TachibanaChiharu's Topics (173)

The original Kedamono Arashi story was so basic in plot/premise I was worried that I would be bored with this followup, especially with a kid involved. But this one turned out great, and thankfully goes off the beaten path for BL. I like how the adult characters here (despite insecurities) resolve their insecurities like adults, by talking things out. And also the lack of hilariously villainous characters is nice. It's so refreshing to see this in BL.

Also, the art continues to be astounding, and Shouta is the most adorable BL baby I've ever laid eyes on. I loved it every time that kid was on the page, which is not usually the case for me.

The second couple was also good, a much better storyline than the catboys one from the previous manga. Also, hell yes to the cop-in-uniform fetish! (๑•ㅂ•)و✧

The only negative here is that the mangaka could use some help designing the sexy-time scenes/panels. All of the smut scenes were pretty uninspired and sparse, which is a dang shame given how good looking the characters are. To be fair, the previous Kedamono Arashi manga had this issue too. But with some better scene composition and structure, the smut here could also really be out of this world.

Overall, a nice, easy, low-drama read with really great looking art.

I don't see the point in complaining about characters this early in the story; 7 chapters in is barely even started. Jaehyun is such a trashdump of a human, sure, but it's fun to see how he forces the straight-laced guys like dad and son to act outside of their comfort zones. It'll be interesting to see where his character goes throughout the story too. He's unlikable right now on purpose, kinda like Alex was in BJ Alex for the longest time. It'll be so much more satisfying when his character finally turns itself around.

As a fan of Watase Yuu back from the Fushigi Yuugi days, I was surprised to see that she'd written a BL. I was very interested to see what this would be like. Wellllll it was pretty well-written, but boy was it tough trek. The misery of the story felt like it went on and on and on. I don't know if it was because it dragged in the middle (maybe) or because I just couldn't 100% get behind the characters for some reason.

The rape and tragedy elements are well-used here, and even though it is a tragedy, I didn't really feel that upset by how the story and their relationship ended, somehow. It felt appropriate. This is not a rape-to-love story even though one might naively think so, since the characters here finally connect with each other despite the rape (not because of it).

Also, just be aware it is hard to read in some places because of what Watase-sensei puts the protag through.

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I felt like the uke's personality and what set him apart from others didn't resonate strongly enough to illicit such an intense reaction from the seme. Like, clearly, the first guy that died in the warehouse loved the seme, so why wasn't he good enough? Lust vs love in BLs is a very blurry line sometimes. Is it just because the protag uke didn't obsess over the seme's looks? I kind of got the sense that that's what it was, but I don't know, it always just seems weird to me there was never _any other person_ who was kind to the seme without wanting to get into his pants. A lot of BL/shoujo stories rely on this sorta plot conceit, and it's just one I can't ever really get behind because it just presumes most of humanity to be far less kind and genuine than most people really are (in the real world).

Also, this whole set of plot occurrences could've been avoided by the seme having one conversation with his father (which happens at the end). Like none of the deaths, the whole story, really. And I get that the uke had to show him that he needed to, and how to do that, but I mean... I feel like the plot should be a little more complex than one tiny thing that could've been done from the beginning being able to change everything.

It was also a bit weird seeing Watase-sensei-designed characters having brutal rape sex. Idk, ymmv. The uke's character design I didn't really like either, so it was hard for me to see him as a real character and not just lines on the page. Somehow the big shoujo-protagonist eyes didn't really work with his hair cut. I do appreciate that most of the characters were not drawn to be as good-looking as the seme, given the story centered around the seme's good looks and how it tore his world apart.

Anyway, I rated this 4/5 stars because while it was good, it did feel a bit draggy in places and I just feel no desire to come back to this one. It wasn't because of the misery elements, but just something I couldn't completely connect with (mainly regarding the two protagonists I guess).

The last chapter group meet up, comedy gold. I guess Kawasaki had thought Honda was the bottom because of his big anime-girl eyes and shorter stature (I haven't read the other manga to know either way), but when Kaidou started acting like a baby in the middle of dinner, he (and Fujita too) suddenly freaks out internally and asks himself "is Kaidou the bottom?!?!?". LOL!!

I give the author props for the setup/payoff of Kawasaki taking Honda out to drink and secretly inviting Kaidou and then leaving so they'll work it out. Then later, Honda does the same thing to him, giving him coupons to the cafe Fujita works at so they'll meet up and work it out. LOL.

But really, how could Kawasaki not know about that cafe that's right within spitting distance of his apartment? Like how do they even get business if someone who lives RIGHT THERE doesn't even know about it. :P

Anyway, this story wasn't particularly innovative, but it didn't do anything wrong, and had all the twists and turns that I wanted and expected it to have, so I gave it 5 stars.

This is basically Kaitou Saint Tail the BL.

This series has so many problems, and all of them involve the two protags. Why is this rated so highly? -_- For a better story involving guys in booze-related careers gettin' it on, try "Yoidore Koi o Sezu".

Grandpa and Haruna-the-sister were the best things in this series, and the best scenes in it are when grandpa is playing shogi with Haruna-the-bottom (especially the first time). The series is at its best when it's being a light-hearted comedy, and at its worst when trying to force melodrama between the two protags.

Complaints time!
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First off, the whole setup is completely predictable. After just the first few pages, with a glimpse of some hot black-haired guy smoking outside the brewery and the mention that Haruna keeps trying and failing to get the master brewer (grandpa) of the brewery to agree to a contract, it was totally obvious that: 1) Haruna and Shuu would see each other and one would internally announce "I'm gay, and he's totally my type!" (it was Haruna), 2) that hot guy smoking outside the brewery would turn out to be the son (actually grandson) of the grumpy owner of the brewery, 3) the master brewer would be irked that the son (grandson) was wasting his life away doing some other unapproved thing (computers) instead of taking over the family business (which was kinda true; there was at least an arc about this), 4) that Haruna would win over grumpy brewer through his pursuit of the hot son (grandson), 5) that grumpy brewer would get injured for a scene or two in order to give Haruna and hot son (grandson) some alone time to build their relationship, and 6) hot son (grandson) would eventually change his career back to whatever brewery-related thing that his dad (grandpa) (actually, it was his sister) wanted. This is all paint-by-numbers BL plot contrivances here, and it didn't start to deviate until well after Haruna-the-sis is introduced and explored some.

The parts that weren't paint-by-numbers were the best parts of the series. Haruna-the-sis is a female character in a BL comic that not only ISN'T a harpy, but is actually a great character all on her own; I could read a whole shoujo comic just about her. Grandpa, after he accepts the contract, becomes a great side character and his obsession with shogi and interactions with Haruna-the-bottom over shogi are great. Haruna-the-bottom and Haruna-the-sis's relationship is just great. The fact that Haruna-the-bottom isn't a useless retard is great; he's a great salesman, he's very socially adroit, he's a good cook, he's great at shogi, and is bilingual. It's sad to say, but it wasn't that common until more recently for ukes to be more than a useless waste of space. All of the plot stuff surrounding the brewery and Haruna-the-bottom's job was interesting and pretty well-written. Haruna-the-bottom actually had a reason and backstory for flying to the US so much... since he was born there. And this was used throughout the story to great effect. The story even did well with Haruna-the-bottom's booze allergy; it was never forgotten, and was used in several important plot developments that weren't even related to the romance story.

Back to complaining.

The whole relationship setup between Shuu and Haruna-the-bottom is awful. Shuusaku tells Haruna-the-bottom repeatedly that he's not interested in him in the slightest, and Haruna-the-bottom forces himself into Shuusaku's life regardless of Shuu's feelings. Shuu is allowed to not want to date you, Haruna. It gets to the level of needing a restraining order, the way Haruna so relentlessly pursues Shuu. Haruna-the-bottom is so inconsiderate of Shuu's personal agency here, it's really freaking irritating.

Also, these two have no chemistry at all because Shuu refuses to meet Haruna-the-bottom halfway in anything at all for two full volumes, and we get no scenes from Shuu's perspective to at least clue us in to any kind of interest on his part. Everything Shuu does for Haruna-the-bottom is grudging on his part at best, like some kind of social obligation. The whole thing just feels creepy, like Shuu is sexing Haruna up just to placate him, to keep him from bothering him endlessly.

If the author was really just wanting Shuu to be extremely reserved and antisocial, the way to make that work is to provide the readers with a scene from Shuu's perspective where he basically ruminates over his interest in Haruna-the-bottom so we don't feel creeped out by Haruna-the-bottom's relentless pursuit of someone who is shown to not like him attttt allllll. But Shuu never once shows an interest in Haruna in the first five or so chapters of volume one. His actions toward Haruna are things he'd do for any random person just to be polite. I have no idea why Shuu ever agreed to bone Haruna-the-bottom, much less how they even ended up in a relationship to begin with. It just felt like it just happened one day, and that was it. Like, what? Why write a story if it isn't going to have a plot that builds on itself at all?

Meanwhile, the way Shuu treats Haruna-the-bottom is not how someone treats a person they like AT ALL. Shuu literally hits Haruna-the-bottom for going to see his friend who he hasn't seen in a year just because the two once dated and Haruna-the-bottom can't read minds. Haruna specifically asked him to come along and if it was ok to meet with his friend/ex beforehand, and he refused and said it was fine to go. Haruna did nothing wrong, and Shuu was completely at fault here. And yeah sure, he admits he f'd up immediately after, and there was some bullshit excuse about Japanese people being reserved, but none of this matters. Is it really more "reserved" to hit him than it is to say you don't want him to go out with his friend? Get real. But this situation is not treated by the comic with the serious gravity deserved of such a dark turn of events. The whole sequence is just sleazy, especially with Haruna just blowing it off immediately afterwards like it's no big deal just because he's sort of a masochist. It IS a big deal. Shuu did it out of petty spite, not kink. This is really bad juju for a relationship. If Shuu's past trauma from that girl who jilted him is so bad that he would do something like this, then this will not be the last time Harnua gets hit in the face for innocently talking to some other guy. But the story just ignores this whole thing after the characters discuss it for like 5 panels, and it's never mentioned again or resolved in any way. What? It did not even need to be there if the author wasn't going to go anywhere with it. JUST LEAVE IT OUT. Shuu can be a gloomy, antisocial loner without having to have had a traumatic breakup that turned him into a psychologically and physically abusive jerkhole.

And this is not even considering the fact that Shuu accuses Haruna at the same time of being "inconsiderate", which is exactly what Shuu has been to Haruna in every. single. scene. leading up to this moment for the entire comic. What a hypocrite. I hate this guy so much.

And just to fully explore this point. Grandpa is shown enacting physical violence on Haruna in the first volume, and Shuu enacts physical violence on Haruna in volume two. Grandpa is being a stubborn old coot and doesn't want to sign a contract with Haruna-the-bottom's company because they're naggy (or whatever), and the tone of these scenes play this physical violence off as comedy. You know, like Wile E Coyote stuff. This is why we all shrug grandpa's violence off while reading it. But then, one might think, "Oh, Shuu learned to be violent towards others who upset you from his grandpa" because I mean it was there, and written into the comic. But when Shuu hits Haruna in volume 2, the tone of the scene is much more grounded and serious and ugly. This is not a comedic scene at all. Because the tone is so different here, you can't really draw a direct correlation between these two things, since grandpa's actions are exaggerated caricatures for the sake of comedy, throwing a crutch at a stranger, while there are many unfortunate cases of jealous lovers acting like Shuu did in real life. I suspect if grandpa knew that Shuu hit Haruna-the-bottom like that, he'd disown the stupid ahole.

Anyway. Volume three tones all this Shuu crap down to focus on career stuff. Shuu is finally allowed to show any emotion at all about Haruna, which should've happened two volumes earlier. I think this is why people remember this series more fondly than it really deserves, since this is the last thing you see of it, and it's not too bad. But I can't forget. This series could have been written with any minor number of things different to improve it greatly. It didn't need to be like this. As it is, this should be rated 8.5 at best, with a lot more complaining in the comments than there seems to be.

I was really worried about how this story would turn out after that hella rushed intro, but fortunately it morphed into an interesting and different sort of plot from the usual. I'm all for switching, as well as considerate semes. Of which both were present here. So yay!

(I really despise semes who won't even consider bottoming, as if it's so detestable or that they're somehow less of men by doing it, despite the fact that their partners do it all the time FOR THEM, argh!)

(going forward I'm going to refer to Satoshi as the seme and Keita as the uke even though they switch)

Also, side note. A guy willingly screwing another guy over the course of years can't be called straight anymore. He may not be gay, but he definitely isn't straight either. I always find this notion head-scratching whenever I see it in BL (and it comes up a lot).

I also really appreciate the conversation these two had when the uke is worrying about the seme being tempted by women, and the seme basically points out the uke's being a hypocrite. The seme switching teams to date the uke is the same as the laughable notion of the uke suddenly becoming interested in women. It was funny and so true. Uke's mind blownnnnn~.

While Takaya's not my favorite seme, not sure why there's so much hate for him. He's pretty ok, and better than a lot I've read. I mean, he's allowed to be oblivious about how he really feels about Momo-chan until Momo's confession, and then go through a period of confusion about his sexuality. His dad said it best, I think: "No matter how old I get, your son is still an idiot, mom."

Maybe it's because Takaya meets up with Nana after Momo's confession, and Momose thinks they're going on a date (and so does the reader). Only later in another chapter do we see that's not the case; he's actually breaking up with her at this time. Because of the way the story was written and how this section is broken up across two chapters with a lot happening in between, I could see it being easy to misunderstand. But Takaya is very honest and direct with her about it; with no wishy-washy-ness, no vague statements. It's pretty admirable, tbh.

Also, Takaya is responsible for the most hilariously cringy confession I've read in any BL to date. I laughed all the way through the hospital sequence. It was so great. With Momo-chan sitting there practically paralyzed with shock, and Takaya being completely oblivious or not even caring that Momo-chan's mom is standing right there. And Yone-senpai and his sister too. What a bonehead, LOL.

(Also, not that I'm trying to drag Momo down, but Momo was intentionally characterized by the author as a total jerk at the beginning of the manga, so Momo's not perfect either. The author did kind of lose track of that aspect of his personality at some point, so it's easy to forget that he's like this.)

The art, characters (Ryuusei and Taiga), and the character dynamics between them were really well done in this manga. And it was pretty funny, plus the uke was such a mood, being both a determined dolt, but also not oblivious about the sex stuff (thank god), while also being totally ok with it with barely even a thought.

I just wish this story could've taken place in a better setting. It was good for what it was, but it could've been better.

* Lack of any important side-characters. Try naming any character besides the two leads.

* Taiga's been in a coma for 3 years. Where are his parents? They're cool with him just going straight to and living with the guy that got him put in a coma 3 years ago? Taiga also seems like the type of character who has an older sibling.... this is typically something that could inject drama into a situation like this. (NOTE: Taiga calls Ryuusei 'aniki' in the yakuza way; they are not actually brothers, neither step, half, nor full)

* Taiga just got out of a 3-year-long coma... why wasn't finishing high school on the top of the list for things that Taiga should be doing? Especially now that Ryuusei has turned over a new leaf, has a steady job that pays for all his expenses without need for Taiga to get a job? With Ryuusei being 21 (-3=18), Taiga is likely younger, so odds are he was in a coma through at least part of his 3rd year. It is possible they both did graduate high school, but if that's the case, at least mention it in passing.

* Ryuusei tells Taiga to stop fighting. A bunch of delinquents are loitering outside of the daycare. Call the cops, dude. Cops are a thing that exist! (and Taiga does in fact have a working cellphone!)

All that said, I would still read more of these two dorks, both dorking around and boning.

I never thought I'd see the day when I came across it, but here it is. The first couple is 100% BL schlock. The story was soooooo bad I was laughing the whole way through and my eyes are still watering.