Doukyuusei
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Doukyuusei is a cute story about a budding first love... as long as you focus solely on Kusakabe and Sajou. These teen boys are endearingly awkward as they figure out what they feel for each other and how to approach this relationship. They aren't perfect, but they're trying and it's extremely sweet. However, this manga is not without its flaws. I found myself craving more backstory for the developing feelings between them because, as it is, that seems to happen "off screen" and I was left wondering how long this curiosity about each other had been brewing and what made them decide to take the ... opportunity to spend more time together. To add insult to injury, the relationship that is deemed most worthy of that kind of background is the one where Sajou has been preyed upon by a child predator.

Hara is by far the worst part of this story, but he is most easy to ignore in this first volume. I would have enjoyed the story more if these high school kids didn't have to deal with a child predator butting into their relationship. Being a teenager is already rough enough without being taken advantage of by an authority figure you are forced to spend time with every day, especially when that behavior is excused by practically everyone around you.

I would highly recommend this volume to someone who is interested in sweet BL with a slice of life flavor and a high school backdrop, but please brace yourself for the aforementioned sexual harassment of a minor. There is one satisfying moment where he gets a small amount of comeuppance, but it unfortunately doesn't last.

Some spoilers ahead, nothing that'll ruin the plot just my personal issues about some characters.
All I can really say about this manga is that I personally really didn't like it, BUT I can definitely see how other people like it

The art is really nice to look at (well not including some panels that resemble them 90's yaoi manga's haha), pacing is ok but it could be a little better but it doesn't feel too forced, characters feel realistic, and the story concept is alright, not too good but not too bad.

I think my biggest issue about doukyuusei is the teacher x student thing, ... although I'm glad that the teacher acknowledges how it's bad to have a crush on a HIGHSCHOOL student, and he doesn't actually do anything serious to him it still really creeps me out. Also the fact that the other characters have no problem with it really irks me (especially that one scene where some of the other teachers were ASKING him which student he has a crush on 💀💀), and when I found out he was THIRTY FIVE FUCKING YEARS OLD reaallyy made me not like him. Tbh I would have had absolutely no issue if it were some other character (like another student or smth) that liked him but nah it had to be the fucking teacher 😭

Anyways that's all I'm gonna say for now-- I've only read till ch 20 so it might get better the more I read, and I may change my review. So I'll consider reading the rest of it once I have some free time

"I don't know about you at all. We don't know about each other at all!"
- The finale of Doukyuusei. Also, a perfect way to describe the relationship between the characters.

I quite liked some works by Nakamura Asumiko. This isn’t one of them. It’s just another of many examples of BL genre setting the expectations so low, any not completely awful story seems like a masterpiece in comparison.

What are the personalities of the characters? Why do they like each other? What is the point of the story? Such questions are left unanswered. It’s just two completely unrelated boys that both meet and kiss within the ... first 20 pages of the manga and some attempt at romance triangle is introduced as a cheap device for the characters to realize they like the otter character - double cheap because this is actually used for both of the main characters. They become a couple, I guess. The end. It's not a realistic romance - it's a harlequin novel-tier romance, just non-hetero.

Now you don’t even need to read this, as that’s all there is to it. You’re welcome. The art is okay I guess, but the author can do better. Check out Copernicus' Breath or Utsubora instead.