Opposites Attract in a High School Fake Romance Story
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Review
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Warning:
This review will contain spoilers for the manga and anime series Gal-kun Will Definitely Fall in Love!. While the manga may vary slightly from all other forms of media, it may have similar story elements and could be considered spoilers.
Content Warning: There may be references to breakups (not between the main couple), toxic masculinity (commentary on what two men can do together), and self-deprecation, as they appear in the manga.
Synopsis:
Honda Yoshi and Fuji Takayuki are classmates, and they are just barely friends. But they have a secret arrangement that takes this friendship beyond the norm. After Yoshi was cruelly dumped in the boy’s bathroom, where Takayuki happened to be, Takayuki expressed not only his condolences but also how he wished he could feel love like Yoshi did. Having been put down for his feelings in the past, experiencing such honest acceptance has won Yoshi over. He is in love with Takayuki and determined to win him over.
So, Yoshi comes up with a plan. Every weekend, they’ll go on fake dates. Takayuki can ask questions, go through scripts, etc., and Yoshi will be there as his stand-in for whoever he eventually falls for. Of course, Yoshi intends to be the one that Takayuki falls for, but as the dates go on, his confidence in that slowly starts to wane.
Review:
This is very cute. It isn’t perfect by any means, but this is a very short and wholesome story, and in all honesty, I don’t really care that it isn’t perfect. Yoshi’s gyaru design is so fucking adorable, and really just speaks to me. Then, paired alongside Takayuki’s classic, gloomy, but secretly hot design, makes for a very attractive pair. But it’s the irony in their respective designs that matters the most. Yoshi’s style is very extroverted and exuberant, which he also uses to hide how insecure and hurt he is inside. On the other hand, Takayuki, with his long bangs and plain, dark clothing, appears cold and aloof, even though deep down he wants to connect with others. This isn’t a unique way to use character designs, but I still love it all the same.
I do want to quickly go over some of the tags on this one. It is tagged both shounen-ai and yaoi, which are technically counter to one another since yaoi is typically reserved for sexual manga, while shounen-ai is not (and that is how it is, for the sake of organization, in the BL library). The entire main story is 100% shounen-ai. If you don’t want sex in your BL, then you can read the entire main story, and you will be pleased. However, the bonus at the end does have explicit sex. I, personally, love that the sex was left as a bonus because the main story really needed the time it had to develop without the addition of smut. But I know some people need that in the main story, too, so if you’re looking for a smut fest, you are in the wrong place. This is very, very wholesome with a smutty cherry on top, but not much more on that front.
Now, onto the best part: the story. If you love My Dress-Up Darling (which I do), specifically with that endearingly exuberant lead character falling for their exact opposite, then this is the BL you have been looking for. This is a very wholesome story presented episodically. Every “episode” is one of their dates, each one giving as an opportunity to see just how earnestly Yoshi is trying to help, while simultaneously hoping he can earn Takayuki’s love while hiding his own feelings. It is such a bittersweet experience seeing these events through Yoshi’s point of view, as he balances his insecurity with his want for Takayuki. He is steadily wooed by Takayuki, who is practicing on him, but then Yoshi ends up imagining how Takayuki will do these things for someone else. It is equally heartrending as it is heartbreaking, and I loved every minute of it.
But there are moments of reprieve when we get brief insights into Takayuki’s perspective. They are very short when compared to Yoshi’s focus, but what we do get is the steady progress of Takayuki recognizing that what he perceives as love is comfort and openness with another person. As he spends more time with Yoshi, he doesn’t feel the intense, life-changing emotions we often associate with passionate love. Instead, he ends up recognizing that what he feels as love is simply growing comfortable with someone whom he cares about. It is one of the sweetest things I’ve seen in BL, and really helps show that feelings of love can manifest in different ways for everyone, and that doesn’t mean you don’t love someone equally as much as they love you. It is a subtle but powerful message, and it makes me love this pair all the more.
Results:
I loved this. I’m not going to pretend this is perfect by any means, but it has some of the sweetest moments I’ve read in a long time. The characters are also just so endearing that it is hard not to fall in love with them and their story – and for this to be a title without smut throughout and still be a favorite? That is impressive, at least for me. The lack of sexy time is going to make this a miss for a lot of people, and that’s understandable, but for me, it wouldn’t be nearly as good if it had had it. This is, undoubtedly, a favorite.
Have you read Gal-kun Will Definitely Fall in Love!? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!
