Little Butterfly, Volume 03

Little Butterfly #3

by Hinako Takanaga

Kojima can't take spending so much time away from Nakahara and decides to visit his home. Upon their reunion, Nakahara finally makes his decision... and the two spend an unforgettable night together. Where is this budding, youthful love headed?

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

184 pages, Comic

First published February 10, 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]

A cute ending. Who knew one would have so much trouble saying another's name? Although I know that is par culture too. Kojima annoyed me in this final book. Nakahara is going through some seriously stressful stuff with his family yet all Kojima can do is whine that Nakahara isn't there and wondering if he still likes him. He needed to just chill out and be patient! Ugh. Otherwise I fairly liked this. I liked the family issues shown that show a darker, serious edge to mental illness.

[Sas Hopf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally.....i liked the ending and i am so happy for both of them

[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.

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

Back to 3.5 stars again. It's not as good as book 2.

* 5th November 2015

[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.

[Veronica · Rating 4 out of 5]

È una serie molto dolce e delicata.. credo che il voto più corretto, rispetto soprattutto ad altre serie BL, sarebbe stato 3 ⭐️ però ne ho date 4 perché in realtà mi hanno sorpreso alcune tematiche. L’abbandono da parte dei genitori è affrontato con delicatezza e abbastanza velocemente, trattandosi di 3 volumi, ma non in modo banale. I due ragazzi protagonisti sono due cuori gentili e credo mi ci volesse proprio una lettura così.

[Fallon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oke after someone told me volume 3 will be better I read it now to finish the series.

The ending was ok. You get a bit of a “what did I miss” feeling but oke. The distance now saves their relationship and suddenly they are not the same anymore. What did I miss here?

Well, I miss the point of this story and the message but ok.

[Soobie is expired · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meglio di tanti altri yaoi che ho letto ultimamente ma non mi ha colpito più di tanto. Anche perché sti qua son ragazzi delle medie e sembrano più maturi di me.

Quest'ultimo numero mi è sembrato che si trascinasse un po' troppo.

La mamma di Kojima mi piace proprio!

[Sami (Samantha) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this series! It was really cute and focuses more on the relationship of the characters vs the smut ( there is smut in here though, don't you worry! lol). This yaoi series would be great for someone who is just starting to read yaoi, as it eases you into the genre nicely. :)

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

2.45!

Though my enjoyment dwindled as I read on, this volume does bring a fitting conclusion to the present storyline! Overall, it was a decent read :).

[Mickaela Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

very cute

[Anna C · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

Karena sudah lupa ceritanya saking tak berkesannya (padahal aku demen BL karya Takanaga-sensei loh dan mostly aku ingat garis besar ceritanya gimana, tapi melihat kenapa aku beri 3 stars buat vol 1 itu akhirnya aku tahu kenapa), aku reread lagi deh, masih dlm mood kontemporer.

Sepanjang seri ini, aku bingung mereka ini sebenarnya di tingkat SMP atau SMU sih? Soalnya masa katanya mau masuk college yg ada dormitory dan uniform, aneh rasanya ada college yg ada seragamnya segala. Rupa-rupanya, ini masalah terjemahan oleh penerbit US. Katanya, sebutan college bagi mereka itu = SMU. Ada juga alasan lain yg dipertimbangkan, karena si uke dlm cerita ini benar2 masih muda bgt, alias SMP, bahkan blm puber tapi sudah had sex, WTF gitu. Mungkin penerbit mau menyamarkan masalah ini (yg gagal total karena di extra chapter ada adegan uke baru pecah suaranya krn puber, jadilah terkuak kenyataan kalo uke sebenarnya baru puber dan baru 15 thn, bknnya 18 thn, LOL), sehingga terjemahan yg harusnya "high school" pun diganti jadi "college" deh. Ini dia salah satu poin yg paling tdk kusuka dari terjemahan penerbit US. Diganti sesuai istilah mereka lah, misalnya sensei, diganti jadi Sir/Teacher, rasanya anehhh bgt bacanya, yah mungkin di Indo juga ada ya terjemahan begini jadi Pak Guru, tapi kalau misalnya panggilan -san buat cewek diganti jadi mbak di terjemahan Indo, rasanya gimana gitu, ya begitulah menurutku sih itu kan komik tentang orang Jepang, biarlah terjemahan panggilan atau budaya ikut situ saja, jgn dipaksain semacam mereka itu org Indo yg lagi hidup di Jepang gitu). Trus kata2 dlm kalimat di bubble terjemahan penerbit US ini suka BANGET di-bold si editor/penerjemah semacam itu kata yg pentingggg bgt artinya, macam kita pembaca ini dungu gitu sampe hampir tiap bubble itu ada kata yg di-bold buat penegasan gitu. Padahal sejujurnya kata2 itu ga ada definisi lain. Malah ngeganggu bgt rasanya liat tulisan ada yg bold, kutip dua masi lumayan, tapi bold??

Dari dulu aku juga suka bingung sama jenjang sekolah USA, kelas 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, sbnrnya maksudnya SMP SMU itu yg mana, hahaha, malas aku google, :p Kayanya penamaan jenjang pendidikan di USA ini beda sendiri dengan negara2 lain ya? kulihat ada pembaca lain yg juga berpikiran sama dgnku, but CMIIW.

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

Little Butterfly is the third and final volume in the series; as such, it closes the story of our two protagonists with a neat bow on top. As with the two previous volumes, this is a light and fluffy story that is missing so much of the depth and nuance to be found in this genre. There's some generic angst in the family backgrounds but otherwise, I felt like I was reading a story about two fluffy bunnies that fall in love amidst some silly melodrama.

Story: Nakahara is still having problems with his mother not recognizing him in her madness. Fortunately, Kojima is there to be his support. The two realize that yes, fluffy bunnies do fall in love and so are they - and they live happily every after.

The art is as generic as the story for me - with the usual boy-looking blonde paired with dark haired moody emo dude. I can't really say that the story went anywhere or pushed any buttons - if not for some of the graphic scenes, I would have targeted this to Full Moon Wo Sagashite fans for its cutesy factor.

In all, probably not worth a purchase.

[Oberhuu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shonen Ai ist wohl zu einer Art Trend geworden. Als ich noch regelmäßig Mangas gelesen habe, waren mir keine Geschichten dieses Genres bekannt. Jetzt scheint es die en masse zu geben. Es muss echt schwer sein, bei dem stets wachsenden Markt mitzuhalten und da noch gute Storys rauszubringen UND auch noch oben drauf dementsprechend hochwertig zu zeichnen. Und gerade merke ich, ich habe gelogen. Kleiner Schmetterling ist ja ebenfalls eine Reihe, wenn auch eine kleinere. Doch das tut dem Ganzen nichts ab. Storytechnisch kann hier nicht viel geboten werden. Die Charaktere sind super süß, ebenso der Zeichenstil und der Shonen Ai ist an sich ganz nett. Doch die Serie gehört definitiv nicht zu den Mangas, die ich weiterempfehlen würde und die man mehrmals lesen kann.

[Kuronekko · Rating 5 out of 5]

So cute... wait, i already said that... well, this is an AWESOME series!!!!!!!

[Usagi Tsukino · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is for the italian edition.

3,5 stars.