How can I say this?
This one is cute in that I like the art and I like that they're childhood friends who so deeply care for each other. But it's also very... TokyoPop. I found this at all because Amazon recommended it as a TokyoPop publication and I was like... huh. I don't really think of TokyoPop for just straight up yaoi or shounen ai, outside of moe or gay-baiting. And let me tell you. If TokyoPop is selling physical copies of this manga uncensored at bookstores... wow. How the world has changed.
But my point is, it's a very TokyoPop plot. I felt like I went back in time somehow. Like when I first started reading things, every single story was "I love him, but it's wrong to like men! Oh no, the agony! I must deny my feelings because they are so wrong until I can't stand it anymore! I will like you despite how wrong it is!"
And I'll be real, starting out, I did find it very romantic that their love would surmount a "boundary" like that. But it's 2024. And maybe I'm wrong, but I don't feel like I encounter that trope much anymore. Like the boundary to them getting together will be more complex (like an actual reason preventing them from being together), or simpler ('I don't know if he likes me/guys and I don't want to wreck our friendship' rather than 'oh no! but he's a guy!)
I guess that's what I'm trying to say. My impression of TokyoPop was gay-baiting for moe. So to read this story, where they're both like "we can't be together because even though we love each other, it's wrong or you don't actually love me" is just like TokyoPop saying the quiet part out loud. But not even, really? Because the only examples (example? I mean they're technically different, but are they? XD) seem to be deep/mature relationships that they just kind of halfheartedly hide. But then was that censorship? Huh.
My point is, this felt like a very 2000s plot. So it's like it surprised me and made me think "typical." at the same time.
But I think the characters are pretty, and they love each other, so there we go
Kimi ni Ienai Koto ga Aru