Absolutely loved it!!!

I absolutely loved this manga! I really like how Haiga grows throughout the series, becoming more conscious of his feelings and actions and more confident in himself. It's refreshing to read a BL where someone questions their sexuality before encountering their love interest. It's not a case of "I'm straight but this guy is hot??!!" as is so common in BL. It's not a particularly deep journey, but it's carefully and thoughtfully presented in a way that feels very realistic to me.

Another review mentioned that this manga tells more than it shows, which I think is a fair criticism—I feel like there's a lot of potential in this story that went untapped. However, to me, it's already quite good as it is. The straightforward storytelling makes it an easy read, and it's still an original story with interesting characters and a romantic plot that's more than just miscommunication, jealousy, and internalized homophobia.

I highly recommend the official English translation!

Shikke's art is as cute and distinctive as ever; the slight roughness to her linework is still so very charming, and the backgrounds here have noticeably improved in detailing and composition compared to her past works. However her writing, disappointingly, remains her downfall, with a story that "tells" much more than it ever "shows", and for that, the narrative suffers. Although most of the plot revolves around Haiga dealing with his feelings for Kanae, it's still not clear to me when or why he actually crosses that line from admiration to love. It's a rare day where I think a BL manga would be better if it were shorter, but the overload of exposition via dialogue, the tension around Kanae's job that doesn't so much pop as weakly sputter out, and the uninspired tropes that Shikke starts to develop but then neglects even executing to their cliched ending, make this a good case.
Caveat here--I've noticed that previous reviewers have also remarked on Shikke's works being (surprisingly) bland, and I wonder how much of that comes down to her art style; her characters' eyes are markedly less "kira kira" and expressive than other mangaka who write predominantly fluffy pieces, and similarly, their facial expressions tend to be stiffly neutral or static. Somehow or other her art consistently tricks me into holding my breath for something that's never there, but here's hoping for the future.

... Last updated on September 19th, 2022, 4:40am

I cried the moment i see Kanae and Haiga cry on the graduation concert. This story is one of the most heart-touching BL series Ive ever read. Highly rcm.