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Yes, No, or Maybe? (Light Novel) #2

イエスかノーか半分か 2 世界のまんなか

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極端な二面性を持つ人気アナウンサーの計と、懐の深すぎる映像作家の潮。知り合って一年、些細な諍いは絶えないながら仲良くやっていたふたり。そんなとき計は「ザ・ニュース」の裏番組に出演するタレントの木崎が、自分のせいで旭テレビのアナウンサー試験に落ちていたことを知る。好きでなったわけじゃない自分に、ここにいる資格はあるのか。迷いから調子を崩す計は、心配してくれる潮にも素直になれず…?

猫かぶりアナウンサー・計と男前映像作家・潮のその後は?
大人気作品続篇登場。

236 pages, Paperback

First published June 10, 2015

19 people are currently reading
126 people want to read

About the author

Michi Ichiho

69 books22 followers
Associated Names:
* Michi Ichiho (Japanese)
* 一穂ミチ (Japanese)

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5 stars
44 (35%)
4 stars
53 (43%)
3 stars
21 (17%)
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4 (3%)
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
Profile Image for Bea.
181 reviews5 followers
January 9, 2024
"Because this is the one place where I truly feel safe."

Okay. Not gonna lie, I read the first volume way back in 2020 right in the middle of the worst stages of the pandemic and I can't recall much about that volume other than Kei's general asshole nature. But now, three years later, I am now also a working adult, and so I get it. I understand Kei.

That's why I don't particularly find his two-faced nature and his crisis over his work (in this volume, at least) annoying. As someone who also regularly wants to strangle my own coworkers, as someone who doesn't know if she enjoys her work but at least she's good at it and she gets paid for it, I can relate to him on some level. Seeing Kei struggle with those feelings gave him a more human side in my eyes, and I don't think he acted entitled at all. We aren't in the middle of the Suffering Olympics; yes, Kei is in a more fortunate situation than majority of us, but this is fiction and also his struggles shouldn't be invalidated just because others have it worse. (At least he's not a nepo baby, right? And he works hard even though he constantly complains about work.)

In any case, I did enjoy that aspect of the novel. A huge chunk of it was devoted to Kei and his evolving relationship with his job. The fact that there is turmoil in that aspect of his life just highlights Ushio's role too; that is, Ushio becomes his safe space, the one constant in his life through the changing times. I thought that was made clear in this volume, even though they spent most of their time bickering. And I do love their bickering too! Because you can still grasp the affection underneath Kei's tsundere exterior.

The amnesia part was definitely not realistic, but I am always a sucker for amnesia tropes so I just very happily suspended all my disbelief. After all, it was another vehicle for Ichiho Michi to show us just how much Ushio has embedded himself in Kei's life. And it was fun to get Ushio's perspective for a change.

I ate this novel right up. Really looking forward to the final volume next year! And maybe the side novels too, with Tatsuki?
Profile Image for coflo.
442 reviews20 followers
February 13, 2016
4.4 stars. As in Book 1, the MCs continue their affectionate bickering. I'm kind of uncertain about whether the design of memory loss of Kei is good or not, but I like the way Kei retrieves his memory and Ushio's reaction towards it. Still a cute story.
1,540 reviews52 followers
March 24, 2024
3.5 stars, and actually a whole lot more enjoyable to read than I was expecting.

It's been so long - 3 years and change - since I'd read the first light novel, I had to go back to my review to skim through my initial thoughts. I'd remembered it as not being super well-written, and something I'd waffled on whether or not to keep. But my review was surprisingly positive, so I went into this a tiny bit hopeful. I had really wanted to see where the story was headed next, but I'd given up on the rest of the volumes getting licensed. But Seven Seas finally looped back around to it, and to the manga as well, which is fun.

And this book was fun!

The negative points are the completely out of nowhere amnesia storyline, and how awkwardly terrible the writing in the sex scenes are. But the latter is quite honestly something that tends to be true across the board. And while the amnesia was pretty silly (don't just leave someone with a head injury and amnesia alone in his hotel room because you're sad he doesn't recognize you!!), it ended up being a cute storyline that at least gave Ushio some time to narrate things from his POV.

Since there are more volumes coming now, I would like to see more of Ushio and Kei spending time together while not having sex. I think that, plus the awkward writing in these scenes, is why they tend to annoy me. Very little of this volume actually included the two of them hanging out, so I really wanted to see more of them having decent conversations and being a couple in other, less strictly physical ways.

The rest of the story was pretty interesting and surprisingly deep. Kei has a successful career and, on the surface, a ton of self-confidence, but he's struggling with the idea of doing something As A Job vs. Pursuing A Passion. Like Ushio does, or the new model-turned-rival-news-anchor who holds a grudge against Kei for being hired over him.

I really liked the soul-searching process, because it wasn't overdramatic and didn't actually result in him making any major life changes. The whole point of Kei's story is that he doesn't have to entirely fit into other people's expectations. He has a very understanding partner in Ushio, who loves and appreciates both the public and private sides of his personality, and he's starting to make some decent friends as well. And, most importantly, he's getting a stronger sense of who he is as a person and how to blend both "halves" of himself into a person he's truly happy to be.

Also interesting that consent issues were one of my hesitations when going into the first light novel, because a whole theme in this one is how extremely careful Ushio is to never make a physical or romantic move on Kei while he's still recovering his memories. This could've easily gone in a number of different ways. Instead, while Ushio does make some plot-stupid decisions to keep the drama intact, he shows such a clear thread of respect and care for his boyfriend.

I liked, too, that Kei didn't think for a second that Ushio might be tempted to cheat on him with the hot model. That type of jealousy didn't enter into their relationship troubles this time around, and it was a refreshing change of pace. All their problems were stemming from workplace overwork and stress and personality differences, which they do gradually try to learn how to work through. It's a long process but they are doing better by the end.

Looking forward to more! And this time it shouldn't take quite so long.
Profile Image for L. .
314 reviews8 followers
May 28, 2024
Oh, this was excellent. In my review for volume one, I noted that while I was excited to continue reading the series, I was afraid of it falling into stagnation — where the same problems kept coming up and the character growth and relationship developments ended up just being a cycle. And I am happy to report that this is not the case for volume two of Yes, No, or Maybe?.

Volume two built on the relationship dynamics and budding character growth of volume one so well, with Tsuzuki’s fascination with Kunieda evolving nicely into him striving to be the one place where Kunieda felt safe enough to be himself, Kunieda admitting that his emotions get the better of him and he needs space so he doesn’t say what he doesn’t mean or make the situation worse, and both of their realizations that a functional relationship requires open communication. They are not, by far, a perfect relationship, but they are growing and changing each other for the better, which is exactly what I wanted from a sequel.

But I must admit my favorite part of this volume was Kunieda’s impending mental breakdown.

Volume two was barely about Kunieda and Tsuzuki (on the surface level, as Kunieda was constantly thinking about him and able to evolve as a character purely due to him). Instead, it was largely about Kunieda and his relationship with his job, himself as a worker, and the stress and expectations he, and others, place on him. And I loved it. Unfortunately, like other reviewers, I heavily related to Kunieda’s struggle, as I too am in a job that I work hard at, am good at, but that I kind of accidentally fell into, and the imposter syndrome, the fear that I’m not good enough because I don’t care as much as those who wanted to enter this career their entire lives, that I don’t have it has haunted me. It’s an insanely hard space to be in mentally, and I think the writer handled it beautifully with Kunieda’s stress, self doubt, fear of being replaced, and subtle guilt over having ‘stolen’ the job from someone else. All of these new emotions and fears built beautifully on the anxiety that was established in volume one and expanded his character perfectly — because someone obsessed with having a perfect mask is someone with massive anxiety about their life and themself (which, oof, is another thing I can relate to oh too well).

I hope that as the series continues we can get more moments of them actively supporting and standing by each other, and just interacting in general, as this volume was a bit light on that (understandably). I also hope (I AM BEGGING ON MY KNEES) that we can get more scenes from Tsuzuki’s POV, because that was DELIGHTFUL and it was soooo fun to see Kunieda through his eyes.
Profile Image for Chai.
130 reviews25 followers
May 8, 2020
ok so kei isn’t as annoying compared to vol 1 but damn it took me forever to get started on this book then make it halfway because despite kei’s “struggle bus” which personally idgaf bc i could care less about this guy (like he’s funny i give him that, and way tolerable this time around) but I JUST DON’T CARE. boo hoo you are a talented announcer due to pure talent and hard work, yet you lack the passion for the job like your peers and your supposed rival, and now you’re being all emo and shit if you even deserve to have that job? you do it only bc you just happened to be given that job and dAt pAycHecK where as for others, they’ve worked so hard to be where YOU are, and you’re realizing that just now?

ok fking really??

it’s hard to be invested in a book when i hella don’t give a flying flip about the main character. just be grateful you have a job that pays well and you don’t hate. fwp much?? like if only ichiho switched povs. or maybe she does. idc anymore, i for the life of me don’t see how the hell this made it to the top rankings in kono bl ga yabai every year.

ushio is fab. tatsuki is great. kizaki ryou is way more intriguing than the MC and i wouldn’t mind a book about HIM instead.

kei... ugh. go away. even your mother would make a better MC than you.

EDIT: so after i found out kei loses his memories by falling to the ground and hitting his head, i skipped to ushio's pov starting on p169 and skimmed through it. way better but not enough for me to go back and read from where i left off. is ok, i'll live, sorry ushio my man.

gonna skip to the side volumes with shin and tatsuki. maybe when i have more patience or in a different time in my life i’ll recheck the main story out. otherwise, nah. 2/5 for now (and that’s being generous) bc of the other characters. they rock and they don’t deserve.

til the next time, and no where near kunieda annoying kei.
Profile Image for Amethyst.
224 reviews64 followers
December 11, 2021
Profile Image for ˗ˏˋ maddie ˊˎ˗.
1,533 reviews11 followers
May 16, 2024
I like them so much? I tried not to finish this so quickly but then they weren't talking and then Kunieda-san was only Kunieda-san and not Kei and how could I leave Ushio miserable and lonely like that? It's nice to see that Kei really does love and is skilled at his job but, honestly, Ushio's job is more interesting (if a lot more tedious) than Kei's so when Kei was like: gah, I don't ask him anything or know much about his life, I was also low-key like: yeahhhhh.
Profile Image for Laura.
58 reviews
June 15, 2024
Buena segunda parte. Los problemas que enfrentan son los que cualquier pareja se enfrenta, el balance entre el trabajo y la vida privada que tanto de cada parte quieres revelar. Durante la parte final después del viaje estaba por favor, no lo alarguéis mucho porque odio, con sobremanera la amnesia como recurso alarga trama. Pero está bien llevada. Se hace corto y me gusta poder ver los pensamientos de Ushio ha sido un cambio refrescante.

Profile Image for Nitzan Schwarz.
1,211 reviews223 followers
April 26, 2025
3.75 Stars (But I really can't give it 4 lol)

Listen, this book is extremely readable - I finished it in one sitting, which is something I hadn't done in quite a while. That said, I don't think it's a perfect book by a long shot, and similarly to Book One, the last third of the book had quite a few things I was unhappy about.

I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that Yes, No, or Maybe is mostly a series about Kei and his personal growth. And while it's often encouraged by Ushio, I also feel like there isn't much of Ushio here. I had somewhat expected to see them grow more balanced as a couple in this installment, but that failed to happen. Still, I really enjoy the gradual yet subtle growth we see in Kei.

As always, Ushio is somewhat harder to grasp or understand, and while I was very happy to spend a portion of this book in his head, I was less than happy about what brought us there.

I also found some of the comments made in this installment strange. Since when was Asao described as "full of himself?" How can Kei say he's never been obsessed with someone before considering the second part of book one? Etc.

Also. At this point, I've reached the conclusion I have Tatsuki. That character pisses me off so bad.
Profile Image for Calista.
5,434 reviews31.3k followers
September 12, 2024
We continue our story of Kunieda Kei and Tsuzuki Ushio. This is a drama story set in Japan of two working adults in love. It's so refreshing to have adults in the story.

Kunieda Kei and Tsuzuki Ushio are both working and their lives are busy. They are now in a relationship that works for them. There is still stress. Kunieda has a network competing with his show and he is now on assignment all the time and super busy. He finds himself being more and more dependent on Ushio for emotional support through his work.

There is a great arc where Kei is on vacation for the summer and Ushio is off at a spa with friends somewhere and Kei follows him like a stalker out there. I love it.

The relationship is set and we get to see the ups and downs of a relationship and how you have to work with each other and talk with each other. Communication is so hard for both of these two. Luckily Ushio can read kei like a book.

There are some great spicy scenes in this story. I also feel like Kei isn't as caustic. He still has real thoughts , but they are tempered and he treat Ushio a little better. I love that they simply need to be close to the other. They can work and have the other in the background and they are fine. It sounds wonderful.

I'm really enjoying this read and these characters. It's sort of gritty and romantic at the same time. It's a short and quick read at 222 pages. It flies by. I already started book 3 today.
Profile Image for Ryofire.
761 reviews2 followers
January 1, 2026
This is more of a 3.5 than a 4 star rating. Although I generally liked most of the plot of this a lot, particularly with Kei's breakdown, the extremely unnecessary was really bad. It's a your mileage may vary situation, and I'm sure folks who liked the suggestion of Kei actually having will appreciate this. For me, it ruined what was largely a great follow-up to volume 1, and doesn't really make a ton of sense. I still think it's worth it to pick up volume 3, since volume 3 is also quite good, but I had a time where I considered not doing so.

The sexism in this volume is also a bit much at times, but it's possibly saying something about the news industry in general, which is chuck full of that kind of stuff, especially in a country like Japan. Kei can be nice and somewhat equal opportunity at times, but he is still a product of his environment and his dickish tendencies will likely go there, too.
Profile Image for Emily.
1,133 reviews10 followers
March 2, 2025
I really liked the 1ˢᵗ 3/4ish of this book. There wasn't really much romance and it instead focused on Kei's growing anxiety about his job. I thought this was done well and I often found my own feelings about my career choices mirrored in Kei's axieties. Unfortunately, we don't really get a satisfying conclusion with this storyline. The last third of this book felt like a completely different story and really took away all the momentum. I don't know why it was added. I really should probably give this book a lower rating because of the last 50ish pages, but I'm going to keep it as a four since I liked the first part so much.
Profile Image for Mai Hyukkie.
54 reviews11 followers
February 5, 2023
เป็นเรื่องที่คิดว่ามันต้องมีคนแบบนี้จริงๆ ในสังคมญีปุ่่นแน่ๆ คนแบบเคย์เนี่ย
เลยยิ่งทำให้อ่านแล้วยิ่งสนุกว่าเขาจะทำตัวอย่างไงน่า แล้วกับอุชิโอะจะรับมือกับคนแบบนี้อย่างไง
พวกเขาหลงใหลอะไรในกันและกัน ในจุดนี้อาจจะยังไม่ลึกซึ้งในแง่อารมณ์รัก แต่ในความผูกพันธ์เขียนไว้ได้ดีเลยนะ
แบบทั้งคู่ต่างพึ่งพากันและกันในความรู้สึกสบายใจ โดยเฉพาะเคย์ที่ถ้าไม่มีอุชิโอะเป็นที่พักใจ คงได้ระเบิดอารมณ์พังไปแล้ว
ส่วนอุชิโอะเองก็มีเคย์เป็นสีสันในชีวิตเป็นบุคคลที่พึ่งพิงได้ มีความสามารถอย่างแท้จริง อยู่ด้วยแล้วสบายใจสุดๆ
เป็นคู่ที่อ่านแล้วน่ารักดีจ้า~
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
245 reviews1 follower
October 4, 2024
This was enjoyable read for me. I haven't read the first book but I have watched the movie that came out and I liked both characters in there. This book was more about Kei personality and work struggles and I liked seeing that side of Kei and how he handles things. I expected him to be more aggressive than he was. He was more shy and took things mildly as they came, which is not easy for someone like Kei. Loved how Ushio was always with him every step of the way. He's shown to be much more supportive and mature. This moves the plot forward in their relationship journey. I will pick up more.
Profile Image for Mokseong.
32 reviews
September 10, 2020
ธีมของเล่มนี้คือเรื่อง "คู่แข่ง" และ "ใจรักในการทำงาน" ในฐานะคนทำงานอ่านแล้วอินสุดอะไรสุด ทำให้ย้อนคิดเรื่องงานของตัวเองอยู่ตลอด และในส่วนของอาชีพผู้ประกาศข่าวก็ยังเล่าได้น่าสนใจมากๆ ทั้งเรื่องการอ่านข่าวโดยคำนึงถึงผู้ชมและหน้าที่ต่างๆของผู้ประกาศข่าว พาร์ทความรักก็น่ารักเช่นเคย ชอบคาแรกเตอร์ทั้งพระเอกนายเอกเลย
Profile Image for JillV.
218 reviews
July 27, 2022
สนุกมากอีกแล้ว! ชอบกว่าเล่มแรกอีก เล่มแรกเหมือนเป็นอินโทรเฉยๆ เล่มนี้ได้เห็นการทำงานข่าวในมุมกว้างขึ้น มีคู่แข่งช่องอื่นเข้ามาสร้างความเคร่งเครียดให้เคย์ ชอบการบรรยายความรู้สึกเล่มนี้ ทั้งเรื่องใจรักและความเครียดที่เจอคู่แข่ง แต่ถึงตัวละครจะเครียดก็ยังมีการแทรกคำด่าตลกๆเข้ามาเรื่อยๆทำให้อ่านอย่างเพลิดเพลิน
903 reviews
July 10, 2025
Nie wiem czy ta część była potrzebna. Nadal bawi mnie prezenter z rozdwojeniem osobowości. Jednak ta relacja miłosna jest dziwna nie widują się miesiąc bo ktoś kręci materiał tv o Ushio no ale kurcze nie całą dobę. Kai totalnie nie umie mówić o swoich uczuciach więc gdy pokłóci się z Ushio znów następuje cisza a potem to Ushio go przeprasza może to efekt kultury japońskiej, którego nie rozumiem.
Profile Image for Thesincouch.
1,208 reviews
August 20, 2024
This was great fun as always! I loved how Kei worked through his issues with his job and his place in it - I found the whole world of Japanese news fascinating. I could have done without the amnesia subplot but it was sweet.
Profile Image for eerie.
15 reviews
April 29, 2025
first time i thought kei was cool and the next thing i knew he suddenly got amnesia this man cant do anything right
Profile Image for Sophie.
2,638 reviews116 followers
July 13, 2015
This wasn't bad, but like the first book it didn't quite do it for me. While I loved the main character, I had trouble connecting with the love story - I cared about Kei, but not about Ushio, and not about Kei and Ushio.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews

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