I agree with this on a spiritual level I--
I remember when the first few chapters were being released on mangago (back when my taste in BL was still shallow & my appreciation for storytelling was unrefined), I thought of it as boring. I wasn't a fan of slowburn mangas in general, but in the past year, my tastes have changed.
I've gotten into reading all of the available chapters & binge-watched the anime - I regret nothing. There's quite a few clichés in it but somehow Natsuki-sensei was just able to tell the story in such a refreshing way (not to mention, the beautiful art). Like, the dead lover trope, the genius/fast-learner trope, the re-encounters with people you know from the past, etc. but the characters are fleshed out so well that you can't help but fall in love with them & their journey, y'know.
I realize that I'm often mesmerized by stories that have both good plot and characters. There's a lot of good plot out there, which I enjoy, but sometimes I can't get into the characters, which made it feel lacking. Sometimes they're not fleshed out very well, or we simply don't get to see their thoughts & emotions outside of the romance realm. I love the friendships & family interactions in this, it makes the characters feel more real.
Aaaah- such a nice reply to get back to as well. Thank you very much for sharing your story as well! It makes me happy you could relate to mine and in a sense I could also relate to you.
Back then I wasn't all up for slow paced mangas, so I definitely wouldn't have appreciated it as I do now. I'm extremely sure of it now. I believe we found it just when we needed it, and that's the beauty of it in itself.
Like you mentioned previously, even with all the clichés thrown here and there it still feels well written and thought every single time. Never did I feel the 'oh damn here we go again' or felt like it was being dragged out. We didn't even need the stereotypical 'oh, am I in love?' type of scenes or self-reflections to realize just how much every character fell for each other. Them expressing their feelings out loud simply seemed like the right thing to do for both them and their loved one, but never for us. It's like they're all living their lives to their fullest and letting us watch over them as they go about them. That's how it all feels to me and that's honestly beautiful.
I will probably take a while until I can find such a heartfelt manga once again, if you have anything you would like to share I'd definitely take it! Gems are such a rare find nowadays after all! Thank you once again for your insight :)
So I had seen this manga ever since the first few chapters were out. I'm not one to get into ongoing manga, I prefer waiting until it's completed unless it's really good. Even when the anime was announced, I noticed there was a lot of drama / angst going on so I thought to myself "might be good but not worth the pain" so I still chose to wait for a little longer until the drama settled down or I started watching the anime.
I became a fan of the anime pretty quickly, and even then I thought "it's REALLY good but I'll finish the anime before reading the manga". But aaaah do tell me, how was I such a big fool this entire time? When I got to episode 9, believe, I realized how foolish I had been every single time for missing out on this for such a long time. Everything about this manga, about this work is absolutely phenomenal. The "drama", the "angst" is so beautifully written it's absurd to call it that. It's real, it's painful yes, it breaks you yes, but you can't even call it drama because it's so deep it's much more than that. The characters are written in such a way that you feel them, every single time. I've become way too attached to them and their stories, so now I can't stop crying rereading this and rewatching the anime. I won't even start with the art and the plot flow because I won't end.
It took me a long time to get here, and I've scolded myself enough times already, but I'm so happy I got to find this absolute masterpiece. For anyone wondering if they should read this or watch the anime, DO IT! Definitely read before watching though, I'm sure the experience must be much better that way.