Sleeps In Sunbeams's manga / #Bittersweet(13)

A bit of a heartbreaker, this bittersweet story is really beautiful. I liked the ending, there was something about the limit to their time that made it transcend the usual immortal vampire stories.

A beautiful story that follows the serious, practical Ito and the child-like dreamer, Nishi. This slice of life follows them throughout their lives, in joy and sorrow. I wanted to treasure Nishi, he was such a joyous soul, but life is not all joy and there were definitely parts of this wonderful story that brought me to tears. Highly recommended but grab the tissues, it hurts.

I found this to be a rather melancholy story, not a cute one (though Iyo was cute). Things just didn’t make much sense when it came to character motivations. Most especially with Fumichi. He is waiter at a bar where he got beaten up by a customer he offended. But he keeps working there, even when the customer returns, drugs and rapes him violently. And he still returns. Sure, there is an impression that the drug makes him forget a lot, but it makes no sense especially when you find out he doesn’t even get paid at the bar? The flashes of his childhood show him as a runaway with no attachment to his caregivers. But no reasoning why. Are they abusive, was he stolen, are they even his parents? When saviour type Sazawa and his daughter, Iyo step in, Fumichi seems to fall for them both. But he resists that safety. Feelings of low self worth? I found him hard to relate to. I still enjoyed the story but overall it feels like too many missed opportunities to flesh out both of the MCs properly. CW: Rape.