Ranked #118

Sojou no Koi wa Nido Haneru (Manga)

The prequel was amazing, but this installment blew my mind away. All the angst, melodrama, and character complexity from the original is there, but its even better. Not to mention one of the most wonderful endings in the history of yaoi manga (that I've read at least). Its painful, fluffy, and bittersweet all at once. You feel for both characters so deeply. The female lead is also an example of a wonderful character. There are no stereotypes for a typical yaoi manga. Honest, endearing, well written, at times funny, and a perfect view of the bare human spirit. It shows us selfishness, immaturity, and indecisiveness in the face of relationships. And as the protagonist questions himself, we're left questioning ourselves, as well. A beautiful must read! read more

The relationship is more tense than before. It’s now vulnerable and weaker than ever, He is defenseless. He is flustered. Everything is now a mess.

The suspension bridge is about to break.

To be more precise, Sojou no Koi wa Nido Haneru is the sequel of Kyuuso wa Cheese no Yume wo Miru. It’s now more concentrated on the strengths and weaknesses of the relationship and the thoughts of Kyouichi. Another rival has arrived for Imagase and the pressure between the two is unsettling. Kyouichi stays the same. He still lacks too many puzzle pieces for him to complete the jigsaw of his true feelings. He is still unable to see awareness. Weak as ever, he commits the same deranged mistake, twice.

If you thought the prequel had exquisite dialogues and character portrayals, you better think again after reading the sequel. It digs more unto the fine angles of the choice of words. It’s specifically breathtaking.

The character progress focuses more on Kyouichi rather than Imagase. He now takes the spotlight and is more contemplative compared to the prequel. He becomes more sensitive and affectionate. A total different Kyouichi we have seen from its prequel.

Imagase, on the other hand has less development. Not that his caliber hasn’t been improved but it’s more like his character stability suits the flow well. He’s dependent on unrequitingly loving someone willingly instead of being loved by someone who he doesn’t have feelings with. It’s realistic and painful but love is fine just the way it is. It takes someone out of his league.

Tamaki is one of those a little above average women you can find in this genre. She is more composed and decent compared to the prequel’s lady. She knows well Kyouichi’s outer feelings. She knows Kyouichi’s affections towards her isn’t as deep as his so-called previous lover. Their relationship has lots of faults and limitations. Her thoughts of making Kyouichi happy isn’t enough to let Kyouichi be happy. It just isn’t enough to budge Kyouichi out of his zone. He was never hers from the start.

They’re both in love. One is a mass of desire, one is a regretful gentleman. It’s not all about sex. It’s about them. Them being painfully in love. It was so painful, that it’s considered as a divine punishment.

The internal part of the sequel is more on confusion and second thoughts. Imagase’s acceptance of his lost is one of the biggest turnarounds of the story and so was Kyouichi’s bewildering decision. If you were to look up to the face of the story, a dense reader would simply see two men, misunderstandings, sex, sex and sex. With this I’m telling you, you’re getting it all wrong dear.

Sojou no Koi wa Nido Haneru’s scenes has more impressive feelings in it. The dialogues and emotions were perfectly in sync. It’s either you end up in awe or you end up in awe. You have no way to get out of the story’s quicksand.

At the end of the series, I ended up in tears. To depart from someone who has treasured you and to hopelessly return to your fated someone. One has come a long way in order to find his own happiness, his own self, his own feelings.

But once he turns his back again, he might never have something to return to. read more