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

I know this is still ongoing but, what's been translated so far, I really love it. I hope it gets picked up because, OHMYGOD, the translation is horrible. Vol 1 more so. I can tell that this has a really cute story, I like the characters and them as a family so much that I want to buy this, and there wasn't a lot of bullshit stuff you normally see in a BL manga. So having vol 1 translated the way it was really ruined the feeling of the emotional parts. Vol 2 had typos and small things that didn't bother me as much (they do need to slow down on the word impossible, holy shit), but it was a lot better to read through. I hope vol 3 onwards has a better translation team because I want to be even more invested in these characters than I already am, but with this level of writing from the translator(s) it feels like a 2006 fanfiction.net story.

Now that I read this prologue, I definitely recommend reading the first book first even though this comes before it in the story. Having read the first book put in so much context that having all that backstory and foreshadowing made me feel even more for everything that happened in this backstory. ... You ever just want to scream because you feel so emotionally attached to some fucking fictional characters? A part of me feels like I should have read this first before getting into Itou-san because it would have made it easier to read through kid!Itou and kid!Kyosuke's abuse. BUT the 1st book feels like an easier read compared to this that I think reading this in order of release gets you more invested in these characters. Like, by now, I found myself really emotional about the both of them... I wanted to die. What got me the most was reading through Kyosuke as a baby-baby, 5 YEARS OLD, having to go through what happened. It really reminded me of chapter 4 of Ore, Higaisha and, um... Yeah. I really just want to scream right now. Sorry, this one was a lot shorter than my feelings on the 1st book. Everything I felt there I still felt here.

The main story was pretty cute as a whole. Wasn't on board with how the relationship started, however, the part in the bathroom was basically harassment. That was kinda weird soured the plot in an otherwise cute story with a cute couple and cute child living a cute family life together. As for the short story, I'm not too sure how I feel about that. Despite it being a short story, it ended up dragging out its plot as if it was gearing up for another chapter or sequel spin-off... that never happened. The characters were fine, but it ended too abruptly for that ending they were trying to do on top of how I really didn't care about either of them by the end.

Eh, it's ok. It's a little too simple and slow for me and how big the age gap was (one dude was at the tail end of 19 while the other was 33 I think) was kind of weird to me, but there was nothing too creepy or straight up fetish-y about it like some other age gap stories I've unfortunately read. It's just kind of slow and sweet and absolutely nothing at the same time. That being said, I'll still buy this. At the end of the day, it was cute at a 3 star level and that's enough to take myself over to cdjapan.

I thought that was pretty cute. A little unsure because I see that "misunderstanding" tag and I really hate dumb stuff like that where the conflict is caused by non-communication. But this was fine, if not very predictable. I wasn't really attached to the characters themselves but they didn't completely make me mad. The only thing I kinda was like "ugh" about was Hifumi's possessive lover personality. Thank God it wasn't as bad as I've seen almost every BL do, but the way he acted about Mike's hair bring up and how friendly he was with his FRIEND... Please stop this.

Update: So I completely forgot that I read this and now I'm planning on reading the official English version. The 2nd story I might still feel the same way, but let's see if the official translation makes this a better read for me. The first story is really cute, honestly. Kinda reminded me of Our Dining Table a bit in a way. I actually really liked the small little rivalry Mori had with Takamura. Personally, I wish the story expanded on them as a family more, but since there's another story here, it feels a little short. As for the second story, I don't know. It gives me second-hand awkwardness and I'm not too keen on Kuma's character. I'm also not liking how close he got the college student, close enough to go all the way with him, since he's a highschooler who's around 17-16... No. Last story, it was alright. I feel like the 1st and 3rd one had interesting stories but not interesting characters to back it up enough for me to care. Maybe if the 2nd one wasn't here one of these stories would've gotten more character development but they both just seem a little too short for me to feel anything for these characters.

... I almost did it. I almost made it to the end without crying. Short, sweet, to the point, and really fucking hurt. I didn't really think I would care this much until the road trip happened. I knew how this was gonna go, but the set up to the end was really solid as soon as I noticed the alight sad feeling I got. But what fucking did it, what fucking drew one single tear, was the post-festival ending.... Fuck you, you didn't have to do that to me. I'm in pain.

I actually want to fucking scream. I've never... Related... To a character so hard like I did with Soushi when reading this. I'm not into metal or any of its variants, but reading him talking about how the metal music and intimidating look prevented people from talking to him hit me like a train. Seeing him dealing, growing, and how his social anxiety and possible AVPD kept him from conveying important shit or even living a goddamn life felt like I'd been thrown off a fucking plane. Seeing him trying to speak up made me cry more than once because I know... I know how that feels when you're on the verge of passing out because there's so much weight on you to speak. Coming from someone with AVPD and BPD and struggling with that constant tug-of-war of wanting to speak, wanting to make friends, and wanting to keep the friends you somehow made while so much of you is scared to do so at the same time fucking sucks. I've been that person starting from 5th grade that had a permeate depressing look, a permeate intimidating look just so people wouldn't come up to me. Hell, I still do! The moment I had with this book... Anyway, the story was great, I had an existential crisis, and I'm looking to buy this physically.