Mameiha's manga / #mangaka(19)

I love this manga, truly, I do. But DAMN, it makes me cry for Niki every time I read it. I'm pretty dependent on my husband, not nearly at the level that Niki depends on Shouji, but if anything happened to my husband, I'd be up Shit's Creek without a paddle. When Shouji returns to Niki and saves him, poor Niki is SO skinny. I genuinely worried that Shouji would snap him in half just making love to him.

There are several things about this manga that did not appeal to me, besides the fact that the chapters were out of order and the names changed more often than a person changes underwear. I felt no compassion for the uke here. Being a little weak is endearing, being capable of having sex for one's job - unless sex IS one's job - is pathetic to me. The use of the "third wheel" as a plot and conflict device was so overused here is was nauseating for me. Absoulutely NOTHING else happened between these characters. Other plot lines that had great potential were introduced and dropped like a used tissue. The omai - what happened to that? - the family issues for sensei, the teens family issues, all could have been used in place of the "I want to 'do' Hatori/Hotori" plot lines. This was a case of a weak writer sticking to what they either know or are comfortable with. The art was not bad at all - the only reason for the 2 stars - so, if the illustrator had a better writer there could be some great work done. Sorry, I just couldn't "click" with this story.