…in which two teachers hook up in an empty kindergarten classroom. Do you think that’s a themed room option at love hotels?
This was the mangaka’s debut work, and it’s a pretty good one all things considered. It’s a one-shot compilation with about 4-5 stories, starting with the title one which is a salaryman pairing. Lively Youiji has been in love with his more straitlaced best friend Noboru for 20 years, and even though Noboru repeatedly rejects his advances, Youji just won’t take no for an answer.
Youji has resorted to stalking and sleeping with Noboru’s girlfriends in order to try to drive him into his arms, which is…uncomfortable, and seems a little self-defeating honestly. When has that behavior ever attracted someone, seriously? But Youji seems kind of stupid and doesn’t really have a shred of self-awareness, and weirdly doesn’t come off as completely unlikeable – his Machievellian ways are driven by love, not hate. Through flashbacks, its revealed Noboru was sending mixed signals in the past too.
Although there’s a weird dub-con blow job scene, they don’t actually resolve anything or start dating, Noboru just gets less resistant – yeah, you know how that works in BL. It sort of felt like it needed a part 2 though.
The second story was a childhood-friends-as-high-school-lovers story and it was really forgettable so I’ll skip it. The third one, “My Sweet Home” is about a 21 year old cafe owner named Katsuki who takes in an 8 year old orphan named Riku and 10 years later, they realize they’re in love. Although it channels some serious Usagi Drop energy (a bit of an infamous manga about a man who raises an orphaned girl from infancy and then marries her), neither the age gap nor the fact that they had a sort of father-son relationship really bothered me, maybe because they felt more like coworkers at the cafe than father and son…plus even though Katsuki is 31 and Riku is 18 they both just look 25 or something. I’ve also read some with bigger age gaps recently (Kirepapa; Spring Fever) and in general they aren’t that shocking in BL anymore…it’d have to be like a teeny shota boy and an 80 year old man to rile anyone in this day and age probably.
There’s also a bonus sex scene with these two at the end, which is a little odd as I think the first story couple needed it more. But hey, bonus sex, I won’t complain!
The fourth one, “I Found a Twinkling Star,” is probably the most memorable, it’s about two kindergarten teachers, Keita and Tomoya, who find love. This pairing is really sweet and it’s fluffy and wholesome to see characters who love to interact with kids. Keita loves it so much, in fact, that Tomoya only half-jokes that he’s almost a kid himself who needs taking care of, and that’s sort of their relationship dynamic.
They also have sex in a kindergarten classroom (yes it was empty, but it was during the schoolday I think), which is kind of funny considering how kindergarten classrooms are festooned with kid’s drawings and posters and colored playmats and stuff, I’m not sure if I was a guy I could even get it up in that environment no matter how horny I was. Not to even mention the consequences of a 5 year old peeking in the window and seeing their teacher’s dick and balls inside another teacher’s asshole.
The last couple was another really boring childhood-friends-as-high-school-lovers story except it involved a love triangle and also fear of dogs, but it wasn’t really memorable at all. It did have a sex scene though, which I guess brings the total up to a respectable amount for an M-rated book.
All in all I liked 3 of the 5 stories and the remaining two weren’t truly bad, they were just boring and formulaic as stated. I don’t expect much from one-shot stories though and this was her debut, and it’s a good debut. I liked Chiba’s art – the characters are expressive and attractive and she has an eye for what I call the ‘cute/hot in-between’ when drawing teenagers – she’s good at finding that perfect balance between their masculine features and boyish innocence. I sound like a total pervert when I say that but men think fictitious teenage girls are attractive too so whatever.
I believe this is Ryoko Chiba’s lone English-licensed title, but she’s still active and her recent work is more confident and polished and worth checking out (look up “Knife” from 2016 which has been scanlated).
TL;DR: It’s ok for a one-shot compilation, but good for a debut work. I thought two of the stories were meh but the other three were decent (and there’s one in which two teachers hook up in an empty kindergarten classroom during the school day, so I guess that’s uh…creative). It’s definitely on the fluffy side and the characters were mostly likeable, plus I enjoy her art.