Neko no Koi

Neko no Koi

By Shimaji

Overall: Mediocre
Smex Factor: Modest
Art: Generic-
Status: 1 Volume; Complete

Review: For a story based around the heir of a sweets shop, it was disappointingly bland. It was just another case of “Oh, I’ve fallen in love with my childhood friend! Scandal! Whatever shall I do!?”

I know what he will do: he’ll fret about it, provoke his friend’s jealousy, and then clumsily seduce him.

Wow, haven’t seen that one before. /SARCASM /SARCASM /SARCASM

Any story drama is a thin backdrop to the already substance-free “romance.” There’s some mention of a romantic rival (which the main character nonchalantly rebukes at every turn and is completely apathetic towards; I almost feel sorry for the guy) and the main character’s (non?)commitment to inheriting the family sweet shop is mentioned twice before being painlessly relieved of its plot-point status. So much for conflict.

And then the best friend suddenly “stops holding back” despite showing no prior sign of romantic feelings. I can only assume that the manga-ka forgot to drop any hints and then realized she was running out of pages. (I sometimes wonder how much editorial ability goes into the making of these things.)

(If any.)

The second part focuses on the spurned romantic rival of the previous protagonist, the sorry Mr.Mori. Who starts our fantastical BL journey waking up after a particularly…vigorous night. With his nephew.

WAIT- HOLD THE PRESS-

You probably know my policy on incest, and apparently the author did too: The nephew was quick to lampshade-hang that they are not related by blood. So great! I guess it’s only a little weird then. I can dig it.

The story spends a lot of time chasing its tail. Mori likes Ryo, Ryo likes Mori…Their conflict stems from…Uh…

Well I guess Ryo just has really low self-esteem.

And that’s that?

The saving grace lies within Mori’s daughter, Hiyori, the voice of reason. Despite being like, thirteen. (ALL OF MY PREVIOUS CONCEPTIONS HAVE NO MEANINGGGG) She’s very cute and gives readers a much needed break from the pointless drama between Ryo and Mori. Plus she’s just damn cute.

Oh, you know what? Maybe Ryo was just intimidated by the fact that Mori loves his daughter. Maybe he just couldn’t take that. Yeah, I’m gonna go with that and never give this any thought ever again.