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[Tsumi]

As it was said in many of the "comments", this is really a great series. Now, I'm not one who is used to reading shonen-ai, as a matter of fact I can't remember the last one I've read, but if you excuse me for saying it, this was beyond my expectations.
Had someone told me before of the plot of the manga before I saw the drawings would make me stay away from it if not only because of the sheer scale of non-sense. However, since I evalue much of the manga through the way the artist portrays it, the way he drew the characters was what it made me buy the story and I am really glad that I got past it. It was very much worth reading it and I'd be really sad had I chose not to read it and read it on a later date.
Getting into the story, the fact that it didn't really try to make you buy the story as a romance is what makes it different from much of the other "*-love" out there. More than being a story about romance for the sake of it, being a story about relationships is the charm of it. The fact that most of the story revolves around cross-dressing, and excuse me for my impression, male cross-dressing, without an overly sexual idea was almost impossible for me to imagine, and that it was possible to really portray something as significant as it was, that would be me being foolish even in my direst dreams.
A few comments would say that it dug a whole the moment it went romantic, but please, what kind of people wouldn't try to get romantic in that situation? Being teenagers as they were, it would seem impossible had they not got a romantic relationship of sorts. If you don't like even the hint of romance between boys/men then you should right away get away from this manga page and pursue further readings as I'm sure it would be a better use of time.
But then, having read it all, let me share some considerations:

Spoiler

Being a story about friendship as well as love, it's very nice to see that it wasn't made shallow nor overly non-senical because of it's way of dealing with the theme. That the main characte, Kaidou,  was able to fit in the school after his past experiences, or maybe because of them actually, was a nice touch. Since his childhood it seemed like he was more worried with being accepted than accepting others, and it would seem like the school was tailored to fit him, and many others "vips" who were somehow delegated to second plan, more than it was tailored to fit Yaezaki.

The fact that it is a story more about friendship than about love, once again, just strikes me. Were it up to me, the shounen-ai wouldn't have been there, but I guess it is understandble since there is so much conflict between the notion of friendship and love among boys. I would say that there is a lot more about the psychological ways of working here than romance. The conflict that arises from the notions that they have of what is acceptable and what is not is what kept me going until the end, mostly because of how well written and well thought the story seems to have been thought, not allowing you to really guess what would happen next mostly because of the way that the characters change through out the story, being really people who go through changes rather than shallow characters that seem to have been brought to the story with a clear purpose and objective.

Being able to change the mind of the characters at such a short manga, 15 chapters isn't really that long but each chapter was long enough to really portray a change and give meaning to there being different chapters, is something that I can't stress enough as the work of someone who really thought through the whole story. Many other mangas out there, many really popular in fact, just deliver you chapter after chapter filled with massive content that serves to no purpose other than to keep the manga going on and on until a bright idea comes to the authors and they can give a single chapter of real progress.

All in all, the way that it ended was very much a hard blow as well as a partying gift. I only noticed it later the "tragedy" tag and when I saw it I could not agree more with it at the same time not feel that it was somewhat misplaced. It is a tragedy the way that they parted but it is also something very common in life. Had they been together for whole life it would have given a very happy and strange feeling and it wouldn't have had the same effect over me. Happy endings in which they were all together would have made it not about overcoming obstacles and being able to stand on one's own, but about the power of people alone. The way it is, showing that they were able to gather strength and support because of the unique conditions that they met and that even though they were not able to stay together still valued each other shows that even after partings the relationship does not end there.

There not having a real romantic relationship between any of the characters gives those who were looking for a "safe" place and real satisfaction that they didn't have to harbor ill feelings for reading something they could have forseen since chapter one. The oddiness of an ending in which they go different ways after school and lose contact with each other should have been forseen considering that almost all of those students were people who had already had their futures layed ahead of them since the moment they were born and had it cemented at the time they were enrolled at a school where only those rejected were gathered. Even if they were to stay close, the fact that most of them were not supposed to be in positions of power even though they had the upbringing to be would make it again a not as well thought story as it turned out.

What really stroke was that there was a bittersweet ending, and I'm sorry but that's what I am writting all this. That each of them were able to live "normally" after such may seem really strange, but perhaps it's because of this that they were able to part and continue with life. The school was able to teach them the meaning of companionship and friendship, it wasn't only a place to prepare kids academicaly. Even if the students might have acquired a, in the very least, peculiar trait, they still were able to join society. The friendship lasted even after not getting in contact with each other even if some of them grew distant, and that the end was opened made it possible for everyone imagine whatever they wanted to, be it romance or friendship, is also another great achievement.

I would like to finish saying that even if I was somewhat sad at the ending, it was mostly because I won't be able to see things through. So well written it was, it wasn't because I didn't like the ending, but because I liked it so much that the "tragic" ending seems fitting.

[svines85]

Yup, it was a good little story. It's one I'd like to read again from start to finish when I get the time to. I think in large part due to the publication schedule (and I mean it's original publication, not scanlation), it's one that I almost tend to forget a lot of the details and such............I mean, no longer than the whole story is, it actually ran over a period of a few years or so.