bruh i didn’t even expect for this to be a bl LMAO
While i get where you’re coming from and do agree on some of your points (esp that part where it isn’t good to insist on what you like the genre will be towards the creator, etc) as well, i would just like to say that just because it isn’t tagged as BL that doesn’t mean there will be no romance between seigi and richard (or in general/not only in this manga/anime/novel). Take for example, Yuri on ice. It isn’t tagged as BL (it’s a sports anime) but the romantic relationship of the leads ARE canon.
And on how I view the relationship between seigi and richard (take into mind i have read the novel up to volume 2 and have read rough translations of volume 3 onwards), I can say they indeed have a more than friends relationship but not a common (?) romantic relationship that we’re used to seeing. I can say they have a very complex and deep bond and I can’t help but love reading that in the novel. Anyways, I really have high hopes for this work and I do hope a lot more people will give this a chance (and not be disappointed since it’s not ‘outright bl’) for what it’s worth, it has an interesting plot and the creators did a good job of conveying the emotions of the characters!
Agreed.
I just wanted to say (this is more so for the reviews on the anime but are still relevent to the manga) this is NOT BL therefore you can't EXPECT ROMANCE between Richard and Seigi. While I do agree there are some really strong moments that I don't blame you for thinking they are in a relationship/like each other romantically, however the word they used for like towards each other was 好き (at least in the anime; I haven't read the novels so I cannot say for that. If they did use words that explicitly indicate romantic feelings in the novel then I would gladly take back my words) which does mean like/love, but it's a very general word for like/love. You would use 好き when saying you like your friends, parents, favorite food, favorite book, etc. and yes you can use it to confess to someone, but when interpreting the words you have to also take the other possible connotations it carries as well. When Richard and Seigi said they like (好き) each other, they may have meant it in a romantic sense but they may have just meant as a human being they like each other the same way you can really like your friends but not necessarily have a crush on them. Had they used 愛してる that would be different, because that has a deep romantic connotation tied to that like/love that is non-negotiable (恋をした／する would also represent romantic like/love but it's more of a "first love" kind of fluffy, innocent feeling that would not make much sense in the case of this story. If we were to give an example of a relationship that fits this it would be Seigi's feelings for Tanimoto)
Here's a good example of two boys who really really care about each other but do not have romantic feelings for each other. I believe Richard and Seigi also have a relationship which is similar.
http://www.mangago.zone/read-manga/nanohana_boys/
Maybe because a lot of people who go read this manga or watch the anime have been exposed to a lot of BL and so when they see two guys (I'm hoping just in fiction and not onto real people because that's disrespectful) being rather friendly with each other they just think "oh they might be gay" (or something along the lines of that), however it's not right to insist that is the intention of the authors and producers when creating this story. Just like how a girl and boy can be friends without having a crush on each other, there's no excuse why that can't be so between a guy and another guy (or a girl and a girl). So the people complaining "why is this not BL" or "Why didn't they show their relationship more explicitly", first of all this story is categorized in the BL or shounen ai genre and secondly you're assuming that their relationship is more than what is shown. It's fine to hope or to speculate relationships deeper than what they are presented but you can't make an assumption and say it as a fact.
If you interpreted the story as Richard and Seigi having romantic feelings for each other, that's fine. If you interpret them as being soul mates (note that soul mates don't have to be lovers) that is also fine to. There is no one true answer and it's normal to have multiple interpretations of a story, but let's all be understanding of the fact either interpretation is equally acceptable
Since people were asking where to read the novels, here are some links on where to buy them:
This site has a few sample pages for each book at the beginning
http://orangebunko.shueisha.co.jp/book/series/%E5%AE%9D%E7%9F%B3%E5%95%86%E3%83%AA%E3%83%81%E3%83%A3%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89%E6%B0%8F%E3%81%AE%E8%AC%8E%E9%91%91%E5%AE%9A
This is the first book (the rest can be found by clicking on the publisher underneath the cover art)
https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E5%AE%9D%E7%9F%B3%E5%95%86%E3%83%AA%E3%83%81%E3%83%A3%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89%E6%B0%8F%E3%81%AE%E8%AC%8E%E9%91%91%E5%AE%9A-%E9%9B%86%E8%8B%B1%E7%A4%BE%E3%82%AA%E3%83%AC%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B8%E6%96%87%E5%BA%AB-%E8%BE%BB%E6%9D%91%E4%B8%83%E5%AD%90-ebook/dp/B01BOF7LVA
This is for the manga
https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B0861VMTFK/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i11