Sinful Book Reviews

Since I was so pleasantly surprised by my first experience with SuBlime’s yaoi, I decided to try another of their series. I enjoyed False Memories even more thanBlue Morning.

Two high school classmates and friends, Nakano & Tsuda, sleep with each other to alleviate their teenage hormones while studying for exams together. Ten years later, Nakano is still trying to bury his memories of that night. He’s avoided Tsuda since he went to college. Now, the two are placed together on a collaboration project with their two companies.

This manga is different somehow than any other I’ve ever read. Sometimes, I think the tone gets a little lost in translation. Sometimes I just don’t get the Japanese humor. More often, with yaoi, there seems to be one member of the relationship always confessing his love and taking the lead and the other seems reluctant and even resistant to the whole idea. I’ve never liked that. It’s what keeps me from continuing many yaoi manga. False Memories is very straight-forward. I like that. It’s easy to understand. Neither Nakano or Tsuda are resisting the idea of being with another man. Their problems just lie in hurt feelings and misunderstandings. It seems much more realistic than most yaoi. I love that about it. Also really love both characters. Nakano is blunt and stand-offish. Tsuda is friendly and excitable. He’s also just a little dense, but in a cute way. They’re personalities are completely opposite, which only makes for a more interesting story between them. I love Natsume’s humor, too. I get it. There were some moments that just made me laugh or smile. I genuinely loved reading about them and I’m excited for the next volume. Bravo!

There’s not much adult content yet, just a few flashbacks to their night together in high school. I assume it will get a little more mature as the series goes on. For that reason, I’m siding with the publisher on a recommendation that this is for mature readers. So, mature readers, you’ll like this if you enjoy romances. These two are pretty cute.