Raizo and TOS are two men who also write BL in their spare time. Raizo is a cool, laidback and handsome guy whose dark BL style is popular, while TOS has a light and fluffy writing, but is less popular due to his social awkwardness and difficulty communicating. Even though they are complete opposites in everything, they find themselves inexplicably drawn to one another...
Dropped a star for the same reason as before - a bonus story at the end that had one of my big squicks. Otherwise, this series has been such a pleasant surprise. I really wasn't expecting it to be so good!
One of the things I love is that the characters are just...so balanced and well-rounded. Yeah, Shinobu is the whole gross loser trope, who slouches and mumbles and lives in sweatpants and hardly goes outside and frequently misses his deadlines. But he's not actually a loser, at all. There are a lot of really understandable reasons for rich princely charismatic Raizo to adore him.
For instance, a big "misunderstanding" in this volume comes when Raizo's older sister unexpectedly shows up at their new condo, when Shinobu is still there, in bed. Raizo is astonished and pleased when Shinobu signals that he's ready to step up and explain things.
...which he does by telling her that he's Raizo's assistant, and then bolting.
But! Where in a lot of other series, that would've continued for a pretty long time, leading to other drama and eventually being solved by Raizo, the put-together character, it's Shinobu who immediately takes action. Yeah, he didn't want to spill the beans right then, when they were startled by a visitor and didn't have time to think through what to say.
As soon as he got home, though, he started working on a plan for what to do...and then drove himself into a stress fever...and coincidentally ran into Raizo's pharmacist sister when he was picking up his prescription. He didn't tell her right then, when she was quizzing him about her brother's mysterious girlfriend, because again - awkward. But once he was outside of the building, he mentally slapped himself back into shape and turned right back around to explain things to her.
I just love him as a character. He's messy and weird but very smart and thoughtful - there are reasons he writes good (if constantly behind schedule) manga that Raizo truly admires. And he even ends up bringing the sister and her fiance back together! And then doing a pretty stellar re-introduction that went over pretty well, considering everything.
The author's note indicates that Raizo's sister wasn't actually meant to come across as super homophobic, so I do appreciate that their relationship was revisited, years later, when she was older and more able to understand the kinds of things her brother needs in a relationship. You do say some stupid things when you're a teenager...if you held everyone to those kinds of wrongheaded opinions for the rest of their life, no one would ever grow.
It's interesting that their parents would decidedly NOT be okay with the relationship, though, and that there seems to be no real indication that they're going to be let in on it any time soon. After all, they were rejecting a handsome, kind, very successful son-in-law simply because he wasn't a doctor. So not everything is always sunshine and roses, and that's okay. That's life.
I also liked the stuff about how their schedules and work changed as they began living together. Shinobu has a boost of positivity and productivity that lasts until he realizes that living in a bigger, fancier place really doesn't change who he is as a person. And Raizo goes through what is, for him, a slump...simply because his worldview got expanded so much by being in love that he was overrun with ideas!
I was actually thinking exactly what Shinobu eventually told him - that his readers wouldn't want Raizo to switch his really successful formula just because he's in a sappy romance of his own now. Happy endings are all well and good, and nice for occasional changes and surprises, but he built a following on his really dark, gritty manga, and it would be pretty jarring to flip that around too much.
It's just a lot of interesting food for thought in this series. Really well-crafted with one of the more natural, believable relationships I've seen in a while.
This is the end of their story, "for now," but I'll keep an eye out to see if there will be another volume in future. This one was originally out in Japan three years ago, so I'm assuming this may be closing things out, particularly with the mangaka talking about illnesses and such. But I definitely wouldn't mind seeing them again someday.
Diese BL-Reihe kann ich irgendwie nicht wirklich ernst nehmen. Sie ist irgendwie niedlich und ich mag den extremen Kontrast zwischen den beiden Protagonisten. Sie wirken so krass, dass ich mich immer noch frage, wie die zwei ein Paar sein können.
Was ich in Band 3 sehr schade fand, war, dass hier die Arbeiten der beiden eher weniger im Fokus standen. Als Leser konnte ich daher eher weniger nachvollziehen, wie sich die Beziehung auf ihre Arbeit als BL-Mangaka ausgewirkt hat.
Auch die Veränderung der Charaktere scheint nur von kurzzeitiger Dauer zu sein. Ich bin jedoch gespannt, ob es auch einen positiven längerfristigen Effekt geben wird oder welche Probleme noch auf die beiden zustürmen. Amüsant und unterhaltsam.
Vom Zeichenstil her ist der Manga leider auch nicht das, was ich gewohnt bin. Ja, ich bin ziemlich snobistisch und verwöhnt, aber hier sind nicht nur die Charaktereigenschaften ein Kontrast, sondern auch deren Optik. Und die Figuren wirken in manchen Panels eher skizzenhaft, statt ausgereift. Sehr schade! Ich vermute, dass es hier mehr Potential gibt als tatsächlich genutzt wird.
Raizo and Shinobu are moving in together and Shinobu struggles a bit. Things get slightly awkward when Raizo’s sister visits.
This was my favorite volume of the three. I don’t know if I actually liked it more or if I was just in a different headspace for this one, but I really enjoyed it.
Honestly, I wouldn’t have liked this series half as much if it weren’t for Shinobu. He's so awkward and adorable. His character absolutely made this series for me.
***zaterdag 30 augustus 2025*** ⭐4.5 (rounded up) - really liked it
that was a good ending! they are both idiots in love. in any other manga some of the characteristics would be problematic to the point of me not enjoying it anymore but in this story it was wholesome because they were both wack.
Not the strongest volume in this series. It definitely could've ended in...the first volume lol. But, it was cute to see them grow as a couple in their careers. The cast was barely used, weirdly enough. I wish the sister did more...like I'm glad she's not homophobic but eh.
The cat stuff at the end, though, was....wild lmao.
I adore these characters but this volume fell flat for me!!! The comedy wasn’t like before and it felt rushed. Especially the storyline with the sister.
And is this the end? The author’s note seemed like it might be but ?
3.25 stars Enjoyed the other volumes more but this was still pretty cute. The drama with the sister which kinda lead to the MC's internalised homophobia was just brushed over??? weird
Reading this from Hoopla App. This vol 3 book is so cute and love to know that Raizo and Shinobu move in together and start life together. I love the plot and the family. I curious if there will be the next vol lol wedding and family? Haha I giving this a 4 stars.