Mimi
… I hate that there isn't a physical English copy of this that I can have on my shelf.
Let me get my biggest gripe out the way, it's the same damn problem I had with Dear Gene- the age gap. I read Dear Gene first and while I knew there was an age gap, I didn't know how big of a gap it was. But I knew it was there. On any site you can read/log this, there is not a god damn thing saying that this is also an age gap (at the time of writing, anyway). That actually pissed me off because I thought Oz would be the same age as Theo but from chapter 1 I was so worried because of how Oz was seeing him. Oz being 27 and Theo being 20 did give me a slight uncomfortable feeling. Not as bad as 19 and 34, but it was there.
That being said… My stomach hurts (positive). Just like with Dear Gene, I can't say if the way Kaya wrote about Amish culture was well researched. I don't know much about their culture but it did feel a little surface level to me and there were things I felt the author let slide for BL manga's sake. I was more here for the characters, their current story, their backgrounds, and knowing more about Danny, which…. Holy. I got.
Honestly, trying to put my thoughts together about why I loved this story and characters is difficult for some reason. I cried in this, the end had a very A Home Far Away feeling to me, I felt for Oz and Theo, I felt for Danny, Chloe, and Gene. There were a lot of emotions going on putting all 3 volumes together that it gave me a small stomachache. And yet, I don't have detailed words for anything that just happened.
Even though I had a better time with this than its sequel and I am absolutely in love with their art style, I don't think I'm going to continue reading Kaya Azuma's books. A lot of the stuff I thought about reading turned out to have dubious consent, incest, age gaps, stepfamily romance, and/or student/teacher romance. I also get the feeling she really likes writing about age gaps. I think I need to stop here.
… I hate that there isn't a physical English copy of this that I can have on my shelf.
Let me get my biggest gripe out the way, it's the same damn problem I had with Dear Gene- the age gap. I read Dear Gene first and while I knew there was an age gap, I didn't know how big of a gap it was. But I knew it was there. On any site you can read/log this, there is not a god damn thing saying that this is also an age gap (at the time of writing, anyway). That actually pissed me off because I thought Oz would be the same age as Theo but from chapter 1 I was so worried because of how Oz was seeing him. Oz being 27 and Theo being 20 did give me a slight uncomfortable feeling. Not as bad as 19 and 34, but it was there.
That being said… My stomach hurts (positive). Just like with Dear Gene, I can't say if the way Kaya wrote about Amish culture was well researched. I don't know much about their culture but it did feel a little surface level to me and there were things I felt the author let slide for BL manga's sake. I was more here for the characters, their current story, their backgrounds, and knowing more about Danny, which…. Holy. I got.
Honestly, trying to put my thoughts together about why I loved this story and characters is difficult for some reason. I cried in this, the end had a very A Home Far Away feeling to me, I felt for Oz and Theo, I felt for Danny, Chloe, and Gene. There were a lot of emotions going on putting all 3 volumes together that it gave me a small stomachache. And yet, I don't have detailed words for anything that just happened.
Even though I had a better time with this than its sequel and I am absolutely in love with their art style, I don't think I'm going to continue reading Kaya Azuma's books. A lot of the stuff I thought about reading turned out to have dubious consent, incest, age gaps, stepfamily romance, and/or student/teacher romance. I also get the feeling she really likes writing about age gaps. I think I need to stop here.