Houkage no Love Call: Overall it was okay - about what I expected. It was average and cliche but enjoyable enough to pass the time with pretty enough art. At least, up until the 3rd chapter when one scene kind of ruined the entire thing for me.
Ueda, who's doubtful of his good points as is common with ukes in BL, is raped by Kazushi and then threatened at knife point that Kazushi will cut off pieces of him. But of course, if Ueda doesn't doubt him ever and wants to be treated nicely, then Kazushi will treat him that way. ... Umm, what? And Ueda's the one to apologize? Yup, surely Kazushi didn't do anything wrong there and Ueda's insecurity hurt Kazushi so badly his actions were all justified./sarcasm But seriously, want to know the easiest way to ruin trust in a relationship? Rape your partner. The threats with the knife were just an added bonus.
So yeah, that scene pretty much ruined the story for me.
A Certain Ordinary Day: It was cute. Really, there's not much else to say about it. It's not really a story to draw me into reading a volume, just an extra to pass the time.
Sweet Honey and Punishment: Compared to the previous story, this one's quite dark and twisted. There seems to be two different interpretations to this one going around -
one where Nobuhira is yandere and one where he's after revenge.
Most people who seem to like this one believe the first interpretation. I saw it as the second interpretation and ultimately didn't like it as much.
! It seems to me that he was exceedingly loyal in order to punish Toshitaka. Kind of like acting as the loyal follower Toshitaka seemed to want when he ordered him to get the paper plane but doing so to an annoying level and finally showing Toshitaka that the only way to get away from him was Toshitaka's death. I didn't feel any form of love from him. He also really didn't seem to mind killing Toshitaka, which to me also shows that there's no love between them. It actually seemed like he knew someday Toshitaka would be driven to death in order to get away from him. All in all, this seemed like a two-way abusive relationship and it's no surprise to me that the mangaka's storyboards for a sequel were declined due to their relationship not being able to progress. She even said that she believed their relationship wouldn't change and I believe that since it's not one built out of love and respect but out of hate and contempt.
Having said all that, this seems to be a story that you have to decide for yourself on whether you like it or not and that's thanks to the drastically different ways of seeing the relationship between these two boys. Because of that, I think the weakest part of this story is the fact that the mangaka didn't make it clear enough what Nobuhira's character was really like.
Soshite Koko Niwa Fuku ga Kuru: Kind of like the second story in that it was cute. I found the sudden jump to sex very... yaoi-like, but not in necessarily a good way xD;; I liked the entire story except for the smut only because it felt too out of place. Overall, a sweet story about young love and bad(?) luck. 🙂
Basically, the whole volume is one I could've avoided but it was okay for an average read. The art is what drew me to it and was eye candy for most of it, but I'm not sure it was good enough to warrant the time I spent reading this.
(-17)
