There's a lot of pining and angst in both stories, and it seems that the time for me to enjoy so much of those has passed. Madarame's works are always moody and, while this one is no different...it's too much like a telenovela, honestly. I got the impression that I should care about what everyone's going through, but everything is so morose and almost everyone is such a drama queen, that I ended up not taking any of it seriously.

First story: didn't enjoy how selfish Natsume was, and how he switched from goofy to detached seemingly overnight. Nor did I enjoy the grand confession that came out of nowhere and felt like a yaoi cliché. Asahi is sympathetic simply by virtue of being a teenager caught up in a weird situation with an adult, but I find it more telling how his crying for Natsume and his own mother overlapped; had Madarame had guts, she would've gone with a different, more poignant ending, instead of the obligatory "couple gets together because they have to" one.

Second story: pointlessly confusing to name everyone so similarly. I understand what Madarame was going for, but it comes across as an attempt to make a plain ol' love polygon deeper than it actually is. Which is funny because, despite seeing their backstories and all, I still can't describe any of the characters as anything other than "X's boyfriend" or "Y's ex". Considering all that page space dedicated to developing them, the result is disappointingly shallow.

In the end, Asahi is the only character I can point to and say "this one has some depth and is credible". Hiromi (Natsume's bf) also had a few interesting moments. But everyone else acts the way they do Because Plot, not because it'd make any sense for them to. In light of that, I really didn't find this manga enjoyable, despite the potential for it to have been much better.

... Last updated on January 5th, 2024, 12:18pm

Such beautiful artwork, such horrible semes and storylines.

I really enjoyed the first story in this series, maybe this story is right for me, but also it is too sad and gives me a lot of strong emotions. My heart fluttered with each beat, tears overflowed when I read the sentence "To give you a love like affection clothed in silk, Only a clean and warm love..." Their love transcends everything, it feels like nothing can separate them, they are each other's, forever each other's and no one can separate Asahi and Natsume. I love this story so much, it gives me big emotions, big thoughts, bigger feelings... I love Asahi and Natsume, no matter how many people complain about this story, I still love it. The best and most worthy story for me ever. ❤️

... Last updated on July 30th, 2021, 12:59pm

This series was frustratingly good. For the first story, the plot really helped me to not hate the huge age gap. It made me think like well, sometimes things just work out that way. It's not pretty but if it's good for the both them well... The second story really made me feel frustrated though but I really hope they will all heal in the future.

The first story struck me as a less believable, more simplistic version of Yoneda Kou's Ore ni Koi Shite Dousunda. If it were up to me, the first story would still fall under the incest tag -- adoptive parents are just as much parents as biological parents.

But hold up, I actually have an axe to grind here. This seme, right? His introductory portrayal is this harmless space cadet professor with a thing for strays, including underage runaways. And then it quickly becomes clear he regularly gets into sexual relationships with those runaways. I mean let's back away from yaoi-vision here for a minute -- this guy is sexual predator and RAPIST who is having sex with the vulnerable runaways he is sheltering! These runways cannot consent because they are underage, and cannot consent because they are depending on this guy to shelter them. Given this seme seems to have no morals in that regard, it's never really explored why he's holding back on making the moves on his "son." The uke also is never like "oh yeah I know my adoptive dad is a sexual predator rapist, but I love him anyway" -- nobody in this manga ever recognizes or deals with the fact that this seme is the scum of the earth. The uke's principle concern is "gee my adoptive dad is really sending mixed signals by making the moves on me but also having sex with other children." LIKE WTF. Okay, rant over.

The second story was just confusing. I re-read it several times and I'm still not exactly sure who ends up with whom. Hard to take any of the drama seriously when I couldn't quite figure out what the particulars of the drama were.

... Last updated on June 26th, 2018, 7:19pm

One of the top quality yaoi, there is a lot to read, maybe you noticed that this mangaka's style of writing is more like a novel, so you'll need some more spare time to finish this work. There's a solid plot, twists and such, all you need to enjoy a good story. Characters with complicated love lives, I'm not sure if I like or hate or pity them... It is rather dark story, full of angst. The art - scratchy, but decent, very unique, it's mangaka's evaluative mark.

One more thing - be patient and attentive, dialogues are messy, so it's easy to loose the thread. It may take some time to go back on the right track if you lost it. Just try it, it's worth your time.

... Last updated on April 1st, 2019, 6:11pm

First off, I'm glad there was no non-consensual or dubiously consensual sex in this manga! In the other works I've read by this mangaka, there was at least some air of that.

Second, I actually like both stories overall. A bit melodramatic but okay nonetheless. Art was a bit dodgy at some points and pretty at others.

However, I wish the first story took a slightly different angle and focused on a couple dealing with the abandonment issues of the adopted child. It would have been pretty refreshing to see that. The father figure and son combination has been overdone in this genre, and frankly I don't care for it.

The second story was a bit more twisted up then it needed to be in the first chapter but the following ones cleared it up. I liked how the different perspectives were shown. I wish Akira's was shown as well. However, everything did not gel together very smoothly. It needed some polishing.

... Last updated on January 23rd, 2015, 8:43pm

I don't know where to start. I read "Kyou Anata ni Wakare o Tsugemasu" and "Ashita Kimi ni Ai wo Sasayaku" some years ago, and I cried like a baby. Still today I feel anxious when I remember the story, or more exactly the feelings I had when I read it. The first time I read the second part I though I understood it, but I didn't. The second and third times I read it (because I could not believe that it was that fr**king sad), I almost completely understood the story, which left me feeling less depressed. And now, when I read it nearly three years later, I believe I fully comprehended Mei's convoluted thought process, and I'm happy with what I got. I'm satisfied with the final resolution of the story, even if it's only the promise of a happy future.

Ok, now that I've taken that out of the way, because three years was too long, I can get to the main story. First of all, I'm really happy that Blissful Sin scanlated it. The story in itself was rather good, though I felt it paled a tiny bit in comparison to the other story, perhaps because of my lingering feeling for it. It's more similar to Scarlet than to the rest of her stories, that have less angst.
My only complain is that I wish that Apart from that I liked it quite a lot. I do realize I must be a bit of a masochist for liking this XD, though I only like the pain if there is a happy resolution at the end, if not, just forget it.

... Last updated on December 17th, 2014, 9:59pm

Oh man it's at times like this that I wish I knew Japanese in order to read mangas the most proper way: the original version. With the only currently available scans, half of the time I have no idea who's saying what at all. Oh well.

As for the manga, I have to say the second story is much more intriguing than the first, even if the execution still needs more work to polish it. Both stories try to deal with darker themes though both haven't reached their full potential, which is really a shame. At the end of the day I think that I still prefer the mangaka's more cheerful works compared to her serious stories that don't quite feel 'there' yet such as these.