This book is another one is a recent string of arcs that never ended up on my kindle. I don't know what the problem is, but I can't review it. Sorry.

Broken characters REALLY speak to my soul. my heart aches and beats for the characters in Glass Syndrome. Some scenes made me uncomfortable but overall I REALLY enjoyed this and can’t wait to see what else this author comes out with

A book where two opposite characteristics men fall in love with each other. I loved the characters but it would be good if they're a bit detailed. The plot was so good.

3.5 Stars ( I received an e-arc from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review)

My god this reignited a BL manga binge and it is one of the least problematic ones. Nijou is the perfect student who is always willing to help and never says no to anyone. A teacher asks him to check on a student who hasn’t been to classes in a long time. Toomi is that said student, who’s father has abandoned him to go on the run from gambling debts. He is struggling to pay the rent and has to resort to taking a degrading job to make ends meet. That’s how they meet and Toomi sees right through Nijou’s facade, intriguing Nijou and wanting to spend more time with Toomi. The two develop slight friendship slowly learning more about each other’s lives. The classic popular person and the outcast trope I really enjoyed this manga and I recommend this to any BL Manga fan.

I really liked the premise of "Glass Syndrome" by Eiko Ariki, but this book fell flat for me. The artwork is lovely, and both characters are interesting as they both have a complex history and come with their own struggles and identities. However, I don't think the format of this book lent itself to the reading experience. A physical copy may be better, but the plot was still confusing.

I think it may be unfair to really rate this one because the format was just not ideal for reading this type of book as an ebook. I would love to see the book in it's physical form.
Nijou and Toomi are on two different levels and comes with their own brand of baggage, but attraction has no limits and the two find themselves within each other's sphere in no time. This is a fluffy BL (Boy love) with a cute story line and plenty of potential to be a great series.

While the art was nice, the story was confusing. I did not finish it, and stopped reading at around the 40% mark.

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity, I really liked the style and that we had two stories in the same manga, but I wish both of them were longer.

I could not get into it, I had skimmed the other stories that were in this book. The story is there and others will like it. It will be someone else's favourite.

First of all I thank Netgalley for providing me with this manga.
Glass Syndrome is a unique volume that tells us about Nijou, a model student (good grades, good in sports and loved by all) however he feels that despite all this he really is not connected with anyone, one day the teacher He asks him to take homework to a student who has been skipping classes for a long time, Toomi, who lives alone since his father left him alone and in debt, being forced to work from home making unconventional videos.

Somehow they end up connecting these two and their relationship begins to change and to change them.

I liked the story and how the protagonists begin to relate, how they change for the better and how they understand each other, a story of acceptance and of learning what your limits are when you interact with others.

for me it deserves 4 out of 5 stars.

While not good for the classroom setting due to explicit content, this is a very well paced yaoi one shot. Perfect for fans of BL and I am happy to see Tokyopop back and adopting LGBTQ+ Inclusive titles.
The pacing of this is good and it has many layers to it that help set the scene and guide the reader through the short story universe of relationships.
Overall, a good quick read. Very entertaining and engaging. It doesn't suffer from the usual pacing errors of other one shots.

Honestly it didn't make much sense, the art wad good but very vague. The characters were abundant and the storyline could have been so much better cultivated.
I liked the base plot but I expected more in terms of story building and the flow was a bit off that led me astray from the main plot many times.

On the whole it could have been better.

☆☆☆☆ /5
(english review below)

J’ai beaucoup apprécié ce yaoi mignon et bouleversant, qui comporte des thèmes difficiles dans son histoire.
¤
Le président de la classe Nijou est un athlète talentueux, un étudiant d'honneur populaire, qui ne peut s'empêcher de répondre aux attentes étouffantes des autres à son égard. Lorsque son professeur lui demande de s'occuper de Toomi, un camarade de classe qui ne vient plus à l'école, cette rencontre fortuite conduit à une connexion inattendue à laquelle aucun des deux jeunes ne s'attend. Toomi voit à travers sa façade diligente, et Nijou ne peut pas oublier le confort frais du toucher peu exigeant de Toomi.
Mais lorsque Nijou découvre la raison des fréquentes absences de Toomi, il ne sait pas comment réagir. Comment peut-il évoquer ce qu'il sait ? Et comment cela changera-t-il leur relation?
¤
Les personnages de Nijou et Toomi m’ont beaucoup touchée pour bien des raisons. D’un côté, à travers le personnage de Nijou, la mangaka va parler de la peur du rejet, de l’anxiété de performance et du regard des autres. Et de l’autre côté, à travers Toomi, la mangaka va traiter le sujet de la prostitution, de l’abandon et de la dépression. Avec leurs défauts, leurs démons et leurs secrets, les deux jeunes hommes vont se trouver et vivre une relation qui changeront leur vie.
J’ai particulièrement aimé le développement de leur relation. J’ai trouvé que c’était bien fait et réaliste puisque ce n’est pas parce qu’ils finissent en couple que leurs problèmes se règlent. Également, ils n’ont pas du tout la même façon de penser et c’était intéressant de voir le clash qu’il pouvait avoir entre leurs comportements, leurs paroles et leurs pensées.
Leur histoire m’a fait l’effet d’une petite boule de douceur. Leur histoire est porteur de messages d’espoir et jette de la lumière sur l’avenir que certains pourraient voir beaucoup plus sombre.
En plus de l’histoire principale, il y a l’histoire d’un autre couple pour laquelle la finalité et les messages transmis sont les mêmes.
Ce manga m’a donné envie de sourire à la vie, peu importe les incertitudes et les obstacles.

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ENGLISH REVIEW:

I really enjoyed this cute and upsetting yaoi, which has some difficult themes in its story.
¤
Class president Nijou is a talented athlete, popular honor student... and a total people-pleaser who can't stop living up to others' smothering expectations of him. When his teacher asks him to check on Toomi, a classmate who's stopped coming to school, that chance meeting leads to an unexpected connection that neither young man expects. Toomi sees right through his diligent facade, and Nijou can't forget the cool comfort of Toomi's undemanding touch.
But when Nijou discovers the reason behind Toomi's frequent absences, he doesn't know how to react. How can he bring up what he knows? And how will it change their relationship?
¤
The characters of Nijou and Toomi touched me a lot for many reasons. On the one hand, through the character of Nijou, the manga artist will talk about the fear of rejection, performance anxiety and the gaze of others. And on the other hand, through Toomi, the manga artist will be dealing with the subject of prostitution, abandonment and depression. With their flaws, their demons and their secrets, the two young men will find each other and live a relationship that will change their lives.
I especially liked the development of their relationship. I found it to be well done and realistic since just because they end up in a relationship doesn't mean their problems get resolved. Also, they don't have the same way of thinking at all and it was interesting to see the clash it could have between their behavior, their words and their thoughts.
Their story struck me like a small ball of sweetness. Their story carries messages of hope and sheds light on the future that some might see much darker.
In addition to the main story, there’s the story of another couple for which the purpose and the messages conveyed are the same.
This manga made me want to smile back to life, no matter the uncertainties and obstacles.

I’m separating the reviews into the part I liked and the part I didn’t like, so I’m starting with the part I liked:

It was a pretty good story, both of them showed "relatable" subjects (the fear of abandonment and falling in live with someone you probably shouldn’t and because of that having your heart broken), the drawing was beautiful and the stories were quick and easy.

now for the reasons this isn’t having a bigger grade (but please take for granted I’ve just recently started reading this kind of genre, and just because it wasn’t something I particularly enjoyed, in any way was this bad or other people won’t be able to enjoy it):

Even though I get this wasn’t supposed to be long, it still came out as confusing sometimes, maybe it’s on me, but the pacing of the book were kind of off sometimes, and especially because we’re reading two different stories "Glass Syndrome" and "Similar Figures of Love", but sometimes I just got confused by the change of a story to another.


Regardless I would still recommend this to everyone who enjoys this particular genre, it was definitely a very good story!

I really liked this book and the characters were interesting. I find that the story wasn’t given enough space to breathe though, but this can be chalked up to the medium of one shots.

Nijou is a goody two shoes who is popular and liked by all his classmates and teachers. He puts on an easygoing mask but in reality all these expectations people have placed on him fill him with a lot of anxiety, to the point where he can hardly say no to anything people ask of him. He gets along with everyone but to avoid any further headache keeps everyone at an arm’s distance. One day a teacher asks him to check on an absente classmate, Toomi. Nijou not wanting to disappoint the teacher begrudgingly agrees. When he gets to talk to Toomi it turns out they were classmates in their previous school too, though never really talked. However, Toomi is not touched by being checked up on, see he knows about Nijou’s people pleaser tendencies and he sees through Nijou within minutes, which leaves the other boy in shambles. He also “accidentally” finds an online camgirl’s site who might or might not be Toomi. After this encounter Nijou suddenly finds himself wanting to get closer to Toomi which is further motivated by the fact that he thinks Toomi is kinda hot.

I loved the art for this one. The intense feelings the characters have been dealing with are portrayed really well and that is when the manga truly shines. You get caught up easily in wanting to know more about these characters. I really liked the message that when Nijou was around Toomi he didn’t feel like he had to pretend to be anyone else but himself.

The characters were really interesting and had depth and I would have loved to explore them further and see them develop and grow in a longer story format. It would have made an even more touching story.

Unfortunately, this is just a oneshot so the pacing is faster than what the story deserved and has no time really linger on the details, to let the characters breathe. Things happened a bit too quickly at the beginning with little build up for me.

Toomi seemed to know way too much about Nijou for a first time talk. It made me wonder why he paid so much attention to him at school. While I loved Toomi’s internal reaction and panic to being seen through so easily the vomiting seemed be such an over the top reaction. Toomi also seemed a bit agressive with how he snapped at Nijou at the beginning and how his flirting manifested as “pushing Nijou to the brink of tears while I drop truth bombs on him”. I would have loved to see a more natural build up and better communication between the two.

Thank you Netgally for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

As one of my first manga I thoroughly enjoyed it! In "Glass Syndrome" we follow Nijou, a boys whos scared of being rejected and letting people down. However, Nijou is struggling to keep up the facade of being perfect.

Our second character Toomi can see straight through Nijous facade. When Toomi stops showing at school, Nijou is asked to keep an eye out for him. What Nijou finds is shocking.

This is a fast paced, cute read and the art is incredible!

I thought this was a pretty 'meh' manga. I did enjoy Nijou and Toomi's story, but there was also another side story that felt a bit like a random inclusion to the manga. I also thought both storylines ended a bit abruptly which I was sad about because I wanted more of Nijou and Toomi's story. I didn't feel too attached to the characters, but I was still rooting for their relationship. There also seems to be some depression and possibly suicidal thoughts mentioned in the story so just be aware of that when you're reading. Overall it is a cute love story, but I just didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

TW: Depression, abandoned by a parent, gambling, one instance of suicidal thought, and sex work.

I don't understand the layout of this book. It's two stories about two different gay couples, and they both have epilogues, but the stories are laid out in an ABAB fashion, rather than having the epilogues follow the main story. This makes it pretty choppy. Also, there is no resolution in either story, so if you're looking for something nice and tidy, this ain't it. The characters are interesting, though, and I wanted to see the development of the love story in the 2nd story more than what was here, so some readers might connect with the gentlemen as they figure themselves out.

Sara's Rating: 6/10
Suitability level: Grades 10-12

3/5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and LOVE x LOVE for providing this e-arc!

This was a nice short read that i unfortunately had different expectations for. The format feels short in that i believe that this is a single novel and won-t have anymore sequels. Therefore leaving me feeling unattached to the characters and their struggles. The art in itself is good which I suppose inclines me to read more from the producers.

ARC was provided by Netgalley for an honest review.

I wasn’t aware that this was a manga with 2 short stories; “Glass Syndrome,” and “Similar Figure of Love.” So I was a little confused when about half way through, there was a new setting and group of characters being introduced. I felt that the overall story of the “Glass Syndrome” was alright, but right as I was starting to get invested, it just ended. So I wish that it was either longer, or rather stuck to just telling one story. We follow Nijour who is deemed a people pleaser, he’s a perfect student; class president, great with sports, lends a helpful hand whenever anyone asks. But little does everyone else know that he’s struggling to keep up his “perfect” school reputation. And he’s finding himself extremely overwhelmed, and can barely keep a float. Toomi is just about the only one who can see right through Nijour’s insecurities. However, Toomi has his own struggles he’s dealing with. From trying to recover from his father leaving him, trying to recover financially from his father’s gambling debt, he’s struggling to make ends meet, whilst trying to stay in school. Until he starts to perform drag on an adult cam site, to make ends meet. When Nijour finds out Toomi’s secret, he doesn’t know whether to tell Toomi that he knows, or continue to keep it a secret as he tries to grapple with his growing feelings for Toomi.

The second part "Similar Figure of Love" felt rushed. I didn’t feel like I had enough time to connect with any of the characters, so I found myself not caring for it all that much. From what I can gather it’s about Kasumi who has a crush on his friend, Chihiro, while one of Kasumi’s upperclassmen, Saiki, has a crush on him (Kasumi.) It seemed to take place over a day or two, during school, but nothing eventful seemed to happen.