Rating: 4.25 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel
Loving someone shouldn’t be hard. As Sato and Aoi start a second year of their romance, however, there are more than a few obstacles. Suffering from abandonment issues that stem from his own parents’ rejection of their gay son, Aoi (a voice actor who portrays all the best submissive bottoms in Japanese “boy’s love” media) is deeply affected when Sato’s mother reacts negatively to her own son’s coming out. Sato is ready and willing to give up contact with anyone in his family who would reject him or Aoi—something Aoi is fearful would cause Sato to resent him at some point in the future. On top of that, Aoi is feeling professional pressure to come out. Specifically, a moderately successful fellow voice actor named Atsushi starts putting Aoi in the hot seat during public events. No matter how deeply and how much Aoi feels for Sato, Aoi is convinced that publicly acknowledging this orientation would be a death knell for a career that has finally started to help pay the bills.
Loving someone shouldn’t be a secret. After more than a year dating (closer to two if you count the period where Aoi insisted there was such a thing as “friendship kisses”), Sato (an accountant for a major anime studio that specializes in giant mecha programs) is feeling the strain of constantly keeping his relationship with Aoi a secret. He’s happy his family knows and confident his mother will come around. But Sato wants what any heterosexual couple has, even in conservative Japan: holding hands while walking down the street, sitting close to each other on the train, maybe a kiss in public or two. Aoi has put the kibosh on PDA, afraid it will hurt his career, but Sato wishes he could make the man of his dreams understand that Aoi’s fans would like him *more* if he came out and, at the very least, a little affection outside neighborhoods where Aoi might be recognized wouldn’t harm anyone.
Buffeted by these conflicting emotions and expectations, Aoi and Sato have a lot to consider and come to terms with if they hope to stay together.
This was a no-brainer for International Week in our Reading Challenge Month—our main characters are Japanese and the entire story unfolds in Japan. If you’ve read the reviews for Tasukada’s earlier installments in this series, then you’ll know I have a deep appreciation for what I think is the author’s authenticity in portraying two aspects of Japanese popculture I used to strongly identify with: indie band life from the perspective of an insider (technically, Aoi is a seiyuu [voice actor], but has friends in the indie band scene and I still consider Aoi an “insider” in terms of the entertainment industry) and anime nerds from the perspective of an outsider.
Part of the fun of reading this comes from the fact that Aoi and Sato are an established couple. They’ve already fallen in love, so the author and the reader get to focus on the dynamic of how to stay together—no small feat in a conservative society like Japan. Tasukada does a great job nonchalantly showing how Aoi accepts Sato’s anime nerd life and how Sato supports Aoi’s voice acting. Readers will enjoy vignettes from each of these nerdy scenarios. One chapter follows Sato and Aoi to a Gundam convention that seamlessly highlights how Aoi has picked up a bit of Gundam nerd culture. That said, themes that stem from Aoi’s voice acting and the corresponding fan culture are more prevalent. For one thing, there was Atsushi, the other voice actor, who may be angling to blackmail Aoi into coming out to his fans. For another thing, the manner in which Sato expresses his support for Aoi’s unconventional work (Aoi’s not just a voice actor, he’s the voice behind some of the most popular bottoms in gay-themed audio recordings) actually puts Aoi on edge.
The chapters are arranged chronologically by month. I think this pacing works well—the themes come shining through, but we’re not inundated with minutiae. For example, the tension Atushi brings to Aoi’s working life, as well as Sato’s and Aoi’s reactions to it, crop up in multiple chapters, but plenty is left to the imagination. For me, at least, this built a ton of anticipation for the resolution of this story line. There are some other themes that come and go, but were not as prevalent as the Atsushi drama. For example, there was Sato’s exploration of coming further out of the closet (so far, he’s only officially out with his family—to very mixed results). There is also a brief bit where I was rooting for Sato to go insane with jealousy after Aoi has a wild night out with his friends (keeping in mind that in the last book, Sato was stunned someone as cool as Aoi would give someone as nerdy as Sato the time of day), but this gets resolved before too much comes of it (unfortunately, I thought).
Overall, I really enjoyed this batch of installments in the saga of Aoi and Sato’s relationship. Highlights included the above-mentioned fact that we get to see each of them placed in their partner’s fandom, showing that they’re integrating their hobbies. There are bits of high drama that played out realistically, if not with maximum drama content—how Aoi frets over coming out to his fans and really frets over Sato’s mom. While I thought some aspects could have been developed a bit more (Sato’s jealousy and Aoi’s actions/reactions to pressure to coming out as they would have affected Sato), on the whole, there was a good balance of angst and relief.
This review is part of our Reading Challenge Month for International Week! Leave a relevant comment below and you will be entered to win a prize pack of some of our favorite International Books. Commenters will also be entered to win our amazing grand prize sponsored by Dreamspinner Press (a Kindle Fire filled with Dreamspun Desires/Beyond books, plus a 3-month subscription!). You can get more information on our Challenge Month here, and more details on International Week here, including a list of all the books in this week’s prize.
Yesterday, I read the first installment of this series for my international read, so it was interesting to learn what happens next. Thanks for your review, Camille.
I’m so glad you picked up this series—it really captures the essence of what I imagine the experience of being sort of famous in Japan is like (I used to be a devotee to several indies bands in Japan). These characters are likeable and the pacing of the story kept things moving along well.
I really liked the first book, but have held off on picking up the subsequent books. They weren’t out yet when I read the first, otherwise I think I would have gone straight into them. I think I keep confusing this series with another that I didn’t enjoy as much. Definitely off to pick up Year One.
I know the feeling, when you remember something vividly for being good or bad, but can’t remember the title or something else so you end up either ignoring updates on the thing you liked or investing in the thing you didn’t. I’m glad this review seems to have jogged the memory. I really enjoy this series and think being able to read Year One and Year Two back to back would be a great way to go.
I am very intrigued by this series, I found a box set with the first three books of the series. Camille, thank you for the review.
I would certainly recommend reading the novel-length books back to back to back. The shorter peices are fun once you’re already familiar with the characters…and some of them are included in the novel-length titles, too.
Sounds really good. I must recognise it already was in my TBR list, because I love the cover (it reminds me to yaoi, I am an avid reader of them).Thank you for the review, Camille
I was into yaoi before I even knew it had a name (and then june…Ai no Kusabi set a high bar for sad endings for me). This book hits all my nostalgia buttons for when I was into fafic based on Japanese anime and all that…if you’re into that stuff, then you’ll probably love this as much as I did!
Thank you for the review, Camille.
Sure! I hope you give the series a shot, I really do love the characterizations and the setting.
I have part one on my TBR, looks like I’ll love the series!
Yay! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. If you’re into Japan, and especially contemporary (well, feels comteporary to ME anyway) pop culture stuff, then you’re sure to like this!
Thanks for the review. I have the first book, now I just have to read it!
Please do read it! I thought the characterizations and the settings were truly authentic, so if you like Japan and are curious about seiyuu (another very Japan thing, I think), you’ll probably like this.
I love the cover on this book and i enjoyed your review but for some reason this book doesn’t speak to me so i don’t think i’m goinig to buy/read this one but i’m glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for your thoughts and review.
The covers are lovely! The series just really appeals to me because of the parallels from my “youth.” If you ever do get a hankering to read about Japan and at least one take on same-sex relationships in Japan, I hope you pick up this title!
Thank you for the review. This series sounds very interesting.
This is a lovely series for anyone who enjoys Japan-themed topics or interested in stories about sam-sex relationships in more conservative cultures. It pushed all my buttons given my experiences with Japan. If you pick it up, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
I have the first book on my TBR but haven’t gotten around to it yet. This one sounds good. Thanks for the review.
I thought these were super quick reads, and organized in a way that it’s not so hard to take big breaks between chapters so if you don’t have a lot of time, it’s still easy to read. I hope you do get around to reading them, I really enjoyed the slow, shy (nerdy?) burn!
Thank you for the review. I reviewed the first book and I thought it was an okay read because I saw it as more or less oneshots compiled to make a series focused on the Aoi and Sato. I appreciate the review and will probably give it a read.
I agree, the chapters aren’t traditional minute-by-minute or day-by-day set ups, but I still felt like we get to know and like the MCs well regardless. I think that style holds true for Year Two, but maybe with a little less overt “one chapter is a new month” feeling to it.
I picked up a few of her books, including this one, but I haven’t read any yet. This makes me look forward even more to them when I do. My favorite type of series is one that follows one couple throughout. I think it’s so great to see how they grow together and the bumps along the way.
As the titles suggest, year one is basically 12 chapters, one for each month of their budding relationship. Year two (this one) feels a bit less regimental in that chapter-a-month organisation, but I still had a strong sense of time and how their relationship grows between events in their lives. I, too, really enjoy a series that lets us follow the same set of characters from book to book, so this sounds like something you’d enjoy!
I’ve read the first one of this series. It was good written and for sure accurate regarding the japanese culture but I still couldn’t connect with the characters. So I didn’t read the second book.
I enjoyed the writing and agree, the representation of Japanese culture is spot-on. I’m sorry you didn’t connect with the characters—no matter how well everything else is done, if the characters don’t click, a book can be a lot less fun to read. If you’re into Japan and liked her style, maybe her Yakuza Path series would have characters that appeal to you more?
This sounds good. I think I have the first one, but haven’t read it yet actually. I’ll have to move it up the TBR. I have a friend who worked in Toyko on contract for two years and would share about Japanese culture with me, so I think this is interesting.
If you like a slow get-together with sweet characters, then yeah! Move this on up to TBR! I don’t think you’d have to have your friend explain any of the culture stuff…it was more like nods to facts of life in japan (tiny apartments, the immense popularity of giant robots, fan culture, shopping on New Years Day) but if you want to share this with your friend and they lived in Japan, they might get a kick out of it!
I liked the first one, I would try the second.
I hope you do! We get to see a lot more development in Sato and Aoi as a couple, especially as they come to terms with not just being gay in Japan, but actually being in a relationship in Japan, too.
For some reason, I have never read any novels with Japanese MCs. This series sounds really intriguing though. Thank for the review. You definitely changed my mind.
I hope you do enjoy it! The characters and setting feel very authentic to modern (i.e. 2000’s and later) Japan, but there are some traditions that are inescapable (like the mochi making in the second book). If you’re on the fence about a book set in a different culture, this contemporary work is a great way to “ease in.”
‘Year Two’ follows the first book seamlessly. The men have grown closer and reading about another culture is always a plus!
I’m glad you enjoyed it! I agree, the two books dove-tail fabulously. I really liked how this one focuses on how they see their relationship, too. The little things about the world Aoi and Sato live in struck me as very authentic, too…the parties, the work obligations, the holidays. I’m glad you enjoyed it!