Mimi's manga / #slice of life(112)

I had so much interest in the beginning but by the middle of chapter 3 I kinda just lost any interest. Maybe it was because of the bullshit vampire stuff or maybe I couldn't keep going after I found myself hating the writing of both chapters 1 and 2. Chapter 1 was, like fine but a lower grade kind of fine. But ch.2 literally took me more than 2 days to even want to finish. Not sure if the stories are any good. I was promised something "sad" but the only thing sad was how long it took me to drop this manga.

I really hope this gets an official translation (update: it got an official english translation) because this was such a cute story to read, I'm definitely buying the physical Japanese soon. I did have a problem with how the apology went down with one of them (don't remember who, this is an old review) trying to force the other to do something sexual that the other person wasn't fully comfortable with. I mean, I'm glad they showed how pissed off the other was about being forced, but the way the apology was written felt so dead as if the author wanted to get straight to a sex scene. They could have spent more time making that apology much more emotional and believable especially when he got what he wanted in the end. That sort of bothered me.

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!

I don't think I have anything I really hated about this manga, but I didn't really love it all that much either. I didn't care about any of the characters that much. Shino's pretty normal, Mio was a bit secretive, and while I lived that, there's literally nothing else interesting about him other than a pretty face. There were some adorable moments with the couple but the only two points of "drama" that came up felt really flat. Like they were trying to find something for them to fight about. Him slowly realizing he loves his friend: fine. There is a possessive person in the way and the drama around that: whatever. But nothing interesting really happens. I did have a problem with the change in translation. Something about the translation really took me out of the story in the later chapters.

…. Listen… Overall, Kaji and Yura are my favorite couple over Maki and Hagiwara mainly because I think Maki is an asshole. I understand that he super loves his son and Hagiwara but his over-possessiveness and the way that he treated Yura and Kana pissed me off. I like how Kaji and Yura were written a lot more and it seems like the author does too seeing how much care they gave these characters. There were bits and pieces that I thought were dumb. Stuff like Kaji putting up that “I’m not interested in men” wall, and not speaking up every time Yura cuts him off. That’s also a bs move on Yura for jumping the gun too quickly… But it’s also understandable why he does this. I just wish that was something they worked on in the 2 books rather than letting him keep doing that. But fuck all that because the only thing that REALLY matters is Kana and Ritsu! AGAIN! They are the power couple, the fucking MVP out of all 3 of these mangas, and deserves a super cute, completely fluff one-shot manga about them trying to be together in high school and everyone else just fucking accepting it! No sex, just a super cute teen romance is all I need. Update 5/26: Just found out there's a vol 3..

I feel like there wasn't really anything that big/interesting to this book. It stayed on a "very adorable but kinda boring" line that I didn't completely hate. I did wish we got a more serious talk with Chiaki's mother, a wedding even. Just some things felt sped up to where it felt like these story points could've been expanded upon but now It feels like there should be a vol 2.

It was alright. Really adorable if a little boring. I wish there was a bit more involving the yo-kai and the fact that they kept recapping the beginning of chapter 1 for the next 3 chapters was really annoying. I would have loved to have seen them go to see his parents, introducing Rin, and trying to rekindle a relationship with his family. Even his brother was on board with helping to make the family whole again. Maybe even a newer family photo with Rin in it? That would have been cute. Speaking of cute, that chapter 5 oneshot was not. Guilt tripping, manipulation, and rape? In a chill story like this, that oneshot was out of pocket and disgusting.

This has some cute moments. Nothing super important other than one of the main dudes getting sick, but it was handled more comedic than anything. It is one of the books from Junko that I hope gets a physical release in English. While I did like the main couple and their struggle to say how they felt, I was way more interested in the other two who got that small bit of story at the end. I would love to see them get a whole book because they seem like they're carrying baggage and I wanted some angst in this book.