tofu's manga / #Reread(82)

TW: attempted sexual assault between MCs A good coming of age manga. Might seem plotless or boring at first glance but the author did a good job capturing the confusion and uneasiness of being attracted to someone of your own gender for the first time. The petty jealousy, the happiness that comes from the simplest of things, the physical and emotional awkwardness of growing up... It's so dear and unexpectedly moved me. (Warning: there's an attempt of sexual assault, and while i don't condone any circumstance in which it can happen, i understand why the MC did that--and i think it was resolved as well as it could have, considering their situation and personalities.)

I realized i never wrote a serious review for this so i just gave it a reread and wow this manga?????????is so light and silly and sad and heartbreaking and heartwarming and wholesome???????? It's well written with great characters and i love it so much. I love it so fucking much i never want it to end. I wish there were a hundred more chapters. I wanna see them grow even older together. I wanna see them do and argue about stupid shit even as they're balding and greying. I wanna see them happy for many, many years in exchange of the ones they spent being heartbroken over each other. I just. Love them so much, man it hurts.

Why, and i mean WHY, does this manga has such a low rating??? This manga is another example of why i love reading Nishida Higashi's mangas -- the way she writes romance between men is unpararelled. Especially the first story (since the second one is a spinoff of a manga that i didn't read), the characters are so flawed, but they felt SO human for that. The longing, the heartache, the mistakes and regrets between the two MCs felt so fucking real all the more because of how their characters were written. And don't get me started on the internal monologues -- they're so fucking excellent. It baffles me again and again to see people not liking Nishida's stories as much as i do.

Oo that was pretty nice. I didn't expect it and i was dreading that it would turn into a pushy top and frightened bottom situation, but it's not like that at all. Also it's really cute to see the usually indifferent Suzuki care so much about Tanaka and his interests.

The writing is insane! The art is insane! The characters are so lovely and the bond between them made me bawl a million times! I had so much fun reading this. I forgot how amazingly rich dungeon theme could be after tons of tons of unimaginative isekai and fantasy works i've read, so this manga is a complete palate cleanser (and shocker!) to me. I love, love, love how this manga is a silly adventure story about people cooking comforting dishes out of monsters at first glance, when it's truly an extremely well written fantasy story with diverse, complex characters and worldbuilding. The story is dense and not stretched thin to milk the popularity (looking at you, isekai / fantasy manhwas), it's the perfect balance of humor, heartwarming, and thought provoking moments, not to mention the illustration is insanely beautiful -- i truly think this is my number one fantasy manga of all time.