Kimi ga Nete Iru Ma ni is a 2-chapters manga made by Shinichi Okazaki, a mangaka skilled in geicomi - a genre made for gay men for another gay men, with specifications very different from normal BL. In the geicomis, the men are muscular, strong, bear, beardeds, hairies, the traces was more similar to shounen, in opposite to shoujo-traces from normal BL. Besides, the stories are usually one-shots, and many times, focused in only sex.
Okazaki Shinichi, a begginer author in the medium, started with some hot draws and one or another one-shot. His stories are always with heavy themes, including rape, toxic relationships, some violence tones, and hard, hard sex. In this one, my first one from him, it s a geicomi manga, at the same time, being modeled to some aspects of a BL manga, afterall, it s a love story, in the opposite to his early manga. Shinji and Gou are students, in a prestigious school, and best friends since kids. Gou is violent, explosive, and a hard-head boy, while Shinji is inexpressive, calm, and never shows any emotions. Their classmates questions how they can be friends, without any similarities, without know that Shinji is in deep love with Gou, but afraid to lose his friendship, if he confess to his crush. Until one day, when, after a meeting, an idea sprouts in Shinji's mind.
I was really anxious for this story. I fell in love with Gou instantly, and he is, in fact, even funny - a nice character. His explosions, his boxing love, the way he defends what he thinks it s right, are pleasant to see. Shinji is taciturn, and is in constant conflict with himself. It s painful to see how much he loves Gou, and how unfair is the fact, if you fall in love with a boy, you can't tell to the others, because the word still is quite homophobic. But when we see their relationship's blossom, we can see how cute they are and how they get along.
The artwork is a blessing for the eyes. I rarely see an art that is so beautiful, so well detailed, like someone said: It's like if Kentaro Miura made a BL. The art express every aspect of the strong muscles, the veins, with a fantastic realism. Without doubt, if there is an aspect of this manga which deserves praises, it' s this.
But, we have to tell about the controversy topic about this piece: the rape. Yes, this relationship starts with Shinji raping Gou. More, while he is sleeping. In BL, unfortunately, many times there is rape, and even worse, it s romanticized. There are people that don t be bothered by this, but personally, this bothers me a bit. Even being only a fiction, this is our world's reflection, and yes, there are people around there that think that, if it is on a manga they read, for example, and it s not treated like a big deal, maybe in the reality, it s not so a big deal, too... Besides, and again, this is my personal opinion, when I read a male-male story, I want a story that I can identify in some level, or admire, or that I wanted to live. So, this rape was a problem for me.
But in general, I like the manga and I recommend it. I only leave the warning about who doesn't feel comfortable with rape, probably won't like this one. In addition, I am waiting for Shinichi Okazaki's next works, that I hope would be more like this, and less with the aggressive-rapey works he did.
