Seven Days
Seven Days: Monday–Sunday

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I am not particularly interested in shounen-ai, but this should not be classified as strictly "eye-candy" or "love between boys." I believe this story was not written for the sake of it being shounen-ai, but for the sake of telling a "true love" story.

At first, I was drawn to the manga because of the beautiful art style, and once I started reading it, I could tell it was unique. The plot started out differently, and moved at a pace that was not rushed, but was not too slow. The characters felt almost real, as you learn more about them as the story progresses. They are ... not shallow characters. They have faults, like real people, and that's why I really like the characters in this.

I'm not very good at writing reviews (this is my first), so I'm not sure what to say exactly. But I can tell you that this won't disappoint you. Contrary to cliched romance stories, "Seven Days" is unique and captivating. It is not about love on the surface. The characters don't love each other simply because they are both boys, but because they learn more about each other and how they bring out the best in each other.

Overall, what really touched me in this manga was its purity and portrayal of "love." It's rare to find a meaningful story like this.

From the looks of the other reviews, I'm definitely in the minority here. But ignoring that fact...
I was expecting for this to be fantastic, introspective, and altogether beautiful but my feelings while reading this were lukewarm. I was as satisfied as one may be when they go to a restaurant with nothing but a picked-over buffet table at 8 in the afternoon.

Story: 7
It's a short manga, so there isn't much to say beyond what is already in the premise. There are some things that I would have preferred to have been resolved (who is Shino, what is Seryou's brother like, etc.) and for other things ... to be expanded on (archery club, Seryou's questionable attendance, his week-long girlfriends), but unfortunately these things never are.
I wasn't too crazy about the dialogue. There wasn't anything wrong with the scanlations I was reading; the dialogue was just too lackluster. A lot of simple sentences.
I like how their entire relationship wasn't sexual. It's very frustrating when two people meet and decide to solidify their relationship by having sex or whatever. In this case, it wasn't even about being gay, bi, straight, etc. it was just two people who love each other.

Art: 6
This art was comfortingly familiar because I had previously read something with the same artist, Torikagosou no Kyou mo Nemutai Juunin-tachi. However, it wasn't as good in this manga. While the art still had that soft, sweet quality about it, the proportions of people were off- small heads, too-long arms, etc.

Character: 5
Shino is supposed to be a guy with a beautiful face but a disappointingly taciturn personality. Or at least that's what everyone kept saying...His "terrible" personality was really blown up. For example, after getting a bulls-eye in archery, he does a little fist pump. His teacher yells at him for his "vulgar" display. Is there some cultural thing that I'm not getting here, or...?
Seryou seemed like a bit of an airhead. I'm not sure that he thought through the whole "date a girl a week" thing, nor am I sure why he was so hooked on finding love.
Overall, the characters weren't shallow, just not developed enough.

Enjoyment: 6
Not the worst, not the best. Seven Days is worth reading though because of the unusual circumstances that Shino and Seryou's relationship is formed and the basis that it was formed on.

I think I'm going to be a minority voice here, but I didn't much care for this two volume series. I used to be a pretty big Yaoi fan in my teens, but once I hit twenty, I got kinda tired of the same plot rehashed over and over (which is what every subsequent book DMP released felt like). However, I kept hearing rave reviews for Seven Days, and I had to admit my curiosity was piqued.

After reading both books, I found the story to be very par for the course once again. It's cute, but nothing so amazing that it could get me ... back into the genre. I'd go into the plot, but that small blurb up at the top covers it quite well. Character wise, I didn't find either too likeable as one was more like a doormat (and an admitted Masochist, so I suppose he's in character in that case :/ Meh.) and the other's big reveal is that he has a pissy personality and is an insensitive jerk. These flaws could've been saved in my eyes if it weren't for the biggest offender in this situation: the translation.

I am now convinced that DMP had the worse translation team in the market. The dialogue was flat and lacked personality. I also felt like the break up of dialogue between word bubbles were a bit too unnatural. It was offensive enough (to me anyway) to want to go back and smooth the dialogue over more. It felt like an unpolished scanlation, which makes me sad cause I spend about $24 procuring these books. Now, I can understand that there's a very vocal majority who likes their manga as trans-literal as possible and Yaoi is still a niche market and I can see DMP catering to that if that really is the case...but as for me, I'll be passing on any further purchases from that label. I knew they had this problem before when they first started, but I guess I had hoped that they had gotten better. Oh well, ebay here I come...