vignette00's manga / #priest(1)

Yume Musubi, Koi Musubi

Complete | sakuragi yaya | 2008 released
2015-03-30 13:09 marked

Sakuragi Yaya is a safe bet if you're looking for something fun and sweet and just on the edge of angsty. And she's awfully good at avoiding most typical seme-uke stereotypes. No, she doesn't reinvent them. But she does take care to make sure that, especially in the case of the characters of Yume Musubi, Koi Musubi, everyone in her stories seem like the could almost, almost be real. Like Ao. Even though he's not quite Mainichi Seiten's Mayumi-material, he is definitely from that family tree of ukes (or... IS HE ACTUALLY A SEME. DUN DUN DUN!!). He plays up his childishness when he's with Ryoumei, but you can tell when he's with his high school friends and his twin Aka, he's a force to be reckoned with. No weepy flower-like wispy bottom is he. He's the kind that's going to fight for what he wants. Ryoumei, too, is given a fine, in-depth, and cheerful treatment. Not only does Sakuragi Yaya (correctly) identify him as a tsundere, she also very neatly and easily kills the squick factor that might come with the plot. Ryoumei has all the good sense and restraint of an adult, which makes the moments when he snaps into a heady lust-filled haze all the more personable. The way he thinks of Ao, with all its contradictions and fondness, is just realistic enough that you buy the story wholesale. Not to mention the plotting is unhurried. There's no rush to make Ao and Ryoumei get to the good stuff. Ao's wet dreams, maybe, more than make up for it anyway. The side characters are a lot of fun too. Ao and Ryoumei's mutual acquaintance, Shuuji, who runs the candy shop, is the kind of old biddy meddler that doesn't ever pass over a chance to make fun of Ryoumei (he has his own spin-off, Himegoto Asobi). Ryoumei's niece Hako-chan is refreshingly level-headed and normal, but you definitely get a sense that she knows more than she's telling. And have I mentioned how much I adore Ao's other childhood friend Shunpei? I really adore Shunpei. I want him to have his own spin-off. Come on, Sakuragi Yaya. Don't fail me now!