Nights Before Night

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Hello this is my first review so sorry in advance if I make spelling or gammer mistake. First of all I would like to put out my emotional attachment to this manga. I may be biased but this is one of my favourite all time mangas, and if I do say so myself, I have read countless yaois, that has failed to top this one.

Story: 10/10
It's been a long time since Haru, owner of the gay escort service "Rain," left his yakuza days behind. But when the Ichijo clan, the group he had once belonged to, says he's the only civilian they can trust to ... hide the clan head's troublemaking son Yukitaka in line, there seems to be no choice for him but to follow suit. There's just one problem, though, Yukitaka looks just like his half-brother Shigure, Haru's lost love.

Art: 10/10
Natsume Kazuki’s art style has always been one of my favourite from the start. Yes I’m going to be biased again, but the way she illustrates her characters with yakuza masculine proportions gets me every time. The lewd scenes were really well drawn, especially at the end where Yukitaka holds Haru. It's so passionate and desperate as Yukitaka wants to desperately be seen, as he's still insecure about Haru's feelings because he knows he looks like Shigure and he knows Haru's history. Not to mention all the detail on the tattoos, which personally made me feel like it brought out the feel of the whole yakuza vibe.

Character: 9/10
I’m not going to lie here, but I think we all had an emotional attachment to Shigure the way Haru did. Personally I think it’s the way sensei dragged us into the story, along with her art. Its like we were being pulled into this miserable world Haru was in, being devastated for 10 whole years after Shigure died. Shigure's presence was so huge that it somewhat overshadowed everyone else, and the fact that more than half of the whole manga was spent showing us how much Haru is in love with him even in the present timeline allowed for little room left to persuade us that Haru has actually fallen for Yukitaka instead. I could never quite shake off the feeling that Yuki almost always seemed like a replacement for Shigure to Haru the entire time, but at least that feeling faded off a bit by the time the ending came I suppose. A little bit more screen time for the two surviving guys to bond together is all I ask to have a more believable romance to bloom between them. However, his role was to fill in that gap Haru was missing. The way each character mourning for the loss of Shigure in their own way and drawing closer and closer to one another. The cigarette crane scene got me every time, as it was something Shigure had passed on to Yukitaka, a method for both him and Haru would remember him. I think all the characters fulfilled their role remarkably throughout the whole story, as they were there for everyone.

Enjoyment: 10/10
I really, really loved this, and even after I re-read it, my feelings for this has hasn’t changed one bit. I know I’m really biased towards this bl, but for me this is my favourite manga of all time as I have mentioned previously before. Not only does the story flow really well, but the art also drags you in. I could sense and feel the pain Haru was in.