I read this for the first time YEARS ago. Since then, I keep re-reading it periodically, every time I come to check if there's finally more. And there never is. That's why I'm not sure if I should recommend it or not. You should probably wait until it's complete, or you'll be frustrated like I always am.
However, this is an amazing manga, probably one of the best I've read. Always dramatic, full of angst, and it makes me cry my heart out. If you like painful plots, there goes one: a beautiful story about two people who love each other but can never say it and slowly get tore apart. They don't understand each other, so they can never move further.
Masato (the seme) doesn't know how to get Kaoru's attention and decides to hurt him over and over again. It's cruel, sad and desperate. He doesn't know what the uke is thinking, so he tries to make Kaoru hate him. Then at least he'd feel something. All Masato wants to do is see Kaoru smile, and yet he's the reason for his tears.
At the same time, though he never says it out loud, Kaoru struggles with pain, thinking Masato really doesn't care about him. He is so pitiful you’ll just want to reach out and hug him.
That is how well done this manga is. They don't even need to speak much to have such strong personalities. They are almost like real people, with vulnerabilities, reasons, fears and confusion.
The art is also gorgeous, which makes every expression believable. Kaoru's face is so desolate it will get you heartbroken just by looking at it.
I think what I like the most about this manga, though I love everything, is how every detail is planned. Even Masato leaving right after he has sex with Kaoru, every time, is such an important detail to their relationship and the development of Kaoru's feelings towards him.
Or when Kaoru gets startled and end up breaking the most important symbol of their relationship: the ashtray.
Oh, and I can't even begin to describe how this manga will make you feel that clutch in the stomach. It's so subtle, but so intense and strong! It will send you into a turmoil of emotions like you’ve never felt before. Even the order of events in the story is amazingly planned. Chapter 04 comes in handy for just a glimpse of happiness when the previous chapters are about to send you to the bottom of hell, then it gets you back there with chapters 05 and so. Like the categories describe, it is full of misunderstandings...the words they say to each other keep pushing them apart, unintentionally. Like Masato saying their sexual relationship would be "only for now".
As always, it stopped at a cliffhanger – more like the climax, this time. I hate how it stopped. And for almost two years now. Hope it gets finished someday...
PS: Oh, is it just me or Ishida seems to support them? Hehe =P