Only the Ring Finger Knows: The Ring Finger Falls Silent

Only the Ring Finger Knows - Novel #3

by Satoru Kannagi, Hotaru Odagiri (Illustrator)

After all the studying he did for his exams, sacrificing time with his boyfriend Yuichi, Wataru gets a measly C-average on his summer prep test. Yuichi's college classmate Asaka offers to tutor him, and he eagerly accepts. Wataru finds Asaka's cool beauty and attitude strikingly similar to that of Yuichi's, and subconsciously becomes vulnerable to his advances. For the first time in their relationship, Yuichi becomes enraged. Will they be able to overcome this new obstacle?

Genres: Manga, Yaoi, Romance, Light Novel, LGBT, M M Romance, Fiction

289 pages, Paperback

First published October 25, 2002

About the author

Kannagi Satoru (神奈木 智)

Reviews

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

ARGH I am so frustrated because I actually enjoyed this and now want to read the rest - especially book 4, which is apparently mostly about Masanobu. I know he's not going to get the happy ending, but I would like to see how things turn out for him...but I'm not willing to shell out a stupid amount of money to slog through two more kind of badly written but strangely compelling stories.

It's like eating salt and vinegar chips. "Ugh this is terrible," I say, page by page and chip by chip until the whole bag is empty and I'm reaching for another.

There really is a lot to dislike. This time, I actually took note of some of the (many) instances where Wataru's relationship with Yuichi is bafflingly awful. First, let's dwell on the wonderfully romantic description of why Wataru is in love with Yuichi.

He really didn't know where the seed of love had been sown. No matter how much he tried to convince himself that he was a nasty guy, Wataru was unable to come to hate Yuichi from the bottom of his heart. In fact, his heart tended towards him as if being pulled by some unseen force.

Wataru spends a LOT of time in this book (and apparently in the next one) wrestling with a deeply ingrained and much more understandable attraction towards Masanobu - which he keeps convincing himself isn't romantic in nature and is only because Masanobu reminds him of Yuichi.

But get this: he finally decides that Masanobu reminds him of the nice parts of Yuichi that he used to be so upset Yuichi never showed around him. Meaning, Yuichi was always so incredibly considerate to everyone else and so horrifically nasty to Wataru that Wataru was confused and hurt and angry but...but...fell in love with Yuichi anyway because...plot.

We're three books in, and Masanobu, as the rival love interest, could be some deeply conniving villain who's playing up the fake niceness like Yuichi did, in order to steal Wataru away for some villainous reason, but...he's not. He's genuinely a nice guy.

This is affirmed at every opportunity, including by Yuichi and Yuichi's older brother Shohei. (And by Wataru, who believes steadily and wholeheartedly in Masanobu and wants to keep Masanobu in his life, but is just having trouble figuring out how to do so in a non-romantic light. Even Yuichi gives in because he doesn't see a way he can break those two apart without his boyfriend hating him. So which of these is true love, I ask you?)

Seriously...I am DEEPLY CONFUSED by someone writing a book where the rival is So Clearly the better option on every level than the existing boyfriend. There's no comparison! Heck, Masanobu is even more attractive in the art...which is why I bought these books to begin with. Now that there's a character I actually like, I'm free to enjoy Odagiri's work like I'd wanted from the moment I saw her distinctive style on these covers.

And this volume has illustrations of both a wonderfully emotional hug and a kiss between Wataru and Masanobu. The latter situation isn't great; Masanobu gets jealous and lunges forward for one of those Forceful Kisses that Yuichi is usually wrestling Wataru into. But there's a pretty great conversation that results from that, actually, and a confession that Wataru himself thinks of as the sweetest, most sincere and romantic thing he's ever heard...in direct comparison to everything Yuichi has ever said to him.

Wataru spends a lot of time, actually, comparing the two guys. Somehow, Yuichi always wins, but it always feels like Wataru is struggling to keep him on top...simply because they're already dating, and they're linked together permanently by these stupid rings that were an idiotic plot device to begin with. (Keeping them as a part of the storyline has gotten increasingly awkward, since it was a short-lived high school fad that everyone is kind of embarrassed by now that they're moving on to college. I'm still annoyed by how much more interesting I'd thought that rings plot was going to be in Volume 1.)

Anyway, the comparisons. Here's Wataru's reaction after that scene in the car, where he and Masanobu hug after having an earnest heart-to-heart that means a lot to both of them.

Reserved Wataru could hardly remember ever crying in front of anyone. The one exception was Yuichi, but he got made fun of as much as possible for it.

Boyfriend: makes fun of Wataru for being vulnerable and crying. Masanobu: gets so overwhelmed by Wataru's honest and sympathetic tears that he wraps his arms around him and chokes up, too. The winner: somehow the boyfriend????

Then, after the kiss, Wataru rejects Masanobu and has a weird interaction with Yuichi, who had been following him around and spying on him the entire time.

The rings that touched each of their palms as they held hands were like keys to their moving forward together. He thought that they weren't kindly enveloping arms like Masanobu's, but forceful, willful fingers.
But, to Wataru, the lover who would jealously say a line like "I'll kill him" was a treasure more valuable than anything.

Boyfriend: violent, controlling, jealous. Masanobu: gentle, caring, kind. The winner: boyfriend again?????

I guess maybe Wataru is a masochist? I don't get it.

(I'll admit Yuichi isn't all bad in this book...in some ways, he seems to be demonstrating some improvements in his communication with Wataru, but he started out on a really low tier, so there really wasn't anywhere to go but up. Slightly.)

Even the way Yuichi and Masanobu talk to other people about Wataru is strikingly different.

"Unfortunately, I have the patent on unkindness and abusive language," Yuichi proudly tells Masanobu, when explaining that Masanobu will never win because Wataru will always, always choose him. (He's right. How is he right.)

Meanwhile, Masanobu, who would absolutely have an incredibly powerful force on his side if he agreed to let Shohei manipulate things, refuses to take any action that would upset Wataru. "There had to be a way to not cause pain or trouble for Wataru," he muses, trying to think of how to get close to the guy he likes - and to maybe successfully steal him away from Yuichi - without doing anything that has a chance of hurting him.

So basically...he's a great guy, and it super sucks that he's going to get dragged along for another two books before Wataru inevitably chooses Yuichi again.

I don't know. Maybe they deserve each other. Maybe the "wow Wataru's sister looks exactly like him" bit at the end of this volume means Masanobu will end up dating Karin instead? She certainly came out better than Wataru in that final deeply frustrating scene, where Wataru decides to suck face (the descriptions are that awkward) with his boyfriend instead of bothering to (a) help out the best friend who was floundering at the festival without him and had been promised he'd be there (b) fulfill his obligations to his class and school (c) make the horrible situation he put his sister in have any meaning at all.

I have more thoughts on Yuichi dragging Karin into their mess to begin with, but at least he sort of apologized for that. Guh. What a selfish child he's being, though.

While Shohei is treating his little brother's relationship with Wataru with some pretty strong societally based homophobia, I do kinda get where he's coming from. He's asked the two of them to convince him to give them his support, and so far they're not doing a great job of it. In his eyes, breaking them up is saving a lot of heartache down the line, and a mess he'll have to clean up anyway - that will only get bigger over time. He's 12 years older than Yuichi, and while age doesn't necessarily make him wiser, or right on all counts, he is speaking from experience and thinking about the future, which Yuichi just...isn't.

After all, any time Yuichi wants something, his brother will take care of it. Like...Shohei (and Masanobu) stepping in at the festival and literally selling the clothes off their backs so Yuichi can just make out with his boyfriend and ignore everything he'd gone there to do.

(More thoughts carrying over from the previous volume about how Yuichi fully sponged off his brother by getting a free stay at a fancy resort and then complaining about him the whole time. People like that annoy me.)

Sigh. These books infuriate me. But I did end up finding a lot more things to like as I went on...either because they improved or because I just got sucked into them.

Frustratingly, I think I'll have to keep them for a bit, until I can possibly find some reasonably priced copies of 4 and 5 and indulge my weird salt and vinegar craving. I assume at that point, I'll get angry enough at whatever happens to Masanobu that I'll be able to get rid of all 5. Maybe til then I'll just flip back through these three occasionally to look at the art.

[Luru · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

At this point I'm almost certain it's the translation and different ways of expression that make especially the dialogue sound strange and elusive, and the personal drama hard to comprehend. (Like what really is the problem half the time. And who is saying what, it's sometimes hard to keep up, especially with the overall vagueness of the speech patterns.)

There are a few exciting-ish plot points, but it still feels diluted, somehow. If the plot was sharper and more fleshed out, the overall confusing drama and dialogue wouldn't bother me as much, I'm sure.

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read via Mangafox scans.
It took me longer than I wanted to read this, so the first half is a little blurred together with the previous books in my memory. I think I might be rooting for Asaka and Wataru in the love triangle. I feel like most of the relationship problems have been caused by Yuichi, but he does seem to be getting a little better at managing them.

[Chrissie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Im Großen und Ganzen mag ich die Geschichte der jungen (und unsicheren) Liebe zwischen Wataru und Yuichi. Auch wenn einige Elemente Stirnrunzeln verursachen, überwiegen für mich die schönen Momente. Ich bin mir zwar sicher, dass es nur zur Stärkung der Beziehung dienen soll, aber Masanobu und, allen voran Shohei, gehen mir ziemlich auf die Nerven.

[tfadius · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, that was a stinker. This book has 2 stories in it. The first story has Kazuki being an ass per usual. He doesn't communicate properly with Wataru. The smooth 2nd ML, Asaka, swoops in and gives Wataru a smooch.

The second story is even worse where they have a school festival and the organizers want something of that belongs to Kazuki to auction off. Man, this was a slog to read.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Viel bessere Fortsetzung.
Es war schön zu sehen, wie Yuichi seine Eifersucht überwindet und auch Wataru an Selbstvertrauen gewinnt, damit diese Beziehung endlich mehr auf gleicher Ebene ist.
Trotz einige Probleme und Stolpersteine von Shohei und Masanobu, der noch mehr in die Offensive geht, hatte ich das Gefühl, dass die Beziehung zwischen Yuichi und Wataru an Tiefe gewonnen hat.

[Soany · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Stephanie Jachymek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two grown ass men going to a highschool auction is weird. This whole book is weird.

[toria · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. this book is so TWISTED for introducing the love triangle aspect and making me want to root for asaka??? like...

[Sarah Lu · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was okay, involving lots of worrying and naiveté from Watatu. Though, I guess it is these characteristics that make Wataru a lovable character, even though the reader may want to hit him on the head sometimes for not seeing things that are obvious. We get to see a different side of Yuichi in this book, as there is more interaction between him and his brother, Shohei. Some of the other minor characters from previous books appeared in the second story of the novel, such as Karin and Toko. Overall, a nice addition to a cute little love story.

However, the editting of this book was more than a bit frustrating. Words would be left out sometimes, or the grammar would be incorrect. I found these mistakes quite obvious and jarring as I read the book.

The binding of the book is rather different, though the same as the first two books. The pages are thick, and thus having to make the binding equally as thick to keep the whole book together. It is difficult at times to read the book comfortably, and puts a strain on the fingers at times, especially when they lock into place. However, this is just an aesthetic comment, and in no way hinders the likeability of the book.

[Sparrow · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bloody awful. Terrible translation - I had to concentrate REALLY hard while reading this so I could follow what was happening. Ideas jumped so frequently that nothing flowed or made sense.

And what the heck was wrong with the characters? Wataru is always upset about the dumbest things, Yuichi is a terrible, mean person, all of the girls are mentally unstable, and everyone becomes offended easily. Apparently, it is completely normal for high school girls to lock a girl up in a room because they are jealous that she goes out with a popular boy. Oh, and it's normal to auction off personal items of popular kids. It's as if the cliques of America are the structure of Japanese society in this book.

I also found Kannagi's constant narrative summary irritating. She would go on for three pages about how Wataru's thought processes are going. There is also no indication between thought, which character is speaking, and actual dialogue.

I've finished this book and I can't even say what the hell it was about.

[Tara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to reading this story after the second book. But it needs serious work, and for me it is a bit of a let down. The grammar is like reading a fanfic, I buy books so I don't have to go through that when I choose. The story is alright, but the uke is starting to get on my nerves because he doesn't talk to his seme. They have all these little fights for no reason, and the seme doesn't usually seem very nice to his uke. One has to make allowances for the difference in culture, so I keep reading it and hoping the plot will get better. That was 100 pages into the story.

The second half of the story really pulls you in, much like the second book. The ending was good, but I had questions that were never answered mostly in part with Shohei and Asaka.

[Molly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Blah, I'm done with this. It's pretty boring- Wataru is preparing for exams, he and Yuichi never seem to know the right thing to say to one another, so they're always teetering between love and rage and come across as generally annoying. Done.

[Tal]

...XD;

[The Third Place A Teen Library]

F KAN otrfk v.3

[Py · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its a great series , I'm glad I got a copy of this with me to drool and read XD

[Erika · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have no words to express how much this novel made me feel!

[Jade Cahoon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the worst editing of the series. If you can make it through this one, you can make it through anything.
Even things edited.like This, Wataru thinks.