Little Butterfly, Volume 02

Little Butterfly #2

by Hinako Takanaga

Having decided to apply for the same school as Nakahara, Kojima must study feverishly to pass the entrance exams! Nakahara helps Kojima with his studies, but is frustrated by his strong sexual feelings that have yet to be reciprocated. Things hit rock bottom when Nakahara gets a surprise visit from his Uncle Sugisaki. Trouble brews when Nakahara's father asks Sugisaki to assume responsibility for his son and mentally ill wife, who he's planning to divorce, in exchange for a sizeable loan that Sugisaki needs to save his founding business.

Genres: Manga, Yaoi, Romance, Boys Love, LGBT, Comics, M M Romance

184 pages, Paperback

First published January 8, 2004

About the author

Takanaga Hinako (高永ひなこ) is a Japanese author of Boys' Love manga.
She has also provided illustrations for several BL light novels by other authors, including The Guilty by Katsura Izumi. Her first manga story, 合格祈願 (Goukaku kigan, Prayers for a passing grade?), was published by Hanamaru Comics in 1997; it was later reworked as the first chapter of Challengers. Most of her works have been translated into foreign languages. She was a guest at YaoiCon 2007, invited by Juné, the US publishers of her popular series Little Butterfly.
When not making Boys' Love manga, she spends her time collecting Wallace & Gromit merchandise and playing Final Fantasy. Takanaga doesn’t like beer and people who are ignorant.

She comments that her biggest influence on her art and writing-style was KOUGA Yun, a famous shoujo manga artist whose works she read as a teenager.

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series still ins't fully drawing me in. Sorta sweet but not too much. One is a bit sexually aggressive and while it works sometimes, in this it just doesn't for me. I don't fully get the dynamics of these guys together. But I still empathize with the dilemmas they face here. To hear your own father say he doesn't want you...ouch! I really like the art. The manga was a bit more mature than the last one and has started to earn its rating. Curious to see how they will proceed with their college plans and overcome this obstacle between them in the next volume

[Sas Hopf · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really nice story i could feel the sadness of Nakahara and i love how Kojima reacts to the situation and his friend

[Bibliothecat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review for complete series

I've been revisiting a lot of manga series I've read over the past 20 years and it's been a really mixed lot: some were as good as I remembered them to be, some were well below what I remembered them to be and then there were also some that I appreciated more. Takanaga has always been a bit of a hit or miss author for me. Her works are either too silly or too focused on sexual content. Originally, I only read shoujo manga and was quite wary of the shounen ai/yaoi genre because it's often overly sexualised. Little Butterfly was probably the first shounen ai I've read and felt, wow this actually has a story. It was also probably the one that tipped me into being more open to the genre and revisiting it at least a decade later has actually improved my opinion of this work further.

As mentioned above, Takanaga's works tend to be either too silly or too focused on sexual content - neither was the case with Little Butterfly. It's a gentle and sweet story of two boys with very different personalities and backgrounds, how they become friends and eventually more. During the original read, I felt that some of the family drama was a little over the top, but I don't feel that way anymore - sadly situations like this or worse do exist. The subject is treated thoughtfully and serves as a good basis for our two main characters to grow closer.

Besides the sweet romance and nice art, it was well-paced, it had some comedy and sexual content but not in the way that it took over the plot and it was just generally a well rounded and wholesome manga. I think the shounen ai and yaoi genre has been improving over the years with more works focused on characters and story, but Little Butterfly is a little gem in when it comes to older works of its kind.

[ilbloglibrosodigiusy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nel secondo volume di Little Butterfly la storia tra Kojima e Nakahara continua, troviamo i due ragazzi non più maturi del volume precedente, ma con un notevole avanzamento del loro rapporto.
Ho divorato questo volume durante la notte e, trovo che la storia sia molto interessante, è difficile staccare gli occhi dalla lettura, e spero davvero tanto che il prossimo volume possa entusiasmarmi più dei primi due !
Anche se questo secondo volume ha sganciato una piccola bomba 💣
Speriamo che non sia soltanto tutto fumo!🥩
P.s: le tavole sono sempre più belle, e io sono sempre più innamorata di Nakahara 🥺♥️
- Giusy

[Soobie is expired · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beh, questo secondo volume è una spanna sopra gli altri due. [Ovviamente sto scrivendo la recensione dopo aver completato l'intera serie!]

Per quanto storie familiari così tragiche non siano nelle mie corde, l'autrice riesce a gestire la faccenda in modo molto delicato. E mi piace come Kojima si fa finalmente valere.

Purtroppo il terzo numero non è all'altezza, ma come serie yaoi - in generale - non mi è dispiaciuta. Anche perché il rapporto tra i due protagonisti è piuttosto equilibrato.

[Fallon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oke and them

Seriously, the manga really is a bit older and you can tell.
Kojima and Nakahara are a couple where I say oh dear.
Nakahara who clings to Kojima as if he's the only meaning in his life and Kojima who wants to stay with him now, but I say that's extremely forced.
The drama is made perfect by Nakahara's family and the story has nothing left for me.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a major fangirl for this 3 manga series, I admit when I was younger. I thought it was cute. It might be cliche, but past me probably did not realize or care. Sometimes a little cheese/cliche is good, though. I can't remember much about the content now, though. Rated purely on vague memories.

[bow down to our ace king victor vale · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5!

Story is delving into more serious topics, but it’s kind of losing me a bit. Also, it seems like the art style has somewhat changed (in regards to character design)?

[Mickaela Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

very cute and heartwarming

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

**3 stars**

I liked the first one well enough to read the second, but I will not be purchasing the third installment. I just lost interest in what the characters were doing and going through and there was this negative feel to the story. no duh, with the way that his mom had a break down and his father is complete trash...

It was an okay read, but not the best story I have seen/read.

[Kuronekko · Rating 5 out of 5]

So cute... *shiver*
THE ART ROXXXXXXX!

[Minty-chan~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

such an adorable pairing! kawaii!!! sigh~

[Kati · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some quite heavy stuff there. Abuse, neglect, mental illness, debts... Not something usually seen in a yaoi manga.

[Anna C · Rating 4 out of 5]

1st read : 1 Dec 2013
2nd read : 31 Aug 2016

[Kynthos-the-Archer (Kyn) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This round a solid 4 stars. The plot has thicken and getting more interesting.

* 5 November 2015

[Usagi Tsukino · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is for the italian edition.

3,5 stars.