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The First Stage Of Love
Kikuchi, a lonely bookstore clerk, can't help buy wonder about Kajinoki, aregular customer of the shop. With each visit, he longs to see Kajinoki againand finds his heart starts to beat wildly in his presence. Is Kikuchi falling inlove? And isn't Kajinoki married?
200 pages, Paperback
First published December 23, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 4, 2021
Since this is basically composed of a series of unrelated stories, I think it'll work best if I discuss them one at a time. However, I'll say that, overall, I liked this volume quite a bit. The art style wasn't really to my taste - most of the couples looked enough alike that you could have shuffled them up and it wouldn't have been particularly noticeable. But the stories were generally sweet and enjoyable, and no one was cruel or rapey.
"Strawberry Milk"
Nanase likes to go up to the school rooftop and smoke. One day his teacher, Yui-sensei, tracks him down and tells him to stop because "I don't like my kisses to taste like smoke." Nanase isn't entirely sure where he's going with this, so he taunts Yui-sensei, saying that he'll quit if his teacher shows him what's so great about kissing someone who doesn't smoke.
I missed the first "sensei" in this and initially thought it starred a student and his upperclassman. Heck, they looked basically the same age. I wish that had been the case, because student-teacher relationships aren't really my thing.
But it was okay for what it was, although Yui-sensei was honestly an idiot.
"Worries of the Future"
Mitsuzuka is obsessed with the way he's aging, primarily because he remembers when he and his boyfriend, Kobayashi, were in high school and Kobayashi thought he was cute. Back then he was shorter than Kobayashi, but now that he's an adult he's taller and has a more manly build. Kobayashi still calls him cute, but he's convinced that the way he looks as he ages is eventually going to turn Kobayashi off.
This is my favorite story in the whole volume. It was so good, and Mitsuzuka and Kobayashi were a cute couple. I laughed as Mitsuzuka scowled into a mirror and freaked out when someone mentioned gray hairs. His reaction when he realized Kobayashi had misunderstood things was great too. I'd have loved to see more of these two.
"His, Her, and My Relationship"
Murakami recently had sex with Seta, his coworker and boyfriend, for the first time, and now he's incredibly worried that it wasn't any good, because it seems like Seta has been avoiding him. Then he notices that Takahashi, one of the women at work, has been hanging around Seta a lot and maybe even bringing him lunches. Is Seta cheating on him?
From the sounds of things, Murakami could probably use some gay sex ed, but aside from that this wasn't bad. These two grown men need to learn to talk to each other more, though. I assume that, just like they'd only recently started having sex, their relationship was probably still pretty new too.
Would I read more about Murakami, Seta, and Takahashi? The answer is yes.
"The First Stage of Love" & "Finally, the Second Stage of Love"
This is the first of two stories that take place over the course of two chapters, and it's the only story mentioned in any detail on the back of the book.
Kikuchi is a bookstore employee who has a crush on a regular customer, Kaji. He enjoys talking to him but is a bit bummed at the thought that Kaji probably only views him as another employee. However, when a coworker mentions that she thinks Kaji might be married because he bought a children's picture book, Kikuchi can't help but go after him and find out the truth.
In the second chapter, Kikuchi and Kaji have secretly been a couple for a while. However, Kaji's work has kept him very busy lately, and it's putting strain on their relationship.
Ehh, this was okay, I guess. A bookstore employee running after a customer in order to confess his love to him was honestly a little weird. And as for the second chapter, why not just text each other? What was all the stressing about?
"Wait Weight Wait 1" & "Wait Weight Wait 2"
Content warning on this one for issues relating to weight.
Just before summer, Uehara's best friend Mori confessed his love to him, saying that he'd fallen for him because "I like fat kids." Uehara's response was to freak out and lose a bunch of weight, but he didn't really think things through, and Mori's hurt reaction when school starts up and they see each other again throws him off.
In the second chapter, Mori and Uehara agree to go on their first date after Mori gets back from a trip with his family, but sudden awkward feelings on Uehara's part throw a wrench in their plans.
Okay, so this had problematic aspects and the characters' thought processes didn't really make sense. Mori Guys, you're idiots.
But it was really sweet the way they tried so hard for each other, even if they were utterly stupid about it. And I liked that there were no stereotypical uke/seme aspects to their behavior. They were both giant, sweet, frustrating idiots who needed to have the stupid smacked out of them.
The weight loss/gain aspects were annoying, though. When Uehara initially wanted to lose weight, he apparently did so easily. When he wanted to gain it back, he couldn't no matter what he did. And yet when he ate a lot without intending to gain weight, suddenly the pounds magically appeared.
"Chocolate Truffle"
I could have written about this along with "Strawberry Milk," since it was technically a continuation of that story. However, the author set the two chapters up as frames for the volume, so I figured I'd write about them that way too.
In this chapter, Nanase brought Yui-sensei chocolate truffles but wouldn't give them to him unless his teacher said "Please feed them to me."
Very short. Again, I'm not wild about the student-teacher aspect, but it was cute for what it was.
Rating Note:
Considering the number of stories that were just okay, maybe I should rate this volume lower. But I really, really liked "Worries of the Future," and the idiots in "Wait Weight Wait" were sweet despite the story's problematic and annoying aspects. Plus, I cannot stress enough how nice it was to get through a whole volume of yaoi stories in which no one was mean or rapey.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
"Strawberry Milk"
Nanase likes to go up to the school rooftop and smoke. One day his teacher, Yui-sensei, tracks him down and tells him to stop because "I don't like my kisses to taste like smoke." Nanase isn't entirely sure where he's going with this, so he taunts Yui-sensei, saying that he'll quit if his teacher shows him what's so great about kissing someone who doesn't smoke.
I missed the first "sensei" in this and initially thought it starred a student and his upperclassman. Heck, they looked basically the same age. I wish that had been the case, because student-teacher relationships aren't really my thing.
But it was okay for what it was, although Yui-sensei was honestly an idiot.
"Worries of the Future"
Mitsuzuka is obsessed with the way he's aging, primarily because he remembers when he and his boyfriend, Kobayashi, were in high school and Kobayashi thought he was cute. Back then he was shorter than Kobayashi, but now that he's an adult he's taller and has a more manly build. Kobayashi still calls him cute, but he's convinced that the way he looks as he ages is eventually going to turn Kobayashi off.
This is my favorite story in the whole volume. It was so good, and Mitsuzuka and Kobayashi were a cute couple. I laughed as Mitsuzuka scowled into a mirror and freaked out when someone mentioned gray hairs. His reaction when he realized Kobayashi had misunderstood things was great too. I'd have loved to see more of these two.
"His, Her, and My Relationship"
Murakami recently had sex with Seta, his coworker and boyfriend, for the first time, and now he's incredibly worried that it wasn't any good, because it seems like Seta has been avoiding him. Then he notices that Takahashi, one of the women at work, has been hanging around Seta a lot and maybe even bringing him lunches. Is Seta cheating on him?
From the sounds of things, Murakami could probably use some gay sex ed, but aside from that this wasn't bad. These two grown men need to learn to talk to each other more, though. I assume that, just like they'd only recently started having sex, their relationship was probably still pretty new too.
Would I read more about Murakami, Seta, and Takahashi? The answer is yes.
"The First Stage of Love" & "Finally, the Second Stage of Love"
This is the first of two stories that take place over the course of two chapters, and it's the only story mentioned in any detail on the back of the book.
Kikuchi is a bookstore employee who has a crush on a regular customer, Kaji. He enjoys talking to him but is a bit bummed at the thought that Kaji probably only views him as another employee. However, when a coworker mentions that she thinks Kaji might be married because he bought a children's picture book, Kikuchi can't help but go after him and find out the truth.
In the second chapter, Kikuchi and Kaji have secretly been a couple for a while. However, Kaji's work has kept him very busy lately, and it's putting strain on their relationship.
Ehh, this was okay, I guess. A bookstore employee running after a customer in order to confess his love to him was honestly a little weird. And as for the second chapter, why not just text each other? What was all the stressing about?
"Wait Weight Wait 1" & "Wait Weight Wait 2"
Content warning on this one for issues relating to weight.
Just before summer, Uehara's best friend Mori confessed his love to him, saying that he'd fallen for him because "I like fat kids." Uehara's response was to freak out and lose a bunch of weight, but he didn't really think things through, and Mori's hurt reaction when school starts up and they see each other again throws him off.
In the second chapter, Mori and Uehara agree to go on their first date after Mori gets back from a trip with his family, but sudden awkward feelings on Uehara's part throw a wrench in their plans.
Okay, so this had problematic aspects and the characters' thought processes didn't really make sense. Mori Guys, you're idiots.
But it was really sweet the way they tried so hard for each other, even if they were utterly stupid about it. And I liked that there were no stereotypical uke/seme aspects to their behavior. They were both giant, sweet, frustrating idiots who needed to have the stupid smacked out of them.
The weight loss/gain aspects were annoying, though. When Uehara initially wanted to lose weight, he apparently did so easily. When he wanted to gain it back, he couldn't no matter what he did. And yet when he ate a lot without intending to gain weight, suddenly the pounds magically appeared.
"Chocolate Truffle"
I could have written about this along with "Strawberry Milk," since it was technically a continuation of that story. However, the author set the two chapters up as frames for the volume, so I figured I'd write about them that way too.
In this chapter, Nanase brought Yui-sensei chocolate truffles but wouldn't give them to him unless his teacher said "Please feed them to me."
Very short. Again, I'm not wild about the student-teacher aspect, but it was cute for what it was.
Rating Note:
Considering the number of stories that were just okay, maybe I should rate this volume lower. But I really, really liked "Worries of the Future," and the idiots in "Wait Weight Wait" were sweet despite the story's problematic and annoying aspects. Plus, I cannot stress enough how nice it was to get through a whole volume of yaoi stories in which no one was mean or rapey.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
March 19, 2022
With short story collections, it's hard to tell what the overall quality is going to be. This is kind of middle-of-the-road...there were a couple I liked, one I didn't particularly, and some that were okay but not terribly unique or memorable.
I had two favorites: "Worries of the Future" and "His, Her, and My Relationship."
The latter had the best potential for being a full book of its own, I think; we start off in the middle of the story, so it would've been fun to see more of the getting together bits, and then the aftermath as they fold into each other's families.
Murakami is gay, and he's somehow entered into a relationship with his friend and coworker, Seta. After sleeping together - Seta's first time with a guy - Seta seems to be avoiding Murakami, which is where the story, and Murakami's worry, begins. Maybe it wasn't as good for Seta as Murakami thought? Maybe Seta realized he only likes women, after all? Things aren't helped by rumors floating around the office that Seta's spending a lot of time with, and getting homemade lunches from, a beautiful female coworker.
I liked that instead of stewing about it, Murakami just asks Seta (because hey, there's no problem with being friends with a pretty girl), and then believes him when he says there's nothing romantic going on. Unfortunately, his faith in Seta gets tested when the woman in question tells Murakami that she'll be changing her last name to Seta soon...which means they're getting married??
The confrontation was funny and ultimately really nicely handled (although I couldn't figure out if Murakami carried Seta out of the office and all the way to a hotel/one of their homes before starting the conversation?). I wish there was more, so we could see Murakami interacting with the woman he's started referring to as his mother-in-law. Because the "Seta" she's marrying is actually his boyfriend's dad! Just cute, full of good communication, and with a nicely mature feel to their relationship.
"Worries of the Future" had a similar tone, with childhood friends to lovers Keiichi and Hiroyuki navigating a little bit of trouble in their relationship. They're in their mid-20s now, and started dating at some point along the line - not sure when, but during the time they've known each other, Keiichi went from "short and adorable" to "bigger and taller than his boyfriend and with prematurely greying hair."
It's a bit ridiculous because 25 can't remotely be considered anything near old, and they refer to "even in your 40s" as some massive ancient age, which makes me think the author must've been early to mid 20s at the latest. But Keiichi's insecurity is still handled in a sweet, funny way, as he agonizes over how Hiroyuki (who always talks about wanting to see his "cute face") will stop liking him once he realizes Keiichi is turning into a very not-cute old man.
Hiroyuki, who has a short temper and has been irritated at his boyfriend avoiding and lying to him, quickly reassures him once he realizes what's really going on. He reminds Keiichi that they're aging together - and isn't that better? - and that he's never going to stop thinking of Keiichi as "cute," no matter how old they get.
It's a much sweeter and better-handled version of a similar story that comes near the end of the book - "Wait Weight Wait."
Set in high school, the chubby main character gets an end-of-term confession from his male best friend, who tells him, flustered and nervous, that he's really attracted to fat people. Uehara, startled by the confession and not ready to return Mori's feelings, goes on an abrupt diet over the summer that turns him into a super skinny guy who honestly doesn't look very much like the chubby version.
Mori won't talk to Uehara anymore, and Uehara realizes it probably looks like he went through a super elaborate method of rejecting Mori's feelings and ensuring he won't bring them up again - because if he's skinny, Mori won't like him anymore, right?
It...could be a sort of good premise, especially because when they do talk, Mori tells Uehara repeatedly that he doesn't care what he looks like - fat or thin, whatever, he loves Uehara as a person and would want to be with him no matter what. He only confessed the way he did, because some frightened part of him thought Uehara would be more okay with a chubby-kink than with his best friend actually just being gay.
But in this and the chapter that follows, Uehara swings wildly between the two different weights and physical forms, to levels that frankly wouldn't be possible in the amount of time that's supposed to be passing. And he ultimately settles on "very thin" as his preferred weight, and the one that proves to Mori that he wants to be with him, after all. (?)
Kind of an uncomfortable read, really, with mixed messages. So that's the one I didn't like, and it got a fair amount of page room.
The title story also has two chapters, and while it's okay, it's not as good as I was hoping from the summary. Just a pretty basic customer and bookseller story, with a little bit of a misunderstanding that leads to a confession, then a slap in the face, then some avoidance, then eventually a mutual confession. After they get together, they navigate some difficulties in their communication and settle into a steadier relationship. Decent but honestly the teeniest bit boring.
The final one, which bookends the contents, is about a teacher who chooses an unorthodox way to get one of his students to stop smoking. It's fine, with some funny parts, but there was no real chemistry there, and I think it was actually kinda better without the second chapter.
A readable book, but not really a keeper.
I had two favorites: "Worries of the Future" and "His, Her, and My Relationship."
The latter had the best potential for being a full book of its own, I think; we start off in the middle of the story, so it would've been fun to see more of the getting together bits, and then the aftermath as they fold into each other's families.
Murakami is gay, and he's somehow entered into a relationship with his friend and coworker, Seta. After sleeping together - Seta's first time with a guy - Seta seems to be avoiding Murakami, which is where the story, and Murakami's worry, begins. Maybe it wasn't as good for Seta as Murakami thought? Maybe Seta realized he only likes women, after all? Things aren't helped by rumors floating around the office that Seta's spending a lot of time with, and getting homemade lunches from, a beautiful female coworker.
I liked that instead of stewing about it, Murakami just asks Seta (because hey, there's no problem with being friends with a pretty girl), and then believes him when he says there's nothing romantic going on. Unfortunately, his faith in Seta gets tested when the woman in question tells Murakami that she'll be changing her last name to Seta soon...which means they're getting married??
The confrontation was funny and ultimately really nicely handled (although I couldn't figure out if Murakami carried Seta out of the office and all the way to a hotel/one of their homes before starting the conversation?). I wish there was more, so we could see Murakami interacting with the woman he's started referring to as his mother-in-law. Because the "Seta" she's marrying is actually his boyfriend's dad! Just cute, full of good communication, and with a nicely mature feel to their relationship.
"Worries of the Future" had a similar tone, with childhood friends to lovers Keiichi and Hiroyuki navigating a little bit of trouble in their relationship. They're in their mid-20s now, and started dating at some point along the line - not sure when, but during the time they've known each other, Keiichi went from "short and adorable" to "bigger and taller than his boyfriend and with prematurely greying hair."
It's a bit ridiculous because 25 can't remotely be considered anything near old, and they refer to "even in your 40s" as some massive ancient age, which makes me think the author must've been early to mid 20s at the latest. But Keiichi's insecurity is still handled in a sweet, funny way, as he agonizes over how Hiroyuki (who always talks about wanting to see his "cute face") will stop liking him once he realizes Keiichi is turning into a very not-cute old man.
Hiroyuki, who has a short temper and has been irritated at his boyfriend avoiding and lying to him, quickly reassures him once he realizes what's really going on. He reminds Keiichi that they're aging together - and isn't that better? - and that he's never going to stop thinking of Keiichi as "cute," no matter how old they get.
It's a much sweeter and better-handled version of a similar story that comes near the end of the book - "Wait Weight Wait."
Set in high school, the chubby main character gets an end-of-term confession from his male best friend, who tells him, flustered and nervous, that he's really attracted to fat people. Uehara, startled by the confession and not ready to return Mori's feelings, goes on an abrupt diet over the summer that turns him into a super skinny guy who honestly doesn't look very much like the chubby version.
Mori won't talk to Uehara anymore, and Uehara realizes it probably looks like he went through a super elaborate method of rejecting Mori's feelings and ensuring he won't bring them up again - because if he's skinny, Mori won't like him anymore, right?
It...could be a sort of good premise, especially because when they do talk, Mori tells Uehara repeatedly that he doesn't care what he looks like - fat or thin, whatever, he loves Uehara as a person and would want to be with him no matter what. He only confessed the way he did, because some frightened part of him thought Uehara would be more okay with a chubby-kink than with his best friend actually just being gay.
But in this and the chapter that follows, Uehara swings wildly between the two different weights and physical forms, to levels that frankly wouldn't be possible in the amount of time that's supposed to be passing. And he ultimately settles on "very thin" as his preferred weight, and the one that proves to Mori that he wants to be with him, after all. (?)
Kind of an uncomfortable read, really, with mixed messages. So that's the one I didn't like, and it got a fair amount of page room.
The title story also has two chapters, and while it's okay, it's not as good as I was hoping from the summary. Just a pretty basic customer and bookseller story, with a little bit of a misunderstanding that leads to a confession, then a slap in the face, then some avoidance, then eventually a mutual confession. After they get together, they navigate some difficulties in their communication and settle into a steadier relationship. Decent but honestly the teeniest bit boring.
The final one, which bookends the contents, is about a teacher who chooses an unorthodox way to get one of his students to stop smoking. It's fine, with some funny parts, but there was no real chemistry there, and I think it was actually kinda better without the second chapter.
A readable book, but not really a keeper.
September 29, 2021
This was fine for what it was and I liked the art. There's just something about that giant mouthed yaoi art that I've grown to like lol. It's been a week since I've read this though and I hardly remember a thing about it. I remember liking it, but that's about it.
May 5, 2024
another one of the yaoi manga I got when I was in high school I'm rereading to see if I want to keep them or nah. It was actually kinda boring so this is a pass. the artstyle is iconic though- I think I read everything by this author back in the day, that's probably why I still own it lol.
April 10, 2020
A lot of misunderstandings in this book, just like in a regular romance novel!
September 19, 2021
The cover art made me think of Lovestage so I had to get it. The cover story was good but my favorites were two of the short stories Strawberry Milk and Wait Weight Wait.
July 19, 2022
Cute and fairly squeaky clean BL romance anthology. Worth a quick read.
May 27, 2024
Manga con historias cortas de amor adolescente
August 4, 2010
This a funny book about two gay guys.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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