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Bokura #1
You & Me, Etc.
Iku and Keita have been buddies since childhood, and have played sports together their whole lives... until their final year in middle school, when Keita's baseball career abruptly ended as a result of the severe injuries he sustained when saving Iku from being hit by a truck. Ever since that accident, Iku has distanced himself from both the game and his friend, presumably out of guilt. Can these two friends patch up their differences, and become something more...?
194 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2007
2 people are currently reading
156 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
September 29, 2020
This is Kyuugou's debut in BL with this collection of short stories.
Contents:
*Someday we'll - Is about Iku and Keita, friends since childhood and star baseball players in his school, whose relationship is on a silver lining due to an accident that renders Keita unable to play baseball forever. Something that Iku feels guilty about and struggles to forgive himself.
It's bitersweet.
*The sakura pilgrimage - This is a careless guy who befriends the star student of his school and discovers a secret in the process.
This one is quite interesting because these kids don't end up in a relationship. I like them a lot and made me wish more stories had strong friendship elements without a romance focus.
*The beautiful tomorrow - A two part story about an author finding a kid at his doorstep that turns out to be the son of his college's mentor.
I'm a bit eeeh...about the age gap but...idk...it's BL, who cares. lol...
*All about us, etc - We're back again with Iku and Keita! exploring their relationship.
I like this couple a lot :)
For a debut, I think Kyuugou did a fantastic job. All this stories are pretty much under the shounen ai, and have a hopeful feel. It was a great read.
Contents:
*Someday we'll - Is about Iku and Keita, friends since childhood and star baseball players in his school, whose relationship is on a silver lining due to an accident that renders Keita unable to play baseball forever. Something that Iku feels guilty about and struggles to forgive himself.
It's bitersweet.
*The sakura pilgrimage - This is a careless guy who befriends the star student of his school and discovers a secret in the process.
This one is quite interesting because these kids don't end up in a relationship. I like them a lot and made me wish more stories had strong friendship elements without a romance focus.
*The beautiful tomorrow - A two part story about an author finding a kid at his doorstep that turns out to be the son of his college's mentor.
I'm a bit eeeh...about the age gap but...idk...it's BL, who cares. lol...
*All about us, etc - We're back again with Iku and Keita! exploring their relationship.
I like this couple a lot :)
For a debut, I think Kyuugou did a fantastic job. All this stories are pretty much under the shounen ai, and have a hopeful feel. It was a great read.
March 10, 2019
Surprisingly good! Pretty PG, kissing only.
I don't recall what put this particular title on my radar, or interested me sufficiently to order a used copy when it turned out to be out of print, but I'm very happy I did.
This is a collection of shorts by the author. There are 5 sections focusing on 3 sets of characters.
The first section is about the pair of baseball playing high school boys on the cover, and starts out rather dark, with one of the boys having suffered life changing injuries.
Section 2: "Cherry Blossom Pilgrimage" is the most unique entry in the book. I don't think I've encountered the like before. Our 2 main characters are not a pairing. There's the bad-boy playboy, and a golden boy with a dark secret, naturally one expects them to end up together, but that is not how this goes at all, and the result is somewhat sad, but more special because of it.
Sections 3 & 4 is an age gap story. An author finds a young man on his doorstep one morning who turns out to be the son of the author's college mentor.
Section 5 is a follow up on the baseball boys of section 1.
Everything here has a tang of bittersweet with a touch of hope. I very much enjoyed all of them.
I don't recall what put this particular title on my radar, or interested me sufficiently to order a used copy when it turned out to be out of print, but I'm very happy I did.
This is a collection of shorts by the author. There are 5 sections focusing on 3 sets of characters.
The first section is about the pair of baseball playing high school boys on the cover, and starts out rather dark, with one of the boys having suffered life changing injuries.
Section 2: "Cherry Blossom Pilgrimage" is the most unique entry in the book. I don't think I've encountered the like before. Our 2 main characters are not a pairing. There's the bad-boy playboy, and a golden boy with a dark secret, naturally one expects them to end up together, but that is not how this goes at all, and the result is somewhat sad, but more special because of it.
Sections 3 & 4 is an age gap story. An author finds a young man on his doorstep one morning who turns out to be the son of the author's college mentor.
Section 5 is a follow up on the baseball boys of section 1.
Everything here has a tang of bittersweet with a touch of hope. I very much enjoyed all of them.
April 7, 2011
I really liked this collection a lot, especially the stories of Keita and Iku, and Kuwahara and Akira. I regret that they were one-shots, because I would have liked to read more about their relationships and also because they seemed to end a bit abruptly. I loved the art and the characters, and I'm looking forward to reading more works from this author.
January 26, 2015
My expectations were a little too high in this case, but this a collection of good BL short stories.
May 8, 2016
1) Deutsche Rezension
2) English Review
1) Deutsche Rezension
Das war mal wieder ein Manga, der keinerlei langfristige Wirkung auf mich hatte. Ohne meine Notizen für diese Rezension hätte ich ihn schon längst vergessen.
Es ging dabei schon früh los, als ich mich fragte warum die Geschichte mit den Titelfiguren bereits vorbei war. Es stellte sich dann heraus, dass sie später weiterging aber dennoch muss ich mich fragen, warum sie so relativ wenig vertreten waren. Aber immerhin weiß ich noch sehr, sehr verschwommen was ihre Namen waren und was sie taten, denn bei der Geschichte danach, war das nicht mehr der Fall. Ich kann mich an nichts mehr davon erinnern und laut meinen Notizen endete die Geschichte unerwartet (die zwei Figuren kamen nicht zusammen) und ich hatte ihre Namen bereits vergessen als ich die entsprechende Notiz geschrieben hatte.
Bei der Geschichte danach war es wieder etwas besser, aber auch das bedeutet nur, dass ich mich vage an ein paar Bilder erinnern kann und mehr nicht, der Rest waren wieder nur Notizen. Und scheinbar war die Geschichte so vorhersagbar, dass es klar war, dass der Vater des einen Protagonisten tot war, schließlich lag er mit Gesicht nach unten vor dem Haus nachdem er 3 Tage lang planlos nach dem Freund seines Vaters gesucht hatte. Und dass meine spätere Notiz sich auf diese Geschichte bezieht, kann ich auch nur spekulieren. In jedem Fall hatte diese Notiz mir gesagt, dass die Geschichte um die es ging die gleichen Probleme hatte wie so viele andere YAOI Geschichten: kein Aufbau. Man musste annehmen, dass die Stiefmutter ihn vernachlässigt had, man muss annehmen, dass Akira und der andere Kerl sich aus irgendeinem Grund lieben. Hier konnte ich dann damals sagen, dass dieser Manga bei den Titelfiguren hätte bleiben sollen.
Die allerletzte Geschichte war dann wieder über die Titelfiguren Iku und Keita und scheinbar war ihre Geschichte, diejenige welche noch am meisten Sinn gemacht hat.
Also wie sich jeder vermutlich denken kann: Ich finde diesen Manga kann man getrost überspringen.
2) English Review
This here was, once again, a manga that had absolutely no long-lasting effect on me. Without my notes for this review I would have forgotten it long ago already.
And this started early, when I asked myself why the story with the two title characters was over already. Later it was revealed that their story continued but nonetheless I have to ask myself why they were featured so relatively little. But at the least I still know, very, very blurrily, what their names were and what they did, with the story afterwards, this was no longer the case. I cannot remember anything from it and according to my notes the story had an unexpected ending (the two characters did not get together) and I had forgotten their names already by the time I wrote the respective note.
With the story after that it was again slightly better, but even that only meant that I can recall a few vague images and nothing more, the rest was just notes again. And apparently the story was so predictable, that it was clear, that the father of one protagonist was dead, after all, he was laying face down in front of the house after he had wandered for 3 days without any plan on how to look for the friend of his dead father. And that my later note is connected to this story is something I can only speculate. In any case, the note told me, that the story it was referencing to had the same problems as so many YAOI stories: no built-up. You have to assume that the stepmother had neglected him; you had to assume that Aira and the other guy loved each other for some reason. Here I could tell back then, that this manga should have stuck with the two title characters.
The very last story was then about the title characters Iku and Keita again and apparently their story was the one that made most sense of them all.
So, as everybody could probably suspect by now: I think you can happily skip this manga.
2) English Review
1) Deutsche Rezension
Das war mal wieder ein Manga, der keinerlei langfristige Wirkung auf mich hatte. Ohne meine Notizen für diese Rezension hätte ich ihn schon längst vergessen.
Es ging dabei schon früh los, als ich mich fragte warum die Geschichte mit den Titelfiguren bereits vorbei war. Es stellte sich dann heraus, dass sie später weiterging aber dennoch muss ich mich fragen, warum sie so relativ wenig vertreten waren. Aber immerhin weiß ich noch sehr, sehr verschwommen was ihre Namen waren und was sie taten, denn bei der Geschichte danach, war das nicht mehr der Fall. Ich kann mich an nichts mehr davon erinnern und laut meinen Notizen endete die Geschichte unerwartet (die zwei Figuren kamen nicht zusammen) und ich hatte ihre Namen bereits vergessen als ich die entsprechende Notiz geschrieben hatte.
Bei der Geschichte danach war es wieder etwas besser, aber auch das bedeutet nur, dass ich mich vage an ein paar Bilder erinnern kann und mehr nicht, der Rest waren wieder nur Notizen. Und scheinbar war die Geschichte so vorhersagbar, dass es klar war, dass der Vater des einen Protagonisten tot war, schließlich lag er mit Gesicht nach unten vor dem Haus nachdem er 3 Tage lang planlos nach dem Freund seines Vaters gesucht hatte. Und dass meine spätere Notiz sich auf diese Geschichte bezieht, kann ich auch nur spekulieren. In jedem Fall hatte diese Notiz mir gesagt, dass die Geschichte um die es ging die gleichen Probleme hatte wie so viele andere YAOI Geschichten: kein Aufbau. Man musste annehmen, dass die Stiefmutter ihn vernachlässigt had, man muss annehmen, dass Akira und der andere Kerl sich aus irgendeinem Grund lieben. Hier konnte ich dann damals sagen, dass dieser Manga bei den Titelfiguren hätte bleiben sollen.
Die allerletzte Geschichte war dann wieder über die Titelfiguren Iku und Keita und scheinbar war ihre Geschichte, diejenige welche noch am meisten Sinn gemacht hat.
Also wie sich jeder vermutlich denken kann: Ich finde diesen Manga kann man getrost überspringen.
2) English Review
This here was, once again, a manga that had absolutely no long-lasting effect on me. Without my notes for this review I would have forgotten it long ago already.
And this started early, when I asked myself why the story with the two title characters was over already. Later it was revealed that their story continued but nonetheless I have to ask myself why they were featured so relatively little. But at the least I still know, very, very blurrily, what their names were and what they did, with the story afterwards, this was no longer the case. I cannot remember anything from it and according to my notes the story had an unexpected ending (the two characters did not get together) and I had forgotten their names already by the time I wrote the respective note.
With the story after that it was again slightly better, but even that only meant that I can recall a few vague images and nothing more, the rest was just notes again. And apparently the story was so predictable, that it was clear, that the father of one protagonist was dead, after all, he was laying face down in front of the house after he had wandered for 3 days without any plan on how to look for the friend of his dead father. And that my later note is connected to this story is something I can only speculate. In any case, the note told me, that the story it was referencing to had the same problems as so many YAOI stories: no built-up. You have to assume that the stepmother had neglected him; you had to assume that Aira and the other guy loved each other for some reason. Here I could tell back then, that this manga should have stuck with the two title characters.
The very last story was then about the title characters Iku and Keita again and apparently their story was the one that made most sense of them all.
So, as everybody could probably suspect by now: I think you can happily skip this manga.
November 19, 2021
I really like the art of this mangaka!
In the first chapter we have Iku and Keita. Keita was injured trying to save Iku when they were young and Iku has felt guilty ever since, giving up baseball since Keita couldn't play. But Keita convinces him to go back to playing baseball and slowly, they begin to have the same closeness as before and come to realise they care for each other.
Chapter 2 was maybe the least romantic one. Suga is the carefree kind of person. He discovers that the next student council president Fujishiro is romantically involved with one of the teachers. He's paid to keep quiet but the pair is still discovered and the teacher fired. I had hoped this would bring our two characters together but they only became friends (at least so far) with Suga helping Fujishiro to get over his crush.
Chapter 3 and 4 were quite funny. Akira is so energetic and hopeful despite having lost his father and being kicked out of his home. And Kuwahara is so strict and grumpy. He looks like the kind of person who needs Akira in his life. The most touching moment was when they went to pay their respects to Akira's father and Kuwahara got so upset that Akira had been kicked out of his home. So sweet! I would have wanted to read more on them.
The last chapter continued the story of Iku and Keita. Iku has joined the baseball team again and Keita is sticking by him, under the pretense to ensure Iku doesn't go back on his word. And all the while, the boys are thinking of the kiss they shared and wanting more. It takes a spike of adrenaline to get them to really talk to each other but it leads to more kissing and touching so that was fine by me.
Lovely series overall.
In the first chapter we have Iku and Keita. Keita was injured trying to save Iku when they were young and Iku has felt guilty ever since, giving up baseball since Keita couldn't play. But Keita convinces him to go back to playing baseball and slowly, they begin to have the same closeness as before and come to realise they care for each other.
Chapter 2 was maybe the least romantic one. Suga is the carefree kind of person. He discovers that the next student council president Fujishiro is romantically involved with one of the teachers. He's paid to keep quiet but the pair is still discovered and the teacher fired. I had hoped this would bring our two characters together but they only became friends (at least so far) with Suga helping Fujishiro to get over his crush.
Chapter 3 and 4 were quite funny. Akira is so energetic and hopeful despite having lost his father and being kicked out of his home. And Kuwahara is so strict and grumpy. He looks like the kind of person who needs Akira in his life. The most touching moment was when they went to pay their respects to Akira's father and Kuwahara got so upset that Akira had been kicked out of his home. So sweet! I would have wanted to read more on them.
The last chapter continued the story of Iku and Keita. Iku has joined the baseball team again and Keita is sticking by him, under the pretense to ensure Iku doesn't go back on his word. And all the while, the boys are thinking of the kiss they shared and wanting more. It takes a spike of adrenaline to get them to really talk to each other but it leads to more kissing and touching so that was fine by me.
Lovely series overall.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 5, 2011
To start off with positives, my favorite story was the first one because there was at least some originality inside it. Keita gets hit by a truck because he was trying to save his friend, Iku, from it in the first place. As far as dramatic back-stories go, this one was pretty cool. I also liked that it was angsty, that good kind of angsty too. The point of the story was great. And even though the guys were a little feminine, they showed it well and by the end I was happy that everything worked out okay. And to top that, I loved the art. It was pretty.
What I didn't like isn't to major, just with the way it was translated. Besides that, I'm okay.
What I didn't like isn't to major, just with the way it was translated. Besides that, I'm okay.
February 18, 2011
I'm not a fan of oneshot collections so this didn't rate too highly with me but I thought it had two things going for it: the artwork was really nice and the ukes in the story weren't your typical feminized boys. For those reasons alone, I enjoyed reading this title. The main story of this collection was based on the typical story of two childhood friends who did everything together and then one saves the other from getting hit by a car and gets injured himself. If this type of plot intrigues you then I say it's a good read for you.
Rating: PG-13
Artwork: A
Originality: D
Plot: D
Rating: PG-13
Artwork: A
Originality: D
Plot: D
August 17, 2015
Jeez, the feels of this one! I would have like a detailed version of the accident and not a recounting of Iku’s mom about it. Although I enjoyed their interaction, I kinda didn’t connect that well with them because there’s too little interaction between them. Just the same, the whole thing was sweet especially the ending.
October 27, 2017
Ever since I encountered one of Kyuugou's works (Escape was my first), I was a goner. This mangaka has a way not only how to draw things but also how to say them even without telling outright. There's always something pressing on your senses, raw. Feelings bared even when hidden. This Hide-and-Seek "play" is probably the main reason why the stories are so endearing to me.
July 21, 2011
Cute, nice art, a bit cliche and unoriginal but still a good read. Don't expect anything earth shattering though. I wish it focused more on the main characters. One shot collections don't exactly bode well with me.
June 14, 2018
Great collection of one-shots (and a two-shot). Each one felt like a complete story within itself, but Kyuugou does such a good job in making us care about her characters in the short amount of time we get with them that I cannot help but want a continuation of every single story in here.
May 10, 2012
1st. read: 2/2/11
July 9, 2012
What a wonderful collection of one shots!
October 13, 2012
Good artwork, but the stories weren't well-developped.
May 5, 2016
Fairly stereotypical BL manga -- forgettable but cute.
January 16, 2017
I wish each story had been a volume all it's own, I felt like they could have done more.
August 24, 2017
Love this one, a large Blue edition!
March 9, 2021
Nada mal, son muy bonitos esas parejas 😻😻😻
September 6, 2021
[ ★★★,5 / 5 ]
Childhood-best-friends-to-lovers.
Childhood-best-friends-to-lovers.
August 3, 2024
I've been loving Kyugo's Acid Town series, which is brilliantly plotted but very dark, so I was curious what a "gentle and sweet boys love manga" from them would be like.
Inaccurately summarized, as it turns out. I don't know if that's Blu's fault (a rant for another day: them going out of business and leaving so many licenses hanging, including this one's second volume) or from the original publisher, but I wouldn't call a single thing about this collection of stories gentle or sweet.
It is drawn and written well, though, and the tone fits a lot better with what I've experienced from Kyugo so far.
The cover and title story is a bit of a traditional childhood best friends to lovers story, but with a tragic twist and the right amounts of angst, emotion, and spice mixed in. The relationship has depth even in its shortened format, and the communication/friendship break makes sense in context and isn't dragged out for unnecessary reasons. Of course you'd feel horrible if your best friend and possibly the love of your life gets hit by a car, hospitalized, and partially crippled because of your actions.
Keita doesn't give up on Iku, though, and once they finally start talking again, Iku doesn't have that much trouble opening up and explaining what he's struggling with. Theirs is definitely the simplest and "sweetest" of the batch.
The second story was shorter than I'd expected and didn't progress into any sort of romance, although there were strong hints this could've happened if it'd been given room to develop more - probably into their college/working adult years. It's more a story of unexpected friendship between an idle playboy and an honor student who'd been carrying on a secret romance with his male teacher.
This plotline isn't entirely unexpected from Kyugo, and the art was really spicily well done. The tension in that late night teacher's lounge makeup session, with Suga peering through the windows to catch them, was intense. And then the fallout, with them getting discovered despite Suga holding his tongue, and Fujishiro losing so much of the status he'd worked to build himself at school...this definitely could've used some more chapters. But they seemed alright by the end, at the start of another year, with their lives not changing too much other than their odd new friendship.
The next two chapters were a little bit confusing, because I couldn't quite tell what Kuwahara's relationship with his teacher had been. One-sided admiration, probably? I don't get the sense it strayed into anything more, but I don't even know if Kuwahara's feelings for him were actually romantic. And this story is about his old teacher's son, Akira, unexpectedly moving into his house and forming a different kind of bond with him.
The development wasn't fully there for me, although it was still overall skillfully handled. With shorter stories like this, they always seem to end before you get the full picture, so the kiss felt a little too abrupt, but it still worked okay. Akira had a lot of sadness to him but still managed to bring brightness and light to grumpy hermit Kuwahara's life, while Kuwahara was gruff but kind and provided the stability Akira so badly needed, so they did have a nice dynamic.
Definitely happy to have this book for another few snapshots from a really talented mangaka - even though I had to buy an overpriced battered copy with a badly creased back cover and a chunk of drywall (?) somehow stuck to the first page.
Thanks again, Blu.
Inaccurately summarized, as it turns out. I don't know if that's Blu's fault (a rant for another day: them going out of business and leaving so many licenses hanging, including this one's second volume) or from the original publisher, but I wouldn't call a single thing about this collection of stories gentle or sweet.
It is drawn and written well, though, and the tone fits a lot better with what I've experienced from Kyugo so far.
The cover and title story is a bit of a traditional childhood best friends to lovers story, but with a tragic twist and the right amounts of angst, emotion, and spice mixed in. The relationship has depth even in its shortened format, and the communication/friendship break makes sense in context and isn't dragged out for unnecessary reasons. Of course you'd feel horrible if your best friend and possibly the love of your life gets hit by a car, hospitalized, and partially crippled because of your actions.
Keita doesn't give up on Iku, though, and once they finally start talking again, Iku doesn't have that much trouble opening up and explaining what he's struggling with. Theirs is definitely the simplest and "sweetest" of the batch.
The second story was shorter than I'd expected and didn't progress into any sort of romance, although there were strong hints this could've happened if it'd been given room to develop more - probably into their college/working adult years. It's more a story of unexpected friendship between an idle playboy and an honor student who'd been carrying on a secret romance with his male teacher.
This plotline isn't entirely unexpected from Kyugo, and the art was really spicily well done. The tension in that late night teacher's lounge makeup session, with Suga peering through the windows to catch them, was intense. And then the fallout, with them getting discovered despite Suga holding his tongue, and Fujishiro losing so much of the status he'd worked to build himself at school...this definitely could've used some more chapters. But they seemed alright by the end, at the start of another year, with their lives not changing too much other than their odd new friendship.
The next two chapters were a little bit confusing, because I couldn't quite tell what Kuwahara's relationship with his teacher had been. One-sided admiration, probably? I don't get the sense it strayed into anything more, but I don't even know if Kuwahara's feelings for him were actually romantic. And this story is about his old teacher's son, Akira, unexpectedly moving into his house and forming a different kind of bond with him.
The development wasn't fully there for me, although it was still overall skillfully handled. With shorter stories like this, they always seem to end before you get the full picture, so the kiss felt a little too abrupt, but it still worked okay. Akira had a lot of sadness to him but still managed to bring brightness and light to grumpy hermit Kuwahara's life, while Kuwahara was gruff but kind and provided the stability Akira so badly needed, so they did have a nice dynamic.
Definitely happy to have this book for another few snapshots from a really talented mangaka - even though I had to buy an overpriced battered copy with a badly creased back cover and a chunk of drywall (?) somehow stuck to the first page.
Thanks again, Blu.
January 15, 2022
Zupełnie nie wiedziałam czego mam się spodziewać po tej mandze.
Przed przeczytaniem nie wiedziałam o niej zupełnie nic i chyba właśnie to uratowało tą pozycje od bycia totalną klapą.
Mamy okazje poznać w niej historie trzech par, nie powiązanych ze sobą w żaden sposób poza orientacją seksualną. I chociaż same historie nie są złe, bo z zapartym tchem obserwowałam rozwój wydarzeń, to ich przedstawienie i rozmieszczenie w mandze nie za bardzo mi się spodobały.
Historie te opisane są zaledwie na kilku stronach, przez co nie mamy możliwości bliższego poznania bohaterów oraz zagłębienia się w ich historie. Jestem pewna, że gdyby zostały one rozpisane na trzy jednotomowe części to spodobałyby mi się o wiele bardziej.
Dodatkowo pierwsza, główna historia została podzielona na dwa rozdziały, które możemy przeczytać na początku i końcu mangi, co chyba nie było najlepszym pomysłem. W trakcie czytania pozostałych historii zdążyłam zapomnieć co wydarzyło się w pierwszym rozdziale i niepotrzebnie traciłam czas na powtarzanie sobie wszystkiego od początku.
Przed przeczytaniem nie wiedziałam o niej zupełnie nic i chyba właśnie to uratowało tą pozycje od bycia totalną klapą.
Mamy okazje poznać w niej historie trzech par, nie powiązanych ze sobą w żaden sposób poza orientacją seksualną. I chociaż same historie nie są złe, bo z zapartym tchem obserwowałam rozwój wydarzeń, to ich przedstawienie i rozmieszczenie w mandze nie za bardzo mi się spodobały.
Historie te opisane są zaledwie na kilku stronach, przez co nie mamy możliwości bliższego poznania bohaterów oraz zagłębienia się w ich historie. Jestem pewna, że gdyby zostały one rozpisane na trzy jednotomowe części to spodobałyby mi się o wiele bardziej.
Dodatkowo pierwsza, główna historia została podzielona na dwa rozdziały, które możemy przeczytać na początku i końcu mangi, co chyba nie było najlepszym pomysłem. W trakcie czytania pozostałych historii zdążyłam zapomnieć co wydarzyło się w pierwszym rozdziale i niepotrzebnie traciłam czas na powtarzanie sobie wszystkiego od początku.
March 24, 2025
I first read this collection several years ago, and I didn't really remember much of it after I read it. Anthologies are rarely my thing, and, at the time, I don't think I could appreciate this one for what it was.
But upon rereading it now, this is a really good anthology. The stories all fit together -- that is, they all have the same soft, bittersweet feeling to them, and reading them together just works.
And honestly? My favorite story in the collection is the second one. I really like that it's actually not about a romantic relationship -- that it's instead about an unexpected friendship. It's extremely rare to see in the genre, since, you know, the genre is all about the romance, but... Idk. It fits the feeling of the anthology, and shows that platonic friendships/love are just as important as romantic relationships.
But upon rereading it now, this is a really good anthology. The stories all fit together -- that is, they all have the same soft, bittersweet feeling to them, and reading them together just works.
And honestly? My favorite story in the collection is the second one. I really like that it's actually not about a romantic relationship -- that it's instead about an unexpected friendship. It's extremely rare to see in the genre, since, you know, the genre is all about the romance, but... Idk. It fits the feeling of the anthology, and shows that platonic friendships/love are just as important as romantic relationships.
August 15, 2020
These one is a colection of four stories, the main one was about two childhood friends who did everything together, but an accident change it all.
The four stories had beautiful art, a good trama, and the mangaka makes each personality so well, it worth the try to read it. Es rápido de leer y cada historia tiene un mensaje hermoso.
The four stories had beautiful art, a good trama, and the mangaka makes each personality so well, it worth the try to read it. Es rápido de leer y cada historia tiene un mensaje hermoso.
November 4, 2025
Mehrere Kurzgeschichten, die alle irgendwie Schulorientiert sind. Die erste war eigentlich ganz süß - zwei Jungs, wovon einer durch einen Unfall kein baseball mehr spielen kann, und sein Freund isch die SChuld gibt. Die dazwischen waren irgendwie langweilig - obwohl einer davon nen großen Age-Gap hat ;D aber leider war nichts davon wirklich spannend.
June 25, 2020
3.5
a história em si é bem clichê mas nesse momento de pandemia é tudo o que eu queria mesmo. e só por conseguir gostar dos personagens sendo curtinho o desenvolvimento já ganhou pontos comigo (sem contar os traços ótimos)
a história em si é bem clichê mas nesse momento de pandemia é tudo o que eu queria mesmo. e só por conseguir gostar dos personagens sendo curtinho o desenvolvimento já ganhou pontos comigo (sem contar os traços ótimos)
November 18, 2021
I rather prefer Iku and Keita’s story than the rest. Thank god we don’t have a love triangle involved…
June 11, 2022
Didn't know it was a series of one-shots.... not a fan, read only the first chapter
September 10, 2021
I think I would’ve liked this more if it was split up differently, but having the start of the main story, then some side stories, and then back to the main story was kind of weird. It just kind of threw me out of the reading rhythm.
I like the second story the most. It was quite unique in terms of BL settings and, in my opinion, having a friendship develop from what happened was a lot more meaningful than a relationship.
I like the second story the most. It was quite unique in terms of BL settings and, in my opinion, having a friendship develop from what happened was a lot more meaningful than a relationship.
May 8, 2016
1) Deutsche Rezension
2) English Review
1) Deutsche Rezension
Das war mal wieder ein Manga, der keinerlei langfristige Wirkung auf mich hatte. Ohne meine Notizen für diese Rezension hätte ich ihn schon längst vergessen.
Es ging dabei schon früh los, als ich mich fragte warum die Geschichte mit den Titelfiguren bereits vorbei war. Es stellte sich dann heraus, dass sie später weiterging aber dennoch muss ich mich fragen, warum sie so relativ wenig vertreten waren. Aber immerhin weiß ich noch sehr, sehr verschwommen was ihre Namen waren und was sie taten, denn bei der Geschichte danach, war das nicht mehr der Fall. Ich kann mich an nichts mehr davon erinnern und laut meinen Notizen endete die Geschichte unerwartet (die zwei Figuren kamen nicht zusammen) und ich hatte ihre Namen bereits vergessen als ich die entsprechende Notiz geschrieben hatte.
Bei der Geschichte danach war es wieder etwas besser, aber auch das bedeutet nur, dass ich mich vage an ein paar Bilder erinnern kann und mehr nicht, der Rest waren wieder nur Notizen. Und scheinbar war die Geschichte so vorhersagbar, dass es klar war, dass der Vater des einen Protagonisten tot war, schließlich lag er mit Gesicht nach unten vor dem Haus nachdem er 3 Tage lang planlos nach dem Freund seines Vaters gesucht hatte. Und dass meine spätere Notiz sich auf diese Geschichte bezieht, kann ich auch nur spekulieren. In jedem Fall hatte diese Notiz mir gesagt, dass die Geschichte um die es ging die gleichen Probleme hatte wie so viele andere YAOI Geschichten: kein Aufbau. Man musste annehmen, dass die Stiefmutter ihn vernachlässigt had, man muss annehmen, dass Akira und der andere Kerl sich aus irgendeinem Grund lieben. Hier konnte ich dann damals sagen, dass dieser Manga bei den Titelfiguren hätte bleiben sollen.
Die allerletzte Geschichte war dann wieder über die Titelfiguren Iku und Keita und scheinbar war ihre Geschichte, diejenige welche noch am meisten Sinn gemacht hat.
Also wie sich jeder vermutlich denken kann: Ich finde diesen Manga kann man getrost überspringen.
2) English Review
This here was, once again, a manga that had absolutely no long-lasting effect on me. Without my notes for this review I would have forgotten it long ago already.
And this started early, when I asked myself why the story with the two title characters was over already. Later it was revealed that their story continued but nonetheless I have to ask myself why they were featured so relatively little. But at the least I still know, very, very blurrily, what their names were and what they did, with the story afterwards, this was no longer the case. I cannot remember anything from it and according to my notes the story had an unexpected ending (the two characters did not get together) and I had forgotten their names already by the time I wrote the respective note.
With the story after that it was again slightly better, but even that only meant that I can recall a few vague images and nothing more, the rest was just notes again. And apparently the story was so predictable, that it was clear, that the father of one protagonist was dead, after all, he was laying face down in front of the house after he had wandered for 3 days without any plan on how to look for the friend of his dead father. And that my later note is connected to this story is something I can only speculate. In any case, the note told me, that the story it was referencing to had the same problems as so many YAOI stories: no built-up. You have to assume that the stepmother had neglected him; you had to assume that Aira and the other guy loved each other for some reason. Here I could tell back then, that this manga should have stuck with the two title characters.
The very last story was then about the title characters Iku and Keita again and apparently their story was the one that made most sense of them all.
So, as everybody could probably suspect by now: I think you can happily skip this manga.
2) English Review
1) Deutsche Rezension
Das war mal wieder ein Manga, der keinerlei langfristige Wirkung auf mich hatte. Ohne meine Notizen für diese Rezension hätte ich ihn schon längst vergessen.
Es ging dabei schon früh los, als ich mich fragte warum die Geschichte mit den Titelfiguren bereits vorbei war. Es stellte sich dann heraus, dass sie später weiterging aber dennoch muss ich mich fragen, warum sie so relativ wenig vertreten waren. Aber immerhin weiß ich noch sehr, sehr verschwommen was ihre Namen waren und was sie taten, denn bei der Geschichte danach, war das nicht mehr der Fall. Ich kann mich an nichts mehr davon erinnern und laut meinen Notizen endete die Geschichte unerwartet (die zwei Figuren kamen nicht zusammen) und ich hatte ihre Namen bereits vergessen als ich die entsprechende Notiz geschrieben hatte.
Bei der Geschichte danach war es wieder etwas besser, aber auch das bedeutet nur, dass ich mich vage an ein paar Bilder erinnern kann und mehr nicht, der Rest waren wieder nur Notizen. Und scheinbar war die Geschichte so vorhersagbar, dass es klar war, dass der Vater des einen Protagonisten tot war, schließlich lag er mit Gesicht nach unten vor dem Haus nachdem er 3 Tage lang planlos nach dem Freund seines Vaters gesucht hatte. Und dass meine spätere Notiz sich auf diese Geschichte bezieht, kann ich auch nur spekulieren. In jedem Fall hatte diese Notiz mir gesagt, dass die Geschichte um die es ging die gleichen Probleme hatte wie so viele andere YAOI Geschichten: kein Aufbau. Man musste annehmen, dass die Stiefmutter ihn vernachlässigt had, man muss annehmen, dass Akira und der andere Kerl sich aus irgendeinem Grund lieben. Hier konnte ich dann damals sagen, dass dieser Manga bei den Titelfiguren hätte bleiben sollen.
Die allerletzte Geschichte war dann wieder über die Titelfiguren Iku und Keita und scheinbar war ihre Geschichte, diejenige welche noch am meisten Sinn gemacht hat.
Also wie sich jeder vermutlich denken kann: Ich finde diesen Manga kann man getrost überspringen.
2) English Review
This here was, once again, a manga that had absolutely no long-lasting effect on me. Without my notes for this review I would have forgotten it long ago already.
And this started early, when I asked myself why the story with the two title characters was over already. Later it was revealed that their story continued but nonetheless I have to ask myself why they were featured so relatively little. But at the least I still know, very, very blurrily, what their names were and what they did, with the story afterwards, this was no longer the case. I cannot remember anything from it and according to my notes the story had an unexpected ending (the two characters did not get together) and I had forgotten their names already by the time I wrote the respective note.
With the story after that it was again slightly better, but even that only meant that I can recall a few vague images and nothing more, the rest was just notes again. And apparently the story was so predictable, that it was clear, that the father of one protagonist was dead, after all, he was laying face down in front of the house after he had wandered for 3 days without any plan on how to look for the friend of his dead father. And that my later note is connected to this story is something I can only speculate. In any case, the note told me, that the story it was referencing to had the same problems as so many YAOI stories: no built-up. You have to assume that the stepmother had neglected him; you had to assume that Aira and the other guy loved each other for some reason. Here I could tell back then, that this manga should have stuck with the two title characters.
The very last story was then about the title characters Iku and Keita again and apparently their story was the one that made most sense of them all.
So, as everybody could probably suspect by now: I think you can happily skip this manga.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews