夜空のすみっこで、[Yozora no Sumikko de,]

Yozora no Sumikko de, #1

by Nojiko Hayakawa

あの時、僕は星の形をした鍵で、消せない暗闇を閉じこめたんだ・・・
小学校の教師である星野には、高校時代、憧れていた人がいた。
同じ天文学同好会にいた、ひとつ上の須藤先輩。
その先輩と再会したのは、高校卒業から11年が経った後だった。
生徒の保護者として星野の前に現れた須藤は、星野に告げる。
「おまえとはもう二度と会いたくなかったんだ」と・・・

Hoshino is a timid grade school teacher. Sodou was one year his senior in high school. They meet again for the first time in over a decade and discover that Sodou's son is Hoshino's student. The two of them try to figure out how they feel about each other, and try to remember what it was that had brought them together and ultimately drove them apart in high school. They're both different, but that may not matter as much as how they still feel about each other.

Genres: Manga, LGBT, Romance, Queer, Boys Love, Yaoi, Japanese Literature

Paperback

First published July 19, 2013

About the author

Associated names : topica

Name (in native language) : ハヤカワノジコ

Yfrog: @tpc_net

Pixiv: #1326231

Reviews

[MaDoReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edito en mayo de 2017:

3,5 redondeadas al alza. Tras haber leído muuuucho más de este género, y haber releído este manga un par de veces, tengo que decir que esta historia es de las buenas. Para mi gusto es demasiado "blanca", es verdad, pero me parece que está muy bien resuelta y ojalá algún día veamos algo más de estos 2, más gestos, más miradas, más acercamiento, ALGO, porque lo necesito, yep, necesito verlos más felices y más enamorados de lo que están.

Reseña original:
2 estrellas. La historia no me ha llegado, y el dibujo, tampoco...

[Kesa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nice art tho

[Keiko, the manga enthusiast ♒︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

WHAT THE HELL? WHY DID I JUST FIND IT NOW? THIS IS SO SO WHOLESOME. AND THE ART!! 100% AND THAT THREAD SYMBOL, SORRY I'M A SUCKER FOR SYMBOLS. I LOVE IT SO MUCH! NOJIKO SENSEI THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR CREATING SUCH MANGA. MY EYES ARE BURNING, I ADORE THE GUYS SO MUCH, AND THE KIDS!!! Young Shouta is lucky to have Sudou look after him, I'm freaking crying. Part of me grieves that Mami died, but that's how life works, you know. That paper airplane as a message to reach her in heaven kills me. This is so wholesome. I really love it!

And!!

I was freaking sobbing too when Sudou reached for that alone star on a cold night. Man, I'm weak for metaphors, thanks for giving me another one, Nojiko sensei! I'll treasure this story too.

Going for your other works next!

[Yasmin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh well, would you look at that.
Another entrancing manga that just about left me fuzzy and bubbly inside.
It also left me with a craving and urging need for more because ten chapters are just too damn short.
From the day I've seen Hayakawa Nojiko's art style for the very first time, I knew this woman's work was made for the likes of me.
You see, the way she draws puts warmth in my heart. It has this kind of effect on me.
Her artwork is so clean, so delicate almost gentle. Sometimes it gives off nostalgic vibes.
I absolutely loved that.










The story is by no means an original one, but its beauty lays in its simplicity and just how real the characters felt for me.

[Eva Lovelace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una historia preciosa, con sus toques divertidos, que merece la pena leer.

[La chica que leía · Rating 4 out of 5]

2018 - 4🌟
2020 - 3,5 - 4🌟

[duniamimpigie Anggi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really love the kid!!! <3 Shouta-kun is a cute boy! I love his rebellion act, I love him for calling his father and his teacher by their name (I don't know why, but it looks cute for me).
And look how he get flustered and struggle to behave like a grown up to get attention from his first love (and it was his own elementary school teacher <3)! I love Shouta-kun the most in this series <3

Unfortunately, Shouta-kun's first love ended too soon because his teacher said that he loves his father heheh....

I think I have an odd(?) interest into a love story about a man who already has any child(ren) with another single woman or man. And this one is the best that I have read because the kid was not a mere decoration but involved significantly into the story by helping his father and his teacher's love blooms (even without he himself knowing it).

Don't forget about Hayakawa's artwork!! Love the cover design and illustration!! Love her coloring!! Love her paneling the most!! Maybe I was too exaggerating, but I do really-really-really love how she drew the nightsky full of stars as if it was a black curtain! She is a genius one by making that "curtain" as a panel, only to give more and more beautiful touches into the story <3
Her artwork in this book indeed have leveled up from "Endou-kun" book.

[Ester · Rating 4 out of 5]

En realidad le doy 4'5.

Este manga es precioso y la autora tiene una narrativa tan lírica que llega al corazón.

Estamos ante una historia de amor dulce entre dos adultos, en verdad, dos compañeros de bachillerato que se reencuentran después de 11 años.

Hoshino es el tutor de Shota, un niño problemático que siempre está metido en peleas con otro niño de su clase, Daiki, que no para de chincharlo. Cuando el padre del niño acude al centro, Hoshino se reencuentra con Sudô, su senpai y compañero en el club de astronomía.

A pesar del paso de los años, los sentimientos que Hoshino había sentido, y escondido con llave en su corazón, afloran de nuevo por Sudô. Y Sudô, ¿por qué le dice que no vuelva a acercarse a él?

Como ya he dicho, estamos ante una historia muy dulce con el típico cliché de los amigos/compañeros que se reencuentran después de X años. Hayakawa nos lo presenta una historia de amor a fuego lento, realista y, con su etéreo y hermoso dibujo, un relato lírico con una dosis de drama justa y con un desarrollo muy bueno.

La autora es capaz de crear un tomo único sólido, que muestra una trama adulta bien construida, llena de sentimientos. También ayuda la muy buena traducción de la edición española de Milky Way Ediciones.

Muy recomendable.

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hoshino is a 28 year old elementary school teacher. One of the kids in his class is a bit of a trouble maker - and to make matter worse, it turns out his father is Hoshino's senpai from high school. Hoshino thought he'd forgotten about him in the last 11 years, but now his feelings return full force - he always told himself that he just admired Sudou a lot, but the reality is of course that he's always been in love with him. And it looks like it's the same for Sudou. As teenagers, they weren't ready to deal with their true feelings, but will they use their second chance?

This book is gorgeous from start to finish. The cover alone is worth buying the book for, in my opinion, but luckily the story inside is just as beautiful. I love Hayakawa-sensei's page layouts, and imaginary, and the little things like the sun announcing the time of day. It's also not as straightforward and superficial as a lot of BL can be - from the other teachers to the other student, there's a substance to this story that's refreshing and that makes this such a great manga to read.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creo que más allá de la historia lo que más me ha encantado de este manga ha sido el arte y el diseño de personajes.
La historia y el desarrollo entre ambos personajes fue lento durante la mayor parte, teniendo un abrupto final. Es una historia que tiene una premisa interesante (uno de los personajes tiene un hijo), por lo que espere un poco más de fondo en los personajes secundarios, pero estos me han quedado algo planos y me dejaron con muchas preguntas. Aún así, la relación principal me ha encantado porque fue algo sano y tranquilo, más enfocado en la resolución del pasado y el diálogo que en lo físico, y yo siempre prefiero eso en el BL, pero eso es solo cuestión personal.

La verdad la recomiendo si quieres comenzar a leer este género de manga, es muy tranquilo y ambos personajes me parecieron lo suficientemente buenos para una lectura casual de BL, creo que alguien no tan familiarizado (com yo, je) puede que le guste bastante.

[kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cuando comencé a leer, me recordó vagamente a “Aristóteles y Dante descubren los secretos del universo” y me sentí un poco feliz al respecto porque ese libro me gustó mucho y que éste fuera “similar” me trajo muy buenos recuerdos.

La historia de este manga es muy diferente a ese libro y eso me gustó aún más, porque es corta, va directo al punto, sin enredarse en dramas innecesarios. Y a pesar de que pasa muy poco tiempo desde que los protagonistas se vuelven a encontrar, realmente se siente que la relación fluye de manera natural y muy bonita. Está de más decir que me encantó, es una historia tan preciosa. Con el toque exacto de tensión y romance. Además, tengo que mencionar que el dibujo es la cosa más maravillosa que mis ojos hayan visto.

[Aroa❁ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creo que es un manga que realmente vale la pena porque, a pesar de ser un tomo único plasma todas las ideas necesarias para entender las historias del pasado (que, me hubiera gustado ver un poco más de ellas) y te hace comprender la historia actual y, aunque hayan cosas que me hubiera gustado que quedaran más claras (sobretodo el final) de verdad lo recomiendo y me pareció realmente bonito. Las personalidades de los personajes son realmente perfectas y, apreciar lo diferentes que son entre ellas es algo que el autor fue capaz de expresar bastante bien. Es mi primer manga yaoi (shonen ai) que fue genial para comenzar y se lo recomiendo a todo el mundo!!

[Judd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nota: 4,25/5,00

En la línea de la precuela, el dibujo y la sensibilidad de la autora al crear la historia y los personajes me han cautivado por completo. Con un toque magistral, la autora me ha metido de lleno en las tribulaciones del protagonista, Sho, que se van exponiendo, desarrollando y resolviendo con delicadeza y sensibilidad a lo largo de la historia.

En una primera lectura me molestó que el final entre Sho y Daiki fuera tan ambiguo. Pero una segunda lectura me ha dejado completamente relajada al respecto hasta el punto de encontrar este final abierto atractivo y acertado.

Recomiendo.

[Estrella Inglés · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
Jope, es la tercera vez que lo leo, si no me equivoco, y siempre acabo con la misma sensación. Es super cuqui y tierno y me gusta mucho porque la relación de los protagonistas no es lo principal de la historia. Y aunque eso podría ser un arma de doble filo (que lo es), creo que está muy bien dirigida la historia. (Aunque se nota un poquito las incoherencias con los primeros capítulos a cuando la historia ya está consolidada, pero ni dificultan la historia ni chirría). Lo que más me gusta, sobre todo, es lo bien que están escritos los niños, me parecen super cuquis y tiernos.
Qué ganas de leer por primera vez la segunda parte.

[Duna Gonzalvez Moro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me ha encantado

Me ha gustado mucho porque me ha sorprendido la trama de la historia. Me lo compré porque me pareció interesante, además de que la portada era muy bonita. Pero me sorprendió bastante el giro que dio la historia. Si es cierto que, tal vez, se centró más en el romance que no pas en la profundidad de la enseñanza o el pasado. Pero tiene conceptos muy bonitos, ilustraciones hermosas y un final enternecedor.

Reto 24, categoría: Un manga

[Drfoolish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever since reading Yozura no Sumikko de I absolutely fell in love with Hayakawa Nojiko. Everything I've read by this mangaka has been pure gold and I wish there was more to read.

Even if you're not too big on BL I recommend checking her manga out. It's very tame, the characters are interesting, the romance is touching and THAT ARTWORK. DAMN. I'd print it out and put it on my wall if I could.

[Death Ela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lo leí hace muchisimo tiempo en internet y me pareció muy lindo. Lo pillé sin saber ni de que iba y me encantó nuevamente, me encanta y me da penita el pobre niño que le han robado el amor de su vida XD

[Laura V.]

Costó, pero tuvieron su happy ending. ♥ Me encanta la portada.
Me hicieron falta más escenas de ellos juntos, pero es muy lindo así como está.

[hannonle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una historia tierna y dulce que he disfrutado muchísimo. El dibujo y el guión me han encantado.

[Pili · Rating 4 out of 5]

♥ ♥ ♥

La lectura ligera y dulce que necesitaba mi corazón. Por más historias así.

[Curious Madra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice Yaoi story between a teacher x a single father who finally met after not seeing each other since during their school days :)

[Bibliothecat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was sadly not all it could have been. It had some solid basics for a good plot and the art is no doubt beautiful. Although, even the art had a few things I didn't like all that much such as how shading was one; the lines used sometimes looked more like dirt rather than shade.

I like stories that jump back and forth between timelines and this one wasn't poorly done in that regard. It just felt weirdly slow paced for a standalone volume whilst also feeling like a lot of potential has been missed of skipped over. I also felt that some of the side plot kept getting in the way of the main plot and ultimately didn't let either unfold.

Hoshino is a primary school teacher who suddenly finds out that his troubled student Shouta's dad is actually his former school mate Sudu. Hoshino and Sudu never sorted out their feelings for each other in the past and then just went different ways, making this pretty much a second chance romance. I sometimes felt that it was left quite unclear why they parted ways or how things developed between them, both at high school as well as now in their adult life.

What threw me off was the Shouta plot line. Romance stories with kids involved can be quite a hit or miss for me - it much depends on how the child is written and I can at the very least say that I liked Shouta, he may have been the more interesting character compared to the two leads. But I won't deny that the fact that he develops a crush on Hoshino [just saying, primary school, teacher, father's potential boyfriend] smacked of awkwardness. The whole story around Shouta's mother also felt a bit vague and underdeveloped - I think in short, if you're going to involve young kids in a plot with questionable backgrounds, you just need more than a oneshot to deliver a meaningful and believable plot.

This was still by no means a bad volume, I just feel it should have been one thing or the other, or simply been a series. I understand there is a sequel following Shouta during his high school days - considering that I enjoyed his character more than the mains, I might give it a try.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5/5

[Nothing · Rating 3 out of 5]

Needed more from it but it was wholesome enouGH

[D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh boy, this manga is thicc. In general, I really like iHertz manga because the dust covers are matte and the inside covers themselves are thick and sturdy feeling.

Anyway, this was lovely. Like in「くらやみにストロボ」, Hayakawa Nojiko utilises a couple of metaphors in the story to push the action forward. In 夜空's case, we have two (as far as I know, I'm not really keeping track because this ain't a book assignment):

1, the stars.

Hoshino and Sudou met because they were part of the astronomy club in high school. Hoshino's name is 星野 , hoshi being the word for star. Hoshino always compares Sudou to a star: shining and out of reach, but something which pushes him to do better. Sudou's memories of Hoshino is of his shining smile--a guiding light for when he was despairing of his dreams of becoming a pilot. Many parts of the manga shows the characters looking at a lone star in the dark sky (which you can connect to the title 'at the corner of the night sky', meaning at the corner you find that star).

One of my favourites is the pen which Sudou gives Hoshino before he left high school. Hoshino treasures this pen: it's a gimmicky cute thing that has liquid in the transparent plastic cap with stars floating inside.

Sudou knows Hoshino likes him because Hoshino is easy to read. Sudou himself likes Hoshino but stops himself because they're both guys. Hoshino knows subconsciously he likes Sudou but just sublimates the hell out of his feelings because he knows it won't bear any fruit. He just treasures the pen Sudou gave him and maybe lets it become distant memory.

Towards the end, Hoshino declares his feelings for Sudou and we see the cap of the pen break, releasing the stars. Isn't that so fucking clever??

2, the strings.

This one isn't as well incorporated as the stars, but it's a purely visual metaphor that never actually makes it into the text (and sometimes it even occurs outside the panels), so I'm letting it slide. The ribbons or strings are probably referencing the strings of fate that tie us together. It starts becoming more of an obvious thing once the story introduces the kids and their loves: when Hoshino starts thinking of how kids are straightforward and brave and doing their best with their emotions, we see him holding strings that tie all of them together. Sudou is seen reaching for the star at one point, but we also see Hoshino holding and losing the strings a lot in the panels. We see tangled strings in the background when they're talking about the past. Strings and the changing leaves show the passage of time and human connection when Mami was telling Sudou about how humans like connections in general. When Hoshino first confesses his love to Sudou, we see strings tangling together in the background (this was added in the tankobon but didn't exist in the serialisation I think?)

So the thing about Hayakawa Nojiko's work is part of the storytelling is being done by the metaphors, part is being done by the words the characters didn't say, and the rest is what we see in the story.

Another thing about her work is it's hard to translate well. The characters stutter, the words they say are fragmented, they trail off into silences that have a good rhythm in the original language but hard to get in translation. The many times we see 先輩 written in fragments: 先... パ or せん..... 輩 evoke breaks or lack of focus or tension that is honestly impossible to translate in English.

In short, Hayakawa Nojiko uses the language to her advantage but it's something that gets lost in translation sometimes.

Honestly this is probably one of my favourite things ever and taught me a lot about pacing and metaphors. I love it!

[Judd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nota: 4,50/5,00

La historia me ha gustado mucho y el dibujo más, si cabe. A diferencia de la mayoría de personas que han reseñado, no me ha faltado ni sobrado nada, entendiendo que es un único tomo. A pesar del espacio reducido la historia se explica de forma pausada, sin precipitaciones, cosa que es de agradecer. Los personajes me parecen muy carismáticos, especialmente Hoshino y Shouta. El niño es un amor.

[Pauline (Kiriiti's Blog) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bref, « Dans un coin de ciel nocturne » n’est pas l’œuvre que je retiendrai de l’auteur. J’ai trouvé l’histoire globalement confuse et le rythme mal maîtrisée. Les protagonistes s’enlisent dans des sentiments qu’on a du mal à saisir et quand vient le moment des révélations, ça tombe à plat. Seul Shouta se démarque du lot de personnages par son franc-parler. Le coup de crayon de l’auteur est par contre au top, il s’en dégage une poésie enivrante et une mélancolie qui est en adéquation avec le récit.

[Nayarit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leí este manga pensando en que tenía nueve tomos, pero terminó siendo de un solo tomo (y nueve capítulos, si no me equivoco), lo que me llevó a enloquecer(?). Dejando de lado el hecho de que tuve que leerlo en inglés porque no encontraba ninguno disponible en español para mi celular, me gustó mucho. Me hubiese gustado mucho más si desarrollaban un poco más la historia entre los protagonistas.

[machinaheart · Rating 4 out of 5]

the art is incredibly stunning, the colour pages make my heart sing!
the story is solid, I really liked the secondary characters quite a lot and while the love story had its cliches that are not quite my thing the couple was sweet as well. but really, the art is worth two stars alone, the panels are stunning and there were some pages in here that were incredibly powerful!

[Javi Fdez. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una historia de reencuentros y de afrontar sentimientos pasados. Un dibujo no muy detallista y sin apenas muchos fondos. La historia avanza rápido, demasiado rápido para mi gusto pero en general está entretenida.