I was mislead. It's nothing like the description and not nearly as good as the ratings. Not particularly bad either...it's even my type of story, but it's damn superficial, from the character construction to their relationship and how it progresses.
There are major problems here.
1st: This storyline's been done a billion times before. Of course we can't expect anything new, but this means the mangaka has to find an original way to deliver it to us. Fujisaki Kou-sensei didn't. It's full of clichés.
2nd: The order of chapters. We didn’t get to see how they got together in the first place until the third chapter (which was the best, too). Because of that, I only started to care in that chapter and by then they were already together. Also, since there was no background to begin with, the first two chapters seemed meaningless.
3rd: The story's pace was really messed up (too fast) and the dialogues ("I will capture" you and everything) seemed absurdly precocious to be presented to the reader. This may be caused by the previous thing I mentioned, the order. After all, if we don't care about the characters, how are we supposed to understand how they feel?
Then there are the characters.
I didn't shed a tear or felt any sympathy for them while reading it and that, too, is because of the problems I mentioned. Again, I didn't care, so it didn't connect to me.
Kento's also so unrealistic it's even laughable. He's controversial. His excuse for running away isn't slightest bit believable and from not wanting to see Sho and protecting him from the media's reaction towards their relationship, he suddenly confesses and becomes selfishy in love, out of the blue.
Sho, on the other hand, is the only good thing about this manga. I love his temperamental personality. His love for Kento is obsessive, sick and twisted, and I’m a digger for the "if you leave me, I'll kill you" situation.
But also, this title’s artwork doesn't compensate for its failures, since it doesn't suit my taste, and nor does the sex.
As if to compensate for the first one, the second story is brilliantly kinky. I loved it, really; it fulfilled all my perverted desires and left me begging for more just like the Yamanaka!
Yamanaka is an ex-seme: has a lot of pride, is sexy, can get the woman he wants and is a little full of himself. Though he’s not the kind of uke to keep pretending he doesn’t like it when he obviously does, he doesn’t admit he’s enjoying it right away, and instead gets surprised with Kawanishi’s actions, but remains in the same position, without a sound of complaint.
Kawanishi’s a perv, but not the kind of disgusting ones that are almost desperate for sex. No, he deliciously plans his every move to get Yamanaka crazy with desire!
How can it have such a different pace from the previous story? This one doesn’t leave anything out and even has some degree of background, though it’s not required. Yamanaka explains why he’s no longer satisfied with women and he does it briefly, but even so, it doesn’t seem rushed.
The characters, like in the first story, don’t have emotional depth or anything, but with the exception that, in this one, that’s not the point of the story. It’s good the way it is. That’s a classic PWP that’s actually enjoyable, as opposed to the “only sex” yaoi out there that don’t even make you feel a thing.
I just wish it was the beginning of a love story and that I could see their relationship blossom from then on! I wanted to see a kiss between them…But it’s perfect the way it is.
Then the art also gets amazing, all of a sudden. The characters are hot and it doesn’t have any trace of the sloppy sketches it did before, nor the crude bodies. They are all sexy.
Oh, and this was my favorite story from the volume.
The third story got me from the first sentence already: “no kissing, we’re not lovers”. That’s codename for angst, which is what I love in yaoi.
It followed as I expected and, though pretty predictable, I enjoyed it and never got tired of reading it. It’s classical miscommunication while their feelings are mutual!
Taka is the cutest uke! He pretends to be all strong, but he can’t help himself and is head over heels in love with Ryuichirou!
And Ryuichiro’s sweet too, denying kisses and all distant to get himself together.
The pace is a little rushed again, but it didn’t affect the story greatly. It’s still good, though I wish it had a little more background and conflict before it came to a conclusion.
I wished to see a little more passionate sex after they admitted their feelings, but the story was just my type. And the art is all pretty, once again: they are freaking hot, and Taka reminds me of a friend, hehe
RATING
I will have to rate this separately, since my opinion differs so much between the first and second and third stories.
I'd rate the first one 4,5 and the other two about 9. So I'd recommend it you skip the first one and go straight to the other two.
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