Toritan: Birds of a Feather, Vol. 2

とりたん [Toritan] #2

by Kotetsuko Yamamoto

Birdsong starts sounding like a love song when bird whisperer Inusaki meets a crow that sounds oddly like a handsome young man he knows!

Inusaki can communicate with birds—and some of them are real jerks! Tired of the incessant chatter, he spends most of his day tuning them out. That is until the day he meets an intriguing and strangely handsome crow he just can’t get off his mind!

Ever since he was a child, private detective Inusaki has had the unenviable talent of being able to communicate with birds. And even though he’s never liked birds, he somehow ends up getting his heart broken by one! Conveniently there to pick up the pieces, though, is his landlady’s son, Mitsuru, whose voice sounds suspiciously like that of the fowl heartbreaker, Kuro. And it’s not long before Mitsuru confesses his feelings to the clueless detective, even landing a quick peck. Will Inusaki the private dick ever stop brooding long enough to get a clue?

Genres: Manga, Romance, Yaoi, LGBT, Fantasy, Boys Love, Fiction

186 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2019

About the author

Japanese mangaka.


Associated names :
破壊ダー (嬉乃みどり)
Hakaider (URESHINO Midori)

Name (in native language) : 山本小鉄子

Zodiac : Capricorn

Blood type : A

Location: Osaka, but in a rural area
Likes: Professional baseball, Salmon
Dislikes: My stomach, sea urchin, salmon roe
Recent News: I’m gargling diligently

Circle: Hakaider
Doujinshi under pen-name: Ureshino Midori

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a short, perfectly adorable little series.

[Bianca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amo tanto las historias de Yamamoto-sensei. El dibujo es precioso y la historia es rara, pero dulce. Bien amado este manga.

[Ray Flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love everything about this! It’s funny, romantic, entertaining and sexy AF. All the stuff I love about Yamamoto Kotetsuko-sensei mangas, this one has it!

Unfortunately, the story ends with this volume and so we see Inusaki finally realizing that all this time he had a crush on the same person: the crow he called Kuro and the guy named Mitsuru. Now, after they come clean about their respective “abilities”, they start dating and eventually share new life experiences. They have some really beautiful scenes and it’s just the kind of story that makes me smile like a fool in love.

Overall, this is a wholesome manga that made me laugh as well as it warmed my heart. I love them both and I wish for their happiness!

Read it for the #MiniMangaReadathon.

PREVIOUS REVIEW:
Volume 1

[Namratha · Rating 3 out of 5]

The cute conclusion to the love story between Inusaki, a man who can talk to birds and Mitsuru, the boy who can possess birds. I enjoyed the first book more, but this instalment was engaging in its own way.

Fledgling love between the two, interspersed by a bout of jealousy, yammering birds who have a lot to say, revelations of long-kept secrets, and enough steaminess to fluster the feathers off quite a few scandalized sparrows…this volume ties up matters efficiently.

Stinkin’ adorable!

[Siona Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is sooo good why is there only two volumes 😭 the romance is so cute

[Ruthsic · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rep: queer main characters; gay romance

Warnings: contains sex scenes, depicts a relationship between a minor and an adult

In this second volume of this duology, Inusaki is flustered by Kuroki kissing him and when he questions him later, the latter confesses his feelings to him and they start dating (seriously WTF Inusaki?). Meanwhile, he also gets a client who hopes to get his help regarding a dating problem he has - said client is gay, and wants some help planning his date, but Kuroki gets suspicious and follows them. Then we actually get to see how Kuroki ‘becomes’ a bird, but the two of them haven’t yet told each other their secret powers, though Inusaki starts putting two and two together soon enough. Later Inusaki and Kuroki themselves are on a date, and Inusaki has to demonstrate his powers to save some bids. The manga skips ahead to show Kuroki in university and them in a relationship, though I wonder if Kuroki’s mom knows. While this manga bridges the secrets between them and tells us about Kuroki’s powers, it doesn’t really feel like there’s much to explore or conclude on. Even their relationship progressing while Kuroki is still a high school student squicked me out - the time skip could’ve been placed before this IMO.

Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review from SuBLime, via Edelweiss.

[Sky · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a while since I updated anything here, but actually, this year isn't going bad, reading-wise. August was a busy reading month as well since I participated in the Magical Readathon, held by G from the YouTube channel Book Roast. Let me just quickly update my reads from this months, first.

I finally managed to sit down and read the second volume of this super adorable funny short series! It's a little sad that volume 2 is already the last one, however, it was really lovely to see how things between the cute couple went after Kuroki surprisingly kissed Inusaki at the end of volume 1. Now, the two men unpack their feelings and face each other, not only telling each other the truth about their feelings, but also the truth about their strange little secrets.

The drawings are soft and beautiful (oh that hair looks so fluffy, I want to touch it!) and the author is very good at drawing the characters' expressions, as well as all the birds that make the story so special.

I very much enjoyed this manga, which was recommended by a dear friend, who loves all of the author's works. I hope to be able to check out more of them in the future as well! Sadly, most of them are not yet available in my native language (German), so in this case, I grabbed the English volumes. Definitely recommend!

[Alejandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Regular. El amor que surgió entre Inusaki y Kuro fue sacado del aire, sumándole que primero se enamoró de un ANIMAL. Like, se enamora de un cuervo porque el animal le habla y salva un pájaro... Por eso me dio bastante igual la trama y no puede evitar aburrirme en muchas partes.

[Khyzer (is studying) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man, this was so freaking cute! I wish I took Ornithology class back in college because the birds were drawn so adorably too.

[Dani Fall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute little story.

[Yarany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorable story with a satisfying ending!

[Diomaris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very sweet and cute! I enjoyed the characters, it would have been great if we could have gotten more background on their abilities! But I’m satisfied, it was short, sweet and fluffy with a fitting ending! Thank you author for this short and sweet manga!

[小さな N (.❛ ᴗ ❛.)⊃ [_|_] ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

June 2021: 4.5 stars, I just wish it was longer so we'd see more about their day-to-day life as a couple.

For those of you who are concerned about the age difference since other reviewers mention it here: Inusaki is 23 and Mitsuru turns 18 in volume 1 before they kiss for the first time, and when they have sex it is consensual. While the age of consent is actually and alarmingly still only 13 in Japan there are certain statutes that raise the age of consent to 16-18, depending on the prefecture.
From my German viewpoint 16 would be still too young (and illegal) but since he is 18 when they get together they are okay.

Here are a few links that I quickly put together

Age of Consent in Japan, ageofconsent.net

What Is the Age of Consent in Japan? worldatlas.com

Ages of consent (Japan) (eng.), (日本語) Wikipedia

性交同意年齢、日本は明治時代から変わっていない。世界では引き上げ進む、韓国でも13歳⇒16歳に, huffingtonpost.jp

Japanese students launch petition to get the country's age of consent for sex raised from 13 to 16, dailymail.co.uk

Japan’s legal age of adulthood dropping by two years, but do teens understand what that means?, japantoday.com

[Jude · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Read exactly 2 weeks ago and already forgot what happened because it was so underwhelming for me.
Got a kick out of seeing the characters' bird abilities in action (Mitsuru legit surprised me and for a moment there I thought the story would get good!), but the characters themselves are boring and I don't care for their relationship at all.

[Patty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm sad that this is going to be the final volume. I kinda wanted this to go a little bit longer, but still excited to read and see what happens!

[Emi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the conclusion to this short series, and I really hope more of Kotetsuko Yamamoto's work is published in English in the future. I love their art style and their storytelling; it's comical, and even when fantastical, there's a semblance of realism in the characters that leaves me rooting for and empathising with them. I like that Yamamoto doesn't overplay tropes I often spot in BL series, the story progression in this short series feels like a natural, organic progression of Inusaki and Mitsuru's relationship.

The question I had about how Mitsuru's the crow is first shown, then explained, in this one, so that question in my review of Toritan: Birds of a Feather, Vol. 1 was answered, wrapping up that mystery! The other thing I remember theorising is based on the 'explicit content' on the cover of the first one despite it not containing that kind of content—this one does, towards the end. It's an intimate moment the two main characters share, during which they experience a variety of emotions—they aren't just lustful and domineering (borderline abusive, which I have seen in other BL unfortunately)—including bashfulness and embarrassment, and I think they're both vulnerable, careful, respectful, and clearly trust each other. Mitsuru asks Inusaki questions, making sure he's okay and consenting to everything, which is quite pleasant to see in intimate moments like this.

Although it's a short series of just two volumes, it ended up being a lovely read and I feel like all loose ends/questions I had after reading the first half were wrapped up clean and nicely in this one.

[Courtney Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inusaki is a twenty-something private eye with the power to talk to birds. Specifically, he keeps talking to a crow named Kuro, who for some reason reminds him of his, Kuroki, the son of his landlord who has a crush on him. Kuroki of course is Kuro the crow and can change his form into birds because this is a manga.

Kuroki and Insuaki discuss the kiss they shared at the end of the last volume and lo and behold agree to date even though they haven't been on a date yet or have even talked this through, but yet again, this is a manga. Insuaki's job as a PI leads him to helping a gay man plan a date and practicing with him, which of course makes Kuroki jealous and he follows him. Luckily it's very tame and just leads to the reader seeing how Kuroki uses his power to jump into different birds bodies.

Insuaki hates birds because of his ability to talk to them but when there is a threatening situation he goes out of his way to communicate and help the birds, which only allows for Kuroki to fall for him harder. They don't know the other has the power they possess until Insuaki slowly pieces it together. There's a time jump in this that takes us from them going out for the first time to Kuroki in college and their first sexual experiences.

Overall I felt like the latter half of the volume was a bit rushed, but as this was the final part of the series I can understand it. Generally, this was pretty cute and I liked the art style a lot.

Blog / Twitter / Instagram

[Elaine White · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird? Yes.
Cute? Yes.
Confusing? Kinda.

I'll admit, I fell in love with the quirky art style, storytelling and plot of Volume 1. I was SO hopeful for Volume 2, but I was left feeling a bit...disappointed?
First...I would have LOVED this a lot more if it had stayed purely YA. The sex scenes were - to me - completely unnecessary, and required some rushing of the plot that didn't do the rest of the story justice. It really zoomed straight from dating to sex, on page, because of this and lacked the romance that had been building and promised in Volume 1.
Second...I feel we lost the flirty bond between Kuro and Inusaki, once he started dating Mitsuru.

But, let's be honest, the whole Kuro / Mitsuru storyline didn't require a PI to figure out, and I was disappointed at the way it was rounded up, like Kuro had never mattered. There was no real on-page exploration of Inusaki and Mitsuru's feelings for each other beyond kissing and sex. All of their emotional bonding had happened as Kuru / Inusaki, and that made Mitsuru's jealousy a bit weird and perfunctory.

Overall, I would have liked at least one more volume to have taken place between "go out with me" and "let's have sex". Preferrably spending that time dating and hands-off until Mitsuru's in college. He might be 18 during Volume 1, so before they start dating, but he's still a high school kid while Inusaki is an adult and a few years older. It would have been nice to see him act his age and be the mature one, for a while.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

This continues to be cute and sweet and to make no sense.

I still have absolutely no idea why Inusaki is continually referred to as a private detective; even Mitsuru sounds confused and says, "You're the neighborhood handyman?" I'd like to know a lot more about how he ended up on this career path to begin with and what he actually wants out of life, but this isn't a story that explores those types of questions.

There's a sort of pointless scene where Inusaki has a "client" - for his private detective business I guess? - who asks him to go on a practice date so he can use that experience to ask out a guy he likes. It's an excuse for Mitsuru to be jealous and to display his bird-transforming skills, but it's a pretty silly plot device. I did like the actual Inusaki/Mitsuru date at the bird sanctuary, which displays Inusaki's kindness and heroism. It does feel a little unfair, though, for Mitsuru to torture his boyfriend with birds - and to even talk about bringing one home as a pet - when he knows Inusaki hates them and understands all their chatter.

The concept behind this two-volume series is fun, but I don't know if I'll keep these copies for the longterm. I'm finding a lot of books in this genre that are all flash and fluff and little of real substance or lasting emotional impact.

[Bean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just like the first one, this book has a really stupid premise and has really dumb moments and at points has really stupid explanations for things butyet again I liked it!
the only reason I rated this a 4 stars is because I feel like this book, especially because it is the last book in the series, should have fleshed out the characters more, or really expanded on the story.

they did answer questions like why Mitsuru can posses birds (which, was a really stupid explanation but it was an explanation at least.) and also tackled a jealousy plot (which, again was so stupid because it was just Mitsuru being jealous about Inusaki finding the crow version of him hot) so these were at least good things to build upon.

at the end of the day, I was very entertained by this book anyways, I was laughing at the kinda dumb things, and I was having a good time the whole way through. I would recommend this for anyone who can take things with a grain of salt and isn't turned away by things like really silly explanations for things, and also maybe someone who isn't expecting some deep plot and lots of character development because not a lot of that happened here

[n · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is this a really weird premise? Yes.

Is it very uncomfortable that he is attracted to a crow, even though the crow is actually being temporarily possessed by his human neighbor, so TECHNICALLY he is not attracted to the crow, per se, but the man inside the crow? Absolutely.

But I love birds, and I love love, so I love this manga. It is by far not the strangest thing I’ve ever read, and the love story is cute and warm and fuzzy during This Very Trying Time. My main complaint is that it was too short—not only the book itself, but the series in general. (It’s a duology.) I would’ve liked to see more of their relationship after they got together, maybe more birds insulting Inusaki.

As with the first volume, an excellent representation of each type of bird. Pet store parakeets are 100% like that.

[R E · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful finish to a beautifully drawn and conceived story. Mitsuru, who has a mysterious connection to the crow, Kuro, kissed Inusaki at the end of volume 1, and now Inusaki is working out the consequences of that kiss. Along the way, he slowly becomes convinced that Mitsuru really does feel deeply for him, but this is new territory for both boys. Complicating the picture is Inusaki’s magical ability to understand the language of birds - but it turns out that Mitsuru also has a secret, one he has to share with Inusaki if they are to be a couple.
​​
​​A total joy from start to finish, a quiet, elegant story of two boys falling in love, both of whom also have a special connection to nature.
​​

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

2.65!
review for whole series:
my man rlly fell in love with a crow PLS 😭 i don’t know how to feel abt that LOL
gotta say, i did like the interactions he had with the other birdies, especially shrimp 🦐
also i too would be traumatized if a pigeon started talking smack to me when i was a kid 🐦
hm shallow as it may be, i liked the human kuros character tho i wasn’t as invested in the romance; it was also a lighter series than i expected, since i was aware he was a detective before i read it so i assumed he and the birds were gonna solve cases together?? jajsjdj yeah,,,it was a fun, quick and weird (but not the weirdest ive seen lolz) read

[Cassandra]

4/6 stars

I liked the first one more. This had less funny bird moments but all the cute relationship moments. We got a date, confessions about abilities, and sweet moments. We did get him using his ability at a bird place and pet store. Both had adorable moments. I loved when he saved the birds but was so unhappy about it. LOL. I need to find more by this author.


This is explicit which I don't prefer when they are young (one is 18 he other 23) but its not overly graphic more just exploration.

[Bianca · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
This was a fun sequence for this manga, the conclusion was nice and being a romance it didn't have tv give a lot of explanation.
We have some explanation about Mitsuro powers which was nice (I got surprised by how he did it).
This is a reading that I recommend in case you want something fun and romantic.

[ℂ ✧ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un BL cuquíssim amb un polsim de fantasia entre l'Inusaki, detectiu/noi dels encàrrecs del barri i el seu veí Mitsuru. L'un pot comunicar-se amb els ocells, però no ho sap ningú i l'altre amaga alguna cosa... Tot i que la trama s'allarga un pèl massa cap al final i el lector pot intuir quin és el secret entre el Kuro i el Mitsuru, els diàlegs són moníssims i les dosis d'humor fa que la lectura sigui ben amena ♥

[Rebo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disappointed the series ended already... I really liked the characters and would have liked to have seen and learned more about them... 😢 But this was a nice fluffy volume I enjoyed even if it was over before I knew it. I kinda wish the sex scenes were steamier, but I know I can’t expect that from something originally available on comixology (even if the series has since been removed there).

[Cal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again. I love the art style. I love how it highlights Kuro and Inusaki and how different and yet connected they are. It's sad that the story finishes here, but it's definitely one of my favorites.

I love how clueless Inusaki is about himself. It's the best. But it's okay, he has Kuro to help him figure it out.

[Dustin Diehl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was cute and unique, but it’s one of those mangas that’s cute but sort of weird to think about since the guy had the ability to turn into a crow and the crush started by the bird’s personality. So it’s like “I have a crush on a bird.” But it’s okay because the bird is actually a human.

[Beaumont · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun conclusion to the story. I love all the bird illustrations. I liked learning the love interest’s bird-related secret as well. There are two very brief sex scenes in the book. Both young men were virgins when they got together. The MC still does no detecting. It was a happy ending for everyone, as much as can be with the two of them having to hide their relationship.

Rag.