Though handsome and well-liked, Kohei Sugihara has led a gloomy and withdrawn existence ever since he developed severe hearing loss in junior high. But in college, a chance encounter with his ever optimistic classmate Taichi Sagawa ignites an undeniable shared spark that eventually blossoms into love.
Graduation nears for Kohei, and with a job offer in hand from his top choice, he embarks on a summer internship to ease the transition. However, the experience quickly turns into a trial by fire, leaving Kohei struggling to find his way among the sometimes divisive opinions of his new coworkers.
“I’m always gonna be there to lift you to your feet. Even when we get into a fight, I’m still on your side!”
“Why should you feel guilt simply for who you are or what you can or cannot do? You haven’t done anything wrong. What’s the use in pretending you’re a burden on every person you meet? You’re just living life, same as everybody else.”
if a person’s writing could feel like a warm hug it would always be yuki fumino’s
The themes in this series are always so good, and there's so many interesting discussions. But I'm begging the mangaka to give us more Kohei and Taichi. Man, we're starving. One single hug per volume is not enough.
It's starting to get quite dull... is this even a BL at this point? I love the central characters and the themes and messages, but there is no fire to this manga.
Mis bebés, los amo tanto tanto tanto 😭 Este tomo me recordó bastante a "En la ardiente oscuridad" de Buero Vallejo por el reflejo de los pensamientos hacia las discapacidades (hay quienes viven felices con ello mientras que otros maldicen haber nacido así y lo afrontan con rabia o con tristeza). Me parece en general que esta serie habla MUCHO sobre muchas cosas y hay mucha representación tanto de condiciones de vida como de simplemente pensamientos y emociones y vida interior de los personajes. No sé cómo describirlo, pero siento que todo el que lea esto puede encontrar algún momento en el que algún personaje dijera algo que lo representa (y hablan mucho sobre complejos de inferioridad y nunca sentirse suficiente, así que en lo que a mí respecta, me identifico mucho con los personajes). Lo que sí, al contrario que en Heartstopper, donde representan problemas con los que me identifico, los van solucionando y eso me sirve como guía y consuelo para solucionar los míos; en Puedo Oír el sol no siento que las "soluciones" que aportan sean las más efectivas (la mayoría de personajes dejan atrás sus inseguridades a la minima que alguien les dice que siguen siendo útiles a pesar de ellas, y en mi caso necesitaría más reassurance y validación, además de formas de afrontar esos problemas). En fin, que me expliqué fatal pero que me encanta este manga, es una cucada, se quieren con todo el alma (me recuerdan un poco a Lauriña y a mí) y me encanta cómo se apoyan y complementan en todo. Un besote 💋
Although this volume was not perfect and didn’t show a lot of our couple together it did do a fantastic job of showing work place relationships as well as disability representation in many forms with multiple different points of view. This was a huge improvement over the last volume that I found to be extremely lackluster until the end. Hopefully the wait for the next volume isn’t too long as I really do love these two guys.
Se centra muchísimo en la empresa de Kohei, que en parte lo entiendo, pero me ha entretenido 0 y me he cabreado muchísimo por la impotencia de cada situación.
Menos mal que hay más tomos (supuestamente), porque dejá 4 hilos sueltos que me están volviendo loca.
3.5 Fue interesante la representación delo difícil que es la integración a un trabajo normal teniendo una discapacidad, pero me faltó tiempo entre Taichi y Kohei.
i LOVE this manga with my entire heart, it makes me sad to see so many reviews complaining it’s “too boring” or doesn’t have enough romance etc. because this is a slice of life first, BL second.
when this was first being written, it wasn’t even intended to be a romance. taichi and kohei were first conceived as friends, and became lovers at some point in the writing process.
if you’re reading this only for romance and are looking for spice, this is not the series for you. and that’s okay ! but don’t knock the manga for not being something it was never supposed to be.
I'm not sure if I've given any other manga series this many 5 stars. I'd have to go back through and check, but it's safe to say that this is easily in my top favorites now that I've caught up.
From the short author's note at the end of this one, it also doesn't sound like the next volume will be the end of the series - and considering the story arc and the page counts for the Seasons books, I don't really see how it could fully wrap things up. We're still in the middle of a lot of big storylines, with things like Taichi's father shelved for job-related stresses.
Turns out graduation actually hasn't happened yet, so the timeline is still a tiny bit wobbly, but maybe a little less so than I'd been thinking. There are off-page gaps, like whatever the transition period was between Kohei's interview and job offer and the start of his internship.
Job culture in Japan is really interesting. I know there's a lot of it I would not do well with: the intense hiring process, the overtime expectations, the travel requirements, the strict company culture. But they also focus on things like proper employee training and onboarding, which I...have honestly never had at any of my workplaces.
By taking the voluntary new hire internship, Kohei is jumpstarting the process by giving himself more on-the-job experience before he becomes an official employee with more nailed-down expectations. It's a smart move, and his employment choice also made a whole lot more sense to me than I'd initially thought. He's not just gaining corporate experience; he's working in Human Resources, which really is a very solid foundation for the type of labor law he studied and would like to transition into.
He gets set up with a few responsibilities right off the bat: one that seems like busy work and one where he expresses anxiety about being in over his head. Both are...well, pretty calculated moves by the hiring manager who'd given him a D- in the group interviews.
That's finally explained in a sort of roundabout way. It wasn't that Kohei had done badly in his group: he'd put in a ton of effort to communicate clearly, contribute to their idea, and bond their team together. Takahashi's complaint was that he'd...put in too much effort by not taking the accommodations that had been laid out in the exercise's instructions. He essentially made the whole experience a whole lot harder for himself by trying to do it the hard way, as though he was punishing himself for needing things like a quieter room, microphones, etc.
Now that he's in his internship, he's thrown into the deep end a bit, put in charge of checking in on all the other "challenged" hires in the company. We get to see several of these interviews in detail, which is something that really makes this series stretch out, but which I loved. You're not just learning about the coworkers - including a surprise return from an earlier volume! - but getting more insight into Kohei's mental state and his growth at work. It's such cleverly done writing.
The "busy work" job is the kind of tedious, time-consuming task I've dealt with a lot over the years, particularly as a temp worker. Kohei of course jumps right into trying to streamline the task to make it more efficient, which makes his supervisor for that task even angrier. This was set up as a whole abusive work situation, with the guy treating Kohei and his limited hearing like dirt. But then...the narrative twisted it, as it always does, and pulls Kohei into a new way of interacting with people that he's never really have the confidence for in the past.
This is due to Takahashi's manipulations - he'd wanted Kohei to drag this downtrodden coworker out of a rut and inspire him again - but it's also just Kohei doing what's natural for college students who enter the workforce: he's growing up. And learning that it's okay to fight for himself, rather than spending all his time apologizing for who he is and what he does and doesn't know.
Taichi takes a little bit of a back burner role in this volume, but all his appearances are still great, and it's some of his best scenes with Kohei yet. That rainy embrace on the staircase was absolutely top-notch. Perfection. So emotional, so true to them, and such a good way of showing how a relationship can keep growing even when both partners are extremely busy with their individual lives and jobs. Loved Taichi insisting that Kohei share his worries with him, no matter what they are, even if it makes them fight. They're just such a good couple.
We close out the volume with Sudo finally realizing who Taichi's boyfriend actually is...so I guess now I'll wait a year to find out what drama he tries to stir up from that.
My only real annoyance from rereading and catching up on this series...I was kind of hoping I'd be able to clear up some shelf space by thinning out the alternate cover volumes I'd bought for the bonus items (shikishi), but now that this is very definitely a favorite series, I guess I'll just have to suck it up and keep them all.
This is a biased rating because this volume actively made me angry. So much of this was dedicated to setting up new characters that frankly, I don’t see a reason to really care about yet. And it feels like approximately 10% of this volume actually had any romance in it at all. It was bonkers. It’s like the author has regressed back into writing with every single issue I had with the limit volumes. Not enough focus on their relationship, their relationship not progressing at all in spite of dating for FOUR years now (if not more), them both still acting like teenagers but especially Taichi who has honestly gotten more naive and childlike as the series has progressed, and even Kohei seems to have to relearn the same morals and lessons that we the reader saw him learn in the limit series. It’s actually crazy to me how repetitive this series has become, and how little anything has progressed in the decade worth of material the author has written. So many choices that were made in this volume frustrated me, but the craziest of all to me was that there was still no progression with Taichi’s homophobic coworker until literally the last page of the last chapter. It just reeks of filler content and it’s really frustrating to know a year’s worth of material ultimately lead to nothing. I could have skipped this volume and (hopefully) just picked this series back up with the next one to see what actually is going to happen. Quite literally nothing that happened here matters to the story that they have been telling, besides Kohei starting his new job and it being stressful. But that genuinely could have been condensed down into one single chapter, I didn’t need to know the intricacies of a business making and ordering business cards!!! Why was all of that necessary, just to teach Kohei a lesson he’s already known. To give him the kick that Taichi had been giving him for 6 other volumes. Crazy to me. Also setting up Kohei’s conflict with his coworker who’s visually impaired, but not following up on it yet… when that’s the actual relevant and interesting and new type of internal and external conflict Kohei hasn’t dealt with before??? Baffling choices being made in this volume. Maybe it’ll make sense in retrospect once the series is complete but right now it feels pretty shitty that this is all we’re gonna get for about another year. I’m mad. Lol.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I was really let down by this volume. This really just served to introduce a lot more characters (most of whom are unpleasant) and didn't really have much plot at all. There was really no romantic progress at all - I think we only see Taichi and Kohei together for like a maximum of ten pages.
I really hate the manager. He's so manipulative and SO condescending. Kohei comes up with a helpful proposal and the manager lowkey shames him for it in such a smug "I though you'd know better" way. It did make sense why the proposal wasn't approved, but I feel like the average person wouldn't have thought of it. I also am stunned by the fact that the employees with disabilities were explicitly told that they were hired to fill a quota. I know that kind of quota/initiative exists in the USA but I don't think it's ever explicitly said to anyone - that just surprised me.
I did think this volume was still ok though. The art was still great and I do like that there's discourse around disability and the different ways to view it.
Me sabe mal, pero todo este arco de “Four Seasons” ha sido el que menos me ha gustado porque en lugar de enfocarse en la relación de Kohei y Taichi, la autora se ha ido por las ramas y vemos más cómo conviven con otros en sus respectivos trabajos.
Desde el primero hubo un retroceso con Taichi, no creyéndose que Kohei de verdad le quiere, y es absurdo dado el tiempo que han estado juntos y que claramente le ha dicho lo que siente por él.
En este volumen Kohei está a prueba en una empresa que apoya a personas con algún tipo de discapacidad, pero se topa con pared porque uno de sus superiores lo trata como si fuera un chico incapaz de solucionar algo. Sin embargo, Kohei no permite que eso apague su luz y encuentra la manera de darle la vuelta y hacerle ver que, de no comportarse adecuadamente, no le tomará consideración alguna solo porque la gente, en general, percibe a los discapacitados como incapaces de hablar por sí mismos.
Ciertamente el capítulo extra, aunque fue lindo, no fue suficiente para mí. Como dije, ojalá la autora ya retomara la relación de los protas y se enfocara más en ello, porque me molesta que estemos esperando meses a una traducción oficial y para nada.
This volume primarily focuses on Kohei's new internship and his struggles with figuring out where he fits in there. The relationship between Kohei and Taichi really gets put on the back burner here, but there are still some cute moments throughout.
It doesn't bother me when some of these series periodically sideline the romance for other things as long as it still feels like something is progressing. I thought this volume was good character progression for Kohei especially, and it definitely hinted at some things that will probably (hopefully?) be addressed in the future regarding Taichi and their relationship.
« Hidamari ga kikoeru ~Au fil des saisons~ » est une histoire toujours aussi douce et instructive. J’ai néanmoins une crainte désormais, c’est que l’intrigue soit tellement distillée qu’on finisse par s’ennuyer. C’est déjà le cas du côté de la romance où hormis un petit passage où la jalousie fait son œuvre, il n’y a pas de réelle évolution. De même du côté de Taichi. Il y a les prémices d’événements intéressants avec son père et le nouveau stagiaire Sudo mais en trois tomes, nous n’avons pas appris grand-chose. Finalement, c’est avec Kohei que j’ai eu ce que je cherchais : de la variété dans les gens rencontrés, des obstacles, de la confrontation, les difficultés du monde du travail et de la bienveillance. J’ose espérer que la mangaka ne tombera pas dans le piège des longues séries et saura redonner du peps à son histoire.
This is my favorite manga series but I cant give this more than two stars. It was too much business talk and too less BL. The storyline has kind of been standing still for the past two volumes. While I love the disability representation and the way the struggles of people with disabilities are voiced and shown in the Manga, I can‘t with the work and business talk anymore…. I felt myself getting bored while reading this volume.
I dont want to mainly read about work colleagues, I‘m here for Kohei and Taichi and their relationship.
The endpaper says the author knows its not much BL atm. And I hope she‘s bringing their relationship along in the next volumes….
Lo cierto es que la historia, aunque interesante, se me está haciendo bastante cuesta arriba. Creo sinceramente que debería elegir un final y cerrarla lo antes posible porque con la periodicidad es una obra por la que se pierde interés aunque la relectura no sea complicada. Para mi los primeros tomos estaban mejor, eran más ligeros aunque la trama fuese compleja. Creo que seguiré pero más por acabarla que por verdadero interés.
Definitely was more plot heavy with Kohei working his internship, navigating being hard of hearing in a work place. Growing into his confidence as a person and not feeling bad of his hard hearing and how it may affect others.
I just GAH I love the scenes of him and Taichi so when we barely got any this volume I was kicking my feet giggling at the ones we did get. I love this series, one of the first BL series I picked up and shit the author can give us ten more and id eat em up.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This volume is not about the couple or an equal balance of Sugihara and Taichi as they prepare to enter the work force. It’s solely about Sugihara and his internship woes. Therefore, there are new characters and setting. I appreciate the diversity and spotlight on workplace issues for those with disabilities, but it felt rather dull and I fear that this series may run its course, especially if there’s no romance.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Just not a lot happened. We keep getting workplace issues for these two that are kind of boring. We have som many characters we need to remember but I don’t know what the point is anymore. I miss Taichi’s managers younger brother.
I saw the note from the author, I don’t know that I need spicier just more mature. They kind of act so childish but I guess at least in this series the person with the disability isn’t infantilized.
Trobo que aquest llibre ha sigut el que més s’ha centrat en la inclusió laboral i les dificultats que es troben la gent amb algún tipus de discapacitat. Molt interessant, inclusiu, revelador i conscienciador peeeeeero yo quiero más romantiqueo jajajajaja per això li poso 3 estrelles. Tot i així, segueix sent un història preciosa i quedarem a la espera de que surti el següent!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I enjoy this series but damn, why so much time between releases??! I have to reread all the other volumes just to remember wtf is going on! Reading this series feels like I’ve lived through 3 different lifetimes already… I laughed at the authors note at the end. Even she knows that this “bl” is not much of a bl LOL. But hey she promised “progress” in the next one. See you in a year! Haha
Why is the expect release for the next book 11 months from now?! 😩😩😩
Continue to love this story. Slow burn to intimacy and all. The anxiety the workplace issues these two are navigating are inspiring in me isn’t the best when I have to shelve them and wait for the next volume but forth it since I love the story so much
This volume contained such annoying characters I can’t 😂 it focused more on the work part (important for the plot and Kohei but still) and if I have to be honest I felt the love story lacking a lot. Hopefully the next volume will deliver since it was promised on the last page 😂
10/10, sin duda alguna. Me ha encantado. Quiero comentarlo en bluski con más calma, porque hay mucha tela que cortar en lo que dice y cómo lo dice. Kohei te quiero mucho.