I like this one more than Bittersweet Cafe. Because it sets years earlier, it’s a prequel, not a sequel. I also like reading prequels and side stories focusing on side characters introduced in first stories.

... Last updated on October 20th, 2019, 2:34am

I enjoyed Akira Sensei's art very much. The story was light, fluffy and...unfortunately...that was it. It was just one big ball of sweet fluff. The plot was too simple without much background story. The series of related characters which goes...Love or Pride > Blind Love > Bittersweet Cafe > Blind Love Extra...were all about love at first sight. The ukes were pathetically portrayed as physically weak, willing to be sexually used, and very tolerant. The seme were forceful and selfish. I seriously hate it when semes call their ukes, in a normal conversation (note: normal conversation excludes sex scenes) their 'women' and the uke's totally fine with it! Although semes could have been thought of as yandere types, the artwort didn't really coincide with going all crazy about their ukes. This manga and the attachments fall in the same loop as said above. It would let you have a small smile after a while, but...it won't really make you happy. If you want a sweet and fluffy ending, with the typical boxed uke-seme relationship, then feel free to read the series.

Ugh...not good. Very weak.
This manga has literally every cliche that ever existed in yaoi manga:
- Seme sees uke during sexual act
- Seme blackmails uke into having sex with him - which makes absolutely no sense in any yaoi manga, ever. Why would you have sex with another guy in order to prevent people from finding out you're having sex with a guy in the first place?
- Seme LOVES it, even though he's never been into guys.
- Seme and uke go to the same school.
- Seme falls in love with uke, although they just met!
- Seme tries to make the previous guy jealous by having sex with the uke in front of him.
- Seme carries uke after "taking him so hard that he can't walk" (which I bet rarely ever happens in real life)
- Seme's best friend is in love with him and tries to hurt the uke. Of course, seme's stupid and doesn't even realize it.
- Seme invites uke to live with him even though they barely know each other.
- Uke falls into a stupid trap set out by people trying to hurt the seme.
- That trap consist of...you guessed it! Rape!
- Seme gets there in time for the uke not to be rapped and a huge fight takes place.
- Someone tries to hurt the seme and the uke throws himself in front of the seme, which causes the seme to defend the uke and get hurt instead.
- To top if off, seme takes the uke to a private place to do what? Huh? You guessed it again! Have sex! Because being almost raped was not enough.

And the last chapter doesn't really mean anything to me because I haven't read the prequel, so it was just a waste of time.
As if the cliches weren't bad enough, the dialogue and characters' thoughts are full of "I've been in love with you for so long", even though the story takes place over just a few weeks - or it seems that way, which, if it isn't, was also not made clear by the author.
Basically, the last scene of chapter 01 could be the end of the manga and it would make no difference to the story, it'd be just a cliche one-shot instead of a whole volume. Oh, and also, Yukiya's past is not explained at all and, even though I know there's a prequel, I haven't read it and I started reading "Love or Pride" before I even knew about it. I think the least the author should do is include an explanation for characters' backstories.
The worst part of the entire manga is that Taiki goes easy on everybody. He is totally okay with accepting Shou back into his life, even though he betrayed him. Without any type of fight, mistrust, anything. It's like nothing ever happened. And even Kunie gets off the hook really easily.
Oh, no, wait, there's something even worse: Yukiya genuinely enjoys being touched by someone else. He moans, arches his back and doesn't say "no" at any time. Really romantic.

The only good thing about manga is that the villain isn't who he seems to be.
But even the characters' motives don't make any sense and aren't properly explained.
Oh, and the title, too. Love or Pride? Why? Yukiya isn't full of pride before giving himself up to Taiki, at any moment.

I read the sequel to this, Blind Love, over 5 years ago. I had to read it again because, first of all, I didn't remember anything about it - which is not a good sign - and also, especially since Kunie touched another guy (Yukiya) while Shou was right My first review on it was really positive, but I've added a more mature perspective to it now. Kunie and Shou were the only characters that seemed a little bit interesting in this series.

... Last updated on August 27th, 2016, 2:27pm

This wasn't good. It was extremely flat. The characters were one dimensional. The story was cliche and very rushed. The whole thing was very forced and emotionless. Even the art is just ok. The only thing it had going for it were the vaguely hot sex scenes, but without a proper story to back that up, it wasn't enough.

Love and Pride was defintly one of my top from Akira sensei. I really enjoyed watching the story between Yukiya and Taiki unfold. Taiki is really a sweet person who cares for Yukiya.

In my opinion, If you are a fan of Akira sensei then this is a must read for you. ^^

it was sweet and all but i am so sick of seeing an uke getting kidnapped and groped by a complete stranger and actually enjoying it. the seme acts like nothings going on and doesnt even beat up the guy after catching him groping the uke, that one scene ruined the whole manga for me... why in the world didnt the uke fight this guy off? he was on his lap he could have head butted him or kicked him, or something!

... Last updated on July 9th, 2009, 6:50pm

I enjoyed Love or Pride over Bitter Sweet Cafe, though both are very interesting and well loved many thousands.

Each characters holds their uniqueness and for this i give it a...well, 10. Bishes, storyline, conflict, sweetness, romance and slice of life. This is a well read manga, and since i love short manga (1 volume preferred) this just hit the rooftop. lol.

the story description might make it sound like Taiki is some arrogant yakuza blackmailing poor innocent Yukiya into having sex with him but that's not the case at all- both boys are in highschool, Taiki is actually a very nice guy and Yukiya is irritable but kind. The blackmail... well, you'll just have to see for yourself. To be honest the first 3 chapters are a little on the boring side (I guess I prefer more conflic and drama in my stories) but from chapter 4 on it gets interesting. The extra is also very satisfying.

Much like in the prequel Bitter Sweet Cafe, Kanbe Akira also introduces yet another couple in this manga. In the afterward she hints about writing about them in her next work, she also says the story will be darker this time. I hope this is true because I really want to know more about them!

... Last updated on September 13th, 2007, 8:02am