This manga, without a single doubt, is perfect. Just like how I am attracted to obnoxious seme-sama types, because of my own delusions after reading so much BL, I am equally fond of BL that demonstrates such a high level of reflexivity and scrutiny of its own economies of production and socio-cultural contexts of consumption. Moreover, the reflection on the production and distribution of BL is not merely limited to the dialogues, cast, and characterization; the artwork, and paneling, itself goes to great lengths to subvert various tropes across the shoujo and yaoi genre, and in this way, explodes them, leaving us with the gooey-sticky feelings engendered by, the all too relevant epithet, “life is complicated”. It really is.
In all honesty, I am delightfully surprised that this manga was made and published. I hope, desperately hope, from the depths of my love and anger that Fujimine sensei finds resounding success, especially since such manga are not popular, and continues to produce works of such high caliber: creative and masterfully pointed use of humour, strong characterization, a well thought out and extremely consistent storyboard, foregrounding conversations about consent, captivating art, and many more delights.
I would love to see this manga span for about 3-4 volumes so as to see what sort of persons Hanamoto and Tsuchiya can be. I would like to see some more depth to Tsuchiya's character by charting out his past to provide a schema for understanding the choices, specifically that of loving Hanamoto, that he has made. How did Tsuchiya-san learn that same-sex relationships, especially that of love, are acceptable and wonderful?
Also, I really do empathize with Hanamoto-kun too much for my own good. I didn't even need someone like Tomoe-chan to push me off the brink, into toxic relationships, and reinforce negative structures of feelings and being. But, at the same time, I am also glad that Tomoe-chan was there for Hanamoto-kun, because at least there was one person with whom Hanamoto-kun could be himself and pour his heart out. Networks of support and validation are necessary, even if it's just one person because that one person not only enables you to connect with others, by reassuring you of your own self-worth and worthiness of love, but also acts as a single point on a rely node as they establish the pathways for you to connect with others. I hope, desperately hope, from the depths of my love and anger, that Fujimine sensei finds resounding success.