A gentle giant with a heart of gold finally stops being a love underdog in this hilarious romantic comedy!
Takeo Goda is a giant guy with a giant heart. Too bad the girls don’t want him! (They want his good-looking best friend, Sunakawa.) Used to being on the sidelines, Takeo simply stands tall and accepts his fate. But one day when he saves a girl named Yamato from a harasser on the train, his (love!) life suddenly takes an incredible turn!
Lately, Yamato has been making Takeo’s heart race more than usual, so Takeo tries to train himself to be more stoic. But when their respective schools take them on a trip to Hokkaido, Takeo and Yamato keep getting thrown into close contact! Looks like Takeo is in for a rough challenge…
• Birth Date: March 11th, 1972 • Blood Type: A • Zodiac: Pisces
Kazune Kawahara (河原和音) made her manga debut at age 18 with Kare no Ichiban Sukina Hito (His Most Favorite Person). Also, while thinking of her manga, she often spaces out and brings grocery baskets home. Adores her nieces.
A rather slow entry in the series, where Yamato and Takeo continue their struggle with physical attraction while on separate but probably too long intersecting field trips. Nothing much intimate actually happens, but I think the story could help younger readers reflect on what "liking" someone might come to mean. The reflections seem pretty honest and real as Takeo continues to struggle with how to be respectful to Yamato while also expressing his intensifying feelings. Yamato is flattered by this intensification, and actually hope for more. I like how they agonize how to talk about these things.
The second part of the volume deals with Suna hanging out with a new transfer student, which makes Takeo clarify to Suna that they are bff. The new guy is also cute, but probably as untrustworthy a friend as the the baker Ichinose was for Yamato.
Back in 2017, I thought this volume was a weak entry in the series, probably because I had some resentment toward Takeo Goda's girlfriend, Rinko Yamato. This time through, I can better appreciate her and the role she plays in the book, especially in helping Goda come to terms with his idealization of pure love smashing headlong into his base physical desires.
ORIGINAL REVIEW - March 17, 2017 - RATING: 3-stars
Even this weak entry in an otherwise awesome series made me laugh out loud in delight once ("I don't think that's physically possible.") The school trip went on too long, but I have hopes next volume will rebound as it continues the story arc of the transfer student who may be stealing away our hero's best friend.
3.5/5 Es sorprendente cómo, volumen tras volumen, Takeo se convierte en uno de mis personajes favoritos de toda la vida.
Este volumen se divide en dos partes: en la primera, Rinko y Takeo se encuentran igualmente emocionados y nerviosos porque sus escuelas tienen una excursión a Hokkaido y uno de los días que se hospedan en la ciudad, todo el grupo de amigos salen a divertirse juntos. Lo interesante de aquí es que ambos tienen deseos que cualquiera en una relación llega a sentir y que se traducen a una cercanía anhelante.
Es normal que las personas involucradas en una pareja deseen tomarse las manos y besarse, vaya, mostrar su afecto de algún modo, pero al ser esta la primera relación de ambos, es curioso ver cómo el primer amor siempre es el más precioso, el más tierno, el más real pues es cierto que estás deliberadamente expuesto ante cualquier mínimo detalle que la otra persona haga o sienta.
En la segunda parte, un estudiante trasferido de otra escuela se relaciona con Suna, de tal forma que ahora apenas y Takeo lo ve. Sin embargo, y gracias a la chica que antes era su acosadora, se dan cuenta de que este chico no tiene precisamente las mejores intenciones. Pero Suna, al ser más bien una persona hermética, no ha logrado decirle nada a Takeo.
¿Qué sucederá en el siguiente volumen? ¿Suna y Takeo volverán a probar que su amistad es más fuerte ante cualquier adversario?
Re-read 2021: Ah, we are continuing the theme of previous volume. But I am glad that the two talked. It will still be a bit awkward, but I hope much less. I am glad that Yamato showed that she was OK with Takeo holding her/touching her, and that she actually wants more of it too. That was cute! The school trip was fun and I had a laugh at all that happened there. I love seeing Maki grow up and see her get quite big. She is growing up so fast, and well, she definitely takes after her whole family. I love how happy she is to see Suna. Oh, and tumbling lessons, that was just the cutest! Love how eager Yamato is and how fired up Takeo is. The last part wasn't that much to my liking. I get it Suna, you have a new friend, that is great, but don't just forget your other friends, especially your best friend Takeo. I found it just rude that Suna just went with it instead of saying no. Come on. Poor Takeo. I do hope that things get fixed without too much hurt.
We continue on the theme of the previous volume, Takeo wants to do much more with Yamato, but doesn’t dare doing them, and actually feels bad for feeling those feelings. He is trying to hide them, but Yamato actually wants her boyfriend to show those feelings. Show that he wants to touch her, to be close to her. It is quite an interesting dilemma, and while it was overdramatized, it is something that I recognise from my own relationships. So I was hoping for these 2 to finally have some time to talk things over. Yamato being honest that she wants Takeo to show those feelings, that she is OK with them, that she doesn’t mind if he wants to touch her, and Takeo being honest to Yamato that he has those feelings, that he wants to try them out with her. The conclusion to this was really sweet, and I actually teared up in happiness. Finally, these two had a chance to chat, and I can’t wait to see how this will go for them.
Extra points of yay go to the kissing scene. They don’t kiss that much, but I definitely still remember those earlier kisses. It often looked like Takeo was eating Yamato. However in this one? It was just so sweet, and it looked like a proper kiss between a girl and boy. I was just squeeing and, again, tearing up because I was so happy that it finally looked normal. <3
It was also fun seeing both Yamato and Takeo’s class on a school trip. What a coincidence that they both went to the same place!
I also loved how Yamato was trying to get stronger, she didn’t want to be such a bother to Takeo (you will never be, girl!). And Takeo was really sweet about it and even offered to help her out with things. He was a bit overkill, but I definitely enjoyed seeing Yamato’s expressions when he helped her out. She totally forgot to tell him that she was dying, instead she was totally going for it and drooling over her handsome boyfriend. 😛
I am not to sure how to feel about the new arc that is starting now. There is a new transfer student in town and I didn’t quite like him from the start. I am not sure how to explain, but he just has that vibe that screams; STAY AWAY, STAY AWAY. I didn’t quite like Sunakawa as well in the last pages, I wish he was just honest with Takeo. Instead of avoiding him and just going to do all that stuff with the new transfer student. New friends are OK, but you shouldn’t just forget about your old friends. Poor Takeo felt terrible, and wasn’t sure what to do. We also see our stalker girl again, seems she is still going after Sunakawa.
All in all, a very eventful volume with lots of developments happening, and while I am not happy about the new arc, I still can’t wait to see how it will continue in the next one. Hopefully there won’t be too much pain and hurt.
Mungkin, Takeo x Yamato adalah goals couple versi diriku ^^. Lucu aja lihat Takeo yang berusaha menjaga 'kewarasannya' dan Yamato yang agresif, tapi juga tau kalau Takeo tidak akan macam-macam :D. Plus Suna yang selalu jadi orang ketiga yang selalu jadi tempat curhatan mereka berdua *padahal jomblo, tapi harus ngasih nasihat cinta hahaha XD*
This volume starts where the last one left off, with Takeo dealing with his intense feelings for Yamato by spending less time with her. Then one day their classes both take the same school trip and they have to deal with their emotions when they are close to each other. The book ends with Suna befriending a transfer student, and Yamato feeling left out because his best friend is spending less time with him than normal. It's been a while since Suna's sexuality has been dealt with and there are huge overtones here which I hope do not go in the direction that they hint. So that is making me worried about the next volume as that sort of storyline would mess with the innocence and sweetness of this whole story plot, but we'll see!
I enjoy this, but it pales in comparison to earlier volumes. To be honest, I understand why this series ends in 13 volumes: there's just not much material left to do. On top of that, it's nowhere as funny as it used to be.
I spent SOOOOO much longer reading the opening pages because I could NOT stop laughing! Poor Suna! LOL!! Every time Takeo looked at him or held onto him, I would start laughing. So much so, that I had to stop reading just so I could calm down and be able to focus on what the words were saying! LOL! (Even now I'm starting to laugh again!)
It was an extremely touching part seeing how Takeo and Yamato were open about their feelings. I had to laugh a little bit because Kawahara wrote the angst and awkwardness of high school romance SO well and felt those feelings all over again. It was an interesting experience to have those feelings "awakened" once more and deeply appreciated/love the importance and focus of communication in those scenes. (I do agree with Takeo that Yamato can be pretty mischievous when she wants to be! Ha!)
After that I felt some MAJOR warm fuzzies in seeing Yamato want to become stronger and how she went about that. It honestly reminded me of things my husband taught me (including the exact thing about "falling right"!) and couldn't help but feel really happy reading those scenes, especially when Yamato is successful. I really really really loved that!
But UGH to the end though! I WAS SO UPSET!!! I won't say anything as to why, but YOU GO TAKEO!!! It's definitely the first time reading this series where I *immediately* needed to know what would happen next, so I'm off to go read and see what happens!
(Random note: I absolutely love this cover art, especially with Suna and Maki on the back! Everyone is so cute!)
Me gusta como estos dos personajes tienen problemas amorosos, pero ahora no del tipo de que alguien quiera al otro, al contrario, tenemos ahora que ninguno de los dos puede controlar sus sentimientos. Nos hace ver como al estar en pareja tenemos deseos de amar de una manera tan fuerte que controlarlo no es bueno, al contrario debemos expresarlo y ayudar al amor de nuestra vida en lo que podamos si tenemos la posibilidad de hacerlo.
Al parecer ahora habrá una persona que estará en debate por la amistad de Suna, será interesante ver este punto de amistad porque no todo es el amor de tu vida.
takeo's really pretty mature! i remember when my best friend in high school started hanging out more with someone else and i was absolutely seething with jealousy, i def did NOT handle it as well as him
i also continue to scream daily over takeo and yamato but that should go without saying. the CUTEST COUPLE
First of all: what an adorable cover!! absolutely loved it! <3
too bad that the volume itself was... well... not bad. it was good! but... there was something lacking.
i feel like even though this is a shoujo and a romcom, takeo and yamato don't uh... get as intimate as other shoujo couples do. i mean, this whole time they've been dating, they kissed TWICE (!!!!). and while it is funny to see takeo react about his urges, after 11 volumes (and 40 chapters!), it gets kinda old. I mean, it wouldn't HURT YOU if you touched your girlfriend more often! Also, she CLEARLY wants to and has said so many times! Geez!
And in this volume, Suna meets a new guy. Who's hella shady. Not sure if I like this new plot but this volume ended in a cliffhanger, so let's see where this goes in the next one.
The beginning was a bit slow but the ending picked up real fast. If this new kid picks on Sunakawa I’m going to blue scadoo into that manga & kick his butt! Truthfully at first I was like okay maybe he really is gay because I was kind of debating that before in the stories too & thought okay with the series ending soon this is where they’re taking it but wait he may be a trickster! We’ll have to see.
Takeo is being awkward because he can't bring himself to tell Yamato that he wants to be more intimate with her (like holding hands and hugging intimate) even though Yamato already knows... Just talk to each other, dammit!!
Then Yamato sets herself the goal of getting stronger. Meanwhile, Suna becomes a target for the new kid at school. Now that last part is intriguing. Let's go drama train!
Me encanta que Yamato es la que anda ahí alterando a Takeo hahahaha. Ella es la de los kinks. Que además quiere volverse más fuerte, qué linda es. Por otro lado, quiero mucho a esta parejita, siempre se comunican apenas les inquieta algo y eso se valora mucho en una relación, en verdad que se quieren mucho. Ya por último, salió un wey nuevo que anda ahí detrás de Suna y ya basta, déjenlo en paz, él solo quiere leer.
Los nervios de Takeo por lo que siente hacia su novia, hacen que pierdan el tren y ya puedan hablar. Lo de enseñarle como caer con técnicas de Judo a la novia, muy bien Takeo, muy bien. Al final aparece un alumno nuevo en la escuela que empieza a juntarse mucho con el amigo de Takeo, que será?
The struggle between Takeo and Yamato, mainly Takeo, about furthering their physical relationship was awkwardly adorable. I don’t have good things to say about the transfer student that’s hogging all of Sunakawa’s attention, but I’m also curious as to why he’s doing that.
In this volume Takeo must learn to face his lusty thoughts and remain by Yamato's side. He starts training Yamato at tumbling because she wants to be strong like him and Suna makes a new friend at school who may not be as nice as he seems.
Los primeros dos capítulos son un poco repetitivos (básicamente, porque tocan un tema que ya trataron en un tomo anterior), pero en los dos últimos vuelve al nivel de siempre.
SPOILER:
Odio al tío nuevo, pero ojalá se líen él y Suna, sería muy salseante xD
I want to give these books a hug and I have been. It’s so sweet to see the relationship and friendships happening here and how much they care for each other and make an effort to help them when they need it. There’s only two more volumes left when I want it to go on forever
The field trip was hilarious. But I’m glad to see that Takeo and Yamato talked about their “urges” and realized that they both feel that way and it’s totally normal!!!
Now for the end of this volume… who is this mysterious transfer student? What does he want with Suna??
Yo soy de una época donde, la norma, era que teníamos que esperar un bueeeen tiempo para que los personajes de un shojo tuvieses acercamiento físico, y esta obra no está en la norma. Si bien no hay nada subido de tono, se toca el tema de los cambios que hay en la adolescencia respecto a querer tocar más a quien querés. Pero no me di cuenta de esto hasta que leí el manga. Cuando vi el anime, hace poco menos de 10 años, parecía una historia típica en ese sentido, porque no se adapta todo el material que hay en el manga. Para decir algo ''malo'': me alegro de que terminara este arco. Medio insoportable el egocéntrico del pastelero...