hoshi freak's manga / #shounen ai(15)

~ one of the best BLs on this platform hands-down. cheng mu and shen sheng have such a healthy relationship, quickly solving disputes and commicating with each other. the perfect pacing, with tons of fluff. no sexual abuse, no dragging plot arcs. the beginning all the way to the end was filled with everything i wanted to see not only in shounen ais, but BL in general. as always, there are a few strings left hanging. i wonder what happens with blonde dude's feelings for shen sheng, i can only assume he'll eventually get over him. what happens to the actor and the blonde dude's relationship (not too sure how i feel about that one, kinda stepbrothers but not really)? it would be lovely to see side stories for this! the seme isn't hypermasculine, while the uke isn't afraid to say what he wants. makes the characters feel incredibly realistic, i love both of them sm <3 'shen sheng' should be more hyped up!!

~ a unique plot development that wasn't expected at all! i thought it would be another typical shounen love triangle (which i don't mind) but it surpassed my expectations. i found seunghee's character to be annoying and stuck up, but when i took into account all the discrimination he got form his family, it made sense why he distances himself from everyone. i'm glad the uncle and seunghee didn't end up together, but i definitely did not see seunghee and suhyeok being together tho! i'm so happy my bb was finally able to be happy in the end and start to resolve things with his dad. kyubin and seungtaek are the cutest couple omg. i thought i could figure them out, but their characters are more complex and realistic than i thought. the author did a wonderful job of portraying a typical high school romance, the ups and downs. she managed to keep it relatively light and easy to read. she showed that each relationships had quirks and stories of their own, and it was enjoyable to see the characters fall in love and eventually confess their feelings. seunghee and suhyeok ended up together a lot quicker than i expected, but it was a nice contrast to seungtaek and kyubin's difficult, push and pull relationship. I didn't feel like any plot arcs were dragging, which is pretty amazing considering that seungtaek & kyubin's flashback lasted 20 chapters. i wasn't sure why it was titled this in the beginning, but after reading, i truly understand why this was someone else's bl story. there are three-ish couples (w/ the uncle and boss) which would be standard in any other bl, but because of the narration, it felt like he were reading about someone else's relationship in another couple's story. that's the first for me. it went against conventional storytelling in bls that i've read, which was a little hard to get used to, but a nevertheless a nice change. i hope we'll get a side story to see what happened to kwon inbeom at the other high school, because i unexpectedly got invested in his story. i never saw inbeom and seunghee's friendship coming, so i can't help but feel soft for them + suhyeok. i would rate this a 4.25/5 maybe 4.5 (wowow i'm really precise) cute moments mixed with interesting backstories and characters <3

- the storytelling is IMMACULATE, the analogies used are very thought out. it would’ve been nice to see how the blonde guy reacts to aerak’s old body, since it might make me ship them more. they’re cute, don’t get me wrong, but their relationship feels sorta superficial. there was a lot of obstacles in the way of jaerim and yuri being together, but i’m glad they were able to move past them in the end. jaerim is such a strong character that’s willing to stand up for what he believes in, it’s a refreshing difference from weak ukes in so many bls. yuri was going through a lot of mental trauma, but jaerim was able to stay by his side and help him through it. that’s definitely a heartwarming couple to see. idk what happened to the sunbae that sexually abused jaerim, i wished that terrible thing didn’t have to happen. if only he could realize that he doesn’t need to be soyeon’s bitch, YOU HAVE FREE WILL DAMMIT, things would’ve been so much different. dohoon and yumin are my fave side couple in this manga, a lot of angst in the beginning but it all resolved in the end. overall, it had a few plot holes but it was still a nice, heartfelt shounen ai!

~ heesu and seungwon are the cutest couple ever! this was such a wholesome, light-hearted bl that made me smile throughout the plot. there wasn't any unnecessary conflicts that put stress on their relationship, and if there was a problem, they made sure to talk it out. a healthy relationship that surpassed all hardships. it's such a nice break to read a shounen ai after all the dark yaoi i've been reading. the more i read fluffy stories, the more i feel myself leaning towards this type of genre instead of yaoi. very unexpected since i usually wouldn't have read anything without smut before. however, i realized that i got to see heesu develop his feelings slowly and move on from chanyoung which would never take as long in a yaoi. the turning point was somewhere around the 30th chapter, but i never felt like it was dragging and boring. i loved LOVED the pacing of this manga so much, both of them taking their time to see how they feel about each other and building a relationship out of love n trust was so heartwarming to see. i like how the setup for the plot is very simple, a basic coming of age school bl, but the characters are really what make this an enjoyable read. seungwon is such a soft seme, and cares about heesu unconditionally. it was nice to see a seme who wasn't overally masculine, and a uke that wasn't overally feminine. they had their own personalities not tied to their "roles" which made the story not only feel more realistic, but made the characters seem like humans. many yaoi mangas fail to achieve this, which makes me appreciate this shounen ai even more! i loved everything about this, at times it was even healing how heesu was moving on from his decade long crush. chanyoung wasn't annoying like i thought he would be and helped the main couple get together. watching heesu and seungwon navigate their first relationship with each other was so cute, and we got sooo many fluffy scenes. i started crying when it showed they were already married, how cute can this be ?? i had more interest in the side couple (dahm and sunwoo) and i wish we got to see what happened next, but i'm satisfied enough knowing they met again after 8 YEARS jesus christ. i would give this more stars if i could, i wish i read this a lot earlier. so many things i missed out on! this manga is definitely top 3 of my favorite BLs i've read so far.

~ so so cute ! this is now one of my favorite shounen ai mangas, seriously didn't expect to love it this much. in the beginning, i was irritated at hawoon and didn't have much hope for their relationship seeing how toxic it might be. the character development for hawoon is like a 180, he progressed so much. although there wasn't any smut, it was actually refreshing for a change. i got to see their relationship develop and see how the plot unfolds. the con with many yaois is that the storyline is so fast paced, so a relationship often feels rushed which causes me to lose interest. there were so many cute, fluffy moments that gave me butterflies in my stomach. it's nice for a change to read a manga like this. i also appreciated how the author didn't spend too much focus on reinforcing couple roles (uke and seme) and showed that they could be switches. i liked that there wasn't a definite role for the main characters in their relationship ! i do wish there could a spin off (maybe once they're in college) that focused on smut, similar to what back to school did. it also would have been nice to see wan's childhood, and know more about hawoon's family. we only got a glimpse of their past but then again, with only 50 chapters, it's difficult to go in-depth. overall, i'm satisfied with the ending and truly enjoyed the slowed-down pacing of this manga!

~ liked MC relationship and ending, disliked having no smut scenes and aimless plot at times.

~ stangers to friends to lovers type beat, which i loveee! a youthful carefree bl with the funniest scenes. i couldn't stop laughing at the green pig play chapter and the art. feelings developed so naturally that i can't even pinpoint when everything started. i love slow-burn shounen ai uwu. v happy with this read, wish the author showed us their kiss but that's ok T-T

~ ukes who can fight are hawt gRRrr (wished taemin admitted his feelings earlier and wasn't so adamant on not being in a relationship with the seme)

WHAT THE FUCK JAEWON???? WHY WOULD YOU PICK GARAM OF ALL PEOPLE, LIKE JUNSEO WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF U AND U SAID UM NOPE??? WHERE’S THE FUCKING LOGIC IM LITERALLY SOBBING MY EYES OUT YALL COULD HAVE BEEN SO CUTE. I GICE ZERO SHITS ABOUT U AND GARAM GODDAMMIT WHY WOULD U DO MY BB JUNSEO LIKE THAT. I’VE NEVER BEEN THIS PISSED AT A BL BEFORE. PAINO, ONLY PAIN JESUS CHRIST MY HEART HURTS SO MUCH HeLP (AND I THOUGHT THE ENDING FOR BLOOD BANK WAS BAD WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT) GARAM IS THE PLAINEST SALTINE CRACKER ON THIS PLANET WHERE’S THE FLAVOR. LIKE SHIT MAYBE ITS MY FAULT FOR THINKING THIS WOULD BE THIS THE SAME AS MY ALL TIME FAVE HEESU IN CLASS 2 BUT I WAS SO WRONG OMFG. ITS AN AMAZING BL, AND IF GARAM WAS MY SHIP IT WOULDVE DEFINITELY BEEN 5+ STARS FOR THE ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE FLUFF SCENES THIS BL IS COMPLETELY SUBJECTIVE DEPENDING ON WHO U SHIP. GODAMMIT ITS 11 AND I HAVE SCHOOL TOMOROOW BUT IM FUCKING BOUT TO COMBUST ON THIS DUMB BITCH WHY THE FUCK WOULD U CHOOSE GARAM ?????????????? TF IS THIS

~ lighthearted read, with few conflicts and main focus on relationship development <3