What's your opinion about this manga?
| Hello there, I hope you guys are enjoying our selection for this section, this is our Special Read #5 and this time we are featuring a manga with a different approach to the BL theme, Sangen Tonari no Tooi Hito. If you have read it, we would be glad to hear your opinions! If not, you can find a guide on why we think you should here.. Tags: -Mostly though or equal relationship -Average Yaoi (main story) -Shounen-ai (extra) Review: I stumbled upon this manga, like many times before, with rather low expectations. To my surprise this turned out to be the first of a series of great findings, really different to my previous reads, by the pen of Suzuki Tsuta. The Guy Three Doors Down is the main story that revolves around a stoic and disconcertingly frank man, Mitsuya Kishimoto. Aside from the fact that Mitsuya is an adult, and has learned to smile more, things haven’t changed that much for him in the last ten years; every relationship has been a failure that has only granted him the coldhearted tag, and he doesn’t seem to care about anyone or anything in particular. Well, what nobody really knows is that Mitsuya is stuck, feelings-wise, on his teen days; the time when a stupid action drove away the only person that he has really loved, Noboru. After spending all this time regretting it, and selecting girls that look a lot like Noboru, Mitsuya has reached a point where he thinks that he is never going to be able to get over that old mistake. As to be expected from this objective and blunt person, he comes up with the logical conclusion, better give up and live with it, lacking love forever. Nevertheless, just when Mitsuya comes to this realization, he is faced again with the source of all his love problems, Noboru.  On an important note, what makes this manga outstanding is not the plot that is pretty common in the genre, but the characters and feeling of it, working together to give the sensation that “this could actually happen” or “this is such a normal story”. Suzuki Tsuta worked with common feelings like, the difficulties that come with the first impossible crush, the regret and shame about the stupid things you do when you are too young, and the inability to move on without a proper closure for those situations. They are conveyed to the reader from Mitsuya’s point of view. Everything is painted with his thoughts and his peculiar reasoning, until you feel that you are on his mind, traveling with him, and feeling with him. There is no major drama here, no society or infidelity problems, it could almost be considered lacking in the romance department, and the sex scenes are close to zero. After all, the focus of the story is Mitsuya’s inner development, so much that everything turns out to be a journey for the reader to have a proper understanding about every painful detail that made him the way he is. It’s like thoroughly building up the perfect setting, to make the turning point of the story completely intense, to a point that you find yourself wholeheartedly feeling every complex emotion that runs into the character’s mind. It may feel like a light story, with bits of humor and silliness, but, when you come to realize it, the depths and details of it are ingrained in your mind, making everything work out perfectly at the end. The Dream Seen from Upon the Sea is an extra story (one-shot), with a supernatural touch to it. Nagumo, a writer, decided to retreat to an inn near the ocean, in hopes of getting new ideas with the change of environment. He starts experiencing really strange events at night and, when he discovers that those are somehow related to the owner’s son, Atsuhi, he tries to get close to the boy and unravel the mystery. This shonen-ai focuses on the concept of acceptance of the loved people, just as they are, even if their understanding of happiness is totally different from what is expected by everyone.  About the art, it’s so simple that it turns out to be completely beautiful, yes, it might sound weird but that’s it, and I ended up loving it. It’s one that enhances the feeling of the story, draws you in even more. Although there are several details, like the pointing noses, that look weird at first, the art style just grows on you like the perfect fit to the story, besides, like sensei says: “one can never go wrong with suits and gakuran”. This is a manga that focuses on a theme that doesn't necessarily apply to BL, strongly recommended to those who look for an interesting and different story. One offers us a view of the characters like a short window to a real person’s mind, another leaves a heartwarming feeling behind. My only complaint is about the lenght of the story, I really wish there was more, especially about Noboru, since we see little of him, but also about their relationship in the future and about the older brother; it seems there is a new manga featuring the weird sempai that was always hunting gossips,though--I am eager for reading it. In the end Tsuta manages to impress without a complex arrangement of events, and it’s exactly that smooth way of presenting something so common what makes this a great read! Did you find this review helpful? Vote here Now, let's read your opinions! Tell us what you liked and what you didn't about Sangen Tonari no Tooi Hito. |
Queen2408Nov 8, 2009 4:41 PM
| :D nice...and thank you. We try to do this every two weeks, we are going fine by now. If we have difficulties later it might be delayed. I hope not.. |
| Uhh... I've read this 3 days ago, not bad, but the act unfolds terrible slowly. Yet, despite all this, I liked, because of the excellent characterization, especially Mitsuya. |
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| Sangen Tonari no tooi hito came a bit as a surprise to me. In my opinion there is some tiny spark of magic in this manga that makes it special despite the common story that everyone has read before in some similar setting. This magic comes - or so I believe - from the way Suzuki Tsuta tells this story entirely out of Mitsuyas angle. The reader sees events from the inside of Mitsuyas head and entirely feels with his character. And Mitsuya is a great person to take us on a ride. His cynical view of life and himself, his dark, laid back humour and his sarcasm come out in every scene. He has depth in so far that he develops even within this story and realizes things that he has to learn to accept about himself. It is true that the plot unfolds very slowly - I think that is natural and organic for a story told this way from inside someones head. And to me the slow progress did not harm the story. Instead I think it added to it and made the story "deeper" - so far that it resembles almost a small novel. Something that did however take a few points off in my personal ratings was that the story did end too apruptly leaving me behind guessing too much after all that intimacy and closeness I felt with Mitsuya. It could well have done with a few extra chapters, showing what would happen after that final scene. Also a little bit more added fuel to the hot scenes would not have gone amiss ... but maybe that's me .... I rated this "very good", btw... |
| WOW, I have actually read this before lol. I also rated this "very good" and, I also agree with Geisha_X that this had an abrupt ending. Ok, I really like this manga and Suzuki Tsuda quite a lot. She really knows how to heighten and portray detailed emotions in everyday events. It's quite miraculous. It's definitely the type of manga that I love - emotion focused. I do love her for her art as well, which is quite beside the point ^_^;;. Basically, what I really dislike about a lot of yaoi manga are the bland plots without any character development or interesting portrayal of emotions. This is definitely ABOVE those mangas :). Great selections AGUY!!!! so excited to see what's next! |
lovelydawnOct 12, 2009 4:41 PM
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| Great art but the story was a bit of a miss for me. I rated it an average because, plot-wise it didn't really carry anything really unique or particularly spontaneous. The characters were adorable, but not really fleshed out. A good read, lots of potential, but ended much too abruptly. The flow of the story didn't really work. Everything happened too suddenly, without explanation. |
| What I loved best about this manga was how Mitsuya could spout such cheesy lines with a deadpanned face. I couldn't even believe myself when he said, "I love you so much it hurts." And yes, what made me vote 'very good' is Mitsuya. I loved his character, I loved how he interacted with people and I loved how he fell in love. I agree with the abrupt ending, and maybe Noboru could've used more development. (Actually, I was guessing that Mitsuya would think that he wasn't in love with Noboru anymore and instead go for jinx XD I was wrong haha) |
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neko11lover said: What I loved best about this manga was how Mitsuya could spout such cheesy lines with a deadpanned face. I couldn't even believe myself when he said, "I love you so much it hurts." And yes, what made me vote 'very good' is Mitsuya. I loved his character, I loved how he interacted with people and I loved how he fell in love. I agree with the abrupt ending, and maybe Noboru could've used more development. (Actually, I was guessing that Mitsuya would think that he wasn't in love with Noboru anymore and instead go for jinx XD I was wrong haha) Yeah, I agree, I love Mitsuya a lot too..especially the things he thinks behind that deadpanned face or the "business smile" |
thethirdkibeth said: I finally got around to reading this and i have to say i was not expecting the ending. It felt sooooo unfinished! The last chapter seemed like it should be in the middle rather than the end. On a happier note i thought the way the first chapters worked through Mitsuya's feeling was incredibly well done. He was a very believable character, i just wished the relationship had the same level of detail as his emotions had. So good but way too short. All it needed was another chapter or two and it would have been perfect. Oh well, still worth a read. A sequel would work wonders in this story. But like many other mangas, I find it surprising that the Japanese fans or the mangaka don't feel the need for one. snobannicxD said: I'm glad you liked it, in spite of the ending.i just finished this and it was absolutely cute!!! i actually like the way the childhood friend changed and the humor was pretty light and cute yeaaa...i need to expand my vocabulary!! but this was really sweet thanks for recommending it!!! and i agree: ending=a little to abrupt but i think that's the only thing that dissatisfied me |
| I loved this manga or should I say I LOVE IT. It is such a simple reading manga. I find it sexy, that one of the main men had a long hair - that looked freaking sexy. The best part for me was when he confessed that he liked him and tuned red all over. That was magnificient. |
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