Hello, nice afternoon to you! We are in the middle of Summer in Brazil, so the making of this post was interrupted my cold nights and really warm days at the pool, haha! It took me three days to finish writing this =O
Rants apart, I decided to finally review my first read of the year, haha! It’s a manga called Even So, I Will Love You Tenderly, from Kou Yoneda-sensei!
If you find this name to be familiar, it is because this oneshot is a kind of independent second volume to No Touching At All, that you may have seen here 😀
The Story
Deguchi is an average salary man that is very skeptical when it comes to love. Used to pick up lovers for one-night stands (sometimes, for even less time, if you get my drift), the last thing he expected was to meet someone he can build a relationship with at a bar. And yet, it’s exactly what it happens.
Onoda is a nerdy guy working at the same company that Degushi used to, but in different areas. They meet at a bar through a common work colleague and a friendship is born. Onoda has a crush on a guy that works at his company, named Shima. He has no idea of Degushi’s feelings or even his sexual orientation. Onoda himself thought he was heterosexual until meeting Shima, but now he is not so sure…
To everyone’s delight, Deguchi is a very patient man when it comes to things that really matter and does his best to discreetly make Onoda see that Shima is not really meant for him.
But will Deguchi have the courage to spoil their friendship in case Onoda doesn’t love him back?
The Analysis
Just remembering that those were my impressions and opinion as a reader 🙂
I stumbled on this title quite by accident before Christmas and almost had an attack to see it was from the same series as No Touching At All, one of the most beautiful yaoi (a.k.a. gay) mangas ever. But life happened and I ended up forgetting about it until browsing my virtual collections of tbr mangas, some weeks ago. It was love since page one, as I love Yoneda-sensei’s draws. And, of course, it was awesome to have glimpses of Shima and Togawa’s relationship from another point of view. Deguchi and Onoda warmed up my heart and almost had me crying at some scenes, as Yoneda-sensei’s plots are very realistic for good and bad. This is a big full five stars title!
The narrative pace is fast and mostly from Deguchi’s point of view. We have some Onoda moments, but they come just before the end. I think it worked like this because Deguchi is a highly interesting character: he has a façade of badass sales man to the world, but actually is very romantic and hopeful. Maybe the reader wouldn’t catch his true essence if both characters shared the narrative more than they do.
The plot is simple and yet oh-so-complicated. Yoneda-sensei draws a very human and common story life, without any great actions, adventures or surprises, but it never ceases to be complicated. Deguchi is in love with a man he thinks he can’t have; Onoda is in love with a man that has no eyes for him; both can’t openly admit being gay because of the high prejudice of Japanese society surrounding them. This is too real! It’s a boys-next-door kind of title and that’s why it captures your heart. Yoneda-sensei shows us that we live several happily-ever-after moments, but they are never forever. There will be always a problem, a barrier to overcome. This is being human and in a relationship. It’s just beautiful.
In matter of characters, we are introduced to really few ones besides the couple, Shima and Togawa and none of them is really that important. The spotlight goes to Deguchi and Onoda and I’m fine with it. I mean, the story is about them, right? LOL I loved Deguchi. Usually, I like the dominant better, but Deguchi had so much personality and independence even after falling for Onoda that I couldn’t stay unaffected. Onoda was the insecure and indecisive of them and he only tops because Deguchi likes to be bottom. However, what really touched me concerning all characters in this title is their reality, their humanity. The boy-next-door thing.
Oh, did I mentioned that also they were all pretty? Hahaha! Look*:
I love Yoneda-sensei’s draws ❤
Bonus point: the sex scenes. There aren’t many, but they were well put and executed, making it all about their desire to be together *–* For good or bad, this is not a title that you look for if you want hot moments, haha!
Overall, a beautifully written and drawn title that you can’t miss if you like drama and contemporary gay romance ❤
That’s it! Thanks for reading ❤ How’s the weather where you are??
*ps: I do not own the illustrations, they were found on Google, belong to Kou Yoneda-sensei and were used with illustrative purposes only 🙂
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