ロマンス不全の僕たちは【イラスト付】

by Kei Tsukimura, 月村奎, 苑生 (Illustrator)

もう長い間、恋をしている。

美容師の昴大には秘かに想う相手がいた。
芸能事務所にスカウトされるほどかっこよくて、
才能があって、だけどどうしようもなく愛想がなくて
言葉がきつい同僚、遠藤進太郎だ。
周囲からは明るくムードメーカーと思われている昴大だが、
本当は傷つきやすく、臆病な一面を持っていた。
だから、遠藤にも告白するつもりはなく、
今の、一番親しい同僚という立ち位置で十分なはずだった。
それなのに、遠藤の地元へ引っ越して、
遠藤の美容院で働くことになってしまい!?・
無口無愛想×隠れ繊細のハートフルラブ登場！

224 pages, Paperback

Published January 31, 2020

About the author

Associated Names:
* Kei Tsukimura (Japanese)
* 月村奎 (Japanese)

Reviews

[Valentina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating: 5/5

I have found it! Some of my friends will know that I have thus far been unsuccessful in finding a Japanese BL romance novel that I really love. This book started promising and just kept getting better.

I just wanted a cute, wholesome contemporary romance. And this is what this is, no villains, no questionable or borderline abusive behaviour, no relationship that is basically dysfunctional, no homophobia, no jealous women. (Also no memory loss, if you read Japanese fiction, you know what I mean lol).

So, you might ask, what is the plot then? There is little to no plot. Our two protagonists work at a hair salon, that’s about all you need to know about the plot going in. Things do happen but everything is very realistic, and you could see it happen in your own life too, again no melodrama or overly fancy dates. Most of the book consists of a short flashback to establish the situation we are in and then a few scenes in the protagonist’s lives that are set out in great detail. It’s the key moments and that is all it needed.

The fact that this novel is so incredibly down to earth makes it rely on the characters to keep you invested. And believe me when I tell you they are ADORABLE. Our two protagonists the always cheery Masui Koudai and the way too direct and short tempered (?) Endou Shintaro could not be any different in character, yet the chemistry that the author manages to craft on the page had me smiling and giggling through pretty much the entire book. Their back and forth was absolutely hilarious to me and despite the combination of the cutie and the Tsundere combination being quite popular in Japanese literature, I have rarely found it to be this intriguing.

Also, what usually bothers me about romance books is that relationships, outside of the romantic one, are very badly established or boring/ only exist to further the progression of the relationship. This book doesn’t have many outside relationships and they do also at times serve to move the main relationship along but it handles them extremely well, which is a massive plus for me personally.

Is the book objectively a masterpiece, probably not. Is it a masterpiece for me and exactly what I was looking for, definitely. So I will leave with, if you are looking for a sweet contemporary, character-driven BL romance, look no further.

[Parris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was just too cute. No trauma, no prolonged misunderstandings, just a really sweet story about a guy who finds out that his one-sided love had never been all that one-sided!