chlorine's Manga

It's still ongoing so it's obviously something that can change, but with how the story has progressed so far, this is easily one of my favorite BL's. The art is some of the best I've seen, it's genuinely just gorgeous, and of course the story is right up my alley as well. The development of the characters is slow, but it's not dragged—we slowly see their dynamic change and (at this point, seemingly unconsciously) fall for each other. It's a slow burn.

UPDATE: I'm writing this directly after the season 2 finale, and will be mostly about season two.

I'm a person who prefers to binge read; it's rare for me to pick up an ongoing story, much less continue to read each week as the chapters come out. But for Lost in The Cloud, it just pulls me in each week, it keeps me thinking about it between the days as I anticipate the newest chapter. To me, this is one of the best BL's being published, possibly even just at all.

With that said, season two has a bit of a dip in quality to me—it felt like the chapters were shorter with a bit less happening. I don't actually know if it is that way, as I binge read season one but was reading season two in real time, but regardless, the slow & short chapters are an issue. The story is definitely one best read once completed. Will I wait for season three to be done to read it? No fucking way, I like it way too much to. But it does leave me a bit annoyed after the chapters are done. And genuinely annoyed, not in the "omg that was so good I need more!" way but in the "is that really fucking it." type of way.

Even with that, season two is still fucking PEAK. Like top tier BL, easily fucking wipes all the other BL coming out. Puts them to shame. Shits all over them. Season one was more about the situation Skylar was in, the plot, while season two took a step back and digged deeper into the characters, was more character driven than plot driven, which I did like. The stuff with Cirrus . . . Let me just say:

FUCK CIRRUS' CHEAP ASS FUCKING DAD AND FUCK THAT FUCKING BITCH HE BROUGHT WITH HIM, THAT LOWBROW TRASHY FUCKING BITCH. FUCK HER AND FUCK THE DAD. AND FUCK THAT FUCKING TEACHER TOO THAT FUCKING FAGGOT ASS PEDOPHILE. that is all.

I just wanted a special moment to comment on the season two finale as well . . . I've never read anything more perfect. It was such a good finale that I would have been perfectly content with that being the series finale; it just ended so perfectly. Skylar coming over with fireworks to light with Cirrus, Skylar asking him if they'd want to be roomates in college so Cirrus isn't alone, and the way Cirrus asked to kiss him after that and the scene ended with them tentatively kissing in front of the fireworks like oh I'm sobbing

[UPDATE]

It's finished. Truthfully, it's hard for me to find the words I want to really convey what I'm feeling. I usually don't read ongoing stories, and when I do, I don't start them when they're still early in their existence the way I did with this. I started reading this when season one was nearing its finale, so just on the cusp of this really blowing up, and I've been reading it each week as it comes out since then.

This story holds a spot in my heart forever for it. Reading this story itself was almost its own unique experience with the way it brought me to communities and introduced me to people. The only other BL I hold such strong sentiments to is Killing Stalking, which is the story that started everything for me, so I really hold this up on a pedestal.

I won't lie and act like this story is without its issues—it's not. Season three in general is bit of a step-down in terms of quality, which is actually quite a shame considering it's the final season. Characters, especially Skylar, felt uncharacteristically mean, and the resolution to that hostility wasn't something I was fully satisfied with. It's a tricky situation, considering it 100% is just Cirrus' issues catching up to him, but I don't think Skylar's reaction was really proportionate to the character he's previously been shown as. It's also been confirmed there are no side stories, which I think is a huge disservice to the story. There're so many loose ends. One small thing we don't have, which I really wanted, was for Chan-il and the friend group in general to find out Cirrus and Skylar were dating. Honestly, I'm kind of shocked we didn't get that.

Even acknowledging my grievances, I still think this is a five star story. Five out of five. I think the characters, but especially Cirrus, were genuinely amazing. The way his character portrayed trauma and grief really made me emotional, which is notable because I'm not usually someone who gets swayed in such a way by stories. But Cirrus' sexual assault and the way he reacted to it, and the way it informed his entire character, really got to me. I also found him quite relatable, he was quite a desperate character, the type of person who worries about people leaving so he'll push them away or try and keep them by his side no matter what, with no inbetween.

I just really, really loved this story. I hope Paskim's next work is as good as this, though honestly, I doubt anything will really be able to come close.