Is This the Kind of Love I Want?, Volume 2

Is This the Kind of Love I Want? #2

by kouki

It's been a year since businessmen Uta (recently come out as gay) and Ryo (considers himself straight) began living together. After losing his virginity to Uta, Ryo finally realized what it feels like to love someone. And Uta, obsessed with what it means to be "normal," can't understand why seemingly straight Ryo is letting Uta use him for sex. Their undeniable attraction is interspersed with moments of tragic misunderstanding as Ryo attempts to prove his love to an oblivious and self-conscious Uta... Will the two of them be able to finally communicate their feelings?

Genres: Manga, Yaoi, Romance, LGBT, Boys Love, Fiction, Graphic Novels

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 24, 2022

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating 2.5*

I am so annoyed!! Like the first one was kind of messy, but I still enjoyed myself, but this one was so GRATING. The lack of communication was so frustrating and I'm irritated that he never brought up the fact that he knew him when they were in high school other than a throw away scene at the end. I mean the whole knowing him in high school thing was kind of useless to the story in general in my opinion. The story would've been the same without it. It didn't add anything. Then it's great that he asked the couple for permission and I mean they were down, but proposing at someone's wedding, bro?? When you haven't previously discussed marriage with your partner??? Like wtf. Even Uta was like we're not even dating what are you talking about? They both just did shit assuming what the other person was thinking and never discussed anything. Idk this volume did everything so bad. I'm so mad about it.

[Imanewreader ✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

rep - mlm

omg.. they are so stupid (in love). my children..
there timeline, their relationship and feelings are all over the place. but it makes their couple and story even more endearing.

i wish them all the happiness in the world !!

ps- i wish their (common) past was more developped.. especially if uta remembers it actually.

[Andria · Rating 3 out of 5]

The secondhand embarrassment is real.

[Autumn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feels a bit choppy. The pacing is really quick and the story could have benefited from one more volume to really flush things out. Cute ending though.

[Mari · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

The miscommunication continues. We do get a happy ending. But it's rushed feeling. I feel like the author had some good elements. It just wasn't hitting in the right way.

[Ryofire · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

It's an okay to interesting conclusion to a perhaps overly fluffy realistic fiction boys love manga about societal sexism, patriarchy, and misogyny and how that impacts the self-worth and lifestyle of men, even around other men and in the absence of women. Men are often the ones holding up toxic masculinity around each other, and an excuse given is the fear of women laughing at them, but while there are female characters in the narrative, particularly important ones, the worst moments for the men in this story are when they are alone, left in the walls of their minds created by parents, grandparents, and the society they reside in, lambasting themselves for not living up to an ideal that neither exists nor serves any particular purpose other than to punish and sublimate women and other marginalized people. The story arguably began in volume 1 with Uta being stabbed by his ex, but even when she returns in volume 2, the scariest person in the situation is Ryo, listening in and misunderstanding things, and Uta, misunderstanding what's holding himself back and why. It's still a good scene, and I enjoyed how much Uta grew and how he didn't cower to his ex's whims.

I wish we had more time with Ryo's issues (ending the story on Uta figuring out there might be issues felt sad), but I did appreciate the moment where he lambasts himself for being a literal shadow of his grandfather, and that he needs to do better to stop Uta from leaving him. It's one of the strongest points in the entire series, and it makes his ridiculousness with ignoring Uta's wishes a bit more bearable. Even in trying to be a better man, he holds himself to too high a standard, refusing to give into his urges due to mistakes he must atone for (e.g., screwing up at work, messing up dinner). As the story goes on, we can see that even having epiphanies about how to treat your partner well and being an equal partner in a household is not the same as having all of life's answers, thus resulting in the bizarre proposal that makes no sense to anyone else, and kind of revealing that public proposals are weird affairs that place too much pressure on the person being proposed to. Ryo, at least, understands at last that it was a ridiculous situation and apologizes. Why he thought reaching out to Uta's ex about this was a good idea, I genuinely have no idea other than being without sex for a year made him even more insane than usual.

There's also an odd bit about reverse sexism, perhaps reflecting (sort of) on how women perpetuate homophobia, especially against gay men, even unintentionally, but it's not handled the best. Reverse sexism can happen, and men can be abused by women. But it's odd to see Ryo thinking the women who gave birth to children and presumably handle other duties he can't see most of the time aren't working for equality of the sexes just because the men are in the kitchen for the single meal he visits. We know from glimpses of Uta's life that his female family members were very strict about his heteronormative upbringing and that he grow to be a good man to make some woman a happy husband... And perhaps this is meant to reflect how women are raised and that it's not good even when it's done to men? But it just comes off awkward and not pointed. Things don't suck for women because they can't rest even on vacation and have to stay in the kitchen. They suck because life is always that way, regardless. And this isn't helped when Ryo, our paragon of understanding inequality, then goes beyond Uta's back to ask his ex who assaulted him for help planning a marriage proposal.

Perhaps the more frustrating part of this isn't the fluff but the way both characters get increasingly dumbed down over time, leading in part to why they were on completely different wavelengths for most things. They both self-sabotage in different ways, and while I generally love a good self-sabotage plot and appreciate that it's not on one partner to be the adult (they both need to be), both leads end up being more annoying than endearing, possibly due to the translation. It's also confusing to me if events in volume 2 are meant to mirror those in volume 1 or the story is told non-chronologically, with the year of no sex being shown early on. Parts are clearly referenced, with the "I'm tired" refusal from Ryo being shown in the first third of volume 1. But how much else in volume 2 is just meant to be "the same thing happens" or "now we're seeing it in the order it happened rather than out of order" is confusing.

People who want overly fluffy boys love, where one partner, abused by life in general, is blanketed in support and spoiled excessively without sexual demands from a hungry lover, should pick this up, because it's exactly what you want. Even if the art is occasionally kind of ugly, despite the still cute chibis (the art is generally quite nice, but sometimes faces look a bit weird). Of course people like that presumably are unaware stuff like this (fluffy BL) exists in bucketloads, so they won't find this anyway.

[tortie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really cute, if not for the insanely rushed climax and conclusion. Miscommunication tropes galore, mixed with internalized homophobia manifesting in self sabotage. This was so conflicting for me, because it really was so cute and I was rooting for them to figure it out, but it was also very frustrating! So many thoughts between the two of them, and not a single one was shared with each other until the very end. Crazy. I understand Uta worrying about pushing Iki when he thinks he’s still straight, but it’s still just very sad seeing them wind each other up for so long and then not get a fully developed conclusion. It does end well, I’m glad they work it out, I’m just a little disappointed I guess.

Still would recommend though, there’s nothing wrong with this series objectively. It’s cute.

[Jam · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Combined review for both volumes)
Overall: 8/10
🌶️🔞: 3/5 (censored/cropped panels)
Characters: 8/10

Story: light hearted, low drama, funny, miscommunication/misunderstandings (in a fun way, not frustrating), self-acceptance journey, slight internalized homophobia

I really liked this series for a quick and fun read. The MC's self-acceptance journey was sweet and relatable. I like that the only person that was disgusted/bothered by his sexuality was himself and that he realized others were supportive of him.

*Minor spoiler*(?)
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Not sure if it's much of a spoiler, but I do wish there was a bit more on the "knowing each other in highschool" revelation. Also to see how the MC's coming out went over with his family.

[J-Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This volume is marginally more romantic than the previous one, but it’s still not good. Miscommunication piled on top of insecurity equals rushed storyline. Also, the book just ends. It’s like “will you marry me? What do you mean we weren’t dating? Wait, you do wanna marry me? Kiss. We went to the same school. End” (╯°益°)╯彡┻━┻ where is the developing relationship due to the mutual understanding that these two love one another? Where is the romance!?

Ugh! I wish I never picked up these books! I don’t recommend them at all!

[Vivian Lu · Rating 2 out of 5]

The lack of communication was killing me.

Also, it doesn't matter if the couple is fine with it - let's not propose at someone else's wedding and steal the spotlight. It's embarrassing and not cute.

More like 1.5/5

[Yolotzin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The timeline makes sense now. Lol they're funny. I'm glad it all worked out.

[T.J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Is this the kind of manga I want? No.

Wish I had waited to buy volume 2 until after I read volume 1. Dumb.

[DonutKnow · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was pretty cool to see Ryu grow and be more mature in his actions and emotions ❤️

[Chelsea Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

this one was definitely better than the first (congratulations to their marriage)

[a*s*h · Rating 3 out of 5]

idiots.

[Hannah Stowe · Rating 3 out of 5]

very sweet and an interesting take on the very basic miscommunication story. I liked it!

[LelandraTheLazyReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cried (sad) I cried (happy) for these two stupid gays during pride month.
👏👏🥹🏳️‍🌈👨‍❤️‍👨👏👏

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, pretty cute! I really enjoyed the characters and watching their relationship move from friends with benefits to much more. The emotional development in this volume is more intriguing than in the prior volume. I'm also almost always a sucker for a happy, sappy ending.