I have absolutely nothing to complain about this manga. I'm personally not keen on military-themed manga, so I was put off after finding out this is one and a bit reluctant about checking it out. However, I picked it up anyway and treated it as merely something to kill time. I never expected I would discover such a gem.
The author's art style is unique and able to convey the emotion of the characters. Every scene is very detailed and well-drawn with great care. At first I was a little put off by Klaus' foreigner appearance because it's a bit different from the norm, but I fell in love with him in no time and utterly enjoy the sight of his face ❤❤❤
More than the art, the thing about this manga that got me totally captivated is the way the author presents the story. Inariya-sensei likes to mix up the events from various points of time, so there are times when you can be confused and wonder when it happens and what is going on. However, if you turn this around, it means that the author put great thoughts into her story. This manga is not like the typical yaoi when you can just quickly flip through it and are still able to understand what's going on. This is surely not something so cheap. This manga requires you to slowly savor it, pay attention to every scene, word, expression, the clothes the characters had on (in my case), and the situation to link the events together and reorder them, and..., at the same time..., savor the sweetness of the passionate love that slowly seeps into you and gets you sweetly overwhelmed.
And also, I strongly advice you not back down because of the seemingly rape scenes at the beginning. You will discover it is not rape as you read on. Why is everyone so fixated on the rape thing. Why don't you read the whole story before judging? In my definition, “rape” has a really heavy and disgusting meaning when you force another to have sex with you even though the other person doesn’t has any feeling for you. If the ones who criticized this manga had just taken the time to read the rest of the story, they could know that Taki was totally okay with having sex with Klaus before they came back to Japan. I could say that their feelings already got across to each other by that time. They were literally lovers. Klaus followed Taki to Japan, abandoning everything behind, even his own family. He told the sister he loves so much that he might not ever see her again, just so he could stay with Taki. Taki is just that important to him. He came to Japan brimming with the hope that he and Taki could be happy together forever, just to be given the cold shoulder by Taki. He didn't know about that purity thing Taki has to keep up for the sake of the soldier; He didn't know anything about Japanese culture after all and no one ever told him anything. He sacrificed everything he has, and I mean EVERYTHING, his family, his friends, his future, his human rights,...; he is in a country where he is all alone among strangers. He accepted all that, just to be able to live with Taki. But that very person who was just intimate with him not long ago now bluntly rejected him without a word of explanation. It's not even needed to be said that Klaus was utterly confused. Why don't you put yourself in his place to see how that would feel? Giving up everything and devoting your whole life to one person just to receive that. Klaus was just so confused and he had absolutely no one he could consult with. He eventually reacted that violent way as a desperate resort to gauge a reason from Taki, even though he treasures Taki so dearly. He wasn't himself at that time. You should have seen his stupidly happy and blessed face when they were on their way back to Japan, thinking he and Taki could be together for sure. The Klaus who was so happy and contented just kissing and caressing Taki now turned into such a twisted violent beast. Can you imagine how much Taki's rejection hurt him? And even after all those shit, he still keeps sacrificing himself by taking morphine non-stop to be able to stand firm on his feet to protect Taki. It was just heart-breaking when you got the whole picture.
I'm currently rereading the manga for this is the kind of manga that calls for a second read to understand the story better. My fellow yaoi-lovers who are fed up with the typical never-changing manga, try this out and your thirst will be quenched. That I can assure you! (Once you finish reading, try Silver_sky's comment below. I enjoyed reading it ^^)