do like to read Manga but this was just very confusing.

There is a group of friends in high school. One friend is gay (call him A). A hasn't told anyone, that he is gay but he likes B.

B is oblivious.

Meantime C realises that A is gay and likes B. C tells A that he knows A is gay and C and A become closer friends.

Then along comes X who is a girl and she decides they should have a homework club whch they do.

They go out as a group and meet other friends and then A meets D who is out and proud but not in the same school. D gives A a lot of unsolicited relationship advice.

C also has a girlfriend called Z who he isn't sure he really likes. C spends a lot of time wondering about A and how A feels.

All of them do a lot of sports and B reads a lot of manga in class and likes models.

At some stage C kisses A.

There are a lot of other young people thrown into the mix, maybe another 5 or 6 others and the story rambles on but nothing much happens.

In summary, I think this is a story about a group of young people who may or may not have love lives and who are friends and that's it. At least they work together to improve their grades but nothing much happens

The artwork is good but the story is a rambling plot of nothing.

I do think that perhaps some of the story is lost in translation or maybe the story will develop over many volumes to come. This is just volume one. I certainly will not be reading any further.

Copy provided via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

This was really interesting - a book that uses the tropes of romance (will he/won't he, soft focus, gaze, detailed memories decorated with blooming flowers) to examine what it's like to come out in high school and what it's like to be an ally in high school. The art was a little off-putting (everyone is gorgeous and elfin and mature for Freshmen in high school), but that's no worse than a teen drama on TV (is everyone in Riverdale hot?).

This book really is about the superpower of clear, honest communication and support, which was surprising and refreshing. I hope subsequent books don't make this a love story between the two POV characters, because for now the story is something I've never seen before in comics or manga.

I really enjoy to read manga, so I was very happy to receive this ARC copy from Netgalley in exchange for the honest review.
I have received an electronic version and I had a high expectation for this manga because I love LGBTQ graphic stories. However, I found it somehow disappointing. I do not know if I had too high expectation or EPUB format it is at fault, but I did not like as much as I have expected.
This Manga is about a guy named Hasegawa Yuiji who find outs his classmate is a gay and the story goes from there. First of all, it was very difficult to read due to the formatting of the e-book. No, to be honest, it was practically impossible to read. Furthermore, this graphic novel was also lacking consistency in the story. The whole story was very confusing and difficult to follow. I liked the art and the attention to detail.

This had an interesting premise.

A boy figures out that his classmate is gay. But he is keeping the classmate's secret. What I don't get is why he is so worried about this. Maybe he likes the guy and doesn't realize it?

I found the art style to be decent. I think it's well proportioned in some shots and in others it could use some work. The story plays out logically and smoothly, which is really good and soothing. The characters are pretty sweet, too!

It can be hard to discuss LGBTQ+ issues in a story when there's a different cultural lens over them. In this case, the Japanese perspective on the LGBTQ+ community colors some of the plot, and can be hard for a Western perspective to understand. I hope in the published version, there are translation notes at the back that discuss some of this. There's a general issue with gender essentialism too (girls are this, boys are that) that can be culturally derived, but can also be sloppy writing pulling from generic romance tropes. Either way, I don't enjoy reading that.

Otherwise, I have to say: I sincerely hope Yuiji does not fall for Yamato. The concept of a story of the friendship between two teen boys, one straight and the other gay, is so much more promising than the supposed straight friend falling for his gay friend. Especially since the creator is really pushing the loneliness angle of Yamato's experience thus far.

Overall, the story was okay. It's incredibly slow-going, and drags in a few places. I'd be willing to read more, but again I hope this doesn't become a romance between the two protagonists.

As a side note, the digital review copy I had was very hard to read; the text was not well-rendered, which really made reading a struggle.

ARC provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Despite the questionable formatting of the ePub, I really did enjoy this book a lot. It shone a spotlight onto identity, figuring yourself out, figuring out your sexuality and being a good friend. Although there wasn't a prominent romance, I did find myself loving the approach that Hasegawa had when he discovered one of his classmates was gay. He tried to support his classmate, Yoshinaga, no matter what and that bromance was highlighted throughout the 4 chapters contained in this book. I enjoyed it so much although it was a bit hard to read at times. I blame that on the formatting of the ePub. Just note it did not impact this review and my rating scale.

All in all, I'll definitely be back for the sequel though and I can't wait until it's released!

ACTUAL RATING: 4.2 STARS

From NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

The e-copy is impossible to read, which disappoints me as I wanted to read a manga tonight. Maybe I will look around for it somewhere else sometime, but as for now, this is all I can say.

This was so cute! i real slow-burn manga. I really liked how the story progress and how the main characters develop and thinks through the story. I can`t wait for vol 2.

This is a lighthearted slice-of-life manga that's more of a teen-drama than than an actual romance story (i went into it expecting a GFY story but it wasn't that, haha).

I actually really liked this but let's start with the things I didn't like. For one thing, the ARC format was weird and difficult to navigate. It wouldn't zoom in or out and I had to switch the reading view to full screen BUT even then, the panels were cut a bit at the bottom. ugh. Anyway, story-wise it was solid, if a little slow-burn and I found some scenes unnecessary for the plot. However, this is a story for teens half my age so maybe I'd appreciate those scenes more if I wasn't this old. LOL. I also found some of the character designs too similar, and those got me confused in some scenes.

Now with the things I liked:
The friendship dynamic is great. This volume is still the beginning and I expect a lot to change as the story progresses but Yoshinaga and Hasegawa's friendship is great. I also loved that the characters touched on difficult issues on sexuality, coming out, etc. It also pointed out how progressive the world in general is already at this age, and yet the fears and uncertainty of closeted people, teens especially, are still v real and v much the same. There is also the theme of questioning, most of the time in Hasefawa's POV, which is dealt with sensitively and and quite unique with the age-group's vantage point.

I especially loved that this didn't turn out into a GFY story (not yet at least) but I wouldn't really mind if it turned into that later on bec this first volume has given me well-rounded characters and made me care for them enough that I am rooting for everyone to have their HEAs when this manga is over.

I'm so looking forward to reading the rest of this when it comes out in English. :)
•
*The eARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley for free in exchange for an honest review. It doesn't affect my opinion of the book. Thank you.

Koimonogatari Volume 1 show the development of feelings and friendship of Yamato, a student whom confessed his love for another classmate. Yuji is the one who discovered it and the two of them started to build a "friendship" based on 'I know you're in love with my best friend' and 'we're in the same study group so we have to spend a lot of time together'.
At first, Yuji doesn’t know what to do. The fact that his classmate is gay scares him a bit but discovering Yamato’s true character will try to help his friend with his "doubts" and fears.

I really liked the characterization of the characters, and I absolutely want to find out more about them. I want to know how the story will develop, if Yamato can face his "feeling different" and see the bond between Yuji and Yamato grow even more.

The design style is simple and clear but I had some difficulty with the dialogs. Sometimes I had to reading them again. I don't know why but the epub's pages were cut (maybe was my reader app? idk)

I am sorry but I was unable to read it as I could not understand what's written due to the Formatting and fonts. It was my first attempt at reading comics so I guess I was even unable to understand what to read first and where to start from in dialog boxes. Even after several attempts I still could not get the hang of it.

Considering Formatting:
I tried to zoom in to read the fonts clearly while reading digital copy from the phone, I was taken back to the starting page. I also tried to read via my Pc but was still unable to understand each and every sentence.

Though the description of it was interesting and hence I really wanted to read it. I hope it returns back with better formatting.

Thank you Net Galley for the advance copy but I am sorry for not being able to review it for its story.

** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Copy received through Netgalley

~

Koimonogatari: Love Stories, Vol. 1, by Tohru Tagura
★★★★☆
208 Pages


This was a seriously cute story. It's just the beginning of a long journey, for the two MC's, who are both battling different demons.

Yoshinaga is a boy at school, who Hagegawa has noticed looking at his best friend more and more. After overhearing a private conversation between Yoshinaga and his best friend, Shibata, Hagegawa discovers that Yoshinaga might be gay, and starts to notice little tell-tale signs, such as his not-so-secret crush on Hagegawa's best friend, Kyosuke. When Hagegawa needs help studying, he asks Shibata, who asks Yoshinaga to be a third. Shibata is great at English class, but struggling with Maths, which Yoshinaga is great with, and together they form a small study group that help each other.

It's through this study group that Hagegawa sees a different side of Yoshinaga. At first uncomfortable with the idea of having a gay classmate, Hagegawa is quite prejudiced and unwittingly homophobic. But as he and Yoshinaga begin to spend more time together – more often than not the only two taking their study group seriously – Hagegawa begins to see a different side to Yoshinaga.

And a new friendship blossoms. Together, they help unwittingly battle Hagegawa's homophobia, and Hagegawa helps Yoshinaga to deal with the immense internal struggle of whether to come out to his friends, and how to get over his unrequited crush on Kyosuke.

I really loved Yoshinaga from the start; he was such a lovely character, so deeply conflicted and struggling. I wasn't sure what to make of Hagegawa at first, because he was so firmly homophobic, but the more the story evolved, the more I realised it was learned-behaviour, not really something he felt strongly about. He just assumed that gay meant predator, as if Yoshinaga wasn't safe to be around because he was gay and constantly ogling other boys, as he'd been taught he would. But once he got to know Yoshinaga better, Hagegawa made the bold and smart move to do more than just assume; he went onto the internet and looked up what it meant to be gay, and then gave Yoshinaga the chance to show him what it was really like. The bond between the two was beautiful to watch blossom.

The formatting of my copy made it difficult to read. I think it would have been better in PDF format, where you could zoom in, because the original pages are 1/3 white space. I had to adapt my Kindle margins to the narrowest I could manage, and it was still a struggle to read it. But I was so invested in the story that I kept going.

I'll definitely be reading Vol. 2, to continue the journey. Because this is only the start of a beautiful friendship, and I'd love to see it evolve into more. Next time, I might get the paperback instead, to make it easier to read.

While the story seems decent and the premise intriguing as well as something I’d like to continue with, the review copy is just too difficult to read. Multiple pages are laid out side by side, making the text extremely small with no apparent ways to enlarge it. Also, being a Tokyopop title but not overtly advertised as such, this is something I’ll be picking up in Japanese from now on.

Koimonogatari is definitely a slow-burn story. I liked the premise and, for the most, I liked the artwork, although a few characters looked similar which was, at times, a bit confusing. I think it's fair to say that this first volume really is about introducing the characters and setting the scene. Not a lot happens in terms of major action and the piece is dialogue heavy. In the e-ARC copy I received the text was very grainy, so it was hard on the eyes with so much to read, but I assume that wouldn't be an issue with a final, physical copy. I would be interested to see what direction this story ends up taking; however, this first volume didn't grip me enough that I will be desperately awaiting volume two. As such, I am giving it three stars. I didn't dislike it, but neither did it thrill me.

The dialogue of this arc was particularly grainy and hard to read which possibly led to my emotional disconnection from the story. As a concept, I like it. A casually homophobic dude realizing the gays are people too is always nice, and I like how the choice to come out isnt as simple as "I don't trust you not to be an asshole." One line I both love and think is silly was "I hate being a minority". I love it because #mood. I hate it because, yeah bro that's kinda how it works. This is a book I would pick up at the library but probably wouldn't buy for myself unless the subsequent volumes turn out something amazing.

Yeah this wasn't good. I honestly just stuck it out to see how it ended. The literal only character I liked was Yamato. The rest of them were all either casually homophobic or just annoying. I almost wish I hadn't read this.

I was intrigued by the concept of this book and curious to see how the friendship would grow between the two boys. Unfortunately the ARC was difficult to read due to formatting issues. It caused me to miss a lot of important dialogue and I found myself feeling lost rather quickly in the story.

This graphic novel seemed really cute, however, I had big problems trying to read it. I tried on different devices and it was very difficult to see the whole page. From what I could gather, it looked like an adorable journey of self-discovery and acceptance of others. I'm sure it would be a very good read for younger readers.

I decided to dip my toes more into graphic novels as I have never read them before and I will definitely continue with the genre in the future.

A refreshing take on gay/straight relationships. I really like how the story portrayed one person’s struggle to understand the other who was, in turn, trying to understand themself. I’m assuming the two leads probably get together eventually but there is no insta-love and honestly their friendship is enough to make me want to read more. I can’t wait to share this with my readers.

Beautiful, cute and the graphics are really nice to look at! The detail is great and i love the LGBT as well.