I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought this was kinda incomplete. At first I really thought it was going to be one of those mangas where the main character happens to have sex with most of the characters because of how it was portrayed. I don't mind that it wasn't, I just feel like it was all for nothing. Like, he could've kissed ryu on a whim to realize then that it didn't work out because it wasn't aki or something. I highly agree on the jerk off part too, because it gave this story "not thinking too much and going straight to the action fast" vibes, which later made the ending disappointing. When they were alone at home and with their mutual attraction, something must've happened for sure.
Idk, I just hope we get some extras to make it up for most of this, because the premise of this manga was actually not bad at all. (￣ε(#￣)Σ
I was about to write something long but you have gotten the main ideas of what I have observed after reading it. The shounen vibe is so strong here and the yaoi ending would perfectly end this (perhaps a time skip) but, overall, it was a very nice thing to read with a few reservations.
I enjoyed this one overall, but there were some writing issues that can't help but bug me after the fact. At least one of them could be solved in an extra chapter, if there's gonna be one.
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This was set up at the beginning to be a love triangle that never materializes. It was supposed to be Aki - Hinata - Haruta, but Haruta was never in the running, and is completely forgotten about halfway through the story. Also, something felt off about introducing Aki first, if he was going to be the eventual love-interest. I feel like there should've been an air of mystery built around him, like he was at soccer camp and didn't show up for a few days while Hinata continued to wonder about him as he looked at family photos of Aki around the house while Haruta gets his claws into Hinata early (even though Haruta'll eventually lose). I don't know, it's hard to explain why this is off/doesn't-work.
Younger bro Haruta was introduced WAY too late. He's in middle school and lives there too. He should've shown up in the first chapter right at the same time Hinata first sees Aki. Maybe while Hinata is standing in the front yard "having a moment" and pushes zombified-Hinata into the house while rolling his eyes. But instead, days pass before we see hide nor hair of Haruta, with no explanation for why he hasn't been seen yet. It's not like kids that age have reasons to be gone from home for days at a time with no comment. It's REALLY WEIRD.
Also, Haruta's (aka younger bro) presence in the story was kind of a waste. It wasn't clear if he actually liked Hinata or not, or if he was just jealous of his brother. This was never cleared up. The whole "slave" thing didn't really add anything and just wasted panels, since no one ever saw this going on but the two of them. Either remove lil bro from the story or add at least a few more panels to wrap up his jealousy and whether or not he likes Hinata. Drop the "slave" angle since it adds nothing. I was actually hoping Ryu would show up at their house to study with Hinata and would find Haru treating Hinata like a slave, and Ryu lays the smack down on Haruta, causing Haruta to instantly fall in love with Ryu. But we get nothing, boo hoo.
The development of Hinata's friend "Ryu the delinquent" went nowhere. A character like Ryu's presence in a story is typically a set up for misunderstandings later, but this never happened in any respect. What this should've lead to was that 1) Aki sees Hinata with Ryu and gets completely the wrong idea, leading to his wet dream the next night, giving Aki the push he needs to decide if he likes Hinata or not, and 2) Aki or Haruta thinking that Ryu's gonna be a bad influence on Hinata because he's a delinquent complicates the situation and relationships. Again, Ryu was a setup with no pay-off.
I don't get the point of the non-con jerk-off at the beginning of the story, plus the full-frontal fresh-from-the-shower Aki later, if the story isn't going to go as far as showing Hinata and Aki having sex. Either you're gonna have smut in your comic or you're not. Leave that stuff out and just focus on almost-kisses instead, if you're not gonna show the sex. This sort of stuff (the chapt 1 jerk-off) is essentially a standard BL setup for sex later, and when the sex never happens, it ends up making the story feel incomplete.
No wrap-up for the "I'm moving out to go to college" angle. As far as I can tell, Aki is two years older than Hinata, and while the comic does acknowledge that Aki is going to college after HS, there is no discussion of what's going to happen with Aki and Hinata after Aki leaves. It's just dropped. It was mentioned as late in the story as a couple of panels before the confession at the very end, so this should've had at least a couple of panels afterwards to lay out some kind of plan for them going forward. It's just two more seasons before Aki leaves (after winter). Not to mention that Hinata is only supposed to be staying with them for a year anyway, so it should show him calling his parents and asking to stay for all of HS, or asking for his parents to pay for an apartment equidistant to Hinata's school and Aki's apartment or letting Hinata room with Aki in Aki's apartment if it's not too far from Hinata's HS.... just SOMETHING.
All this aside, it was still a pretty enjoyable read, with a lot of good comedic moments.