Sirupsüße Sünde, Band 2

月とメープルシロップ－先生との恋は蜜の味－[Tsuki to Maple Syrup] #2

by Kayoru, Josef Shanel (Translator)

Kaede lässt einfach nicht locker! Schließlich lässt sich Tsukiko auf eine Wette mit ihm Schafft er es bei der nächsten Prüfung unter die Top Ten seines Jahrgangs, geht sie mit ihm auf ein Date! Nach seinen bisherigen Leistungen ist sie fest davon überzeugt, dass er das niemals schaffen wird. Doch eines hat sie dabei nicht Kaedes Entschlossenheit ist und bleibt unerschütterlich …

Genres: Manga

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 25, 2021

About the author

• Associated names:
華夜
华夜
浅野华夜
浅野華夜
Kaoru ASANO
Kayoru ASANO

• Blood Type: O
• Birthday: April 24th
• Zodiac: Taurus

Kayoru's full name is ASANO Kayoru, but she goes by a mononym on her solo works. She is a former assistant of Arina Tanemura

Reviews

[Bibliothecat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review for the complete series

Kayoru is a bit of an odd mangaka - her early works were over the top saccharine and clichéed and then rather than developing her style gradually she made this huge leap into extremely smutty stories that somehow still managed to sell under a shoujo label. I always felt as though she'd missed a step in between and that a story told between her two extreme levels would have been just right. And just when I was giving up on her, she came around with Tsuki to Maple Syrup which I not only read in one go but also actually really enjoyed.

It's probably best to get the warnings out of the way first; this manga features an age gap and student-teacher romance. This is always a grey zone or for some an instant red flag - for me, it always depends on how an author handles the material and, given my previous experience with Kayoru, I was really surprised how sensibly she treated this subject. But let's start with some highlights - this is a rare shoujo that features the male as the main character, and it's also him being the younger one and student, which I daresay is much less common than the female student and male teacher constellation.

True to Kayoru standards, our main character Kaede is quite the playboy and sleeps around a lot - that actually instantly put me off and had me thinking that this story is going to be like all her others. The premise is a simple one: Kaede's friends dare him to woo whoever they choose - he accepts the challenge and then finds out they've chosen their English teacher Tsukiko. At this point, we can all see where this is headed - the bet and trying to catch her attention has Kaede developing feelings for her for real.

I appreciated how we saw most of the story through Kaede's point of view and how things changed for him over time including fully dropping out of his playboy habits. But most importantly, I really liked Tsukiko - she loves being a teacher and is a good one at that. When she starts to realise Kaede's advances she is quite clear about their situation and is not just concerned about her job situation but also what impacts it could have on Kaede as well as acknowledging that the responsibility clearly lies with her.

There were also other subjects which were approached in a rather thoughtful way such as such as honesty and being able to be yourself. I really have to say that Kayoru surprised me with this series as the story had a lot more meat and with the exception of the opening chapters, anything beyond kissing was pushed much further to the background. The pacing was well done and I enjoyed how the series wrapped it. It was by no means a perfect series and I know age gap and/or student-teacher stories aren't going to be everyone's cup of tea, but this was otherwise a really well executed story and cute artwork and I'm glad I gave Kayuro another chance.

[Soobie has fog in her brain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kayoru verlässt Kaedes Standpunkt und konzertiert sich auf Tsukiko. Das ist der Grund, weil es mir der erste Band mehr gefallen hat.

Was macht Tsukiko mit dem Keita? Er ist ein bisschen zu perfekt und er hat keine Persönlichkeit.

Aber ich mag die Geschichte, weil sie spiegelt, was es mit mir gerade passiert. Ich bin auch in einen jüngeren Mann interessiert aber er scheint, dass er nur mein Alter (und nicht mich) sehen kann.