若葉の~恋期~ [Wakaba no -Koi Ki-] by Venio Tachibana

若葉の~恋期~ [Wakaba no -Koi Ki-] Reviews

• 
  Sophie

  The satisfying conclusion to 若葉の少年期.
  
  This is the kind of story I can read billions of variations of without tiring if it's done well.
  
  Mariya, a handsome and popular kid and Nachi, a quiet and expressionless boy, have been friends since middle school. As they reach high school, "friendship" doesn't quite describe what they feel for the other. But especially Nachi has difficulty to find the right word for what he feels for Mariya.
  
  I just love the way the two of them try to figure out their feelings in the confusion of puberty. When you can't stop thinking about someone who you used to think of as a friend, but you know what you feel for them is different to what you feel for your other friends.. I suppose it can happen when you fall in love with someone of the other sex, too, but this is so very much what it was like for me when I fell in love with my first girlfriend that I just want to hug this book to my chest.
  
  The art and the way of storytelling doesn't make it that easy to get into the story at first, I felt, but once you're in, you're in. Since I read the sequel without rereading the first volume first, I was a bit confused about the side characters and their actions, but the manga can hardly be blamed for my faulty memory.
  
  This is a very lovely book about two teenaged boys falling in love. Tachibana Venio is really good at this kind of story. I liked it even better than "Seven Days", though - the set-up of "Seven Days" always seemed a bit too constrived to me. And while I think this series could have been stretched out to three volumes, even with two volumes it's a very sweet and satisfying story.
  
  (A side note I didn't know how to fit in my review: I would love to read a story about Mariya's hot brother and his boyfriend as well.)
• 
  Anna C

  Arghhh, bersambung pula pas bagian seru2nya!!! >__<