TachibanaChiharu's Topics (173)

I have tried reading this twice before and always stall around chapter 3.

To begin with, everything is rushed at the beginning; the meet-cute, the will-they-won't-they, and confirming of the relationship all happen in the first half of chapter one. Even manga that are only a single volume don't rush things this much. Even one-shots don't tend to rush things this much! Since this is usually the most interesting part of any romance story, it already indicates early-on that there be problems here.

The yakuza organization Aki belongs to doesn't seem to do anything but be inept constantly. Why have yakuza in your comic if you're not going to have any grit in the setting? I get that this is trying to be a romeo/juliet sort of setup with the yakuza/cop, but romeo and juliet was not a rom-com, but a depressing tragedy. This can't make heads nor tails of what it wants to be. There should've been a murder by Aki or his group in the first panel to give the meeting with the dad any teeth at all when Aki tells cop guy he'll end up at the bottom of Tokyo Bay. But it's an empty threat because this yakuza group doesn't do anything at all.

Later, Ueda gets mad at Aki, for the lawyer guy being his "first man". This is effectively victim-blaming Aki for being raped as a middle schooler. I'm not making this up; all the pieces are there, it's just hand-waved by the characters so the audience kinda overlooks it if they don't think about it too much. When Ueda was looking through the pictures, there were comments about Aki being a middle schooler. And then later, the lawyer happily admits to seducing Aki because he's got "that sexy atmosphere" sometimes. How can this be taken so lightly?! To make matters worse, Aki is then forced to make up for stupid Ueda's bad behavior/insecurities over this by grudgingly coming to meet him after Ueda won't get his head out of his arse and go see Aki and admit he was wrong. I hate it when the uke is forced to make up for the seme's bad behavior. Aki did nothing wrong. Why do I have to read this stupid trope in a 9.7-rated manga?

Meanwhile, after Aki grudgingly goes to meet up with Ueda to settle Ueda's ex-boyfriend insecurities, the whole hold-up at knife-point of the lawyer was such a totally stupid contrivation that I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Like anyone would swap hostages in that situation, only adding instability, not in your favor, to an already-losing situation! Yes, he was already going to be arrested before any of this even happened. There is not going to be a huge mob standing around outside of an in-progress bank robbery. If that happens, you've already lost. Bank robberies are grab and dash situations, with quick getaways and car chases, not big crowds of gawkers who aren't in the least scared. Instead, let us recall that Aki is part of a yakuza group. Have the lawyer get caught up in some yakuza business that goes sideways instead, not some random dumb happenstance that would never happen in real life. Ugh. Make use of the things in your setting!

I just can't read this. It's too stupid. This whole comic is stupid. The nice character designs/art is wasted on this stupidity. I made it through chapter 4.2 this time. I'm sure I'll be back to try and read it again after I forget how stupid it is, ala "it can't be that bad, look at how high its rating is!". Well, I'm glad some people got some enjoyment out of this.

This author has other works that are better. "Bokura no Negai" is probably the most well-known one, but "Love and Baseball" was also really good. For a better yakuza story, try: "Aka to Kuro" and "Rouge", "MODS" and "Nights Before Night". For better rom-com, try "Dekoboko Sugar Days" or "Shinyuu tte Soko Made Shinakucha Ikenai No?". Peace, out.

This is an anthology of stories about characters who are put in positions where their preconceived notions about relationships and sexuality are challenged, usually by a character who is psychologically damaged in some way. The characters are generally represented as thoughtful about the situations presented to them and the confessions aimed at them, and the outcomes are by-and-large positive for all involved.

This comic is being officially translated on Lezhin, so there probably won't be updates here until Lezhin catches up with what's been uploaded here so far. It updates on Saturdays and is at chapt 11 right now. It'll go faster than you think.

Luan looks like a middle-schooler cosplaying as a delinquent.

(not spoilers because I don't know what happens) These are my guesses:
1. Taegyu is fallen because he broke an oath
2. Ingyu is powerful but regulated by his chokers/bracelets (so only removing the choker frees up some of his power)
3. Ingyu is part incubus and part angel (which will give him some legitimacy towards staying in the human world, and would also help explain why satan allowed him to go, and has an interest in him to begin with, and why he doesn't really behave that evil)
4. Ingyu and his determination to stay in the human world is going to cause the heaven/hell treaty to be broken, and fighting, and eventually end up in a truce where devils can also return to the human world. Satan was counting on this, and sent Taegyu to be Ingyu's bodyguard because he knew for sure that Taegyu would stay to defend Ingyu due to his stubbornness to not break promises.

The Jiho/Taegyu relationship seems more interesting right now because they're still in the (will they/won't they) phase, which is always the most interesting part of a relationship plot. Ingyu and Kangin have moved far past that already, although I don't find them boring at all, since Ingyu's powers grow every time they have sex (and what the sex/vitality-drain is doing to Kangin) are compelling. I like both couples, and expect my interest in them to go back and forth between the couples as plot things happen. I'm interested to see who is gonna top/bottom in the secondary "couple" since they both look like tops, LOL. (my guess: Taegyu's going to be the bottom since Jiho was going to top Ingyu, and I felt like maybe Taegyu had bottomed for satan in the past given the few flashback scenes of them together).

I have no issues with Ingyu putting his foot down to remain in the human world. He was coming to the human world to begin with whether or not others let him, and it's not his fault or responsibility that satan forced a bodyguard upon him. I feel bad that Taegyu has to do a task he finds detestable because I really like him as a character, but it was his choice to do whatever satan says. Maybe he should think twice about who he pledges oaths to in the future. The conflict here makes Taegyu a way more interesting character though, so I appreciate it his disgruntlement.

Holy cow, Chanwoo has every right to pick and choose who he dates. He's in a business relationship with MD, and has no obligation or expectation to return any feelings MD develops. I'm not even convinced MD even HAS feelings for Chanwoo to that degree, and that he was instead worried about the bruises and black eye, and thought of dating as the quickest way to get Chanwoo out of the situation. When Chanwoo declined, it struck a blow to MD's ego instead, which spurred MD's later choice to pit the two subs against each other, rather than handling the situation in a more mature way.

TBH, I was really hoping Chanwoo would stand up and walk out, telling MD to enjoy his new sub, because really, MD is the one being immature here. And right after Chanwoo gets a huge blow like that guy turning out to be two-faced when Chanwoo liked him so much, and MD is less than supportive. It's one thing to be in a business-like S&M relationship, but that doesn't mean you should be insensitive when your business partner gets his heart broken. I feel bad for Chanwoo, cuz MD is being a dick.

All that said, I do actually like MD because he's (usually) very calm and level-headed and stable, which seems like something Chanwoo desperately needs. I would like to see them become official, but not from MD getting his way while having this tantrum. MD needs to be his calm, collected, stable self, which should show Chanwoo (perhaps over time) just how much Chanwoo really values MD's presence in his life.

No matter what direction this story takes, I still trust this author's writing chops, so I'm sure we'll get there in a satisfying way eventually. Hopefully in fewer than 83 chapters, though.

A nice redemption arc can be really gratifying to read, but Kyouya doesn't really make up for the horrible things he did to Homura in the previous story here. No, things have gone well for him despite his bad behavior in the past, and then he has the gall to be a hypocrite about it when he mentally criticizes someone else for things he himself did in the previous story. Sigh.

In general, it's really hard for me to get behind this relationship for a few reasons.

First, Kyouya changes love interests so often, as if only a modicum of kindness is needed for him to be "in love". It just didn't feel like Kiriya was special in any way, he just happened to be around and did something for Kyouya once (and he wasn't even particularly nice about it either). Like paying attention to him, even negative attention, is all that's required.

Meanwhile, Kiriya is such a crank most of the time, and doesn't act interested in Kyouya at all until very late into the story, which felt horribly rushed. I don't know how the author could've conveyed this better within the story while staying true to Kiriya's character. Having people around the periphery comment that "oh, he never lets people visit his house" or whatever seems like a cop-out, rather than doing the work of putting it in their interactions on-screen. I mean what's the point of an adult, a professor, bullying a student by ordering him around doing menial chores to begin with? Is he a sadist? Was he just lonely? If so, why hadn't he done this before to some other student in the 5 years since Ooura died? Why now? Why Kyouya specifically?

Also who was that woman he made mad at the cafe in the opener? Why was she never mentioned again after she disappeared off-screen? Is he bisexual? Were they dating? Was she a student that wanted in his pants but he told her no? If so, why would he even meet with her? Don't put something in there if it isn't going to tell us something his character. If he's gay, he wouldn't be there arguing with a woman that seems like his girlfriend. Make it a guy instead. Or make it Ooura's wife; he might have a reason to both meet with and argue with her, as we will find out later.

Also, as an aside, I couldn't figure out what Kiriya telling Kyouya to push down cafe owner was meant to convey about Kiriya's character. It was completely unrelated to his past. The guy Kiriya was in love with from before (Ooura) was already in a relationship with him when he told Kiriya he was getting married, which is a completely different sitch from the cafe owner being an oblivious married bonehead who is too nice for his own good. It's not like Kiriya having sex with Ooura after he was married was going to make Ooura any gayer, meanwhile Kyouya having sex with cafe owner might make cafe owner realize he (cafe owner) was gay or bi I guess. Was he trying to sabotage Kyouya's crush? How childish, if so. I suppose it could've been to show how Kyouya has changed, and would never force himself on anyone ever again (like he did with Homura), but even after he told Kiriya that's a jerk thing to suggest he do, he goes home and does it anyway! It was just a weird one-off that didn't add anything besides giving Kyouya a reason to be kicked out of his current residence so that he'll be forced to shack up with Kiriya. It actively detracts from Kyouya's character, which is bad.

It also really felt like there needed to be a point in the story where Kyouya just up and left DG-style, tired of putting up with Kiriya's standoffish BS, which would force Kiriya to exert some effort chasing Kyouya. And while he did leave, it wasn't because he chose to, it was because his mom collapsed or w/e. Weaksauce. Make it a choice on Kyouya's part, and it becomes a much stronger action. Also, it was a pretty unsatisfying development either way because Kyouya just let Kiriya's nonsense go immediately when he popped out of the car (how did he even find Kyouya standing outside the grocery store of his hometown?), as if he just had to accept the burden of the seme's bad behavior like so many ukes are forced to do. Ugh, no. Have Kyouya be reticent, and make Kiriya have to reach out to him first this time.

About the only surprisingly good things here are that Kyouya's a seke, and they both have armpit hair. (〜￣△￣)〜

I liked it somehow, but...

This mess isn't the uke's fault, and to blame him for everything is just dishonest. The uke makes his expectations and desires 100% clear verbally throughout the story to both guys. Also there is way too much emphasis being put on the physical act of "cheating" in the story and not nearly enough on the situation, the emotions, and the emotional manipulation going on around that time/event.

Basically, everyone in this story did unsavory things to put themselves in this situation, but the uke shares the least blame here. How could that possibly be? Well...

(spoilers) (warning -- this is LONG)
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seme = Touji
uke = Homura
jerk = Kyouya

If you don't like deep-dive narrative breakdowns, stop here, because that's what this is, and it's LONG.

First off, let's talk about Homura's and Touji's status/rank within these mythical yakuza groups. Touji is the only son of the Karasuma group's leader, and thus the heir. His dad ended up dying in the story, and so Touji becomes the head of the group. The whole group. Think of him as the former crown Prince and now the King of his country. Homura, meanwhile, is the eldest son of one of the Tanno group's subordinate families. Homura's family has been responsible for running some of the Tanno group's side-hustles for a few generations. While Homura's family has been and currently is important to the Tanno group, it's not like someone else from another family within the Tanno group couldn't take over the side-hustle stuff if it came to it. In fact, that is exactly what is discussed in the previous manga to this one, "Zettai Unmei Houteishiki". Homura's dad proposes ending their involvement in the yakuza, to which Homura respectfully declines, saying it is of interest to him to continue running the Tanno group's side-hustles. So think of Homura like a seneschal appointed to the Tanno King. His father was the seneschal before him, and his father before him etc, but it's not like they couldn't find a new seneschal to replace him if they needed to. It's just his job. The biggest take-away here is that Homura's family line is expendable and Touji's isn't.

Which means... there will be an expectation for Touji to get married and produce heirs. Heirs can only be produced with women, barring omegaverse, and adoption is usually reserved as a last-ditch option. Homura and Touji both know this. Touji's wheels are turning while he keeps a cool exterior, but Homura is completely beside himself about what to do about this event that is looming in the future. It's not "if" but "when". They both know it.

Which brings us to Homura's and Touji's relationship before all this went down. Homura is a serious guy who prides himself in being thorough and precise and prompt, good at his work, etc. He's stuffy-shirted, proper, and got a stick up his butt. He wants things to be properly defined and with a plan in place where they can remain in a stable state for the foreseeable future. Touji, meanwhile, presents himself as a kind of charismatic, lazy guy with a flippant attitude. Kinda like "oh, it'll work out somehow" towards his relationship with Homura. This attitude isn't going to fly with Homura, and Homura constantly refuses to fully commit to Touji because of it. This is why Homura won't say "I love you". He wants Touji to have a plan for keeping them together before he's willing to fully commit his heart.

And Homura isn't wrong about the things he's worrying about. He is allowed to have expectations for their relationship that must be met for him to continue being in the relationship. He stated in a very direct way several times that he doesn't wanna be just the mistress. He wants to be the wife. He wants Touji to be his and his alone before he will commit fully. But given their relative statuses within their organizations, it's Touji that would have to make the plans and take the steps to get their relationship into a permanent state. Touji is the one who is going to be pressured to marry. Homura can't force Touji to do what needs to be done to keep them together. This is the sort of rocky state they start in at the beginning of this comic.

Well, it's no surprise everything falls apart when things start going sideways, because Touji wouldn't communicate his plans to Homura. They are in rival groups, yes, so Touji can't let Homura know the details of his plans, but things could be told to Homura in a vague enough way that Homura would get the gist, and know to wait while Touji does some sly maneuvering. If they trusted each other, this wouldn't even matter and Touji could just tell Homura directly beforehand. But Touji wants Homura to commit before he'll trust him enough to tell him what he's planning, and Homura wants Touji to tell him his plans before he'll commit so he'll feel reassured that he won't get his heart trampled all over. It's a chicken-and-egg problem, and no one caves, so things break down.

Buuuuuuut... instead of cluing him in in even the slightest way, Touji lets Homura believe he (Touji) was getting married to some strumpet. The proposition to marry that Tanno girl was completely real and legitimate. If it hadn't been real, Touji strong-arming the Tanno group's truce wouldn't have worked. So it wasn't untrue that Touji proposed marriage to that girl. He did. What was kept on the down-low was that Touji was highly confident it would fall through, and was counting on that happening. Homura would never have had any chance of knowing this due to the crunched time frame and no hints that things were not as they seemed. Touji allowed him to believe this was real. He planned all this out without reassuring Homura beforehand that the situation was handled.

So of course Homura is going to think they're done. If you suddenly found out your boyfriend proposed marriage to someone else, what would you think? Finding out about it and having it confirmed at his group's meeting was basically a long-distance break-up. What choice does Homura have but to believe that Touji either chose or was forced into marrying that girl? Again, Homura has always said he refused to be Touji's side-ho. It was all or nothing with Homura, and Touji knew that from the beginning. Touji dropped the ball by not saying anything beforehand and caused Homura to think they were done/finished/broken-up.

One could ding Homura for not picking up the phone the zillion times Touji called. But you know, when something like this happens, the last thing you want to hear is a bunch of excuses. Homura, being the stuffy-shirted perfectionist nerd that he was, knew deep down that marriage was the best path for Touji, being the group head, even if he would no longer be in Touji's life. It's hard to have the resolve and self-awareness to remove yourself from a situation you desperately want, but where you know your presence is just dragging the other person down. This is why Homura didn't pick up the phone. Because talking to Touji would shake his resolve in giving Touji up, when he knew giving Touji up was the right thing to do.

Now, let's talk about the elephant in the room, Kyouya. Kyouya is the biggest, worst piece of crap in this whole story. He is exactly that sort of guy you would get a restraining order against, if you were a girl. He is an unrepentant stalker. I don't know how many times Homura told Kyouya "no" and to eff off, and he kept coming back to nag Homura. The author made it plainly, PLAINLY clear that Homura was not interested in Kyouya in the slightest. Like, you can't even dispute it, it's made so clear. Homura is under no obligation to prove his love of Touji to Kyouya to get Kyouya to stop pestering him.

And in regards to "cheating", first off, it isn't cheating if you're not in a relationship. Homura believed his relationship with Touji was over at that time. Touji getting married (Touji initiated the marriage proposal!) means that Homura parts ways with Touji because he refuses to be Touji's mistress. It was a break-up. Now, Homura shouldn't have slept with Kyouya, but not because he was under any current commitments with Touji (he wasn't). Homura shouldn't have slept with Kyouya because he doesn't and never did like Kyouya in that way. In general, Homura merely felt sorry for Kyouya's financial situation, nothing more. Homura allowing them to have sex was the result of him not caring about anything any more, which was misinterpreted by Kyouya, leading Kyouya to believe they were in a relationship (as evidenced by Kyouya blurting "i stole him!" out at Touji later, like a big idiot), when they weren't in a relationship at all. It's crummy to string someone along like this and get their hopes up. Homura should've refused him to prevent this confusion from happening. (However...)

That said, Kyouya is such a huge turd for preying upon Homura in Homura's big moment of emotional breakdown. Kyouya (who works at Touji's club now) tells Homura that the guy Homura has loved for years, whom he's been dating for years, is getting married. This information is independently confirmed at the Tanno group meeting, and Kyouya acts before any clarity can be injected into the situation (Touji SHOULD have told Homura beforehand, dammit!). Kyouya, lacking morals in a big way, takes this juicy opportunity to pounce upon Homura while he's in a tailspin. Yes, Homura should've refused him. But on the other hand, when you feel dead inside from an emotional blow like this, you start not caring about anything anymore. Kyouya is a terrible person for preying upon someone in an emotional state like this.

I really hate how the author tries to make Kyouya look like a poor little nice guy all the time while giving him the actions of a crazy stalker. It's not acceptable. His sad financial situation has nothing to do with his unjustifiable actions towards Homura and his constant interference with Homura's relationship with Touji. Homura has told Kyouya he's not interested in him so many different ways that I don't have enough fingers and toes to count them all. Just what could Homura say to get the point across finally? This is not even a case of "tell me plainly", Homura has in fact told Kyouya plainly to eff off many, many times. Just because you "love" someone doesn't mean you get to force yourself into their life against their will every chance you can get. What Homura needs is a restraining order on Kyouya or to put a hit out on him, I don't know which.

In the end, a single, firm, "no" should have been enough. Kyouya's just a bad person.

The dumb part is that Kyouya could be completely removed from the story and the whole plot about the marriage/proposal/etc wouldn't have changed a bit, only Homura would look less bad, having not been presented with an opportunity to sleep with someone else when he and Touji were on the outs. Kyouya basically contributed nothing to the story other than making Homura look bad when he was emotionally devastated. Lame.

I sauntered off to read chapters 13-17 and came back a blubbering mess. Ahhhh geez, sensei does not pull any punches. Chapter 16, oh the hurt. It's so interesting how perspective on various characters can change so much over the course of a comic run. It's definitely not finished, so I expect 18-22 to be serialized over the course of the next few months.

Also, I guess there's a BLCD for this now; I noticed mention of it on sensei's twitter. Now, if only we can get an anime! (It'll never happen, but a girl can dream)

Even though I ended up liking it over-all (the main character omega is pretty great), there are still plenty of problems here, the main one being that the author has no idea what sort of story s/he's trying to tell.
(spoilers)
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This story is incepted by a rape/blackmail scene that has nothing to do with alpha/omega dynamics, and thus speaks more to the seme's (Jin's) bad behavior than any sort of Omegaverse "instinctual" thing (which is how Omegaverse typically gets away with stuff like this). This is a problem, because it makes Jin out to be a bad person from the get-go. People who commit rapes are not good guys having a bad moment; they're bad guys having a typical moment. Really, Jin isn't any better than the childhood rival who also tried to do the same thing, or the alpha twin who was also told to do the same by his brother. Jin did the exact same thing those guys attempted, but Jin got away with it, and they didn't! If the author wanted Jin to be a good person, yet start the story off with a steamy sex scene, s/he should've just gone with a typical heat/rut circumstance instead, because at least then Jin's behavior can be excused somewhat. In fact, do that, and tie it in with the character development stuff where Jin learns some self control.

And on that note, this story didn't need to be set in the Omegaverse. It didn't really explore any concepts specific/unique to Omegaverse. Shusei could've had a pack of smokes that Jin found instead of heat suppressants. The childhood rival could have intra-family beef with Jin, and drugged Shusei and attempted to rape him that way and the scene would've played out exactly the same. Even the baby bump was pointless at the end because it was like two panels that were completely tacked-on rather than part of the story. If you're gonna set your story in Omegaverse, make it a plot that could only happen in Omegaverse. I hate to keep harping on this, but it's lazy to do otherwise. For a good example of an Omegaverse story that could not take place outside of that setting, go read "Shounen no Kyoukai".

Moving on. In this story, pretty much all of the plot arcs were typical-BL-cliche, where the Omegaverse setting itself was completely forgotten. Yes, one of the twins was an omega, and heat inducers, and yadda yadda. But this is just window-dressing; it doesn't treat the Omegaverse as a setting with any respect at all. For example -- Why is Jin such a good catch as compared to other alphas? It seems like the childhood friend alpha is in a more powerful political position than Jin, and they're cousins, so probably of similar wealthiness. And childhood rival doesn't have a boyfriend/bondmate already, which makes him easier, so why not go after him instead? Sure, he's kind of a weeny, but that's exactly what omega-twin is looking for: a rich powerful alpha to take care of him, who is also pliant. Also, the story never talks about Jin's family in-depth, like how rich/powerful/whatever they are compared to other alphas. There is literally no reason for this omega-twin to go after specifically Jin over anyone else in his entire school full of alphas. Yes! Other than Shusei and himself, he has an entire school full of alphas to choose from to search for a mate! Why does it have to be Jin, other than he's the protagonist? What is even going on here?

In terms of what the story did kind of want to do with the Omegaverse -- there was sort of a thread from the beginning about Shusei needing to overcome the embarrassingness of being an omega, and/or the setbacks of being an omega, or something like this. But his parents / inheritance was NEVER addressed, which was the impetus for how this whole situation came to be in the first place. Also, a big motivating factor of the rape/blackmail plot was that the school was alpha-exclusive, and Shusei's an omega-in-hiding. But when Shusei decides to reveal his second gender, the school just decides to accept it and call it fine, and open itself up to betas/omegas off-screen! This should've been a big, dramatic, on-screen moment, if the author cared about this subplot at all. But, no, there was nothing other than an off-hand mention.

And as far as the childhood rival is concerned, all he wanted was to get ahead of Jin even if by underhanded means. So why drag Shusei, an innocent, into this? It doesn't really seem like his personality to be this much of a bad person. Howabout this instead -- since his parents control the school, he could've just messed with Jin's grades and/or ranking. That would've made for a more interesting arc, since then it could've induced an external change in the rivalry between Shusei and Jin. Then the story could've explored some meaty character questions like do you really win if you didn't earn the winning grade, even if you're not the one who cheated?

Also, the character art was frequently off-model, or the characters were just drawn in an unappealing style, I'm not sure which. The side-views in particular often looked pretty bad.

Somehow, despite all this, I still got the general impression that I liked this one, to the point where I wanted to rate it 4/5 stars. But after all this complaining, I can't really justify more than 3/5. I think my desire to rate it higher is probably because Shusei was an interesting character as far as omegas go. He punched childhood rival's head off rather than lay there and let him rape him like so many other omegas/ukes tend to do. He stood up for himself when Jin tried to alpha-splain him. He took things into his own hands and made the decision to reveal his second gender publicly rather than let childhood rival bully him, or allow his alpha boyfriend to do everything for him. He decisively staked his claim on Jin to omega-twin rather than being wishy-washy for eternity like so many shoujo protagonists. Shusei is very much an admirable main character who brings A LOT to this story, and I wish more ukes/omegas were like him.