Toshishita no Ryuugi
Sex =/= love Sexual feelings =/= love There was very little love here on Atsushi's part and Yuusuke's love got lost in the absolute mess of his life. I liked the ending. The final development of Yuusuke was particularly good. Atsushi, seeing as he was poorly developed, only had basketball as a means to develop further. Even with those constraints, Sensei could have done a lot better with his ending. The manga itself would have likely been better if it was half this length. It was a trial to read and I was surprised looking at the chapters after to see how short it actually was. You can skip this one without missing anything special. On a personal basis I consider it worth one read not two.
Aijin Wa Korosareru
I was rooting for 'sensei' from the start. The senpai was too clean and innocent for this kind of uke. But I do think they needed to develop the characters more. It came off as a 'blender manga'. Have all these traits, chuck them in a blender and see what happens. Nothing was explored in enough depth. The tension regarding his mother didn't have time to build, he should have had more complicated feelings about the mistress. The teacher needed some sense of stability since he was all over the map. I also wasn't really feeling the love with Hikari for either love interest. His opinion of his senpai was like he wanted to keep him as an idol to look up to, pure and perfect. His opinion on his sensei was like sex = instant shift in affections. There was no feeling of confusion. We were told, not shown. In general, I didn't mind it. I was happy Hikari ended up with sensei even if it was convoluted. It would have been worse if he ended up with his senpai.
Gravity Eyes
Although this is a sequel, I didn't bother with the first manga and I don't plan to. Kyouya is the carry over character and, from the looks of it, has a big problem falling in love with people at a drop of a hat. The biggest problem with this is that he seems to always fall for someone he can't have. After a series of unfortunate events, he ends up living with a complicated teaching assistant Kiriya. In contrast, Kiriya has trouble opening up to people and giving himself over to love. Both characters have a dramatic history that affects how they relate to the world. The art is good. The plot is good. Pacing is irregular. It's clear here that Kyouya had other people he could have been happy with. Kiriya wasn't his once-in-a-lifetime and I think that's the point. All Kyouya wanted was someone he loved to love him back. And Kiriya was the perfect fit.
Totally Captivated