Customer Reviews

JUNJO ROMANTICA Volume 3: (Yaoi) (v. 3)

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--of your time, as much as your money. I enjoyed the first two volumes of this series because of the beautiful artwork and the hilarious antics of the characters. And let's face it, what fangirl wouldn't get a kick out of a story where one of the central characters is a BL (Boy's Love) writer? It is fun to watch Usami swing from ridiculous to (ostensibly) serious and back again, and Misaki's frequent spaz-attacks are as priceless as his confusion over his deepening feelings for Usami is sweet.

I would have been content with the series as a humorous gag-type love story, but volume 3 surprised me with its unexpected deepening of the characters, as well as the plot. We see a greater range of emotion, which it seems Misaki and Usami have been trying to avoid in their tentative relationship with each other--but it was the expression on Usami's face in the 'laundry' scene which was the clincher for me!

A gorgeous series, and I can't wait for the next volume.

I totally love this new series. I have since bought the whole series so far and am waiting anxiously for the next volume. I hear there is also an anime based on this story line. I highly recommend it. It is very funny and totally wicked. The drawings are nice and you will love the two storylines. I couldn't put it down once I started to read it. You will totally love this one.

This series has a great story and is about a young man comming to terms with his love of another man. In this book Misaki questions his relationshop with Usami and togther they go on a date hower it is interupted. Later Misaki's brother asks Misaki to move back in with him and his wife. Also in this book, Hiro trys to nurse Nowaki back to health and we also get a glimpse of a time before Hiro meets Nowaki.

This is a great book with a wonderful story and the drawings are well done.

This third volume of Junjo Romantica is a nice step back from the previous two volumes' chase me 'til you caught me plotlines. Having firmly caught each other, this time our two couples are exploring the ins and outs of what it means to actually be in a "proper" relationship. For our Egoist couple, it means learning to unbend and take time to actually communicate with each other instead of at each other. Hiro's promise from the end of volume 2, to take time to listen and pay attention to what is happening with Nowaki, seems to be sincere. He is making an effort here, but he has not quite gotten there yet. As for Nowaki, well, he still has not yet matched his pace to Hiro yet either, so his typhoon like existence still buffets Hiro's emotions all over the place.

In the case of Usagi and Misaki however, the issues faced are quite more profound. Never having even suffered so much as a crush before, nor gone on a date, Misaki has fallen headfirst into a genuine love affair. He tries desperately to figure out exactly what this means. In his naivety, he always assumed that love went Crush>Confession>Dates>Kissing>Lovers and as all his friends and indeed his own brother all went the route with girls, he just assumed someday he would meet the right girl and follow that trail. What he has gotten is completely different, and now not only is he having to try to sort out in his mind where in the relationship map this truly puts him and Usagi-san, but the realisation that he is gay. Yup, he is gay, and the only other gay person he knows is his own lover. He struggles desperately with is own concept of relationships and sexuality, while a surprisingly patient Usagi gently guides him along so that he can come to understand himself and their relationship. The disturbingly abrupt appearance of Usagi's long-time acquaintance with his jibing observations and probing questions unnerve the already anxious young man, and when it is shortly followed by his oblivious older brother summoning him "home" and Usagi-san's apparently aloof decision to send Misaki back there, the butterflies that flutter in his stomach go into full flight. Are they lovers or not? Is it okay to love Usagi-san? Did he mess up things by being so slow to accept things? Is it truly all over, just like that?

These are scenarios that I believe most of us can identify with. Uncertainty, miscommunication, and well meaning but ultimately interfering friends and relatives seem to be par for the course for most people in relationships. Adding in the poignancy of a young man locked in a struggle to fully come to terms with his own sexuality, in a world where he is not only in the minority, but in a culture which can be quite harsh about it, adds extra dimension to what otherwise would have merely been a rather run of the mill date story. Indeed, the turn of events brings questions about the relationship that neither Usagi-san nor Misaki had yet considered. That is, the reaction of friends and family, and even past lovers, to the knowledge of their affair. Having been safely cocooned within their own little bubble of the condo and university, and older brother Akihiko being far away in Osaka with his new bride, the couple were well able to dance around each other pretty much oblivious to anyone else. The real world comes crashing in however, and the effect is rather like having a cold wave of water suddenly come washing over.

The seemingly merely sweet side story of Nowaki and Hiro once more runs in a lovely symmetry with the Romantica arc, as having established their love publicly at the end of JUNJO ROMANTICA Volume 2: (Yaoi) (v. 2), the pair are trying to iron out the wrinkles in their relationship. It is the flip side of the coin, literally, as one couple struggles to reach that point that the other has unwittingly reached first. If either couple fail to reach a resolution, their relationships will falter, and possibly fail. Truly love each other they do, but can they hold on to that which they deeply cherish? It is a plunge that takes deep courage, with each party needing to be willing to take that step off the cliff top. Deep self examination and personal acceptance are the keys to courage this time around. Can they make it? And if they do, what does the future hold?