•ENGLISH/ESPAÑOL•

~ENGLISH~

The ARC for this novel was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Kasuga and Kasumi are opposites in every way. Kyousuke is extremely energetic and outgoing, while Kasumi is shy and quiet. Both have known each other since they were children and are childhood friends, inseparable, until an unexpected event causes them to distance themselves from each other for many years. When the two meet again, it seems that everything is in their favor, but although Kyousuke loves Kasumi, he thinks that it isn't correct that you are together. In the adult world, full of difficult moments, Kyousuke will have to decide if his love for Kasumi is worth fighting for or if he should let him stay with a woman who gives him a "normal" and happy life.

This story is super cute but also very sad. Kasumi has been verbally abused since childhood and it seems that the only person who understands her is Kyousuke, who in turn has been pressured from childhood to be perfect in every way. Both complement each other but their own trauma and painful experiences make them decide to move away from their own happiness to choose the "right" path.

It really broke my heart to read the parts of Kyousuke, his moments where he seems to believe that he does not deserve to be happy.
All he wanted was for them to be happy and to be together but for that they had to fight a lot and that was extremely painful.

I loved the story, I loved the drawings, some parts made me feel very sad and devastated, perhaps also a little disappointed by the decisions made by the characters, but as always, I adored the format, the drawing, and the truth is that i love these sad stories~.

~ESPAÑOL~

El ARC de esta novela fue proporcionado por la editorial a través de NetGalley a cambio de una reseña honesta.

Kyosuke y Kasumi son opuestos en todo sentido. Kyousuke es sumamente enérgico y extrovertido, mientras que Kasumi es tímido y callado. Ambos se conocen desde que eran niños y son amigos de infancia, inseparables, hasta que un inesperado evento provoca que se distancien el uno del otro por muchos años. Cuando ambos se vuelven a encontrar, parece que todo está a su favor, pero aunque Kyousuke ame a Kasumi, piensa que no es correcto que estés juntos. En el mundo adulto, lleno de momentos difíciles, Kyousuke tendrá que decidir si vale la pena luchar por Kasumi o si debería dejar que se quede con una mujer que le de una vida “normal” y feliz.

Esta historia es super tierna pero también muy triste. Kasumi ha sido abusado verbalmente desde su niñez y parece que la única persona que lo entiende es Kyousuke, quien a su vez ha sido presionado desde la infancia a ser perfecto en todo sentido. Ambos se complementan mutuamente pero sus propios traumas y experiencias dolorosas hacen que decidan alejarse de su propia felicidad para elegir el camino “correcto”.

Realmente me partió el corazón leer las partes de Kyousuke, sus momentos donde parece creer que no merece ser feliz.
Lo único que quería era que fueran felices y estuvieran juntos pero para eso tuvieron que luchar muchísimo y eso fue sumamente doloroso.

Amé la historia, amé los dibujos, algunas partes me hicieron sentir muy triste y devastada, quizá también un poco decepcionada por las decisiones que tomaban los personajes pero como siempre, adoré el formato, el dibujo, y la verdad es que estas historias tristes me encantan~.

it was a really cute, fast read. i love second chance romances, although this was more a third chance one. i really felt for them in the back and forth of their feelings, of wanting each other's happiness and thinking being together could be wrong.

I'm not crying, you're crying!

I am a sucker for second chance romance and this was no exception. The meet-cute with the wishing tree was adorable and I loved the call back at the end. The main character coming to terms with his internalized homophobia was handled well. And, finally, I like that the love interests implied bisexuality was a nonissue.

I really enjoyed this. The story was good and relatable. The characters were super cute and I loved them. The art was so cute. I love a good monochromatic color scheme.

*I received this book as an arc from netgalley.

3.5 stars!

The story is endearing and the author did a great job distinguishing between the two POVs and separating flashbacks to the current timeline. However, there were some panels where I couldn’t quite grasp what I was seeing - either really zoomed in close ups, an odd angle of something in the scene i hadn’t seen in previous panels, etc. that took me out of the story a couple times.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Diamond Book Distributors for providing me with an eARC.

There Are Things I Can't Tell You is a short romp into the life of two queer millennials during a period in there lives where they have to learn to accept themselves. The story is well-written, the art is is beautiful, and the story is relatable. While this is a short read, it's a worthwhile read with a feel-good ending. I would recommend this to fans of LGBT manga (with a warning for explicit content.)

The full review will be available on Geek Declassified July 20, 2020

This was a cute romance, but I didn't dig the hesitation and the characters thinking what they are doing is wrong.

While another reviewer gets the pleasure of writing this one up for ANN, I definitely envy her - the story here is thoughtful and sweet and has a point to make (in a relatively gentle way) about how getting stuck on ideas of what "normal" is can lead you to jettison happiness. Kyousuke's ingrained belief that there's something wrong about being gay causes him to push away the love of his life for too long out of a dual belief that Kasumi is straight and that there's no way being with him will bring happiness to the one person he wants above all to be happy. The story is fairly angsty (not always my favorite flavor of romance), but the ending is rewarding, especially the final wordless pages, which drive home the fact that happiness is where YOU find it, not where society tells you it is.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

This manga follows the story of two friends as their grow up as well as their relationship. They are both very different but their complement each other.

The story and the art are pretty cute, it talks about depression, internalised homophobia and parental abuse. i love how it builds their relationship and the flashbacks of when their were kids. We have the points of view of this two characters.

It was a really lovely story and the first yaoi that i read so i´m looking forward to explore more this genre.

[ESP]
There Are Things I Can't Tell You es un manga tierno y sentido. A través de la vida escolar de Kyousuke y Kasumi vemos cómo su amistad se convierte en algo más.
Con bastante drama y un desarrollo de personaje interesante, este manga se me hizo como una suerte de hermano mayor de You Are In The Blue Summer.
Personalmente las escenas gráficas sexuales no me incomodan, pero esta historia no parecía que iba a tenerlas y... las tiene. Así que ¡advertencia! si te incomodan los mangas con escenas sexuales, este lo tiene.
Pese a eso, es una historia bonita aunque no enamora.

*Muy pronto reseña completa en el blog

[ENG]
There Are Things I Can't Tell You it's a lovely and emotional story. After years of pinning in each others, Kyousuke and Kasumi's friendship becomes something more.
With two childhood friends, angst, drama and a beautiful artwork, There Are Things I Can't Tell You it's kinda the big brother of You Are In The Blue Summer. Mature content included...
However, it's a beautiful story that I enjoyed.

TW: adultery,cheating, neglectful and emotionally abusive parents, internalised homophobia, graphic sex scenes.

*eArc provided by ToykoPop in exchange for an honest review

Rating: 3.5 stars

This was a very soft, simple and quick read.

The characters, Kyousuke and Kasumi are pretty generic and cut-and-dry but that's not necesarrily a bad thing. They are still very fun characters to follow. Kyousuke's work journey made a good parallel to follow with his love life but I wish we had gotten to know Kasumi's life more as well.

The plot is simple - though very very cliched. But that makes this a rather fun read overall. It is easy to follow as well. It also helps the art-style which is pleasing and I like the dialogues.

Overall, this is a fun manga to read, especially if you are looking for something fun and harmless for a weekend evening. Do give it a try.

Alternating between perspectives and timelines in the boys’ lives, this story is about Kasumi and Kyousuke becoming friends, growing up, and falling in love. Throughout the story we learn more about each boy’s emotional struggles to be who they are and mature as they get older. It’s a cute story with a good message about how you should do and be who you are to be happy.

Warning: two very graphic (consensual) sex scenes

4 stars

Kasumi and Kyousuke’s story was so emotional. Kyousuke is the typical popular boy that everyone likes because he’s cheerful and always in a good mood. Kasumi is the introverted outcast that has no friends because he doesn’t think anyone will ever like him. They start up a friendship when Kyousuke confronts Kasumi. And as they spend more and more time together, emotions start to blossom between them. But from a young age, Kyousuke thinks that having feelings towards men is a “wrong” path so he rejects Kasumi’s confession.

Both men choose “wrong” paths in their lives but eventually they come to realize they’re in love with each other. Kyousuke’s revelation that he loves Kasumi had me tearing up because he finally realizes it was completely okay to love a man.

I definitely plan on picking up other works by this mangaka. The artwork was absolutely beautiful.

** ARC received from Netgalley for an honest review **

***eArc provided by Netgalley & ToykoPop in exchange for an honest review***

This has been a good year for queer one-shot manga translation brought over to the US by TokyoPop. Soft, emotion, and sexy when it needs to be, There Are Things I Can't Tell You is stunning display of internalized homophobia, friendship, and love.

The first thing cought my eyes is the beautiful cover. The actual illustration is really nice too.
This was my first bl manga experience. I didn't know it has adult contents, but loved the story and characters! They are so cute.

Thank you so much for the ARC, I really enjoyed this comic!

I enjoyed this book! I think it would be a really good manga for anyone dealing with internalized homophobia or if anyone just wants a super angsty romance with a little smut on the side. I did notice a couple of translation errors that didn't match up with what was drawn, but other than that the translation was great. I loved the characters and story. The art style was really pretty and engaging.

This Manga explores the topic of discovering yourself and the graphics shown are quite explicit but I think it's needed for the message of Manga. The exploring the sexuality was a bare and raw story of the two boys. The artwork is clear and has clarity. I believe that the way to read manga could be easier for the readers if it's in the beginning of the Manga Comic.

3.5 stars // Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC. All thoughts and opinions are unbiased and are my own.

---

Things I Can’t Tell You is a standalone graphic novel/manga by Edako Mofumofu that is about two best friends mutually that are pining after each other even after all the time that has passed since they saw last saw each other.

I initially found it quite hard to get through – which is something I would never have expected from a manga. I think it was due to flashbacks, change of perspectives, which I didn’t pick up upon straight away, and the fragmented narrative. When I thought that something was happening ‘right now’, a few pages later it would refer to it as if it was quite a while ago.

However, the flashbacks were really insightful and I’m glad they were included. They gave me lots of backstory of the two protagonists, Kasumi and Kyousuke, that really made these characters stand out.

In order for me to give this manga 4 stars, I would have liked the beginning and ending of the flashbacks as well as scene and time skips to be more recognisable. I would have also liked if there was less of a focus on Kyousuke’s work as an illustrator and more on Kasumi’s problems and internal conflict.

Overall, I definitely grew to like this manga the more I read it! If you’re looking to get emotionally invested in a re-blossoming relationship between two unique characters, who prove that opposites do in fact attract, then please give THERE ARE THINGS I CAN’T TELL YOU by Edako Mofumofu a chance!

---

Warnings Include: adultery/cheating, neglectful/emotionally abusive parents, internalised homophobia.

Thank you to NetGalley, Edako Mofumofu, Diamond Book Distributors, and Tokyopop for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Definitely yaoi/boy love for adults.

I thought this was an interestingly presented story as it follows Kasumi and Kyosuke in their adult lives struggling with their feelings of love for each other. The story jumps back in time to when they first met and shows the development of feelings they have for each other and when they first realize it, even if they can't tell the other or if they feel ashamed of their feelings. Kyosuke knew he liked boys long before he met Kasumi, and with Japan's societal perception on gay couples, the feelings of both boys are tried as they learn what love truly means.

I enjoyed this one-off manga and found the overall story to be a nice reflection of more adult life issues, such as relationships and work. I just wish there were more romantic moments and fewer childhood memories and struggles in the workplace. At least there are a few people I know who I already plan on recommending this one to! ;p

Oh man, this was such a cute, quintessentially yaoi manga. I could have done without the angst-y, miscommunication-filled drama, but it's yaoi and at least it was handled and then resolved well. I liked that the story followed Kasumi and Kyousuke over multiple years--it provided the character and relationship development that a lot of manga fail to establish in their limited six chapters. I would have enjoyed a few (read: a lot) more pages in the epilogue because I'm a sap and I wanted to see more happy moments, but maybe there'll be a sequel? A fujoshi can only hope.