Aitsu no Daihonmei
His Favorite

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When discussing yaoi as a genre, the discussion about painfully cringe, stereotypical, and harmful cliches is bound to come up. In the usual 2000s yaoi magazine, you'd find the regular overdone story of a plain guy being pestered (sometimes even raped) by a sadistic hottie for whom he later developed feelings, with a bunch of one-dimensional side characters to go with that also happened to get in a gay relationship while reprising the worst of toxic relationship tropes. His Favorite is, however, the prodigal case of such a story that received enough love to last over a decade and a half and ended up not ... only dramatically changing for the better, but also helping subvert these cliched tropes with masterful narrative and great character development.
Over the course of 14 years, 13 volumes and a laid back slice of life format, Suzuki Tanaka developed your one-of-the-mill story about opposites attracting into an entertaining, self critical work.
Yoshida is not your usual MC with low self esteem stemming from his bad looks, in fact, he doesn't have a complex about his looks and is actually very confident in himself, standing up for himself and what he believes in, not needing validation from anyone; although his days as the popular guy in school are in the past, he retains his friendly and kind demeanor, not being the type to turn away from a friend in need, not even from the girls who relentlessly insult him.
Calling Sato a "sadistic seme" would be a disservice: victim of many kinds of abuse and psychological and physical trauma, Sato is a troubled teenager who doesn't know how to process his feelings nor his thoughts, however, rekindling with Yoshida and making friends along the way allows him to start a healing process, which doesn't come without bumps along the way, but is regardless mighty important to witness.
The cast of side characters is also impressive: they all have their own relationships, ambitions, quirks and flaws.
What Suzuki Tanaka excels at, even more than in writing characters, is placing them in a story: Yoshida and Sato, both with their flaws and problems, enter the first relationship in their lives in a way that isn't smooth sailing, most often bickering than not, but growing together, listening to each other, acknowledging the other's past and worries, to make for a heartwarming coming of age love story. Suzuki doesn't shy away from calling trauma what it is, depicting something wrong and harmful as such (always with tinges of comedy of course), and bringing to light how troublesome and awkward your teenage years can be, but she also doesn't stop short of making the characters have light hearted fun, learning from their mistakes and being open and honest about it (or even from writing a highly impactful coming out scene for her main characters!).
All in all, you get a story that pokes fun at yaoi's most reused cliches to build an ingenious plot about love and growing up, while keeping it all in a hilarious, slow paced, slice of life that anyone can enjoy (and yes, there are no sex scenes for these underaged characters, thank godddd).

His Favorite will forever leave a lasting impact on me. Not for its tear-jerking plots or artistic views, but simply in how much enjoyment the author brings out from the reader.

Story: 9/10
As a slice-of-life manga, don't expect too much. Half the "story" is watching the characters drive the plot themselves, which, past hindsight, is a lot more difficult to do than others give credit for. There has yet to be any giant arcs longer than Satou's past which is a shame because I would like to see the mangaka go all out like that again. They have a unique sense of humor that understands when ... not to take themselves seriously yet keeps it impactful to the reader. Alas, I also feel the need to bring up that this series can be distinguished from many others in that the main pairing has yet to sleep together yet are still interesting enough to drive the story forward almost completely on their own. Their love is what this series treasures, and I give so many props to the mangaka for taking this route.

Notice that I said "almost completely on their own." There are a few subplots here and there. And luckily, it's another thing I can appreciate about the story. I adore the incorporation of the two secondary pairings: Nishida/Azuma and Toranosuke/Yamanaka. The first pairing takes seven volumes before being brought in. SEVEN volumes. By then, Nishida is already a lovable character that readers can connect with; he's not there just to be gay. THAT'S how you do it yet it seems all other yaoi's love to miss that mark. Meanwhile the latter pairing ends up happening as an epilogue to an event in the main Satou/Yoshida plotline. After a few developments, it becomes a bit of a recurring secret that no one but Yoshida is in on. And there really is something special about that. Then there is the adorable hetero Akimoto/Yoko couple which proves that not every character that appears in a BL manga are necessarily going to be BL. The story manages to incorporate these four pairings in completely different ways that keeps itself fresh and still wonderfully hilarious.

Art: 9/10
At first glance, the art is nothing spectacular. The color spreads aren't as breathtaking or panels as detailed as other popular series, but you can tell it tries to hit the readers from a different perspective than that. There is the ever popular intentional derp school shot that the author loves exploiting for a laugh. You can't help but root for an artist that has the courage to make fun of themselves. Yet where the art shines is the design. The design of Yoshida is so lovably unique that you could spot and recognize his character from several miles away. Satou, although seemingly the typical good-looking love interest at first, becomes a human who expresses embarrassment, insecurity, and self-conscious anger that is well supported by the drawing of his facial expressions. Other characters such as Akimoto and Makimura draw out chuckles when they appear. And the artist actually utilizes the lack of variety in the design of the school girls as a running gag.

Characters: 10/10
By far the strongest point of this series is its characters; particularly the main Satou/Yoshida couple. Yoshida is there to break every existing troupe while Satou derails half the situations into hilarity, making for a pairing that is nothing short of a great match. Couple dynamics aside, Yoshida experiences the typical high school guy crises involving his popularity and his relationship with Satou, yet it never gets to the point where he comes off as anything but simply a likable guy who's just wondering what will happen next. But then we add on top his other more subtle traits. Traits such as his complete acceptance for who he is and that being "ugly" shouldn't drive how much fun he has in life. Traits such as how he does stand up for himself and his friends when appropriate, simply because it's part of who he is and not as a plot device. And you've got a character that is not only solid but admirable and memorable. The thing is, none of these quirks Yoshida possess are overdramatized either but rather universally accepted as just being there. As many of great writers say, "show, don't tell." And Yoshida is a prime enough example of that where he goes onto my favorite characters list.

Then we have Satou, the more inhuman one of the pairing. He comes off as a typical popular guy cliché who chases down the outcast in secret for seemingly no reason at all. At this point you'd expect some love at first sight monologue or a flashback where one single insignificant moment between him and his love interest dictates the rest of his life because shoujo sparkles. *queue fangirl fantasies here* But no. The thing is, while it can be argued he starts off that way, that's not the route the manga takes at all. For reasons actually explained, he's a sadist. Or, a sadist who's an outlier from other sadists. Now that's quite a character. By the time you get to the end of his past, you can physically see why he's in love with Yoshida. We aren't told he is, but who needs to be told when it's right in front of you? Earlier I mentioned that this pairing is what drives the story forward almost all on their own, and these two are definitely strongly written enough to do that.

Enjoyment: 10/10
There are tons of different types of series: those which appreciate their fanbase, those who love torturing them, those that feed the readers' intelligence, those bottom of the barrel mediocrities that just don't care, etc. His Favorite is of the kind that aims to capture your heart to hold it warmly in its palms and nothing else. I think a lot of people forget how these types of series are getting rarer and rarer. I feel nothing but fondness when this manga is brought up. It definitely deserves an anime adaption.

Overall: 10/10
I'm still following and buying the volumes online to this day. I just can't get enough of this manga.

I LOVE THIS MANGA.

do I have to say anything else? Lol. I have fallen in love with the series at first read. This really is one of the best SHOUNEN AI I have read so far. And it didn't disappoint the fangirl inside of me.

I screamed and laugh at every page and chapter of this manga.

Yoshida and Satou are an interesting couple and you would love them and their story.

So I highly recommend this series to those shounen ai/yaoi fans that likes to read a new and refreshing manga. :)