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When Grandmother Tsuzaka stops by, she presents a portfolio containing information on a potential wife for Shino, forcing him to hide his love for Tenryu.

184 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1999

20 people want to read

About the author

Satosumi Takaguchi

110 books10 followers
Takaguchi Satosumi (高口 里純)

Blood Type: A

She was born on September 30th, 1957, in Kanuma City, Tochigi prefecture. In 1979, she debuted with "Akai Shop" in Hakusensha's Hana to Yume. At first, she was mainly published by Hakusensha. The sequel to her big hit "Hana no Asukagumi!," named "Shin Hana no Asukagumi!," is currently very popular!

Yamada Yugi was her assistant at one time.

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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
1,540 reviews51 followers
March 17, 2022
This volume was actually really good......except for the part where Nakaya kissed his father on the mouth???

The weirdest part of that page is that it was completely unnecessary and doesn't seem connected to anything else in the storyline or the characters' development (and isn't even alluded to in the rest of the volume), which is what I mean about the overall tone of this series feeling so scattered. Someone just thought "oooh this would be a neat idea, let's throw it in," and then they did and moved on. Editing, y'all. Some things are better left on the cutting board.

There are other ways of conveying the message that Nakaya is too old now to keep clinging to the idea of finding a Dad who can wipe away a 17-year absence. He settles on the two of them just being roommates, I guess? We'll see how that pans out in the final volume. It makes me sad, though, because the chapter with Nakaya digging out all his old photo albums and sharing his childhood with his dad that way was really sweet and exactly the kind of bonding I was really looking forward to.

The marriage interview subplot is interesting, too, and I really felt how torn Shino was between the traditional, happy life he sees around him in public all the time, and the far less "guaranteed" relationship his heart's been unexpectedly latching onto, despite all his fears. Or, there's the third option, of just continuing to be alone forever, which was wrenching and so well done. I really liked how Shino's and Tenryu's relationship was handled in this volume - it's complicated and messy and honest. And getting to see more of Tenryu's side of things, too, it's finally feeling believable that the two of them are really falling in love.

Nakaya and Akihi are handled well, too - another very messy, very agonizing relationship that ends in broken hearts and tears, which is actually pretty expected for that stage of your life. Nakaya seriously needs to break up with his girlfriend already though, at this point he's being a grade A jerk if he keeps going back to her in between his Akihi heartbreaks.

The Mizusawa marriage subplot (and haircut!) was super unexpected, and I'm not sure where that's going. I did actually like that one of the characters said "oh I guess you are bi," because that's not something that's typically handled very well in most of the manga I've read. (Or media in general, really.) I kinda doubt this marriage is going to be the end of his story, especially since the woman is currently nameless and faceless and came out of nowhere, but I suppose we'll see.

This series is an uneven rollercoaster of tones and emotions so far, but this and volume 3 were, for the most part, high points. Just wish the whole thing could've settled on what kind of story it was meant to be, and stuck with that.

Oh, but the grandma finding out about Shino's BL drama career was pretty funny.
Profile Image for Jules Jones.
Author 26 books47 followers
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July 14, 2012
[2007-05-13] Fourth of a five volume series about an anime voice actor and his son trying to build a relationship after a long separation -- and both trying to work out how they feel about other men. In this one young Nakaya finally gets somewhere with the hockey coach he has a crush on, but life's never that simple; and Shino realises that he can't face going back to being alone again once Nakaya is old enough to move out, but is still trying to understand his feelings for his colleague Tenryu. As with the earlier volumes, this is much more about story than sex, and it's a sweet and funny story that's a pleasure to read. This volume does finally consummate some of the UST that's been running through the series, but it's extremely discreet and soft focus.[return][return]http://julesjones.livejournal.com/152...
Profile Image for Veronica.
1,545 reviews23 followers
June 4, 2016
Reread very hastily in an attempt to see if more of this series had been translated since I read it in high school (alas, no). The art is very nice, and in a fairly distinctive style; it's hard to comment on the storyline after rereading one book in the middle of the series, but I remember the main plot being a very sweet, slow-moving love story. Nakaya's subplot with his hockey coach is definitely a lot weirder than I remembered it being, though.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews

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