Help support the BL library on Patreon and get extra content!
About:
Warning:
There will be spoilers for the novel or novel series Yes, No, or Maybe? – Center of the World.
Content Warning: There may be references to prejudice, sexism, gossiping, excessive drinking, extreme cosmetic surgery, mentions of sex work, mentions of murder, slut-shaming, mentions of robberies, mentions of assassination, mentions of animal euthanasia, self-deprecation, overwork, disordered eating, perceived cheating, excessive drinking, and memory loss, as they appear in the novel or novel series.
Synopsis:
This is the sequel to Yes, No, or Maybe?.
Kei and Ushio’s relationship has been going well for a while now, and so has Kei’s job. Unfortunately, Kei finds his confidence rocked by the announcement of a new pseudo-news show in the same time block. Initially, he’s not all that worried, as the rival show is much more relaxed and focuses less on news and more on the hosts’ commentary. But then he finds out the main host, Kizaki Ryou, once interviewed for Kei’s role. The realization that Kizaki might be motivated by revenge shakes Kei to his core. But nothing shocks him more than when he’s removed from hosting his show to being a field reporter.
It’s chaotic and stressful work with people who aren’t as reliable as the ones in the studio. The stress of work soon spills over into Kei’s relationship. Kei knows he should just apologize to Ushio so they can move on, but his unrelenting pride, along with his random work schedule, makes it difficult. As if things couldn’t get any worse, his show also loses its market share to Kizaki’s new show. Kei’s perfectly crafted life is falling apart, and he has no idea how to fix it.
Review:
Something I love about light novels (ranobe) is the inclusion of artwork at key or emotional points in the story. It’s such a nice bonus and can often punctuate a particularly poignant scene. Unfortunately, my previous complaint from the 1st entry in this series remains: I’m not a fan of the vague and nebulous backgrounds. I’d love to see where they are sitting to ground them in the scene. Having them in a floaty, sparkly world makes it feel like everything is a dream, which can be good, but not so much in a down-to-earth series like this. Some have actual setting elements, but it’s primarily those vague and sparkly backgrounds. They’re pretty, but they’re just not my favorite for this series.
But beyond the pretty images, this has such well-written and emotional sex scenes. As a writer, I was taking notes, for sure. It’s very detailed and soft but doesn’t drone on, which I appreciate for a more story-driven title. It does have some sex noises, which aren’t my favorite, but it’s very tame. I hardly cared about them at the end of the day. Now, there aren’t a ton of these scenes, which is unfortunate, but it is a very short novel with a good chunk of story that takes place, so what can you expect? This is certainly quality over quantity here, which I always appreciate.
Unfortunately, as much as I love the writing of the sex scenes, another of my bigger complaints from the previous entry shows up here. Kei is dropping more of those “plebs” in his inner dialogue and pairing that with his outward exclamations of “cram it,” this is a bit of a cringfest. I, thankfully, expected it this time around, so I didn’t cringe as much, but it bothered me all the same this time around. As cringe as Kei can be with his “pleb” and “cram it,” I really appreciate his self-awareness. He is honest with himself about his insecurities and how much effort he puts in, that he isn’t this naturally gifted, perfect person. The main issue, though, is Kei’s internal voice. He is honest with Ushio, but only to a certain extent. His pride and fear about how others might perceive him prevents him from saying much of what he needs to, leading to unnecessary issues between him and Ushio. I think I would’ve preferred it if this had focused on issues between Kei and his job while Ushio functioned as a safe place rather than tacking on needless conflict between the two. This isn’t a huge complaint, but it can be a bit frustrating when Kei is usually super open with his complaints when he’s with Ushio. It feels a tad out of character for me.
The story is, for the most part, very succinct, which I appreciate. However, the main story takes a major turn toward the end when Kei takes a tumble and experiences partial memory loss. He remembers everyone except for Ushio. I don’t mind the memory loss trope. It isn’t my favorite thing in the world, but I’ve seen it done very well. This, however, comes out of nowhere and is completely unnecessary. The main conflicts and stories are resolved when Kei finds his comfort zone and passion in his work again, and he realizes that expressing himself to Ushio can resolve most issues between them. The end. All’s well that end’s well. But then we have this random memory loss segment where Kei reverts to his fake self. It feels like this was the only way to make Kei openly express his love and affection for Ushio, as Kei’s tsundere-self could never, which really cheapens all of the sweetness and fluffiness for me. I think it would’ve been so much more romantic if, after learning all of these lessons over the course of the story, Kei finally grew past his stubborn tsundere-ness to finally confess his loving feelings to Ushio, but here we are.
Results:
This was very okay. I think I would’ve leaned much more on the positive side if not for the random memory loss segment. It felt so unnecessary and didn’t make any sense plot-wise since everything had been resolved. I suppose it could be argued that this revealed Ushio’s true feelings for Kei, but I think this could’ve been achieved in some other way. If you enjoyed the first entry in this series, then I can’t imagine you’ll dislike this one. It is less romantic overall, but the sex is much better, so take that for what you will. I look forward to reading the third entry in this series.
Have you read Yes, No, or Maybe? – Center of the World? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!