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Time rewinds to Kakeru and Yamato’s elementary school days, when they first met each other. While their personalities are near-exact opposites, they grow closer with each day they spend together. Soon, Kakeru learns more about Yamato—that his father fell into a coma after an accident, and even about a certain secret that he’s hiding... 

191 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 27, 2022

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455 people want to read

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Mika .

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5 stars
446 (51%)
4 stars
289 (33%)
3 stars
115 (13%)
2 stars
10 (1%)
1 star
4 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews
Profile Image for Cyndi.
755 reviews45 followers
October 4, 2023
I thought this was the best of the series so far. I loved the flashback to their childhood friendship. It helped me understand why Yamato is so infatuated with Kakeru. Also, they're both adorable as kids.
Profile Image for Zian B..
2,311 reviews34 followers
May 22, 2024
I think that so far, this is my favorite volume in this manga series. There was just so much clarification and beauty in seeing Yamato and Kakeru’s dynamic in their childhood and seeing Yamato’s feelings show even at a young age. The drama and suspense surrounding Yamato’s father broke my heart, and if it wasn’t for the bonus chapter I would’ve gotten very emotional not knowing what happened to him.
Overall, I’m very curious going into this next volume since I’m wondering when Kakeru will reveal his feelings for Yamato now that he’s sure of his feelings.
Profile Image for luna.
48 reviews80 followers
June 5, 2022
Tìm hiểu về quá khứ của Kakeru và Yamato~ Yaaa cái kiểu "realationship" này hoá ra có từ hồi còn bé á, nhưng lần đầu tui thấy Yamato khóc nhiều thế này cơ O.o
P.S. tui thích chap phụ (^////^)
Profile Image for L. .
314 reviews8 followers
October 29, 2023
*grumbles under my breath* this series is the bane of my existence. ]

Okay, I am just not a fan of this series. I find the relationships and the characters and the will-they-wont-they back and forth extremely tedious and boring. I could go on, but I don't need to, as I've already said my piece in my review for volume one.

That being said, I'm a completionist and collector, so I have been begrudgingly buying and reading every new volume. Yay me.

And this volume... surprised me. Hence my increase from a standard two star rating for this series to three stars. I still didn't really like it, as it felt very, very clunky (with the whole first 75% of the volume being a flashback that occasionally cut back to present day, completely unnecessarily and unprompted), and considering we're 6 volumes deep into the series and the entire backstory plot felt like came completely out of left field. Like, I seriously cannot remember if this was ever teased or hinted at in the prior volumes because they're so boring I can't retain anything that happens in them, so I was completely caught off guard and not having a good time reading it because it felt so out of place.

.... but I did really, really love how it ended (the flashback, not the volume, the end of the volume made me roll my eyes). I don't think the ending was enough to win me completely over on the flashback overall, but I did really like it. I thought it was beautiful, explained a lot of Yamato's affection for Kakeru, and added some really good depth to Yamato's character, especially in regards to his emotions. I just wish this had been brought up sooner! So much sooner! As it reads now, it feels like the mangaka did not have the full story mapped out before they started working on this series, so they're just adding things as they go -- which I understand is somehow how the manga industry works, as mangaka sometimes don't know if they're going to be allowed to continue a series when they first start it. But I do think there is a way to plan for that, and that way will allow the mangaka to better structure and streamline their series overall. And really, I think that's what I Cannot Reach You really needs: to be restructured and reorganized so the story is told in a much more effective and impactful way.
Profile Image for amax.
238 reviews14 followers
June 22, 2023
3 ½ ⭐

Although it was super cute, I'm not sure that the volume-length flashback was the right thing to do. It was really sweet seeing a young Kakeru and Yamato, especially since we get to see how/why they're best friends. Yamato's backstory is pretty sad, but at least he has Kakeru to help him out. I just wish we had more present-day scenes to cut up the flashbacks. The Valentine's Day episode is really cute though.

I love this series so much. I can't wait for the next volume!
Profile Image for Senise.
162 reviews
May 8, 2024
This book involves more of the main couples childhood so I wasn’t too interested. Very excited for the next book though, I have a feeling things will be made official 😏
Profile Image for Bevin.
420 reviews
December 5, 2024
Though better than the last one, this still is painfully slow, and I really am not sure how I feel about that ending. 
Profile Image for Cristina⏃ϟ.
126 reviews4 followers
January 1, 2025
Que bonita es esta historia. Este tomo me ha encantado al verlos de peques. Que monos son >.<
61 reviews
June 16, 2024
I really hope they reach each other soon because I feel like I’m being strung along.
Profile Image for Belén :P.
165 reviews
July 2, 2024
UF. Lo pasé bastante mal en este tomo, la verdad, últimamente este bl está mandando bastantes ataques a mi persona, y es que dios, necesito que paren de tocar temas tan personales porque si no yo no voy a salir viva de esta lectura.
Muy muy bonito, los amo un montón y jo, pobriños, tío, qué bebitos 🫂💞
Profile Image for Andreth Saelind.
86 reviews4 followers
May 21, 2024
"Please, may the little light in Yamato never go out. May it someday burn bright again"

Tell me about inner light and childhood and friendship and emotions 😭

This volume was very cute and wholesome, and surprisingly healing. Volume 6 diverges from the main story and takes us back in the past, when Kakeru and Yamato became friends. They are children, yet they both have deeply emotional issues to contend with, and this volume is about how they both stepped up to be there for the other.

Both Yamato and Kakeru are dealing with the absence of a parent, and the volume explores wonderfully the complexity of emotions in children, and how they can't always manage them or understand their depth. Seeing the two boys open up their barriers to let the other in, and accepting to show vulnerability in front of the other, was very touching. And of course, they both need all the love and care in the world, they are very precious!

Volume 6 felt a little slow, mostly because we spend a lot of time standing still while we are waiting for the present version of Kakeru and Yamato to finally communicate. But this dive into their childhood felt necessary to understand who they are becoming as older teenagers, as well as the deep connection they share. It helps to establish them as close friends, which we didn't get to see as much as the present explores more the romantic aspect of their relationship.

Another great instalment in this series that I have come to love dearly, I cannot recommend it enough!
Profile Image for Milenrrama.
1,470 reviews16 followers
February 22, 2024
20/10 Denme más estrellas. Podría parecer... ¿forzado? Pero mira, no, es que me vale. Se ha buscado hasta una excusa para poner niños a hablar como cuasiadultos xD. El tomo está pensado para tocar la patatica y lo consigue, al menos en mi caso. Mi tomo fav de la serie hasta ahora. Kakeru es muy buena persona.
Profile Image for Luka.
462 reviews10 followers
Read
December 19, 2023
ngl, this was probably the best volume in a WHILE, even though (or because) it was mostly a childhood flashback,, things were Happening, the plot was MOVING and thank god for that because i was about ready to tear my hair out lmao. one mutual kiss, is that too much to ask for, dear mika?
Profile Image for Stacie Streck.
447 reviews
July 2, 2023
Once again I feel like this was just a filler episode. It didn't really move the story forward, though I guess we got a better look at their pasts? I dunno. This just wasn't my favorite.
1,540 reviews52 followers
April 29, 2025
Okay, that volume redeemed the series, at least for now - and it was getting sorely in need of it!

Basically this whole thing is a long flashback to Yamato and Kakeru as kids. Kakeru really shines when he's not his current wishy-washy self: it's easy to see what would've made little Yamato gradually fall for him, because Kakeru was such a fun, generous, brilliant light. He's actually...a lot like Yamato's dad, as it turns out. Very similar carefree but deeply caring personalities.

There was a lot of adorable stuff with their families, including Kakeru snapping at his pregnant mother for throwing away his trading cards, and then sobbing later because he didn't mean it and didn't want her to wind up in the hospital. (She was just having his younger twin siblings.) The part with Yamato spending spring break with Kakeru's grandparents was also fantastic, especially that late night conversation between the grandfather and Yamato under the stars - with the line about even forgotten memories becoming a part of who you are.

Yamato does end up recovering his memories from the day of his dad's accident, though...I'm not sure how his mother hadn't connected before that it was Yamato's birthday, or to think to check her husband's phone to find out what he'd been doing. (Taking photos of the cherry blossom trees and then having a video call with his son to apologize for not being there with him.)

Amazing scene: not seeing Yamato's father's face at all until the point when Yamato finally remembers the video call and the moment when he saw his dad smiling at him, shortly before his accident. That was built up so well.

I'm...completely astonished by the final chapter, where it turns out Yamato's father is alive, and presumably woke up from his coma some time earlier? Does that mean he'll be in the story more from now on?? I mean, I'm relieved it turned out that way, but it sure was some major drama and then a surprise reveal. At least he wasn't still in a coma a decade later, which was kind of where I was assuming it might go.

Honestly, this puts a lot of the things from the school trip in perspective...and makes Kakeru's actions even more frustrating. Yamato wanting to share a special place from his childhood with Kakeru, in his father's hometown, in a place he had specifically visited with his father when he was little, is so incredibly meaningful once you get all the backstory about his dad's coma and how Kakeru helped him through that really tough year.

It also makes the temporary amnesia after the kiss slightly less ridiculous...because Yamato has a history of his brain shutting out super important moments due to stress and trauma. Which, again, is something Kakeru would've known and makes it pretty terrible for him to have cut off his friendship with Yamato due to him not remembering something important.

Shouldn't he remember? How much Yamato had agonized and cried and hidden the fact that he couldn't recover those memories from the day of his dad's accident?

So I really enjoyed this volume, but it does make the rest of the series feel kind of...not all that well thought out.
Profile Image for Kat.
1,194 reviews40 followers
May 24, 2023
This volume focused primarily on how Kakeru and Yamato became close in the first place, and you get an idea of why Yamato fell for Kakeru later on in their lives. Kakeru, as a child, is effervescent. He's far more confident then he is as a teen, and he basically forces a struggling Yamato out of his shell. Also, he is the reason why Yamato was able to remember that his father was never upset with him while he was in his coma, making Kakeru such an integral part of his life. And that little extra chapter at the end of this volume made me gasp, because it turns out, it was Kakeru who saved his Yamato's father in the first place by finding him after he had fallen, but no one knows that fact. Talk about serendipity.

The ending of this volume does fast forward us back to the present, with Kakeru FINALLY coming to terms with how he feels about Yamato. I think he's 99% certain, by the end of this volume, that he likes Yamato back. This volume ends of Valentine's Day, and when a girl asks Kakeru to give Yamato chocolate for her, he simply says sorry, no, not because of any important reason, but just because he did not want to. He had chocolate of his own to give. It's funny how this story does not reinvent the bl genre in anyway, but it's just done so well, that I am a sucker for it. Fingers crossed Kakeru gets to 100% certain in the next volume.
Profile Image for George Dominguez.
7 reviews
June 24, 2023
LAST PRINTED VOLUME :((( I can't wait for volume 7!!
we finally got more backstory on both of our characters which really helped us understand the bond they both had as kids. This volume went really into depth of Yamato's story and personal life but he never fought his feeling alone, He had kakeru :)

A quote I really loved in this book was said by Kakeru before chapter 31.
"please, may the little light in Yamato......Never go out.
May it someday burn bright again"

SO BEAUTIFUL 😞
this volume had such amazing artwork and fantastic scenery as well! in the end, we see Kakeru starting to realize some certain....feelingsss he has about Yamato and I have a feeling that in the next couple of chapters our characters will soon... reach each other :))

so sad this is the last printed copy for now! not sure when volume 7 will get printed but hopefully its SOON!! I'll definitely pick it up on the release date 🤗
Profile Image for Alicia ^^.
239 reviews
July 18, 2025
En este volumen se trata más todo lo que es el pasado entre Yamato y Kakeru. Y he de decir que me ha dado bastante pena todo lo que ha tenido que pasar Yamato con el tema de su padre. PERO NO ME PUEDO CREER QUE EL NIÑO QUE AYUDÓ A QUE SE LLAMARA A LA AMBULANCIA FUESE KAKERU.

Y lo del tema de San Valentín, que Kakeru le da chocolates a Yamato me ha parecido muy adorable 😭😭🙏🙏🙏. Me encanta su personaje y me siento muy identificada con que este tipo de cosas le cuestan un montón y a la vez lo está intentando.
ADEMÁS EL ABRAZO QUE LE DA YAMATO 🥺🥺🥺. No puedo de verdad que bonitos son.

He dejado el manga durante unos meses pero lo retomaré estos días porque me apetece leer algo así soft. Espero que el padre de Yamato pueda despertar y reconozca a Kakeru, es que tiene que ser un momento icónico.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Calista.
5,433 reviews31.3k followers
May 11, 2024
Another entry into this Japanese high school coming-of-age romance. I first watched the show and now I'm reading the Manga. The show just skipped right over this volume, mostly and what a great decision that was.

Yes, the kids are very cute as children and the backstories are touching in way. I did tear up a moment here. We really see why Yamato is in love so deeply with Kakaru.

With all that, this just wasn't needed for the story. It stopped the main flow of the narrative. This could have been a chapter and it would have been fine. I don't think it added much to the story at all.

There was a nice little touch that mostly only stories can produce at the end with Yamato's dad. We find out who saved him. I'm very gracious and give it 3 stars.
Profile Image for Rydeen7907.
23 reviews1 follower
September 13, 2024
This volume was a really good change of pace for the I Cannot Reach You series, I appreciate that the author allowed this more emotional childhood story to stand on its own rather than weaving it into the main plot as a broken-up series of flashbacks or bonus chapters. Setting this story in the past allows us to see Kakeru and Yamato before they were anxiety-stricken hormonal teenagers and it gives the readers a lot of insight into what qualities either person appreciates about the other.

My only criticism is that the ending wraps up the story a bit too perfectly for me to believe, but that doesn't take away too much from my enjoyment.

Profile Image for R..
2,104 reviews
November 7, 2025
The majority of this volume is the boy's early days getting to know each other and learning about Yamato's dad. Yamato struggles with his memories and conflicting feelings with his father, while Kakeru remains his usual confused yet determined self trying to help his friend. It looks like there are hints Kakeru may have played another significant role in these events, unbeknownst to anyone as his father didn't get a clear look at the child who helped him when the accident took place. Time moves forward back to the present day just in time for Kakeru to panic over their first valentines day and if he's inadvertently taken too long to return Yamato's feelings.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for charlotte aux fraises.
12 reviews1 follower
October 25, 2025
I absolutely ADORED seeing Yamato and Kakeru so small and innocent and read about how their relationship became the one that it is now. It was such a heartfelt tome of “I cannot reach you” and I liked the fact that the plot focused on their childhood more than the current plot of the sequel, like a prequel. It was just extremely cute and sweet to read it and I adored it.
Also it’s hilarious to see them before and now and to notice how they’ve changed. Like who knew Yamato would be such a shameless flirt, I mean…
Profile Image for Bee.
77 reviews
January 7, 2024
Alright the back story was sad as hell and Kakeru has finally realized he likes Yamato! The whole back story was insane actually. Like the fact that Yamato's dad was saved by Kakeru and only the reader knows this like huh!!! What?!?! But Kakeru and Yamato as kids were actually so cute they were adorable. This volume did not disappoint!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Volgana  Blue Rose.
24 reviews
February 21, 2024
Que tierno fue, no es mi tomo favorito pero me alegra saber un poco más de la vida de nuestro Yamatito y Kakeru tan tierno y alegre como siempre. Me alegro muchísimo de que el padre ya no esté en coma😆. El final, buah, esa silueta parecía ser Kakeru... Ya tengo ganas de que publiquen el próximo tomo🤭🤗
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Ester.
1,205 reviews68 followers
June 2, 2024
Me muero de amor a cada tomo, la paz que me da esta historia pocas me la proporcionan. Seguimos con el flashback del pasado, que comenzó a finales del tomo anterior, para conocer cómo empezó la amistad entre Yamato y Kakeru, así como el amor de Yamato por su mejor amigo. De vuelta en el presente, llega San Valentín y Kakeru quiere tener un detalle con Yamato para hacerlo feliz, puesto que todavía no ha encontrado la respuesta a su declaración. ¿O tal vez sí?

Leer la reseña completa:

https://unabibliotecaentremundos.blog...
Profile Image for c. a..
24 reviews1 follower
September 26, 2024
oh my god, this was the best volume yet, and i already liked the others a lot too. the past arc made me cry so much. there was ACTUAL development coming from kakeru which was amazing to see. hopefully he confesses soon and they get together.

and the extra story with the fated encounter between kakeru and yamato's father.... this series is amazing <3
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