Sweet, a pleasing art style, and with a focus on communication in relationships that is refreshing for the genre Tiny and adorable when they first met, Rui - still just as adorable - now looms over his boyfriend, Yuujirou. Though they were little more than best friends at first, the confusion over their true feelings for one another smoldered until they confessed. Now every day passes with such overwhelming sweetness it's all they can do not to ask themselves, "am I allowed to be this happy?" The translation for Tokyopop’s LOVE x LOVE list is by Christine Dashiell who, as always, delivers a readable version that flows really well. As with Gorou Kanbe, the editorial team at Tokyopop have brought us another attractive BL mangaka, whose manga are well worth reading for the positive approach to same-sex relationships and the lively, sympathetic way the story is told. The first half of the manga consists of some really cute scenarios, while also presenting Yuujirou and Rui’s hopes and anxieties about how their relationship will progress in the future. This is a very promising setup that I was excited to see the narrative explore, but it ended up falling rather flat.

The first volume Deko-Boko Sugar Days delivered a charming, feel-good story of the blossoming love between two childhood friends, enlivened by many cute chibi panels and amusing expressions. But in this second volume, mangaka Atsuko Yusen brings her two main characters face-to-face with the reality of leaving school and taking their first steps into the adult world. ‘Bittersweet’ is an apt adjective to describe what happens. Many high-school relationships crumble and fall apart under such stresses and although readers will be rooting for this partnership to endure the extra pressures put on them by society for being in a same-sex relationship, let alone being separated by many thousands of miles for four long years, it’s by no means a foregone conclusion that they won’t drift apart. Praise, therefore to Atsuko Yusen for not shying away from depicting the feelings of abandonment that Yuujirou undergoes when his dreams for the future are so rudely shattered. He wants to wish Rui well as he embarks on his chosen career path but can’t reconcile those altruistic feelings with the pain he’s experiencing at being abandoned. Since the first volume took place in high school, this means that Atsuko Yusen has a built-in easy way to throw a hurdle in their path: college. With graduation looming, Rui and Yuujirou have to reconcile their individual career dreams with their mutual desire to stay together, and this gives Rui a much-needed chance to prove that he's more than just the sweet boy who follows Yuujirou's lead. The story begins to play with ideas of masculinity, both in a performative sense and as something a bit more rooted in Rui's sense of self. Fortunately, it has nothing to do with the book's racier content – it would have been easy (albeit wrong) to tie the whole “top and bottom” thing to Rui's perception of himself as just as much of a man as Yuujirou, but their sex life is never brought into the equation as anything but an expression of their mutual feelings. Instead, it's about Rui having the wherewithal to not take the easy way out of things – he could have easily chosen Yuujirou over his dream education, but that would have been “choosing” rather than making a real, difficult decision. It's important to him that he's financially able to help support Yuujirou just as Yuujirou wants to support him – he doesn't want to be dependent, but an equal partner. This comes out in the much more stereotypically masculine phrasing of manga; Rui expresses his performative manhood by saying that he wants to “support” his boyfriend, but we can read this as framing their relationship as not being in relation to anything or anyone but themselves, rather than one of them being seen as more feminine than the other.He is together with Rui Hanamine 186cm long, creative, half French, domestic and with a lot of housekeeping skills. Tall bottom representing one could say, which is good in a genre where height almost always is used as a signifier to one’s character role. Dekoboko Bittersweet Days is even better than the first part of the series! It's not common actually, so this surprised me positively. Yuujirou and Rui were childhood friends, but they actually got together already in the first part and now in this second they need to think about the future. High school is over soon and the boys need to think about where to study and it's not necessarily the same place, the same country even. I really loved the realism and how nothing is a real obstacle if you fight for what you love. The slow burn romance and real feelings get through easily and all in all, the manga is heartwarming and melancholic too. Growing up is never easy. With that being said, the art continues to be exceptionally cute, carrying the manga through its duller periods. It’s still an enjoyable read overall, but “Bittersweet Days” just doesn’t reach the same heights as the original. Tiny and adorable when they first met, Rui - still just as adorable - now looms over his boyfriend, Yuujirou. Though they were little more than best friends at first, the confusion over their true feelings for one another smoldered until they confessed. Now every day passes with such overwhelming sweetness it's all they can do not to ask themselves, "am I allowed to be this happy?" The final high school judo contest, the last summer of their high school careers, and beyond... the thought of his future with Rui makes Yuujirou's heart flutter. A slow-burn love story between a diminutive, athletic teen and his towering, kind-hearted best friend as they journey the slightly bitter road to adulthood towards sweeter days.

The boys are in their final year of high school and in general they are quite clear eyed on the choices they need to make. Atsuko Yusen’s art is attractive and she’s developed her own immediately recognizable style; she’s another BL mangaka to have come from the Pixiv webcomic stable like Shou Harusono ( Sasaki and Miyano) and Mika ( I Cannot Reach You). The theme of childhood friends weaves throughout the manga and as the mangaka’s drawings of the two as little children are adorable, it’s difficult to ignore the significance of their enduring relationship. As to the BL aspects, the manga earns its Mature rating for several consensual (but censored) scenes of a sexual nature which develop naturally from the characters’ feelings. The ‘joke’ underlying the two volumes is that – due to Rui’s genes and adolescent growth spurt – given his height, in a traditional BL manga, he’d be the seme (dominant) and shorter Yuujirou the uke. But it’s the other way round here (see dekoboko* below). Praise, then, to the mangaka for showing us that Rui might be gentle-natured but he’s determined to pursue his career in design, no matter what – and it’s Yuujirou who falls apart when he realizes that Rui is going away. It’s painful to watch but it feels real and convincing. It’s the same when she shows us that both young men feel torn up inside by Rui’s decision – but find it impossible to articulate this to each other. The final high school judo contest, the last summer of their high school careers, and beyond... the thought of his future with Rui makes Yuujirou's heart flutter. Aina The End Releases New Single 'Diana,' Studio Live Performance Video Featuring Anime Theme Songs Also Released

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Yuujiro for instance says: It’s already pretty incredible to make enough to live your life without any restrictions kind of fawning over the glitter of middle class financial stability.

Deboboko Bittersweet Days" follows Yuujirou and Rui who are childhood best friends and now..lovers. The book is set in high school. The boys are in their final year. With graduation looming, life presents them new hurdles. Yuujirou plans to be a architect and Rui, a fashion designer. Now they have to reconcile their career dreams with their mutual desire to stay together forever. They are in love with each other but afraid of confessing that to each other. And now that Rui is planning to go to France for studying, their blooming relationship faces the biggest challenge ever. Will the boys be able to overcome their fears and risk to choose an uncertain future where they might or might not stay together??

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I was curious as to what ‘dekoboko’ means and, on further investigation, I found that it can be translated as ‘uneven’ which probably refers to the difference in height between the two protagonists and also, perhaps, their contrasting characters. However, there was also an unrelated animated TV series Deko Boko Friends of 30-second-long episodes for preschoolers that aired in Japan from 2002 to 2011. One thing to appreciate about the one-shot is that it’s accessible to new readers and has enough sweetness to keep its wholesome core while exploring the importance of communication and the trouble that comes with entering the adult world after high school. they're old enough you know they can handle themselves all on their own. They basically grew up to become such remarkable adults and you can really see how much potential the story goes as you read it. I am so in love with these characters and this story is just one of the most heartwarming and poignant ones I've read. It makes me so happy my heart feels so full right now. Simply put, they both have to grow up. For Rui that means speaking up, and for Yuujirou it means accepting that things won't always go the way he plans, and those are both very difficult things to do. It hits especially hard because up until Rui says something, their story has been blissfully happy: they are out to two of their friends and basically living the romance novel dream. But Yusen seems to want them to learn that a successful long-term relationship means that there'll be some bumps in the road along the way, and that the true test of their romance will be how well they manage to navigate them. Part of that, of course, is also eventually coming out to their parents, which is handled fairly well – and the revelation that Yuujirou's older brother Yuichiro has known all along and is perfectly happy for them is a very nice touch. Ultimately everyone just wants everyone else to be happy; the purpose of the book is to get them to the place where they can be.