Ookami Papa wa Hitsuji Tsura shite Yatte kuru
Before I get to talking about the first book, I said below that I didn’t like how Hagiwara’s friend was written to start drama. I didn’t read the other book he was in until now so now I know that Yura does like Hagiwara. However, that is not shown in the first manga, so for him to be acting like an ass and for Maki to be jealous before you find out from reading the next book just makes them both look really petty and frustrating to read. Either way, I still hate that "trope" so much. It really dose not matter to me why he was an asshole. Overall, I thought this was cute. There were some sweet moments and I loved the family dynamic of it all. But there were a couple of things that pissed me off. Firstly, I never liked how people can’t have friends in BL manga without the lover being jealous of the friend. Hagiwara’s friend never acted like he was coming on to him or anything, they were just friends and Maki was jealous because he was hanging out with his friend. There’s also a point later where the friend got villainized for no reason other than to start “pointless drama”. The way he was later written and how Maki acted didn’t sit well with me either. I think the author was trying to go for something emotional and sad to make you go “awww I feel for them” when it just had me like “uhhh everyone’s being a bit problematic”. There are better, more emotional ways to have the mother be a point of conversation to touch on without the need to start pointless drama. Another minor thing that is just a pet peeve really, is the thought that Hagiwara had about not having a family because they’re both men. I would love for adoption or “found family” to be a big part of bl/gl manga so we can stop seeing this dumb thought be something to worry about. Lastly, the extra story. It was kind of dumb and not needed. It felt shallow like the only reason to write this short story was for the sex alone. Which, that ending sex scene I was not ok with at all. I do want to buy this as I need more family-oriented queer manga but I did wish I didn’t have to give it 3 stars. In the end, the only people that matter in this book are Ritsu and Kana. God bless these sweet baby boys!
Hinadori wa Shiokaze ni Madoromu
Oooooh my god, I've finally finished this damn book after 7 thousand years. I am so in between about this story. On one hand, it has its moments, stuff like the hurt/comfort bits between Ryou and Yuuichi, Ayumu and Yuuichi learning how to be more open and honest with each other after their family's death, and Ryou seeing himself in Ayumu and wanting to help make sure he doesn't grow up like him. BUT the same dumb, annoying ass tropes rear the heads and, I think it's the reason why I kept putting off this manga. Misunderstandings everywhere between Ryou & Yuuicihi and Yuuichi and Ayumu. No communication until the end. Possessive lover trope. Hate that. People are allowed to have friends. People are allowed to talk to other people. There was nothing about Yuuichi's and the other lady's (I forgot her name) body language when they were talking that gave off any fucking impression of anything. But I guess we need conflict, am I right boys? There's was also Ayumu and Ryou "fighting" Yuuichi which I also headed. I guess with Ayumu you could say he's a kid and Yuuichi's his uncle and father figure now. He doesn't want to lose that attention since he'd feel like that would be yet another person in his family he's lost. I can see that. But why the fuck is Ryou not leveling with Ayumu about how Yuuichi's love for him won't ever change, and instead, fucking rivals that shit? It's harmless but still annoying by the end of the manga. I was really hoping to like this more than I ended up liking it because of these tropes that I wish would die.
Tomorrow We Won't Be Friends For Sure, Right?
"I don't remember allowing another person to get close to you" .............. head in hands. Besides the possessive lover thing, it was kind of cute. It was alright. I didn't think it would be that short, I thought it would be something like a 30-page oneshot because it feels like I'm missing a previous story or another chapter.
Tantan to Tanto
What happened with chapter three onward? I know a different scan group took over but are all of their scans written like this? Typos like "sau" and "onl" are everywhere, words aren't in sentences where they're supposed to be, and the weird way people talk. It's so off compared to the first two chapters. It got so bad in the final chapter that it hindered any emotions that chapter was trying to convey. Honestly, if it wasn't for the fact that I felt this would've been a fine 6/10 for me and I wouldn’t’ve wanted to drop it after chapter three. I really hope a new group picks up volume two and comes back to retranslation volume one because it needs so much help. As for the story itself; it was just “fine”. I wasn't that invested in them but they also didn't bother me as much as the couple from Living With Him (mostly) and My Home, Your One-Room did. But the unnecessary conflict at the end was pretty dumb. I felt there could’ve been a buildup of them trying to be together and transitioning their friends-with-benefits relationship over to official couple status that Shunpie wanted. Instead, we got Shunpie being in his own head, not listening to Kota even when Kota said he wanted to go out with him, and lack of communication mainly from Shunpie. I wasn’t too in love with how standoff-ish Shunpie was, but also the possessive lover thing he showed towards Kota and Kota basically saying he'll give up his sense of self, his own person, to be with Shunpie. It's weird, I hate it... Maybe the couple from My Home, Your One-Room was better... I do plan on reading vol 2 as long as someone else picks this up <3.
Ren'ai Sousa