Misaki is struggling to pass his college entrance exams, and has taken up a tutor: the cool and sexy Akihiko Usami, who also happens to be a famous boys' love novelist. At first, Misaki is disgusted by Akihiko, but slowly, Misaki realizes he may be developing feelings for the older man. And so begins the bumpy relationship of this odd couple, filled with comedy and pure romance...
Shungiku Nakamura (中村春菊 Nakamura Shungiku?, born December 13,1980) is a Japanese yaoi manga artist. She is most famous for creating Junjo Romantica: Pure Romance. Shungiku Nakamura's distinct style of manga has been identified largely throughout Japanese and English yaoi fanbases. Her works usually include large age gaps between the seme and uke and characters with careers in the publishing industry (as depicted in Junjo Romantica and Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi). She often cowrites with Fujisaki Miyako, who authored the novels of Yoshino Chiaki no baai in Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi.
Works: Junjo Romantica: Pure Romance (2002 - Ongoing) "Junjou Mistake" (2008) Hybrid Child (2003 - 2004) Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi (2007 - Ongoing) "√W.P.B." (2004) "Touzandou Tentsui Ibun" (1998 - 1999) "Mangetsu Monogatari" "Tsuki wa Yamiyo ni Kakuru ga Gotoku" (1999) "Picturesque of a Mask" (art only) "Umi ni Nemuru Hana"
This may be one of the manga with the worst art I have ever read so far. Seriously, the art style is awful. The body is not proporcionated with the head; hands are usually bigger than the body; chins of semes are square and heads of ukes are triangle-shaped.
However, I love Junjou Romantica. I watched the anime before I read the manga. Actually, this is my first yaoi, and one of the most romantic and funny. Misaki and Usagi are my favorite couple, followed very closely by Tatsumi and Morinaga from The Tyrant Falls in Love, Volume 1. Usagi is the typical seme: serious, cold towards everyone except his love, dominant but also sweet and caring behind closed doors. And Misaki... awww this boy is funny and cute! His moody expresions, or when he is angry are always making me laugh.
The only thing I do not like is the story between Hiro-san and Nowaki. This is my least favorite couple among the 3 main couples. But one thing is certain: no matter how ugly the art, the plot and the characters are amazing, and once you are into the story, it will not matter whose body is bigger than the head.
Note aside: Please, please, let it be a 3rd season of Junjou Romantica!
*One of my favorites ever since I laid my eyes on the anime adaptation!
I loved this one for so many reasons. The art is amazing. The storyline involves other couples than the main couple. And the best part?! It's a manga about manga!!! The only reason why I gave it a one star less is because of the insecurity of one of the lovers regarding each couple and the repetitiveness of it.
i read this a while ago, actually, but it popped up on my feed and i got eerily sucked into memories of this awful manga...
the characters were flat and boring. i mean, what was i even expecting from a yaoi, though? they were all cardboard cutout tropes.
the plot was lackluster. below lackluster, even. and the character--i don't even remember his name, but the silver haired one--was creepy as fuck and at one point outright forced himself on the smaller brown haired boy.
i don't think so!
on top of all of that, the art was repulsive. overall, it just wasn't something i enjoyed reading and i figured i'd just go ahead and get this review out of the way.
Leído hasta el volumen 5. No sé, no me está convenciendo y quizá sea por el dibujo, que no me gusta. No creo que continúe, por lo menos con el manga, igual al anime le doy una oportunidad.
Interesting - when I decided to finally start following through with my "rerating/reevaluating my manga" plan I found that I had initially given this three stars, but then decided on five because it was "funny and wonderfully entertaining". Well, it's back to three now.
Why? Well, one reason is the reason for my "rerating my manga" plan in the first place - "Junjou Romantica" was one of the first manga series I read, and back then I simply was missing points of reference. And these days it would be wrong to say that I like this as much as, say, Hyouta Fujiyama's "Dear Green" or Shiho Sugiura's "Silver Diamond". And even compared to Shungiku Nakamura's other series, "Sekaiichi Hatsukoi", "Junjou Romantica" doesn't measure up.
But let's start with the positive reasons for me giving this three stars: there's a lot of humor in this series, And especially in the details, and it does make me laugh out lout at times, and it is entertaining.
There's also a definite emotional involvement in these characters - for me, Hiroki and Nowaki just push all sorts of buttons, and I can't help but loving them. The other Junjou couples, however, less so - which means that in a direct comparison to "Sekaiichi Hatsukoi", where, if you count Yokozawa/Kirishima (and I most certainly do!) I have three couples I like, "Junjou Romantica" definitely loses. "Terrorist" never managed to interest me, and "Romantica" - well. With them, I have several problems.
The first is the fact that, like so many BL stories, it starts with a rape. And while it is a common trope in the genre, it's the one I like least of all, and at this point I have read enough BL stories where it isn't used that I can no longer just go, "Oh, hey, whatever, it's just how it is". It's always made me uncomfortable, obviously, and I still go into reading and new and unknown story with some trepidation, expecting some degree of - let's call it "dub-con" -, being happily surprised when it doesn't happen.
But even if you say that the initial sexual encounter has to happen like that, where the experienced and aggressive seme ravishes the poor uke, which, yeah, is a common trope blah-di-blah - if it's still like that even after years and years and countless sexytimes have occurred, it just really doesn't work for me. And so we come to the biggest problem I have with the series, namely that Misaki never really changes and after 14 volumes that's annoying as hell. I mean, if this was a serious story about sexual abuse and being trapped in an unhealthy relationship all his issues would maybe make some sort of sense, but seeing how this series is supposed to be a romantic comedy of sorts, it's just really, really grating.
So yeah. As it is, I still reread this occasionally, just skipping to the good parts (Hiroki/Nowaki emotional porn). And I admit one tends to be a bit biased in favor of long BL series, just because there aren't that many of that. Three stars is a fair rating for a series that you shouldn't take to seriously and that can be fun, and emotionally involving, but which compared to others just isn't that good.
I have watched the 2 seasons in anime as well and loved it. I noticed that in the books you get a better idea of how the relationships develops over the year. The anime shows Misaki's and Usami-sans' antics much better. It almost develops into comedy at times. But it does lack the explicit scene's and for me it are those that show me how the relation develops. My Japanese is progressing very nicely as well, as the anime is in Japanese with subtitles *g*
This review's for all of published Junjou Romantica volumes.
This manga was the one who grabbed me into gay-understanding-and-addicting world. The cute and sometimes angst relationship of Misaki and Usagi-san always got me swooned off my feet. LOL.
This story told about 3 different relationship:
Junjou Romantica is a story about Misaki, a boy who's gonna go to college with a mess of a scores. Always supporting, his brother finally asked his bestfriend, the smart-rich-cool Usami Akihiko, to teach his baby brother so he could pass the university exam. And between his dissaproval toward his brother's idea and his bad feeling toward Akihiko (who on their first meet keep hanging around Misaki's brother like a leech), he found the heartache and the love Akihiko held for his brother.
Junjou Egoist is about Hiroki, Akihiko's childhood friend who always had a one-sided feeling for said author. When he cried in the middle of the park, he met Nowaki, a high school student who "had him at hello". Knowing that Hiroki was a student from a high-rated university, Nowaki insisted Hiroki to teach him, both in school and heart subjects.
Junjou Terrorist is focused on Miyagi, Hiroki's workmate and a professor for japanese literature, who always thought that he could never forget his high school crush for his teacher, until his ex-wife's little brother and his Dean's son, Shinobu, came back from Australia and wormed his prescence through Miyagi's heart like a little terrorist.
All of the three stories gave a different vibe. The Romantica couple always give you a romantic-and-angst-filled story, with the insecure Misaki and secretive Usagi. The Egoist couple would give you a cute feeling, with Nowaki's puppy-dog eyes and Hiroki who's not a romantic person but he'll try for Nowaki, anyway. And the Terrorist couple would bring you a good laugh, with Shinobu crazed idea to be with Miyagi and Miyagi's dry humor to pry Shinobu off of him. I love the Terrorist couple the most, because they're funny, but that doesn't mean that I don't love the other couples either.
Sono un pò delusa dai disegni. Non so se è il primo manga della Nakamura e poi andando avanti migliorano. Spero. Non dico che i disegni piccoli devano essere dettagliati ma almeno fatti un pò meglio. Considerando poi il fatto che anche quelli media grandezza non sono sempre perfetti. Basta leggere il capitolo 1 per rendersene conto.
I bought this Manga on a whim, one day, when I was in a book shop. I didn't know anything about the series; just thought it looked amusing! Now, rereading it years later, I'm glad I gave it a go, it still has me hooked to the storyline xDD!
This was an incredible read, and the beginning of a fantastic series! The chemistry between the main couple; Usagi and Misaki, is just fantastic, and they really drew me in! They have a great connection, and their antics are both sweet and amusing!
The second couple; Hiroki and Nowaki, is just as amazing! Nowaki comes along, and sweeps Hiroki off of his feet, after he's been badly heartbroken.. Then, their own romance begins! Followed closely by Hiroki's constant pride and denial..! But we can always tell there's something special between the two!!
I highly recommend this manga to anyone who loves romance, mixed with plenty of comedy!
Hummm. Casi le pongo 2, pero termino promediando para arriba porque creo que es una serie con potencial y para fomentar que se abra un poco la temática lbgt en los mangas que se publican acá. Claro que la seríe estaría mucho mejor si no reprodujera los mismos estereotipos que se ven en la mayoría de los mangas románticos, pero pese a que hay que hacerle un par de concesiones (y a que la narrativa a veces se pasa de confusa), se deja leer y tiene un par de personajes más o menos simpáticos y que pueden llegar a ser queribles. Ya veremos, algún tomo más de changüí seguro le dé.
Si no me equivoco este es el primer yaoi que conocí y la verdad me da mucha risa la relación entre Misaki y Akihiko.
En este tomo vemos el primer encuentro entre estos dos y como poco a poco su disgusto quedó atrás, o por lo menos por parte de Akihiko que pudo superar su amor no correspondido.
La otra pareja de nutre Nowaki y Hiroki también me encanta, la forma en que se complementan es muy linda
La storia d’amore tra il giovane studente Misaki e lo scrittore più maturo Akihiko,la loro convivenza forzata che porterà all’evoluzione del rapporto tra i due e alla nascita di un amore travolgente. Nel manga sono presenti anche altre coppie, e le vicende di tutti i personaggi sono intrecciate tra loro.
This is another case of, dare I say, fetishization of gay people with gender roles engraved into them. There is the submissive who's so submissive your like, well. Then the Dom who's what everyone likes in their fictional boyfriend? (I'm talking about the early 2000s boyfriends in books. In urban fantasy).
I know I've started with the negatives yet I have given this read a four star rating. Look, like I said, I am trash for manga and normally I find it hard rating them low. They are a form of literature that I don't take too seriously. This one was cute and fun when you ignore the problems littered in there.
First time I read it, I was put off since the first few pages started off on a heavy bang. However, once i got through that, it was smooth-sailing. Well not for the characters since several had quite an episode. However, it was definitely hilarious for me. I'm intrigued
Mi confesso, da adolescente vedevo Junjo romantica (e ovviamente egoista + terrorist) e ne ero ossessionata. Quindi quando l'ho visto in fumetteria, non potevo non comprarlo, sono tornata indietro di anni ( ꈍᴗꈍ)
Το vol. 1 της σειράς, που αντιστοιχεί στα επεισόδια 1 έως 3 της πρώτης season του anime, είναι ουσιαστικά μια εισαγωγή σε αυτά που πρόκειται να ακολουθήσουν, προκειμένου να μπορέσουμε να γνωριστούμε με τους χαρακτήρες, αλλά και να καταλάβουμε τι ακριβώς πραγματεύονται οι 2 από τις διαφορετικές ιστορίες από τις οποίες και αποτελείται η σειρά. Το τεύχος, χωρίζεται σε 3 κεφάλαια, με το πρώτο και το δεύτερο να χωρίζονται με τη σειρά τους σε 2 πράξεις. Οι 2 πρώτες αφορούν τους Misaki & Akihito, όπου και βλέπουμε την αρχή της γνωριμίας τους και πως ο πρώτος κατέληξε μαθητής του δεύτερου, προκειμένου να επιτύχει στις εισαγωγικές εξετάσεις για το πανεπιστήμιο. Αν και αρχικά ο Misaki, σοκάρεται από το γεγονός πως ο Akihito είναι ερωτευμένος με τον αδερφό του, όσο περισσότερο τον γνωρίζει, και μετά από μια πιο... στενή επαφή μαζί του, αρχίζει να σκέφτεται διαφορετικά, νιώθοντας μια παράξενη συμπάθεια και μια αδιευκρίνιστη έλξη για εκείνον, κάτι το οποίο και είναι αμφίδρομο. Όταν δε ξεκινούν να συγκατοικούν, η έλξη αυτή, σταδιακά, κορυφώνεται, με τον Misaki να έχει ανάμεικτα συναισθήματα, φοβούμενος από τη μία να παραδεχτεί το πως νιώθω και από την άλλη, πως δεν μπορεί να συγκριθεί με τον αδερφό του. Κάπου εκεί είναι που κάνουν sex για πρώτη φορά, με τον Akihito να εκφράζει ανοιχτά τα συναισθήματά του, δηλώνοντας πως δεν θα τον αφήσει ποτέ, ώστε κανείς άλλος να μην μπορέσει να τον αγγίξει. Αισθησιακό και γεμάτο συναίσθημα, αυτό το μέρος της ιστορίας, καθιστά ξεκάθαρο πως όταν υπάρχει έλξη, καμία αμφιβολία δεν είναι αρκετή για να κρατήσει δύο ανθρώπους μακριά. Οι επόμενες δύο πράξεις, αφορούν τη γνωριμία των Hiroki και Nowaki. Ο πρώτος, προσπαθεί να ξεπεράσει την απογοήτευσή του από το γεγονός πως παρά που πέρασε χρόνια ολόκληρα ερωτευμένος με τον Akihito, δεν θα μπορέσει ποτέ να τον έχει. Ο δεύτερος, προσπαθεί με κάθε τρόπο να προσεγγίσει τον πρώτο, με αποτέλεσμα να του γίνει στενός κορσές, δίνοντας όμως όλο του το είναι ώστε να μπορεί να είναι συνεπής στις υποχρεώσεις του αλλά και στο να είναι κοντά στον άνθρωπο για τον οποίο έχει αισθήματα. Φυσικά, ο Hiroki δεν μπορεί να μείνει ασυγκίνητος, όσο κι αν δυσκολεύεται να το παραδεχτεί, συνειδητοποιώντας πως για να μπει κάποιος στην καρδιά σου, πρέπει να την ανοίξεις, αφήνοντας στην άκρη το παρελθόν. Αυτή η σχέση, είναι κλασσικό δείγμα διαφορετικότητας προσωπικοτήτων. Ο Nowaki δεν διστάζει να εκδηλώσει τα συναισθήματά του, είναι τρυφερός και υπομονετικός, ενώ από την άλλη, ο Hiroki είναι εξαιρετικά εσωστρεφής και του είναι αδύνατον να εκφράσει με λόγια όσα νιώθει. Είναι η απόδειξη πως όταν κάτι το νιώθεις, δεν χρειάζονται λόγια για να το εκφράσεις καθώς, οι μικρές πράξεις, είναι εκείνες που παρά την ασημαντότητά τους, μπορούν να το αποδείξουν. Ένα μικρό chapter ολοκληρώνει το τεύχος, πηγαίνοντάς μας πίσω, πριν οι Misaki και Akihito συγκατοικίσουν, επιβεβαιώνοντάς μας την υποψία πως τα πράγματα, είχαν αλλάξει μεταξύ τους, πολύ καιρό πριν το συνειδητοποιήσουν για τα καλά οι ίδιοι. Για εισαγωγικό τεύχος, είναι πάρα πολύ καλό, μπαίνοντας άμεσα στο θέμα, χωρίς ντροπές, αλλά παράλληλα, χωρίς να χάνει σε συναίσθημα, έστω κι αν το σχέδιο είναι λίγο πιο φορτωμένο ή λίγο λιγότερο γλαφυρό απ' όσο θα θέλαμε στα σημεία.
A young man gets tutored by his brothers best friend in order to help him get into his dream university. His brother's best friend is secretly in love with his brother, and finds BL stories written about the two of them falling in love.
Eeeep. This one has major consent issues. It toes the line on consensual non-consent and just plain zero consent. The older hero is very emotionally abusive, he doesn't like the younger hero talking to anyone else but him, he drops him off and picks him up. He has this childhood/neglected parent complex where he has all of these toys, and then with the infatuation with the younger hero and treating him like a child - but then doing sexual acts to him (all with the younger hero saying no and stop) Yikes idk. This feels like it is a very dramatic and comparable to a dark romance. The relationship is toxic af, so just be aware of that. It did not feel romantic at all, more like grooming and isolating the younger hero so that he will love and not leave the older hero.
There is also another side relationship that I believe is set earlier in time that the prior. The older hero here was in love with the older hero in the first story. So a lot of unrequited love going on here. This relationship had the drama, but fortunately left out the non-consent and toxic nature.
This is a 20 something volume series... what?! And looking at blurbs at other volumes, it feels very soap opera like. I will say... it had me wanting to read more. So I would have given this a 2, but it grabbed my attention and I wanted to watch this hot mess play out.
The artwork seemed messy, and I had to use a lot of context clues - especially during the intimate scenes. Not sure if this was done on purpose for publication/rating reasons. But I had to look hard and assume what was and wasn't happening.
My library only has the first volume, and it seems to be an older series where issues are not easy to come by? So who knows if I will ever continue on.
I read a lot of Manga online because I don't have much access to them in libraries or stores. Therefore, I am not exactly sure which volume I am on, since they post chapters instead of volumes, but once the series is completed I will add all of them to my "Read" shelf.
My friend had gotten me the first season of the anime for Junjou Romantica as a "gag gift" for my high school graduation, but low-and-behold, I fell in love with the series. And proceeded to hunt down the DVD's for season two, now I eagerly await for the third season.
That being said, I find the manga rather disappointing compared to the anime, which rarely happens with me. In my opinion the manga lacks a lot of coherency with the flow of the stories (which follows three different homo-sexual couples), is a bit unoriginal at times, and the art style was absolutely distressing (note here that I am an artist, so I get rather picky about that kind of thing). Can anyone say Yaoi Hands?
And, if you are going to read this series, be aware that the anime "fades to black" despite you knowing exactly what they are doing sexually, while the manga shows it in badly proportioned detail.
I LOVE this series, but the manga could have been a lot better, but the story itself amuses me and plays at my heart strings quite well. I wish I could give it higher marks, but he manga really fell short for me.
Junjo Romantica has 10 volumes with three different relationships. It's definitely in my top 5 for best yaoi! It's funny, cute and has lot's of romance and drama... and yaoi.
Review: The first and main relationship we see is with Usami (aka Usagi, meaning "rabbit") and Misaki. Usami is a genius who tutors Misaki because he is the younger brother of the man he loves (un-requited).
Their story gets cut off after a couple of chapters and we see the second relationship of Hiroki and Nowaki, which also my favorite so far! <3 Nowaki is only a LITTLE younger than Hiroki this time but the really cool thing about this one is that Hiroki was in love with Usami (unrequited)!! This was around the time when Usami was in love with Misaki's older brother still. This one is more of EVERYTHING! Including drama but it's so amazing! Their story goes on into the second volume which is the last one I read so far. I don't even know about the third relationship, yet except that it's dealing with that teacher we see Hiroki working with in the second volume.
A once-guilty pleasure, I now flaunt the bittersweet manga series that initiated me into the Yaoi community (one that is admittably lacking in great substance, but aren't all communities?) and never fails to turn a crappy moment around with a little chuckle at the antics of Misaki or the attitudes of Usagi or a sigh at the sweet love between any of the three couples. Greatly reccommended. My favorite manga to date.
**I would like to warn though that people who are homophobic should obviously steer clear. The pages aren't as graphic as, say, Maiden Rose, but I still keep them hidden from the younger children in my family.
Rereading: I really dont give af about junjou egoist and i really never have but i fuck with misaki and usagi so much. People wanna hate on the artstyle so bad but it really gives me such nostalgia, even with the "bad" art its really stood the test of time to have people still reading over 20 years later