From the title alone you might think this is an exciting drama about a rock band but actually the band breaks up in the opening chapter over some unmentioned petty drama and we never even learn what they were called. It’s a slice of life manga about the four former members and their struggles, conflicts, and romances following the band’s breakup. The title is a little misleading, but for a slice of life it’s actually pretty good.
In order of the cover image, the (former) band members are:
Ai – bassist
Nozomu – guitarist
Shouri – guitar/vocals
Yumeji – …drummer? I can’t remember if it really says but I guess he has to be, unless they’re some kind of weird electro folk band
Shouri initiates the band’s breakup but secretly he dreams of being a pro musician, though he could never actually admit that to the other members. This makes him feel all the more dumb when he finds out Ai is planning to go to the US after he graduates to pursue being a pro bass player, while he still feels directionless.
Shouri has had a crush on Nozomu during the whole three years the band was together, but never could actually bring himself to say it, he simply tries to fish out Nozomu’s feelings without revealing his own.
Nozomu also secretly has feelings for someone, but it isn’t Shouri, it’s Ai. After the band drifts apart, he gets closer to Ai and admits his love for him unbeknownst to Shouri. Their relationship is probably the ‘main’ one of the book, and we see their hidden family struggles and their growing affection for each other. Nozomu starts to want to follow Ai to the US, even though he has good grades and was going to go to college in Japan.
Yumeji comes into the picture in the second half, he’s upset about his girlfriend leaving him and starts to catches feelings for Shouri (who ‘sort of looks like his girfriend’) in his emotional vulnerability. Shouri seems indifferent but Yumeji is persistent, and Shouri comes to his side as a friend when he sees that Yumeji’s confidence is a facade hiding how hurt he is over the breakup. Yumeji wants Shouri to help teach him guitar so that he can replace Nozomu in both Shouri’s musical aspirations as well as bis heart.
There’s an epilogue showing what the characters are doing at age 25 which is fun, so you can see how the pairings cement. There’s also a short af sex scene where you don’t really see anything – this has a reealllyyy soft M rating and it might even be considered a 16+ nowdays. It might as well have been a shounen-ai honestly for the kind of book it was, the sex scene felt shoehorned in really.
It’s kind of funny that the book isn’t really about music and the most the characters really do with music is talk about it. The chapter titles have this cool lyrics sheet design thing, I wish they had more than just one song but I guess making more of those for just a BL chapter decoration would be hard.
The fact that the story *is* actually about their interpersonal band drama and relationships is kind of ironic, however, because having been in a band in my life, I can honestly say that it’s a pretty accurate portrayal of what a band is like (90% drama, 10% actual music). Yes really, I was in a metal band for several years! Sorry I’m not telling you what we were called because I don’t want you to google us, and trust me you don’t want to be snorting a line of cringe that long anyway…
The art ranges from average to above average and fits the story well., although sometimes I had trouble telling which character was which since Abe’s art can be a little vague sometimes. There’s subtlety in the storytelling and it does a good job of making the characters feel like real people.
So overall, a bit falsely advertised with the cover and title but it’s actually decent, I’d recommend it as long as you adjust your expectations to quiet slice of life shounen ai rather than energetic and sexy band life story.
TL;DR This book indicates it’s about a rock band, but the four members break up the band in the opening chapter over some petty bullshit and the story is actually about their interpersonal and romance drama, which makes it…a much more accurate portrayal of a band honestly, speaking from personal experience. I was expecting more from it I think but it really commits to being a slice of life. The characters and their struggles feel real and it’s decent if you ignore the misleading title and adjust your expectations to a SoL shounen ai