Yo, this was way more graphic than I expected from a manga. The story itself was sweet, and these two tragic idiots were adorable. It was a very quick read, but an enjoyable one all the same

Excellent standalone BL manga with two great main characters with excellent chemistry! That art was gorgeous and the story was well-paced and did well interspersing backstory and dual perspectives within the main storyline. I found the main character Kyouske relatable in how he keeps his personal life in check with a rigid right versus wrong path kind of mindset; it was cathartic to watch him dismantle that uncompromising, fear-based kind of thinking. Kasumi, our other love interest, was also compelling, I love how strong and resilient he revealed himself to be despite first being introduced as a messy, emotionally fragile type of character. The ending was very satisfying and I would have loved more little extras with these two, but the way it left off was perfect as well.

Well this was heartbreaking. I mean, not actually. It has a happy ending. But the whole thing was just. My heart. When one person thinks the best way for the other to be happy is for them not to be together? Be ready to do some book flinging, some frustrated flailing, some "oh, my heart" gestures. But it was also super sweet and angsty and beautifully drawn. So there's that.

CW for internalized homophobia, emotionally abusive parents, sex on the page, undiagnosed depression(?), adultery

Thanks to Netgalley for a digital copy and their new app, which makes it so much easier to read.

Ok, so disclaimer but I thought when I got it from Netgalley that is was a teen title - however there are some pretty graphic sex scenes in this one, so it's definitely an adult one.
Other than the unexpected doinking, it was a really sad, sweet beautiful story about two boys trying to figure out their feelings for each other in a society that is very much behind the times when it comes to acceptance of the LGBT community. Because of this, the two men (they are adults, fresh out of college) go through so much hell trying to reconcile the fact that their childhood friendship is so much more... and it doesn't help that one of them is trying to recover from a very traumatic childhood and some serious depression - two more things that are simply not acceptable to discuss in Japanese society.

This was a pretty cute graphic novel. I enjoyed the characters a lot, and enjoyed it so much I didn't put it down until I finished it. There's some trigger warning for this in terms of internalized homophobia. Ultimately I'm happy with how the characters got together and worked things out.

There Are Things I can't Tell You is a standalone BL manga that focuses on relationship of Kyousuke and Kasumi, who know each other since high school. It's also my first manga from Edako Mofumofu. I love trying new BL stories and this one had interesting premise.

First of all, I'd like to talk about art. I must say I was pretty pleasantly surprised, because it was very neat, clean and pleasant to look at. Just the way I love my mangas. Storywise, it's another story and I am little bit hesitant about rating. We follow MCs's journey through present when they are both adults and their relationship is still on the friendzone basis. Kyousuke is also trying his hardest to excel at his work which messes up his free time he could spend with Kasumi. Another problem is that they are both completely different personality wise. Author shows us a lot of flashbacks going back to high school to let us get to know them better.

Is it best BL out there? No. But it definitely stands out. Eventhough I was not fan of some stuff that both Kyousuke and Kasumi did, I admit it was pretty realisticly portrayed and I felt for the characters. There are some red flags you should be aware of though, such as very self-destructive behaviour, depression, cheating on significant other and many others. It's definitely worth checking though.

A heartfelt BL manga featuring men in their 20's who have been secretly pining for each other their entire lives. An emotionally satisfying story that doesn't shy away from adult content (graphic scenes, homophobia, emotional and physical abuse). The artwork is simply gorgeous, which more than makes up for the fact that the dialog is sometimes a bit clunky.

At first I thought this was going to be the quintessential story about unrequited love between childhood friends. But things were not as they seemed and were much more complicated.

Kyousuke and Kasumi both wanted each other happy but they lived in the deeply Conservative Japanese society and thought the best way to deal with it was well... not dealing with it.

Needless to say, this led to quite some angst and heartache along the way. BUT! As we all know, the heart & soul wants what it wants. No matter the time, distance, or impediments that come along the way.

I've always loved Japanese style of comics and this was no different. The art was beautifully rendered and had some sexy panels which added to the adult feel of the manga. The story was also very well written and tugged at my heartstrings all through out.

The only issue I had was that it ended. I needed more of their cuteness after they finally got their act together and were all "loved up" and had the manga had 50 more pages, I wouldn't have minded one bit! :D

Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for the advance copy of this book!

AWWWW... This book was very cute and I really enjoyed it. The art was very easily read and easy to follow. The plot and storyline in the book gave me what I was looking for. I highly recommend this author. I loved the writing. I will be looking for other works in the future from this author.

There Are Things I Can't Tell You is not the typical high school boys-love romance that you often see in manga, but instead featuring young men who are struggling with their sexual identity in the face a homophobic, judgemental society and scared to admit their feelings for each other in fear of losing someone important to them.

Kyousuke is a kind, hardworking graphic designer with big ambitions and he has been in love with Kasumi since forever but he's worried about him and believes he can't share his true feelings because he can't make Kasumi happy. Meanwhile, Kasumi is having an affair with a married woman but his heart isn't truly into it and he's unhappy. .

It was somehow and adorable yet bittersweet story, touching on more mature content as well, and I really enjoyed reading it! 3.5 stars rounded up to 4!

This manga, was a soft “will they, won’t they...already?”

Disclaimer: This book was provided to me by #Netgalley for an honest review. Thoughts on this book are my own.

WARNING: This BL novel is rated Mature. Touching on depression, graphic nudity, and homophobia.

There Are Things I Can’t Tell You is a one-shot manga by Edako Mofumofu. Recently translated by TokyoPop (yes, that one). Fun fact, Mofumofu roughly translates to english as “soft fluffy”. If you’re an old school fan of this BL author, you probably read a few steamer fan translated tales. (insert eyebrow wiggle)

The story follows two best friends navigating adulthood while secretly pining for the other. Mix in some personal trauma and melodrama. You get the recipe for a classic Male/Male romance (slight improvement to the Yaoi hands). Kyousuke has internalized homophobia. He’s also an Illustrator for a company. Kasumi struggles with depressive episodes brought on by childhood trauma. He’s attending (what I assume) graduate school while having an affair with a married woman.

While some readers will quickly dismiss this title for another fluffy BL, I can appreciate Mofumofu’s ability to reflect the realities of modern Japan. Mental health and same sex marriage is still a hushed topic.

That aside, I was pleasantly surprised by the short, graphic hookups later. See, I warned you again and Mofumofu still delivers. The conversation afterwards was a knee jerker. But keep reading!

The flashbacks may confuse some at first. The dialogue is very flat in some places, but the inner monologues were moving.

While we do see some character’s present day, I wanted to see more of a day in Kasumi’s life. Outside of adultery duties and breakdowns. But, I would not change that conversation in the park for anything.

If you’re looking for a BL riddled with angst and emotional hangups, this is the book for you.

Available in most major eBook sellers in english translation by TokyoPop.

There are Things I Can’t Tell You by Edaku Mofumofu, Trans. by Christine Dashiell

It’s an ok and quite of a quick read. But the dialogue was not great and I really needed that to appreciate this story more. Quite cliche and predictable at times, could be due to translation? I will never know. Also, a big pet peeve of mine when reading such books with young characters is the quite annoying and, most of the times unneccessary, miscommunication scenes just to be build up some drama. There are other ways to do that. Please, no more.

Trigger Warnings: Adultery, Familial Abuse, Unhealthy Romantic Relationships, Explicit Sex Scenes, Depression

I got a free e-ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sexy, sweet and angsty. Typical friends to lovers but it hits the spot and I found it enjoyable. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I gave this book a 2 star review. While I enjoyed the plot - two boys meet and become best friends, they end up having some romantic feelings for one another, etc. However, I felt super confused half the time with the flashbacks and the real time being so interwoven that’s I couldn’t tell them apart.

Spoiler?

The sex scenes also took me completely by surprise in the book. I don’t mind them at all in any form (manga, novel, etc), but they definitely came out of nowhere. I would be willing to give the author another shot with another series however.

A gorgeously drawn graphic novel with an interesting narrative, plot, and concepts. Definitely recommended for fans of this genre.

Nice gay rep, though there is a lot of internalized homophobia (due to upbringing) and more will they won't they than I really cared for (angst out the wazoo), but the art was really nice and both guys were cute in their own ways.

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free manga*

This was super super gay and in parts very graphic, I didn't expect the latter as I didn't know it was yaoi, but that's me not having read the blurb carefully enough. Anyhow, it's super gay and explicitly erotic, comparable to "Call me by your name".

Quirky Kyousuke & shy Kasumi fall in love in school, but Kyousuke rejects Kasumi as he doesn't believe he could make the other boy coming from a problematic family background happy. A few years later, at 27, Kyousuke is an extreme workaholic who reconnects with Kasumi.

The story focusses on the two main characters who are a bit archetype-y but still evolve during this very short manga (I read it in one sitting). I thought the story was a bit predictable but I was still somewhat emotionally invested in the characters.

No idea how realistic or unrealistic the sex scenes are, but I found parts of it a bit weird, almost a bit cliché, but I'm not a suitable person to judge this.

But it was kind of a sweet story, the two of them finding together after so many years.

3,5 Stars

This is an ADULT manga that follows a m/m romance between two childhood friends. This gets really graphic when it comes to the sex scenes. While, that isn't something I enjoy, I don't tend to let it affect my ratings of other books and I won't let it affect my rating of this one.

But what did affect my rating was the story itself. The only thing I can really say is that it needed to be longer. Not only did I want it to be, it needed to be. We got their story from being middle schoolers to adulthood, with a skip in time between from high school-ish to after college.

But that's too much time to cover over one volume. There was so much to get into that this manga just wasn't able to delve deep into because of its length. If they would have made it a couple volumes longer, I could have felt more for the relationship and would have cared more about what was happening between these two.

That being said, I didn't hate this book. I did enjoy it and I know that it could have been even more amazing if it would have been longer. I didn't hate my experience while reading this book.


That's why I'm giving this manga 3 stars.

"There Are Things I Can't Tell You" is a Yaoi Manga about two male friends, and the way their relationships changes as they grow up. They both have very different personalities but they complement each other. The story and the art are pretty cute. Tigger Warning: it does talk about depression, internalized homophobia and parental abuse.

Romance manga has been a comfort throughout the current quarantine. But given the ample time on my hands to read since lockdown started, I quickly ran through my favorites in the shojo and josei romance areas and found my way yaoi, more affectionately known as Boy Love or BL. The romances in BL can vary from traditional shojo hand-holding with a kiss in the final chapter, or they can be romantic stories with explicit sex scenes illustrated. There Are Things I Can’t Tell You from Tokyopop and mangaka Edako Mofumofu is the latter of these but offers up a complex romance story that sees us following two friends who developed feeling for each other during childhood but were kept apart by perceived ideas of “normalcy.”

Masumi and Kyousuke are polar opposites when it comes to personality. While Masumi is reserved, soft-spoken and shy, Kyousuke is energetic and has always been popular among their peers. As the saying goes though, opposites have a tendency to attract, and these two have been fast friends since elementary school. To Masumi, Kyousuke has always been a hero to look up to, someone who supports him and saves him from the bullies. But now, school is over; their relationship suddenly becomes a lot less simple to describe. Facing the world — and one another — as adults, both men find there are things they struggle to say out loud, even to each other.

As a BL title, it’s no surprise that the two are in love, but its what this title does with this love and the revelation of it that makes it an amazing series. Over the course of just over 200-pages, this one-shot manga masterfully tells a story of becoming comfortable in your sexual identity and how society’s homophobia can wound individuals regardless of if they see their own pain or not. While there are two explicit sex scenes in the main story, the storytelling isn’t based on smut. In fact, it’s focused on telling a story of love, loss, and fear, and it just so happens to offer up some steamy moments that also have a deep emotional pay-off.

If you’re not familiar with BL as a genre, this storyline isn’t new. Often shonen-ai and yaoi both feature characters who have been love each other since childhood and for whatever reason, be it age or circumstance decide to confess each other. But this is also where There Are Things I Can’t Tell You diverts from the typical storytelling tropes by focusing on the societal pressures that impact budding love even when both parties want to move forward.

While the opening of the book shows us that Kyousuke is in seemingly unrequited love, an argument between him and Masumi reveals that he had actually rejected a confession from his best friend before. Instead of accepting Masumi’s love and returning it, Kyousuke was brought back to the way his father treated the simple idea that his son could be gay. With that stigma deeply rooted in his heart, Kyousuke chooses to push Masumi away from himself and encourage him to seek someone else. Mofumofu uses ideas of normalcy and “right” and “wrong” to show how deeply this self-hatred and runs in Kyousuke despite his deep love for Masumi.

While we do get one chapter told from Masumi’s point of view, recounting the events of their childhood which led to their friendship and eventual love, There Are Things I Can’t Tell You is Kyuosuke’s story. It’s about him coming to terms with sexual identity and allowing himself to feel like he is both deserving of love and that he can return it in the way that Masumi needs it. The beautiful storytelling can’t be understated and it comes from an understanding of not only how to build tension but also how to avoid common tropes within the BL genre, like expected plot twists and confessions.

There Are Things I Can’t Tell You is an emotional and beautiful romance that also offers up a critique on the way society forces people to hold themselves back from happiness. There is a beauty in this one-shot that makes it one of my favorite BL titles. From illustration to writing, Mofumofu does an excellent job of filling each page with a tenderness and understanding that you need when picking up a romance title.