Aurinne's Topics (117)

"Ear thingies"

hehehehe (⌒▽⌒)

The first story is not amazing but fairly nice. Somehow the storytelling feels shallow, and the kissing thing feels a bit only-in-a-manga, but it was a simple and not annoying read. I didn't read the second story.

I always come back to read Aki-chan. He's by far my favourite Obinata. While the fun of the other stories is in the drama and tantrums, I love so much more that Aki and Ryuu's relationship is really gentle.

I just wish they didn't spend the whole story in bulky boxy jackets. ╮(￣▽￣)╭

... When the first page says "Wow, what a big truck!" and my brain reads it as "Wow, what a big dick!"

⁄(⁄ ⁄·⁄ω⁄·⁄ ⁄)⁄

I'm never sure how much is the original text being confusing and how much is just the difficulties of translating, but it's always frustrating when the text seems to be confusing and contradictory.

For instance, there's one part where Yuu throws himself on Junpei saying he doesn't want things to stay as they are...but then a page or two later we have Junpei struggling with himself and reflecting that Yuu said he was fine with things as they are...

（￣へ￣）

And there would be times when Junpei would act and say things that seemed to be openly acknowledging and accepting that he and Yuu have something going on, and yet at other times he'd talk or act as if he was pretending that he didn't know Yuu had feelings for him, or as if he himself was doubtful of what Yuu's actions meant.

Although I could infer that Junpei was a serious person who was struggling to accept his own sexuality and what that would mean for his life, a lot of the time the text was just contradictory and confusing and I could only make guesses about where his headspace actually was.

It's a nice story, but honestly too many of the scenes feel like filler that don't say anything, explore anything or I progress the story because the text is contradictory or too vague to have any meaning at all. Which is disappointing because I do like this story and wanted to be absorbed into it a lot more.

Also, the whole thing with his Dad...was just a bit too vague to be satisfying. I think what happened was that his Dad was saying he wasn't suited to being the next boss of the company and also that he was forcing himself too much to be what he wasn't - both by trying to be his idea of the next boss and by trying to live as a straight person. He wasn't being true to himself and wasn't living and working in a way he truly liked etc.

But what Junpei heard was that he wasn't suited to being the boss and he wasn't doing a good job because he was gay. He was trying to be what he thought he should be and yet kept getting pushed back for it, especially from his father. And by spending time with Yuu and his family and working with the kids, he managed to relax his thinking and be open to what his father was really saying rather than assuming it was criticism and rejection.

But goodness, to make me have to work all of that out by giving me only a few vague lines of text here and there, even though it's the fundamental journey the MC has to go on felt really unsatisfying.

Anyway, like I said, I liked this story, I just wish the text had been a little less frustrating. I don't mind a lot of things being inferred rather than said outright, it's just a bit too much hard work when things are barely even inferred and instead things are just vague, empty, or contradictory.

It's one of those manga that really make me wish I was able to read the original Japanese.

...but I really felt like this had the potential to be so much better. In the end, everything felt really rushed, really glossed over. I wanted more proper character and relationship moments that went deeper. I didn't hate the main characters...but I felt unsatisfied in the end. Pity.

Now I want chocolate cake.

So, I re-read this occasionally because the mangaka makes the characters feel really warm but...

...gah they really do the MC dirty in this. I have two really big irks for this one:

1. By the end, it's made out that Micchan is being a scared and stupid over-thinker who isn't fair to Sei.

But right at the start, Sei told him that he will have sex but won't fall in love with a man - more than once, he said his. He then proceeded to pressure Micchan into sex even after he's said no - doesn't matter if Micchan gives in and then enjoys it, he kept telling him quite clearly that he didn't want it, and yet Sei kept trying for it. Worse is that Sei is his boss at this point.

And apart from the sex, Sei is totally neutral and unemotional when dealing with Micchan - unless you're seeing him from the point of view of someone like Kiyo or Waka who know him will.

So it's pretty damn frustrating that Micchan is made to look like an unaware, cowardly drama queen because he wants to avoid getting more involved with Sei. The only clear message Sei ever gave was that he wanted sex and wouldn't fall in love, for f's sake. If we didn't KNOW that Sei was the ML, he'd look like the scummy sex friend who strings the MC along at the start of a manga, before the real ML comes along. And this is never acknowledged, Micchan's just made to look like an idiot who played with the ML's feelings then ran away instead of interrogating his boss- who said he wanted sex but wouldn't fall in love and had already shown he didn't like Micchan prying into his past and personal relationships- about his ex-wife. Meh.

2. Presenting a friendly attitude to customers and going with his boss on what he a told was a work-related outing does not make it Micchan's fault when said boss then pulls a knife on him. The victim-blaming in this was insidiously strong, and if you fell for it as well you need to fix your own thinking, too. Not once does Micchan display any inappropriate or misleading attitudes to the people at Sei's work - he's friendly and attentive, but it's obvious to everyone that he's doing his job with enthusiasm and professionalism. If he keeps having problems for this, then it's like saying to a woman that she's not allowed to smile at a customer because guys will think she likes them. No. Educate your guys better.

I'm not denying that he might have less trouble if his attitude was harsher, but that's the same as saying a woman will have less chance of attracting unwanted male attention if she just never leaves the house. Being nice does not ever make you to blame. Nor does it make you stupid. Was he really supposed to not go on a work-related outing with his boss because he might get a knife pulled on him?? Why should that be something anyone would go around expecting?

I know that the friend was partly overreacting because she was worried about him, but having her blame him right at the start was horrible and set up this idea in the reader's mind that he's got this huge character flaw that he needs to fix or else he's going to keep bringing trouble on himself. And yet, he tells his boss quite clearly that they weren't dating, he behaves quite harshly to his old school friend, he tells Sei multiple times that he doesn't want to have sex (and the reason he gives in to Sei's inconsiderate pressure is obviously because he likes Sei, and not as if he would've let his boss or school friend do whatever they liked). And I know that Sei alluding to him being too nice to people is mainly supposed to be Sei's jealously. But, once again, the mangaka is leaving us with the impression that Micchan is the one at fault, the one with big flaws that make things difficult for others. No. He's not responsible for the delusions and decisions of others. Meh.

I find it interesting that there are a number of comments about Akira being annoying, when for me it's always been Kento who's the less-likeable, frustrating one and Akira's pretty relatable. Interesting that people can have such different reactions.

The main thing I like about these two, though, is that they're balanced and not not without nuance.

Wow. What an awful male lead. What an awful brother. What awful parents. How unpleasant. Luckily the main character was fine with the male lead's crap attitude because the MC was in love with him and felt undeserving of him...so romantic...
I can't enjoy MLs who act like that just because I know they either already love or will eventually love the MC. Sigh.

OK, I've got that off my chest. Everyone else can go back to gushing about the characters and throwing high ratings at this as usual.