eishin's manga / #Age gap(4)

This was unexpectedly good. The title was giving off warning sirens but Rocco came through with an actual responsible adult decision and decided to not be impulsive and wait for Liam even if he caught feelings as well. I saw that this is uploaded on webtoon where it's colored and there's Julien's story as well. Honestly, I feel bad for him because he does love Liam a lot but what can we do when the other party doesn't feel the same. Personally, I like Liam's personality where he clearly draws the line, no holes barred, on people who confess to him because in my opinion it's more cruel to do it gently and give them the wrong idea to keep holding on. Very short story but pretty good as well in terms of how the two leads' development. I also loved the whole situation with the bestie Stef, good for her for finding her boo as well. A surprisingly green flag plot (delusions were smth tho) for a clearly red flag sounding title.

For a short manga, I didn't expect to see this much plot and I think it's a pretty decent read. Normally I'd stir away from age gaps that're more than 5 years but this one felt okay for me? I guess the time they spent apart helped since Ao didn't really see Asuka grow up. There was less smut than I expected (from seeing that cover) and it's quite wholesome too more than anything.

If I could rate this a 2.5 out of 5, I would. It's one of those stories which we can't judge with a view of the world building in just one lense of black and white. On one hand, I get the reasoning for Yukari's behavior and why he decided to continue with the business despite the fact that he's no different from his family in the sense of trafficking beastmen. He's not rich and knows all too well that the world doesn't treat beastmen kindly. In his mind, the best way he could help was to do what he does best, running the business regardless of the morality of it all. It's the same for the beastmen working for him as well, that's the life that they know from a young age (it's so sad that they get sold by the villagers themselves) and having an "owner/boss" like Yukari is the best thing that could ever happen in their mind, for the current circumstances. Basically, Yukari set ground rules to at least make sure that he keeps the ones working for him safe instead of treating them as if they aren't living beings (heavily implied that this is what was happening in previous shops). Then there's the uncomfortable truth that me, and a lot of people can't sit well with. At the end of the day the whole plot centers around human trafficking. While it's nice that at the end they got to go south where I assume the beastmen can experience a mundane lifestyle, the fact that the problem isn't really addressed properly still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I guess it's the way the whole situation felt so normalized, even though we know it's wrong. I just wish we got some kind of closure about the topic, since the ending felt quite rushed after all the fuss Shima made in the beginning about the whole situation. Lastly, the reason why I decided to go with a 3-star instead of a 2-star rating is because the relationship between Shima and Yukari ended up being quite adorable. The art is nice too so the reading experience wasn't unpleasant. What I love the most is how quick Shima is to apologizing and owning up to his mistakes. He's stubborn and acts like a brat, but he's not one to close his mind and heart when he realizes that others might've been hurt from his actions. His character felt iffy at the start but he ended up being quite a likeable one, along with Yuki, in this story. It's great to see both of them happy in the end.