I’m a sucker for good love stories. It really doesn’t matter is it straight, gay or lesbian love stories. And with good love stories I do not mean Twilight or Fifty Shades of Grey, that shit is trash.
Doukyusei or Classmates is such a love story focusing on the budding love of two male students. As characters they are completely the opposite with Sajo being the diligent studious type and Kusakabe who is an airhead and has a streak of a rebel in him. They have been in each others class for a while but haven’t noticed each other until the class is setting up a choir. Sajo is only mouthing the lyrics but no sound is coming out which makes Kusakabe wonder why he does this. After school he rushes back to the classroom to retrieve his items and hears Sajo practicing by himself all out of tune. Spurred on by the moment he offers to help Sajo master the song for the school recital. Over the weeks they grow closer and Kusakabe assumes that Sajo is only doing this for their teacher, jealousy growing inside. On the day of the recital Kusakabe suddenly realizes their connection is gone and tears roll over his face. He flees mid performance only to be chased by Sajo.
I read a lot of BL (Boys love) but sometimes struggle with how the relationship develops. There are some books out there that didn’t start innocently, the main character is sometimes even harassed into the relationship. Just with real relationships I don’t think it’s possible to have a happy relationship if started with forms of harassment or even abuse. But Doukyusei starts off as a teenage love and develops into a long lasting relationship going through the trials and tribulations.
Another thing that I like about this series is the art style. It’s not like most manga’s out there with more of a fluid art style. I know that there’s 6 volumes published in Japan and just 3 volumes translated to English so I hope the other 3 will be picked up soon.
