Product Description: Narusawa and Naoki have returned from their romantic days in America. Busy schedules have kept them from each other, and when they're finally able to find some time together, Naoki collapses. Narusawa is left to face Naoki's father alone...How will he react to the father's request to "end the relationship for Naoki's sake"?
I liked it I love the angst this book has to offer. Granted, there is nothing graphic about this book, so if anyone is buying this for that reason, you will be dissapointed, but if you like drama and plot twists, and more drama, then you'll love it. As it is, I cannot wait for Vol 4 to come out. I hope though, this is the end and there is no more downs in this relashionship... my heart can't take it anymore ^^
Frustrated and disappointed right now... I don't really know how to feel about this title at this point in time. The last volume "cliffhanger" only created tension in regard to the issue of Naoki's parents confronting Narusawa about his relationship with their son. Once that is addressed in the volume, way too many pages of the book are devoted to both men angsting about the issue. At the end of the volume nothing is resolved in a way that is satisfactory for anyone, including the reader. This is presumably to create some new kind of cliffhanger induced tension, but all it really made me feel was frustrated.
The total lack of yaoi content in the main storyline of the volume was apologized for with a side story at the end about a night the two men spent together after coming back to Japan from the US, but even this scene lacks the kind of intensity that I would expect from this storyline's nature.
It might be Maeda's intention that Naoki behaves so meekly in this volume because of what happened between him and Narusawa in volume 2, but it seems very out of character for him. Setting aside the assumed continuation of his guilt regarding that incident, he is really not the kind of guy that would just allow Narusawa to make this kind of decision lying down (even if he is confined to a hospital bed), and then falling apart over it.
Naoki's father in particular was unfathomable. His initial reaction was completely in the realm of reality, as was the way in which he approached Narusawa about ending his relationship with Naoki, but his complete turnaround after he realized Natusawa's emotional deception is completely outside the realm of plausability. Even if he came to understand how much this man cares about his son I don't believe he'd really change his mind about who he thought could help Naoki. A stubborn man like the one he is made out to be would probably continue to believe he had the situation under control and take no steps to bring a man ten years his son's senior, who he knew was in a romantic relationship with the boy, anywhere near him. But maybe that's just me?
Naoki himself comes across incredibly juvenile and horribly codependent in this book. His impulsiveness and physical strength taken away from him laying in a hospital bed is replaced with a guy I really wouldn't want to be in a relationship with (not that I wanted to before). Having sat through and accepted the kinds of things he did to Narusawa in previous volumes I can still safely say he was really making me uncomfortable in one particularly desperate scene. I couldn't help but think two things: 1.> Naoki is incredibly juvenile and needs to calm down, and 2.> If I was in a relationship with a guy who would behave this way, I would back away as quickly as possible and run for my life. Seriously, there's something wrong with the kid's head. He's supposedly 20ish now, and has been in this relationship with his former doctor for three years. Three years! I'd think he'd have matured emotionally in that time, but I guess given who we are talking about, that was too much to hope for. I'm not saying people like this don't exist in the world, but I don't know if I want to read about them in my yaoi manga.
If you really like this story, I guess you'll appreciate this volume as well, but I still warn about the frustrating aspects. If you were holding onto to some kind of hope that it would improve with time, well, there isn't any forced romance in this volume, if that was what you were hoping not to see any more of. My three stars don't mean I disliked the book, they just mean I am a bit disappointed right now. If volume 4 doesn't improve my opinion, I may just have to give up.
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