The main character is one of those kids who, while never having "come out," is obviously gay and everyone knows it. By the time the story starts, he has resigned himself to taking the bullying and harassment because that's just how it goes—a sad truth represented right on the page. Things start to change, however, when he realizes that one of his main bullies might not be so different from here is.
From there is a very honest look into what it is like to come of age as a queer person—especially a young gay man—in an unsafe place, finding love and happiness and themselves amidst all of the pain and struggling.
This manga is a romance, but it makes the really interesting choice of having the main couple not consist of the leads. Rather, they remain just friends throughout, and the main character's love interest is someone else entirely (who is also going through many of the same struggles in his own way). This is an unconventional choice, but it's one I appreciated. Oftentimes, friendship is more important than romance—especially during such a difficult time in one's life when they're struggling to figure themselves out, and what they really need is a friend who understands them.
It also takes the time to acknowledge the overlap between gay men and transgender women that does and has always existed. The two communities have never been separate and never will be, and a lot of people find themselves identifying with both—similar to lesbians and transgender men. Obviously not everyone will identify with both—there are gay men who are not genderqueer in the slightest and heterosexual transgender women—but there *is* an overlap, and seeing that represented here is really important and special.
Also, fair warning, this manga has a very bittersweet ending, and that may be a controversial decision to some, but I think it's perfect. This manga is grounded and realistic, and it is not afraid to shy away from the painful truths of the queer experience, even if it also shows the happiness that can be found in it. Not every queer person gets a happy ending. Sometimes a queer person finds themself and who they are but they have to resign themself to a life of unhappiness because of outside factors. Many queer people sacrifice their own happiness for the sake of other people, and seeing that in the ending of this manga may be a tough pill to swallow, but it's the perfect conclusion.
There's one main reason I haven't rated this manga higher, however. There's something of a sexual predation problem amongst gay men because, well, gay men are certainly still men, and I could go into detail about socialization and the patriarchy to explain why men tend to commit sex crimes but I am not going to assume you are stupid and need it explained to you. The point is, it happens and it sucks. This manga seems to propose that the reason for the problem has to due with matters of homophobia, and while I am open to that idea, I am a bit soured on it due to how this manga presents it.
Sexual assault is very important to the middle of this manga's story. I respect it for trying to address such a pressing issue in this society, as addressing societal issues seems to be the main goal of this manga, however I don't think it handles it with tact and grace. It's decently graphic, and once it's over the story moves on from it much too quickly in my opinion. It is almost entirely about the assaulter and not the victim, and I think telling stories about assaulters is still important, but the victimhood of the character he assaults is essentially disregarded for the sake of proposing society is the reason he molests young boys. I might have been willing to listen to that last point, but I'm not in the mood to be open to it when presented in a rather tactless way. The mangaka then went on to make a spinoff manga about the attempted rapist, by the way.
All in all though, this is a very poignant, thoughtful read that represents queer issues much better than most BL I've seen, and I would really recommend it.
