Top Comforts Other Man and His Boyfriend Gets Jealous
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Warning:
This review will contain spoilers for the manga and anime series I Didn't Mean to Fall in Love -double-. 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 age gap, gossiping, commentary on body size, cheating (not between the main couple), implied abuse, manipulation, implied rape (not between the main couple), and excessive drinking, as they appear in the manga.
Synopsis:
This is the sequel to I Didn’t Mean to Fall in Love, and it is recommended that you read that title before reading this one.
Rou and Yoshino are still together and better than ever. Plus, Rou has finally graduated and is starting his first office job. Of course, things can’t be smooth sailing forever, and the couple anticipates things getting rough as Rou has less time to spend with Yoshino due to work. But Yoshino understands and is more than willing to be flexible as Rou navigates the workforce for the first time. So, Rou starts working.
But what neither expects is Rou’s new coworker to be the cause of their impending troubles.
Rou’s new coworker and senpai is rough around the edges, to say the least, and he hates Rou. But Rou is sure they could be good friends, as the coworker has bright pink hair and several cool piercings, which is exactly what Rou is into. So, Rou keeps pushing and pushing and ends up learning some painful things about his coworker’s dating history. As it turns out, the coworker is gay, and he has been hurt and abused by his ex, who was also a married man. Unwilling to let his new coworker suffer alone, Rou starts spending all of his time sleeping over at his house.
Yoshino knows Rou is a good guy, but even he starts to feel like Rou is going a bit too far with this coworker.
Review:
The art section of this review is going to be super short because Suzumaru Minta is everything. They are one of my favorite creators of all time, and this title is no exception. Their art is stunning and super clean, and if you love their previous titles, you can expect more of the same here. That’s it. I love the art. You will love the art. It’s just great.
Now, onto the story. Admittedly, this might be the weakest manga from Suzumaru Minta, story-wise. Much of the time is spent away from them, instead, focusing on the relationship between Rou and his coworker. I think narratively this makes sense, but for those of us who were interested in seeing more between Rou and Yoshino, this may be a bit of a bummer. The romance part of this story feels much more hollow than in the previous title, and while there are multiple smut scenes, they are relegated to the very beginning and very end, so the bulk of it is smut-free, which, for an established couple story, kind of sucks. It’s not terrible by any means, but it may not be what previous readers may be expecting.
With that said, the introduction of the coworker was very interesting. One would expect this to lead to a love triangle story, or something even worse, like a cheating storyline, but it takes it in a completely different direction. And it is actually really refreshing. While sure, I wish we got more Yoshino and Rou time, and I think they could’ve done the whole rocky relationship issue thing by playing into the overtime thing to separate them rather than another person, but this really establishes how good a person Rou is. Yoshino talks about it a lot, and we got to see how Yoshino was a good person in the previous volume, but seeing how good Rou is to his coworker without delving into anything romantic really highlights why Rou fell in love with Yoshino’s kindness – because he is kind, too.
Highlighting a completely platonic relationship in BL between two gay men is actually really amazing. By the end, I was loving how close Rou was to his coworker without crossing the line. And Yoshino really shows his maturity in this volume. Rou immediately discloses where he is, why he is there, and tells Yoshino everything about his coworker‘s situation, so Yoshino is 100% in the know. Of course, Yoshino still gets jealous, but he never forces Rou to choose between him and his new friend. If you’re looking for a completely non-toxic, green flag relationship across the board, this is exactly what you are looking for. Are they perfect? Not at all. They still get jealous and fail to recognize their partner’s feelings, and are very human, but they can communicate and resolve their issues. This is a great way to show a healthy relationship without making it a boring, hum-drum non-story.
Results:
This was good. I think Suzumaru Minta has had better titles in the past, but it is still a Suzumaru Minta title. It’s like pizza. Even bad pizza is still good pizza. So, if you like Suzumaru Minta, I have no doubt you’ll like this manga. It’s a very high-quality palate cleanser from some of the more toxic BL out there, and I really appreciate it. I recommend this one, for sure.
Have you read I Didn't Mean to Fall in Love -double-? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!
