Basic plot: Selfish manbaby eventually kind of figures out (when absolutely forced to) that one other person in the world sometimes has feelings. Is shocked beyond all reason. Upon reflection, basically wails, "But I never realised that I had to consider your feelings!" rather than apologising for never considering his feelings. All is forgiven.
Perfect synopsis ╮(￣▽￣)╭
I agree.
"You grew again" - oh lordy, honey, it wasn't that he wasn't serious about you... he was simply a grade A pedo fuck.
I get that it's not how most yaoi manga are going to go, but I really wish Haruto hadn't touched Ren-kun (sexually) until a while after they'd managed to get him out of his situation. I feel like it would have been far better if Ren-kun had gotten a total break from how he'd been living, before bringing sex back into it. I love them hugging, and I would have liked them to build up emotional closeness and warm, affectionate physical contact, with Ren-kun not having to have "obligatory" (ie. exploitative because he's a kid) sex with anyone and ALSO not having sex with Haruto.
So what if he got hard?? Let him feel turned on in a nice way for once, and hug him, tell him it's okay and it's a normal feeling, and just let him feel that. There wasn't a need to take it to sex yet. (Ahem especially since he said "no"...) It's bullshit that it'll be hard or painful for a guy if he doesn't "let it out." It's not going to kill him to just let it go back down.
Don't get me wrong, I really like this manga, and the characters, and I'm all for sex scenes usually. But in this case I wish Ren-kun had gotten a break. Let him experience romance and love without sex please, mangaka.
I'm not surprised Ren left. I feel like Haruto made the utterly WRONG move here. If they hadn't had sex they could have worked through their situation and feelings slowly together.
Same! （/TДT)/ I just want to cry. But my slightly optimistic side thought "Maybe he was kidnapped!? The Ojisan probably saw Ren leave the neighbor's house and went ballistic." However, my sensible, pessimistic side thought "Yea, but Haruto knew he was in the wrong. Ren was just too disappointed to come back."
To be honest, whatever the reason Ren didn't come back, it wouldn't change the fact that Haruto fucked up in an epic way. Not by not saying "I love you" but by touching Ren and having sex with him. The thing that broke my heart was that here's this kid who has never, in his life, felt like he had the option or the right to say "No" or "stop" or "don't." And he said it to Haruto... and Haruto didn't fucking stop. I don't care that the whole "no actually means yes" trope holds on stubbornly in Japan and is all through yaoi; in this story, with this kid's past and current situation, you take him at his word when he says no and you stop. As well, Haruto should have known better in the first place. The mangaka will have to work some kind of miracle for me to get over that.
Exactly! I'm going to be very skeptical in the next update. Grown man over here not taking into consideration the meaning of consent (not that I'm surprised)? It's really sad that I basically predicted this story line happening. Most mangaka's usually go down the same route, but this specific mangaka chose a real messed up back story for the uke so... I agree with the points you made.
Yeah, sadly I feel the same. I thought it was going to be different since it sort of highlighted an ordinary guy floundering and not knowing how to deal with or help a kid like Ren... but sensei does seem to be dovetailing back into predictable yaoi territory. It's such a shame if that's what happens, I love Blue Sky Complex so much, it's so beautifully done and such a good couple.
I never thought I'd see the day that I'd get to chapter 9 of a yaoi manga and be like "Nope, nope, too soon for the MCs to have sex," but here we are! It's happening. I could have handled a kiss but it was way too soon for anything else. Poor Ren. I hope he's gotten away from all of them and manages to keep going to school, makes friends with those nice classmates, graduates and gets into university on a scholarship, and after that MAYBE sees Haruto again. Who, meanwhile, will be wallowing in regret and punishing himself.
Wow, the seme in the second story is unlikable. Socially awkward or shy can be cute, but this guy doesn't make it cute. He's closed off, an idiot, lacks consideration and is apparently unable to see his partner as a real person that he might need to, oh I don't know, communicate with. Not attractive at all for me - personality-wise that is, art-wise he's good. Which makes it more frustrating that he's a dud.
Also, it feels like the only reason we're given for the uke to like this guy is "Oh he's my type!" At first sight. We're not given much more than that. "He's my type but he glares at/ignores me." That's it. Come to think of it, the first story is kinda like that too. That's really not very satisfying, as far as connection and sexual/romantic tension is concerned.
I think some of the contention/upset over this manga might be because Chika has the showiest personality, so he monopolises the story a lot. If you go back and read from the start, it's pretty clear that Hotaka and Masato have feelings for each other from the beginning. Masato's circumstances keep them apart - because neither of them is willing or able to ignore Masato's marriage. I remember that even the first time I read it, I was surprised to find out that Masato was married. I was confused because my instincts were telling me that he and Hotaka had feelings for each other. I was confused again when the whole Chika extravaganza started, because I was now expecting a bittersweet story between Masato and Hotaka. But as the story went on I understood that it was happening as I'd thought, just with Chika far more involved than I'd expected, cover pic notwithstanding.
Hotaka had feelings for Masato, which he wouldn't acknowledge because Masato was married. Chika came onto him forcefully, and since he had no way of knowing what was going on with Masato's marriage, he had no compelling reason to try to refuse Chika's pleading demands (because he IS a very passive guy). Masato didn't really know that his marriage was about to end, although I think he was starting to suspect, which along with Chika was pushing him towards acting on his feelings. Chika didn't know about Masato's marriage either, when he decided to take his shot at Hotaka -- unfortunate timing all around. There was no sudden switch in direction or anything. Chika was never going to win Hotaka's heart, because Masato already had it.
Chika, personality-wise, is an extroverted, forceful (coughselfishcough) man-child, which admittedly would be perfectly fine and probably likeable to me, if he just left Hotaka alone. I actually like the gap of a hardworking, reliable doctor being childish and flighty in his private life - though I didn't like him pushing this onto Hotaka. However, without Chika, the story would be far less dramatic. Chika really does bring a lot of the emotional drama. The situation with Chika also helps teach Hotaka that he might need to be a bit more proactive and direct. Unlike Chika, Masato and Hotaka are both quiet, reserved types. I think perhaps it's not so easy to portray that type of personality strongly, compared to Chika's.
Basically, Chika was designed to be the complication/obstacle on Hotaka's side, like Masato's marriage was the complication/obstacle on Masato's side. Look at the title page of chapter 1. Masato and Hotaka are both looking unhappy, while a happy smiling Chika is in between them:
http://www.mangago.zone/read-manga/mamanaranai_mon_de/uu/mamanaranai_mon_de-chapter-1/7/
But Chika's personality is much stronger than the other two characters', so he steals the spotlight a lot more than he potentially should. His feelings aren't any stronger than Masato's - they're the 'loudest'. And compared to the other 2, Hotaka's feelings are a fricking whisper that even he can't hear very well.
I think this is what tricks some readers into thinking Chika should be end-game. Along with the main cover pic up the top there - just don't look at that one, guys, it's a trap. Look at the actual whole cover: http://www.mangago.zone/read-manga/mamanaranai_mon_de/uu/mamanaranai_mon_de-chapter-1
Masato is always supposed to be there!!
(Of course, some people might simply prefer Chika, which is a different reason to dislike the ending - I can't agree, but I'm not trying to explain that away)
I agree. I think my problem with this was that you can never really get a good reading on where Hokata stands because he’s so passive. He’s in denial about everything and his love feels almost fake.
Chika’s relationship with Hokata ended up seemin very forceful and unhealthy but since he had the most passion it makes him feel like a protagonist who gave up for reality. However on the other hand Masato’s divorce break up into another relationship made it seem like he’s only willing to be in a relationship when it’s convenient. Hokata and Masato’s relationship is only shown in context of his divorce and Chikas life so it feels like Hokata was in love with China and Masato’s a rebound.
That was a beautiful and compelling description you gave. Well said. This was a wonderfully complicated and interesting story. It shows that love and relationships are not cut and dry or easy to understand with just a simple "I love you" being enough to get a couple through everything. Love and relationships are complicated and they take work, personal growth and compromise. That doesn't make them any less wonderful or magical, they just don't fall into your lap and work out like a fairy tale. I thought this story would be hard for me to read, but I really enjoyed it. I thought it was a fabulous manga.
But why is his butt aaaaalways showing?? When he's dressed that is - everything was better once he was naked. It really bothers me for some reason! Cloud-riding monkey god/kings and peach people, that's all totally fine. But somehow I just can't get into the story properly because he walks around everywhere with his butt hanging out! Yep, THAT's what breaks the verisimilitude for me ~rolls eyes at self but it's true~
I feel the same way!
Poor Gen-san. At least now Kou will have to recognise that he's been a prick for SOMETHING - it's his fault Gen-san collapsed because he was scheduling too much work for the old guy to cope with. And after all his bullshit to Yukinori about being considerate of older workers (re: the plans Yukinori drew up). What a prize dickwad.
Yeah, it sucks that his bro's exes came onto him... but that doesn't excuse his bad behaviour, or make him less infuriating.
Obviously Aki and his ex see their break-up and the reasons for it very differently, and I think it did hurt both of them. Up until the end of chapter 3 I felt like it was quite realistic and understandable, and that they really needed to talk about it properly for closure etc.
But that guy - I wanna say Takayuki? - is being such a dick about it. He was awful and disrespectful and petulant when they broke up. You DO NOT "out" someone else. You. Just. Don't. That was a completely inexcusable thing to do, and he still doesn't seem to give a shit about it. He's still being an immature, selfish bastard about Aki now.
Hooray sensei! Omegaverse about actual men with strong character, and no fricking babies (as if for some reason a baby is the only way to get a happy ending)! I find the omegaverse social structure an interesting setting for BL, but I really hate mpreg so I'm very glad there was none of that!
Not gonna lie, I don't really get why so many girls/women seemingly want BL to have such hetero stuff (pregnancy, babies etc). If I want that I read shoujo or josei. I don't have any interest in babies in real life, so I definitely don't like having them shoved awkwardly into my yaoi! Also, I like my BL characters to be guys, not women with dicks. It doesn't even make sense with the whole "evolution" concept - why the f*ck would men evolve the ability to bear children when women still exist? It makes more sense that same-sex pair-bonding evolved to happen as a way to LIMIT population growth, because the world is overpopulated. Male pregnancy is just stupid hetero-gratification for girls who think babies are like totes adorbs and every relationship needs to make babies because babies (blergh).
Of course, people are entitled to like what they like and I just avoid most omegaverse for all these reasons (I very much appreciate tags). I certainly don't complain about it in the comments of omegaverse stories that do have mpreg, because that would be stupid. But I love this mangaka, and luckily I really enjoyed this story and these characters. I'm looking forward to the sequel, which I'm about to go and read!
I like your point of view..
Like I don't have interest in babys for me an omegaverse normally is a real NEXT, I just ocasionally read one and it's just because of the smut ╮(￣▽￣)╭
It's so interesting to me, to think that I don't really understand how Haruna's character would be perceived by the original intended readers (Japanese people) because I'm not Japanese - but I really, really like how straightforward and open Haruna is. I think he's supposed to be a bit rare or weird because he grew up abroad - but as an Australian, I like him.
Also, since I'm friends with quite a few of my exes (not the jerks, obviously) I really feel like I can understand his perspective - including worrying about how a new partner might feel about it. Of course I've felt jealous and possessive in relationships too, that's normal as well, so I can understand the other side.
But it's so nice, and unusual, to see a main character with an attitude to past relationships that I can identify with. He's not represented as a slut/playboy, or as a commitmentphobe who is miraculously "healed" by the power of love. He's simply a person who has had past relationships that haven't worked out, but nothing dramatic happened, nobody did anything bad, it just didn't work out - so they don't stop caring about each other as people. It's so refreshing and realistic.