Live-In Sex Worker Ends Up as a Single Dad
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Warning:
This review will contain spoilers for the manga and anime series The Love We Share. 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 death, homelessness, mentions of breakups, sex work (sex in exchange for favors), mentions of divorce, self-deprecation, prejudice, PTSD, car accidents, ableism, mentions of overwork, child abandonment, being orphaned, adoption, and violence, as they appear in the manga.
Synopsis:
Machi used to live a carefree life. He would get into relationships where he was a live-in lover and had all his needs met, which worked well for him. But that easy life is over, as he has a one-year-old, Kokoa, to raise entirely on his own. He is doing his best to find work, but without any work history to speak of, he is having trouble finding anyone willing to hire him. Things are coming to a head: Kokoa’s nursery is going to have to give up her spot, and Machi has no place for them to call home. Then Machi runs into an old high school classmate, an office worker named Mihiro.
Mihiro is pretty much a stranger now, yet he still offers Machi a place to stay.
With no other option, Machi moves in. Now, Mihiro is doing this out of the kindness of his heart, but that is something Machi could never fathom. So, as soon as they get back to Mihiro’s place, Machi gives Mihiro some service in exchange for the favor. Mihiro is clear that it isn’t what he expects from Machi, but at the same time, he doesn’t make much of an effort to stop it. What Machi doesn’t realize is that the man he has moved in with has loved him for a long time and wants nothing more than to help Machi raise Kokoa.
Review:
The art in this one is weird. It is pretty in some panels, but it is extremely stiff. I make that complaint a lot, but there is something about this style and the way characters are posed that makes everyone look like dolls. There is little to no movement or life to them beyond their facial expressions. The few exceptions would be during the sex scenes, which have to have movement to them, but otherwise, everyone is stiff and awkward. Even the facial expressions can get weird, especially in the more dramatic sections. Honestly, where I was supposed to feel intense drama, I laughed because Machi’s expression is just so weird and awkward. I guess the best way I can put it is that this style is mid, so take that for what you will.
Story-wise, this has some heart. I am trying to actively seek out more single-parent BL because I just think it is a very underrepresented identity. I think this takes an interesting angle on single parenthood, with Machi taking over raising his best friends’ child after their unfortunate deaths. This isn’t revealed immediately, but it is hinted at early on, especially with the distance he puts between himself and Kokoa. He isn’t cruel or anything like that. There is just clearly a sadness in all of their interactions, as Kokoa steadily grows to love Machi as a parent, while he is struggling with the guilt he has over his friends’, her parents’, deaths.
He doesn’t feel like he deserves to be Machi’s parent or receive that love from her, because it was his idea to go out the day her parents died. So, in a way, he perceives Machi’s love as a theft from his friends. Add to the trauma he has from his own parent, his mother, who abandoned him, and there’s also a layer of fear on top of the guilt. Anyone he has ever loved or wanted to love has left him, so he doesn’t want to love Machi or Mihiro for fear that they might die or leave him in some way. It is a painful existence, one that takes immense strength to overcome, and it is overcome thanks to Mihiro’s unyielding kindness and Machi’s selfless love for her guardian.
However, as powerful as all of these narrative elements are, the way they are presented is painfully weak. There is an evil former lover who appears out of nowhere, who is evil for the sake of being evil, and then disappears, never to be seen again. Mihiro also plays a bit of a corny knight in shining armor as he helps Machi get a job at a restaurant by interrupting their conversation and gassing Machi up to the owner. There are just a bunch of these little moments that are used to move the relationship along that don’t feel resolved or are rushed through because they have to be squeezed into this single-volume story. The pacing ruins any sense of depth the story might have and ends up making this feel like a corny melodrama instead, which is really unfortunate.
Results:
This had a lot going for it, like the single-parent storyline and the intensity of Machi’s survivor’s guilt mixed with his own trauma of abandonment, to name a few. But the pacing and the weirdly stiff art really hurt the overall story. It comes off as superficial and melodramatic when it really shouldn’t have been. I think this definitely would have benefited from a longer story, but that’s just not what we got. I wouldn’t say this is awful, but it’s disappointing knowing what it could’ve been.
Have you read The Love We Share? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!
