May contain spoilers

Oh, this manga proved to be good but at the same time questionable and now I am confused as to what rating I should give it, so I am just gonna list down my opinions here. (2.5 Stars?)

First of all, the artwork was really good! The character design as well as the placements of words seemed good to read through so that was a really good thing about it. Furthermore, it discussed - in just a few chapters - some really important things related to bullying, divorce and homophobia.

However, there were a few things that I found really uncomfortable. Starting with the "segregation" and name calling of supposedly two different sects of people. I mean it's nothing new and can be seen really everywhere, it felt that it was being unnecessarily being dragged here and formed the major plot of "opposites attract". It would have been much better if the story just highlighted personality differences instead of physical (big guy and small guy) and social (loved by everyone and called a mushroom by everyone else) differences.

But more than that, the fact that Enoki was willing to change... to build up his physique just to satisfy Shirataki, didn't swim well with me. The manga ended up finishing on a note where it portrayed that Enoki doing something he isn't comfortable with was okay just because he was in love with Shirataki and wanted to do so for him. Which brings me to the whole topic of consent and boundaries and... guilt tripping? The "love scene" at the end was honestly not what I was anticipating and it was just so wrong on every level. Enoki expressed before how he wasn't ready to have sex with Shirataki (it was also because he felt insecure about his body) but even after working out or whatever, he wasn't ready but he wanted to do it out of his love. And Shirataki expressed how he was frustrated when Enoki said "wait" without giving explanation because of which Enoki felt bad and decided to give it a go. Shirataki even imposed this absurd three times wait and then stop rule which he followed but then after Enoki said wait three times, he said how he was really looking forward to have sex with Enoki due to which he finally said "let's go all the way". I mean it was wrong on all levels.

That whole scene really bugged me a lot. The consent, boundaries and affirmative response in a sexual relationship (well, all kinds of relationships honestly) is really important which this manga didn't end up portraying well.

Trigger Warnings: Homophobia, bullying, divorce, name calling, graphic sex

I received an arc copy in exchange of an honest review

Centered around a romance that grows steadily out of friendship, this manga is full of sweet fluff and feel good charms.

It was easy to fall fast for the characters and their personalities. The story bringing together an introverted but perservering Enoki with Shirataki, a quiet ex-baseball player, whose disheartening game ending injury and need for something new to fill his time makes him the perfect new member to save Enoki's favorite after school club from being disbanded. But their unexpected friendship moves way beyond that as they see more and more of each other and get put into new and challenging situations.

And while the romance was not majorly slow burn-y, I did enjoy seeing every soft and vulnerable moment play out. The two's differences being what ultimately makes them work so well together. Additionally, the obvious consent and trust that Atsuko purposely works to put on to the page, was by far one of the most favorable details I remembered upon finishing this.

All around a feel good read!

The relationship takes A LONG time to form, which on the one hand had me happy, but on the other hand it took just WAY TOO LONG. At times I just was frustrated. I just wanted these two to get together and do kissing. Haha. 😛 But it was cute to see them both figure out their feelings (maybe with some help), get closer with each new thing they do (like exercising together). I love that they were so different from each other. Enoki is small, little, and as Shirataki claims weak but with guts. Whereas Shirataki is muscular and sporty and very big. I loved the differences between them and I loved that it worked with them! They really make a cute couple and I was rooting for them to get together for real. To get romantic. I also love love that Shirataki, the more silent one and our big guy, took the first steps! Yas! So many manga it is the different way around so this made me happy.

However, the manga in the end was bland. It didn’t have many unique qualities and was more forgettable that other volumes I’ve read. On top of that- Shirataki was callous and cruel and his “growth” seemed to occur overnight. To be honest- I didn’t really get what Enoki saw in him, and then to make matters worse- He wanted to change who he was, for his relationship. Then as things seemed to look up towards the end- we get the most uncomfortable love scene.

C/W: Assualt, on-screen under-aged sex

Personally, I adored the story that "This Wonderful Season With You" told. It was a lovely look into falling in love, realising that it is in fact love and navigating those feelings around the events that happen in life. Had the story started and ended with that, I would have been fine.

However, one of the two special chapters focused on the characters navigating sex in their relationship for the first time. The tone of the manga seemed to abruptly change and bring in a lot of what I consider to be harmful BL tropes and stereotypes without any reason. Since the characters themselves were under 18, it personally made me as a reader very uncomfortable.

Apart from that, the main story and first date are 5 star reads.

When the Electronic Engineering Club is at risk of being shut down due to its lack of members, the leader goes on a mission to keep the club from closing down. After all, they’re a three people club and they only need one more member to dodge being shut down. That’s how the newest member, Enoki, finds himself handing out club fliers in hopes of gaining some interest. When he draws the attention of a muscular and sporty guy who doesn’t know a thing about electronic engineering, he finds himself with an unlikely new friend that slowly becomes something more.

While this story heavily relies on stereotypes at the beginning, it does a good job at fleshing out the characters and showing that they’re not the stereotypes that were initially presented to us. This is especially true about Enoki and his love interest, Shirataki. Enoki is initially presented as a very stereotypical nerd while Shirataki is a stereotypical and rough jock. However, as the story continues, we discover that there’s much more to the both of them and that they’re not the stereotypes they’re made to be when we first meet them. I love how we slowly learn more about them as an unlikely friendship forms before it eventually becomes a romance.

I love the overall cast, especially Shirataki’s family. I was surprised that the two other members of the Electronic Engineering Club are barely developed, especially since Enoki spends a lot of time with them. I wish we learned more about them aside from the surprise development from the club leader toward the end. They’re the only characters that remain stereotypes throughout the story.

This is such a great slice of life friends to lovers story. I almost wish that it wasn’t a stand-alone manga, but I think it would start to drag on if it got a second installment. The story is perfect as is, and I’m looking forward to checking out more stories from this author.

First of all, I thank netgalley for providing me with this manga. The story centers on Enoki, a young man whose only hobby is playing video games with his two friends from the club, one day they find out that if they don't get a new member for the club, this wax is closed by the school, so they go To recruit students, by accident he meets Shirataki, who used to belong to the baseball club, however an accident makes him no longer able to play, so he decides to join the club. Throughout history we see how their relationship goes from complete strangers to friends and from friends to lovers. Two things, although it is a beautiful story, it touches more on the tender side of the relationship, it does not focus on the sex scenes because if (in fact they happen until the end) the story focuses more on how Enoki helps Shirataki to reconcile their parents, in acceptance. The other point is as it is a unique volume, the story is resolved quickly and does not add much to the conflict that Shirataki blames himself for the fact that his parents have separated and I am disturbed to see that the parents never correct him for this, from his family Nobody helped him, when it was seen that he needed help. The illustration is pleasing to the eye and complements the plot. For me it deserves a 3.5 out of 5 and it is because I felt that the story gave for more and it was not known to take advantage of it only focused on the fact that the couple will stay together and everything is resolved.

This was a sweet read. The popular kid who no longer plays ball falls for the school's big geek. The story was laid out well and had a nice flow. What was a little off, was the “after story” when the two characters are together and have sex for the first time. It seemed so out of place with the rest of the story. It was a great primer on consent, but it just seemed so very graphic compared with the main part of the story. I almost wish it was left out.

Really lovely story about these two characters on the road to becoming a couple. Extra chapter for first kiss and first time which is nice.

This started off as a gentle friends to lovers romance with great artwork and humour. Enoki the nerd is distributing posters for his club and drops the posters when someone bumps into him. Shirataki
notices the geeky student scrabbling about for posters and grabs one. He then decides to join the nerds at their electronic engineering club.

The two young men get to know each other and a friendship develops which eventually deepens into love. Shirataki is dealing with the break up of his family and an injury that prevents him from playing his beloved baseball, and Enoki is dealing with his growing attraction to Shirataki and the difficulties of being an unpopular class nerd. When Enoki comes up with an idea for reuniting Shirataki's parents what started out as a friendship deepens into love.

It is a lovely story and a gentle romance. I think the sex in the epilogue kind of spoils the gentle pace and romance of the story, but other than that it was enjoyable. If you like boys love manga then you will enjoy this.

Copy provided by Tokyo Pop in exchange for an unbiased review.

I enjoyed the art-style with this one, and for the most part it was a solid read and even did some interesting discussions around the characters relationship. However, the character development felt a little artificial in places, and the ending was both not what had been built up to and somewhat uncomfortable to read.

This was both clumsy and rather formulaic in its approach to characters and story telling. The end sex scene came abruptly and felt very uncomfortable to read. The characters were the cliché nerd and jock - one is genki and childish, the other is a big hulking emotionless and rude brute. I did not find anything new here to enjoy and actually was kind of bored throughout.

Story: Enoki and his computer gaming club need one more member in order to be able to officially exist in his school. Fortunately, at the same time injured jock shirataki is bored and looking for something new in his life. He joins the club on a whim but isn't really interested in all that nerdy stuff. But happy little Enoki keeps him entertained and eventually a bond develops. Sex scene happens and story ends.

The illustration work is fine here - again, nothing new and in the style we would expect from this genre. The author doesn't really attempt to create anything distinct and instead follows the tried and true formula that we have seen ad nauseum in romance manga character development and plotting. The only conflict in this slice-of-life is if Shirataki can get over his ennui enough to stop being rude/condescending and if Enoki could be any less obsequious. Neither have any nuance at all.

The plotting is honestly odd - characters have abrupt change of hearts and things just suddenly happen. It felt like the author was trying to come up with a plot but never really felt it and so just cobbled things together. You've seen all these scenes from other manga, many times over.

In all, I was honestly bored and never invested in the characters or the plot. One lead was aloof and rude and the other both pedantic and unctuous in a childish way. Neither were interesting and people I cared would get a romance. The story ends abruptly on a cringe-worthy sex scene that comes very randomly and without any kind of set up. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

The characters are really relatable, the artwork is gorgeous and the storyline kept me engaged from the first page.

The only comment I have is that the background characters were TOO in the background and very 2 dimensional.

This was a cute manga. I liked the two protagonists. Shirataki had a lot of development and background, which I really enjoyed. Enoki, however, didn't have a lot. The lack of development for Enoki was pretty disappointing. I wanted to know more about him. The first half of this manga was them getting to know each other. Their friendship developed slowly, though they both found each other physically attractive from the get-go. Seeing them slowly open up to each other had me looking forward to how they'd end up together.

The second half was Enoki helping Shirataki to try and get his parents to reconcile. Enoki's presence at the meal was veeery awkward and not something that felt natural. It was obvious the reason the mangaka had had him be there was to make him grow closer to Shirataki. They admitted their mutual crush, though the way they did so felt a little awkward.

Having it end on a high point of them starting to date would have been the perfect ending. The sex scene at the end was completely unnecessary and ruined the conclusion for me. Part of that is due to how so very young and child-like the teenage Enoki looks, especially in comparison to Shirataki, who looks to be in his very late teens if not his early twenties.

I enjoyed the first half, but not so much the second half, and especially not the epilogue. Three stars.

This is such a soft and wholesome little jock-and-nerd romance! After injuring his shoulder and being forced to quit playing baseball, Shirataki decides to join the electronic engineering club on a whim. Shy Enoki and his friends aren't sure what to make of this cool guy joining their nerdy club, but the more time Enoki and Shirataki spend together the closer they become. Gradually friendship and romance blossoms.

Overall I found This Wonderful Season With You to be super cute! Unfortunately, my rating was dragged down by the sex scene in the epilogue, in which Shirataki is not very considerate of Enoki's feelings and doesn't respect his boundaries. BOO. At least that scene is easily skippable. 2.5 stars

I really enjoyed reading this manga. The love story is very sweet and takes a great time to develop. I like, that there was no real angst sprinkled in there, just some minor issues that had to be worked through. Just a very soft, feel-good read.

This Wonderful Season with You is a romance manga that follows the relationship between Enoki( He’s shy, and nerdy) and Shirataki ( he’s the ex baseball star). Both are still in high school and meet due to Shirataki, joining Enoki’s club. Though complete opposites they become close and eventually more.

Let’s start with the positives: The art work was phenomenal. The characters were distinctive and I loved all the over exaggerations- they never fail to make me laugh. The characters go out of their way to talk about their relationship and what they can and cannot do in public and acknowledge the homophobia they would have. Which was interesting and something I’d never seen discussed as extensively in other manga.
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However, the manga in the end was bland. It didn’t have many unique qualities and was more forgettable that other volumes I’ve read. On top of that- Shirataki was callous and cruel and his “growth” seemed to occur overnight. To be honest- I didn’t really get what Enoki saw in him, and then to make matters worse- He wanted to change who he was, for his relationship. Then as things seemed to look up towards the end- we get the most uncomfortable love scene.

To recommend or to not recommend: I rounded up a little because of the artwork and homophobia discussion, but I cannot say I recommend this manga. I have just read so many that were better- especially recent years.

Content Warnings: Dubious consent, Homophobia, bullying.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tokyo Pop for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

It's Gay and it Slaps.
Cute Nerdy boy meets tall dark and handsome while recruiting club members, tall dark and handsome joins said club and relationship blossoms.

I am not typically a huge fan of BL manga, because the 'will they, won't they', take a century just to hold hands.
Just isn't my cup of tea. If it's not yours either, I would recommend this.

Also would recommend for those who like cute smol nerds, falling for hunky sports guy.
Also contains healthy relationship dynamics, and being interested and willing to partake in activities that your partner is passionate about.

Does contain exactly one SPICY scene.

Thank you to the publisher, author and Net Galley for allowing me to read an ARC of this manga in exchange for my honest review. I just reviewed This Wonderful Season With You by Atsuko Yusen. #ThisWonderfulSeasonWithYou #NetGalley

Junpei Enoki is a freshman in high school in an engineering club that is going to be shut down unless they get a new member to join. Ryousuke Shirataki, a total hottie and normie compared to the other guys in Enoki’s club, is known for being amazing at baseball. He ends up joining the aptly dubbed "mushroom club" to try to find a new reason to enjoy life after he quit the prior hobby due to an injury.

"This Wonderful Season With You" was a fun, quick read. It’s very light-hearted and doesn’t really delve into any serious topics, apart from the injury to Shirataki, but even that is kind of summed up. Readers get to see Enoki and Shirataki follow a basic romance model, meeting, falling in love, and ultimately learning about their own relationship and how it impacts and changes the relations with their friends and family.

I liked the pacing of this manga and the fact that it is just a one-shot helped convince me to purchase a copy, seeing as it is a cute addition to my shelf that won't take up too much space. I definitely see myself reaching for this when I want a quick, light-hearted read.

Thank you to the publisher for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

This totally gave me the butterflies while reading it. Even though the plot was kind of slow and it dragged a bit, it was still very very enjoyable. I loved the main characters and their relationship in this manga however what I mostly want to talk about is the art work in the manga. Not only are the coloured parts so so so pretty but they also bring the vibe for the story with them. I am hoping for a sequal in the future because this was very very fun!

I found this really cute. It was a light mainly angst free read. It's kind of forgettable but it was nice whilst I was reading it and I found the main couple had a super cute dynamic.

The end scene was a bit sudden and had a weird lack of proper consent but it wasn't touched on too much and kinda blew over.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this eArc, this is my honest review.