunai is not a tragedy. It's love, and that is why it hurts so much. It is so beautiful, so sincere, so unlike anything else. I don't see why would anyone find this anything other than magnificent. It is so conventional you could've been reading a book on real life, and yet it breaks every convention you can possibly know of, striping out of any cliché, giving you nothing but itself in the most beautiful, simple form: again, love.

I came across this series and my eyes twitched a little. I have never heard of the artist, I read no review, no line from the summary, the art didn't seem anything in particular, and the title sounded cliché enough. I was so wrong, and I am so grateful I didn't give up before I even started, which is something that happens more than I would like to, really.

With this manga I laughed, I cried, I lost my breath, I nearly lost my consciousness, and the worst thing of all, I remembered what I thought was buried deep within me. It was a turmoil of emotions, from beginning to end. I seldom give a straight 10/10 to a one-volume thing, but Doushitemo Furetakunai deserves so much more than that. When it was over, I just felt so happy it was ridiculous.

I guess I can't ever go back to the cheesy, clichéd, uke-based wussiness of mainstream m/m manga. After this wonderful piece of art, I am done with it. I can't thank Yoneda Kou enough, and I can't wait to read more of this artist's work.

... Last updated on April 1st, 2013, 11:32am

Yoneda Kou's masterwork. You're not really getting a full impression of what she can write, if you don't read this. It runs the gamut of themes in many of her other stories, but with more maturity and thought than many of the oneshots and doujins. The manga-length of a full volume does great things to this story - it really develops and gets fascinating as she's able to devote so many pages to flesh it out.

The characters are very well developed. Even the minor characters are memorable (as one of them even goes on to star in his own set of oneshots, After 9 Hours and After 10 Hours), and the main characters have unique personalities, and an intriguing dynamic. This story plays on the idea of love/dislike from an interesting angle, and muses on some serious themes (relationship-wise and personal, that is) that are sometimes sad, but fascinating. Our main protagonist is very raw - we see him at very low points and brooding moments, which could get irritating, but are carefully handled by a talented writer like Yoneda Kou. He's angsty without ever being over-the-top about it, and the romance here is mature without being too rushed or pointless. Their chemistry feels genuine and real.

If you're looking for a great story with some substance, I have to recommend this one. I don't read it often, but I have to respect how wonderful it is, and how intelligently it's written.

This is the type of Yaoi story I love.

Messy Beginnings, inevitable attraction, the slow build up of character background with a combination of beautiful art and the wonderful flow of one panel to the other equates as a winner in my book. Honestly, the end of chapter 2 had me teary-eyed. I'm sure Yoneda Sensei wanted the emotions put behind the words and action of the characters to be real and felt by the readers. Well, it seems like that to me.

Since this isn't finished yet, I can't give a rating, but so far it's a 9. Yes, a lot of things need to be fleshed out, but I can't help but be excited for what's to come. I hope it's not disappointing.

Random: Shima's mole is so sexy. *_*

... Last updated on March 24th, 2009, 6:21pm

Every once in a while I read this manga again. It seriously gets to me every time. My stomach gets all tingly and stuff, and I start feeling like nothing can ever stop feelings of love. Gosh, this sounds cheesy. Whatever, if you read it you'll get what I mean.

This is seriously the best romance manga I've read. It is so simple and subtle. It doesn't need tons of phony drama. It just is. The art and the facial expressions are, as usual with YONEDA Kou, superior in every way. This really is the best. Anyone who hasn't read it yet better get to it soon.

... Last updated on August 23rd, 2012, 2:36am

This lovely story is special. Why? Because it stayed with me. The first time I read it, I did not like it but I went back again for some reason and suddenly saw the beauty. A hidden gem.

Seems like I can't get enough of it. Today was the 3rd time I read this one, the second time being not so long ago. It's just amazing. Indeed, the plot might not be unique or something but the way the story is told and how it is drawn lets me breathless. I can barely keep it to myself, I feel like shouting how much I like this manga!

I'm usually not really into yaoi; I find it a little formulaic and so raunch raunch raunch. This had such a high rating, though, I decided to read it and am glad I did. When I stop and reflect on it I can't solidly put my finger on why this manga moved me so much, but I think part of the reason is how focused it is on facial expressions and body language and how the art tells the story more than the dialog.

Shima and Togawa are so cute too it makes you fall in love with them being in love :þ not to say that their "interactions" aren't super hot and steamy, but the hot scenes aren't as two-dimensional to me as many other yaoi manga I've read...I like its balance between sweet and steamy, probably cuz I like "melodramatic shoujo" haha >

I give it a 9.5 because, while I totally loved the story of Shima and Togawa, Onada's story was kinda bleh and dragged a bit.


I'll definitely be reading some more of Yoneda Kou's work!

I totally loved this series. Both the couples were beautiful and honest and caring. I am so glad that they got a movie for this- they deserved it. The love scenes were heartwarming. I still look at it sometimes and it fills me with awe. The story was well carried, climax was wonderful. Whether you are a yaoi lover or not, definitely try this.

.............. but the story is unbelievably perfect. Not 'Epic' as in out of the box or unique, but perfect, and so so realistic. Everything wrapped up nicely. Interesting characterizations. Love this to bits.

i have some problems with it, especially with the amount of background angst -- that's a whole lot of drama crammed into one volume; a bit too much for me. but when i push my inner editor out of my head, it touches me anyway. especially since i actually know a person very much like shima, with a similar background and those same fears ruling his life for a long time. real people don't always react rationally (in fact i'd say rational reactions are in a small minority); they blow things out of proportion, they don't talk when they damn well should, they sabotage their own interests in futile attempts to protect themselves, they hide or don't even admit their true emotions, they push others away when they most need a connection, and more foolhardy things along the same lines. so yeah, i buy shima -- he doesn't act like i would want a sensible human being to act, but i find him completely believable. btw, i think calling him "too feminine" because he cries and angsts is quite an insult to women. call him "emo", ok? if don't you know any emo men you're not in touch with the zeitgeist.

i like tagawa a lot; he has that horrid past, but he's actually mostly conquered it, and managed to become a pretty decent guy, and i tend to prefer characters like his. he cares a lot under that easy-going exterior, and he isn't even particularly bad at showing it; it's just that shima is so closed-off he can't see it. i wanted to shake shima at that decisive point. good grief, shima, move to kyoto already! (this is one part that i totally do NOT buy; after all that heartache, what insanity is that.)

i can see why some people might take exception to the amount of melodrama, and why the story might not be for them. but i completely disagree that this is in any way a typical BL story. no, it's not the greatest thing i've ever read, but it IS considerably above average (and i've read a lot of BL; much more than i've logged here). especially the art is fabulous; it's not surface-pretty like so much BL, but it's so expressive -- it says so much that the terseness of the writing doesn't bother me, and i admire how yoneda can convey so much intricate emotion with just a few pen strokes. this mangaka will go on my watch list for that alone.

btw; i find most manga here overrated; too many people seem very quick with that 10 rating.

... Last updated on March 8th, 2011, 2:56am