One Room Angel

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I liked this story. I did, until I realized it's supposed to be a romance.

So many opportunities were lost. This could've been a cute father-and-son relationship, but it became a weird pedophilic fantasy. Sure, it can be interpreted as platonic but being marketed as a romance and serialized by OnBlue is enough for me. I'm sure this would've been one of my favorites if not for this. And it's not just the labels. There are several unnecessary and weird scenes in this that if removed could've made it so much better and not left room for doubt, even without whatever label you can slap ... onto this.

First, Angel did not need to ask Kouki to go out with him. They could've done all those fun things without this. Plus he explained his reasoning afterward so it made no sense. Second, that grabbing scene was disturbing and the definition of unnecessary. It's clear that the mangaka is trying to add in elements of BL which is very disgusting when it's concerning a man in his 30s and a kid in middle school.

I don't see how Kouki views Angel as his son either. They have more of a friendship (as stated, his "imaginary friend") which is already weird. I don't think even a man with no friends should be friends with a small boy unless they have a father-and-son relationship but there's absolutely no effort put into this to make it seem like that.

And the fanbase is full of pedophiles and fetishizers, so it's quite clear what the mangaka was trying to do.

A short but fulfilling story that, while technically a tragedy, has strong threads of optimism and positivity all the way through, straight until the end.

The story has a fair number of twists, but I don't think it tries to play up the dramatics too much. It also involves a lot of dark and twisted topics, but doesn't have the characters dwell too long on them. Instead, there's this constant theme of 'life sucks, but we'll keep going anyway.' There's explorations on gratitude, on affirmation, and finding happiness. It's just a very sweet story about suicidal ideation and learning how to find the value in life.

Also ... the art is really pretty. No sex, which I found rather relieving. The humor is pretty good and I loved both main characters a lot (many of the supporting cast, too). I recommend this story.

One Room Angel is a beautiful, bittersweet story about finding the will to live even when life sucks, and wanting to become a better person for the people that you love.

It's short, but very impactful. Both characters are very well fleshed out and, despite being a one-volume manga, it's easy to care about them. Their dynamics are really touching at times while really fun at some moments too and the story focuses a lot on their bond and how they can help each other but, even though it is a BL, I think it can be enjoyed even by people who typically don't like ... romance.

The story is very well written and, while it deals with a lot of hard, dark topics such as suicide or bullying, it keeps a hopeful tone and doesn't just do drama for the sake of drama. It DOES have sad, tragic moments, and might not be a good manga to read if you're in a bad mental place at the moment, but the overall message is more touching and hopeful than sad.

All in all, a beautifully written manga with gorgeous art that I would recommend to pretty much anyone (unless you really can't handle reading about topics like suicide idealization or bullying), even those who don't really like BL. It really stands out from other mangas, both in the BL genre and overall.