otakulys's manga / #sad(233)

I don't know why I'm torturing myself with this, knowing how it ends. I thought I could handle it, then the flashbacks showed up. I don't know if I can take watching a sweet, beautiful love develop, knowing that it all falls apart in the most painful way possible, with no happy ending. But here I am.

I shouldn't have read this when I'm sick and sleep deprived. It would have hit me hard anyway, but it was particularly brutal now. So sad, but very sweet. I cried really hard, and I'm still kind of crying. Honestly, I started crying the moment she revealed why the others didn't know her. I knew how it was gonna end. Very sad, but sweet at the same time. Heartbreaking, but there's that little glimmer of love that never left, even if he doesn't remember.

I have mixed feelings about this one. The art is GORGEOUS, and I love Umi, the uke. I grew to tolerate the seme, and I understood that his behavior was reflective of his own demons and inability to separate his father's behavior from what was happening with Umi. But I don't feel like there was ever a satisfying moment of accountability and remorse for how he behaved. He slapped Umi right after he was assaulted. That really needed to be addressed, and it never was. I did like the catharsis at the end, and the truth about Umi's first love. So sad and heartbreaking, so I'm glad he finds happiness in the end. However, it's so brief, you don't get much time to enjoy it. It's great that the seme realizes now that he's found his other half. And up to that point, I feel like he was primarily asexual, with even his pleased response to seeing gay sex videos coming across as scientific, more than anything. But I think they work together, and though it touched on the depressing realities of being gay in a homophobic world, it was sweet over all. I just want to squeeze Umi forever, though. I love him so much. Four stars instead of five because I find the way a lot of things with the seme were handled to be annoying. At least the end is sweet. (And bonus points for Umi's awesome mom and her perfect response to his confession!)

So sad! D: Very beautiful, though. This artist is great at that. I cried, just from these few short pages. She draws crying boys so well. I'm getting a weird, crying boy fetish here. Anyway, if it had been a bit longer, it would have been even more painful, so I guess I'm glad it was brief.

Ume, how many straight boys you gonna fuck? Anyway, I liked this at first, but now I don't know how to feel, because I'm not sure how this will go. They're probably going to end up together (and I'd seriously rather Hara had his heart broken while Ume went off with Mori or something), but how are they going to reach that point with everything Hara is doing or has done? They keep playing Ume's legitimate pain for comedy. I don't really get how it's funny to be jerked around like that. Hara calls all the shots, and Ume just goes with it. But the story seems to have this air of self-awareness, so I want to keep going, but I'm really worried it's gonna be one of those weird, yaoiland solutions, where they suddenly at the last minute work it out, and they never really address what a selfish dick Hara is. The thing about that, though, is Hara isn't even really a dick, is he? It seems like he's legitimately mentally challenged. Like, is he mentally delayed, maybe? He literally always has the same expression, no matter what's happening, and he acts entirely on impulse without being considerate of other people's emotions, and he's not coming from a malicious place. It seems like he's either mentally challenged or on the autism spectrum. Either way, they portray him in such an odd way, I feel like it can't be accidental, but who knows. As of chapter three, I'm not sure what to expect. Bring more Mori, though! I'm sick of Ume dancing around this crap.

I knew what to expect, and I read it anyway. Now I'm ugly crying and trying not to sob. This is such a beautiful, tragic story. They just loved each other so much. The back and forth from when their lives were happy and their futures were ahead of them just made it all that much more painful. I just hope there's a heaven for things like this. In a fictional world, we can decide for ourselves that they're together again in death.

Ugh, poor Momo. So fucked up. He went through SO much. This is just another chapter of that. I'm so glad that in Yatamomo we finally got to see the moment where he stops the facade and lets himself cry, truly mourn the awful things he's experienced. Also, his mom is horrible, but I like the concept of her. I would have liked to have seen more of her, like her own spinoff of her life and what not. Harada is pretty amazing in a lot of ways, and one of those ways is that her female characters are always just as interesting and often just as fucked up. Not super common for yaoi.

Nothing really happens here. It's just super sad. The idea of slowly losing someone that way, to the point of them not even knowing who you are, is pretty heartbreaking.

Yep, that's... pretty fucked up. I like some of the themes, but it's mostly just rape-kink smut, so sadly none of that goes anywhere. Could be worse, though.

Aw, what a very sweet, sad little story. I wish a lot of elements had been longer and more fleshed out. The stalker part was way too rushed. The reveal had me excited, but then it was just over. I think the story would have benefited having a few volumes to really explore the struggle between the identity of Haru/Sakura, etc. But still, sweet story, and I love me some hurt/comfort, so five stars.