GOD, this volume made me so angry!! I was happy to see what happened after the cliffhanger in v1, but similar to most stories, after having such a great summer, coming back to reality means Conflict and it just so happens that the conflict is homophobia. And the author does such a good job at carrying my son through these turbulent times T-T!! I'm so happy to see the friendships he's forged in v1 having his back, his own self-discovery, and yes, even some of the DESERVED violence against a certain little prick. Because he's tiny, definitely. AND THAT CLIFFHANGER!! This author has done it again 👏👏 time for me to cry now! Apparently, v3 will focus on Yuiji next but honestly, this author interweaves all the characters' stories so well, I'm sure it'll be more than just him as the focus :) I'm excited!!

Still as cute an adorable as i remember volum 1 to be.
Very quick and easy read, could be funny to see this adapted to an anime.
Somewhat funny.

Lots of relationship drama and even more friendship drama. I loved the compassion overload and the romance tropes applied to allyship in the first volume, but it this volume it seemed a little over the top. Maybe I'm not cut out to be a romance manga fan?

I really love this story so far! Yamato is precious and deserves to be happy. I also love how good of friends Yuiji and Yamato have become!

I did have a hard time telling the difference between some of the characters sometimes because every now and then the artist would change the hair color for a panel which was a little confusing.

Absolutely loved it and got really invested in the characters. In the beginning I was struggling a bit to figure out who was who as the style of drawing made them look very similar. But I managed to get sucked into the story completely.

This series continues to be great, with so much drama going on.
It all gets very very complicated when Doi, the class jerk snaps a picture of Yamato in a tender moment with Sakura and decides to out him in class, and start harassing Sakura at his place of work. Yamato is torn between being brave and living his truth (while risking putting himself in extreme danger in what is still an extremely homophobic society) or crawling deeper into the closet to try to gain back some of the normalcy of his life. Will his friends rally around him or turn their backs like many of his classmates?

It doesnt support or open after I download the pdf version of it. It's also not showing in my shelf in netgalley and I cant open it to read

Please look into the issue and if you can send me the pdf in my mail ID- taniagungunsarkar@gmail.com

I cant read the book from here. Please look into the issue

Ah~ it had been a long time since I last laughed and felt so excited by a manga~

I hadn't read the first volume of this series, so it was a bit hard to get the hang of the characters, but once I figured who was who, the story really caught my attention. It is not the typical BL story, it really focuses on portraying the struggles and the discrimination that high-school students can face in Japan (although I have to say that it could easily be anywhere else in the world, things aren't that nice in the world yet). The characters felt real and fresh, and I felt quite jealous of their friendship.

I even had to screenshot a few dialogues, because they were quite spot-on:
<<It's not like anybody who's found someone's weakness is gonna think, "sweet, I'm going to exploit this and make his life hell".>>

I really recommend this manga if you want to see a warm depiction of friendship through struggles!

A lighthearted read that deals with some fairly deep subjects. I did not read the first volume of this series but based on the recap (brief though it was), I think I got the gist of the storyline. While likely not something I will continue to follow, I appreciate the publisher/author and NetGalley offering these books as I don't know that I would be exposed to them in any other way.

This second volume tells us more about the difficulties of confessing your sexual orientation to the world, addresses even more how you fear what your parents will say, what your friends will say, and it also shows us that you are not alone, since the character begins to trust more and more in others building a strong support network, regarding romance it is still slow, but I am sure it will be worth it, it shows us how little by little friends go from being strangers to friends and now they begin to feel certain attraction, but still do not dare to confess for fear of rejection. I hope they manage to be happy, I don't ask for much.
the drawing is still beautiful and the story that has been built is perfect, it is not forcing the relationship let everything flow.
To my taste it deserves 5 stars and that more people read this manga.

** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Copy received through Netgalley

~

Koimonogatari: Love Stories, Vol. 2, by Tohru Tagura
★★★★★
208 Pages
Content Warning: homophobic language, teenage bullying, self-hate


I was a fan of Love Stories, Vol. 1, and I loved this one even more. It helps that Netgalley created their Shelf app, which makes reading manga formats so much easier! I no longer had to zoom in and be irritated by having to pause to double-check dialogue etc, because it was all easily readable.

Again, Love Stories doesn't have much romance, BUT I am so happy for that! I love a good BL novel, and I love these characters. I'm totally shipping Yoshinaga and Yuiji, and I'm holding out hope that they end up together in Vol 3, where the author promises we'll get our romance. However, I can 100% see, understand, and support the decision NOT to have romance in this volume. It didn't need it, and it would have ruined the sweet, important storyline of Yoshinaga finding his inner strength, fighting his inner demons, and developing his friendship with Sakura.

The storyline for this volume centered around revealing Sakura's struggles with his home life, and helping Yoshinaga come out of his shell. Yoshinaga learns that he's got internalised homophobia, and has to deal with another student, Doi, outing him to school. That storyline needed time to develop, and I'm so glad that it was given the chance, because it was touching, beautiful, and heartbreakingly realistic. It's so sad, real and uplifting to see a character go through that journey on page, without skimming over it or it being shiny and perfect.

While I wish Yoshinaga would have owned being gay, he's just a teenager and I can understand why he thinks keeping it quite will be best for him. I hope he finds his confidence, his self-belief, and that he can find his HEA with Yuiji. The author promised Yuiji's arc is coming next, so I've got my fingers crossed.

~

Favourite Panel

<img src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/c0/3a/2c/c03a2cf0c06a377e7c7ace1ee9bb45fd.jpg" width="200" height="220" alt="description"/>

Koimonogatari is a serie that I’m learning to love more and more. In this volume, there are a heavy weight on the topics of bullying and homophobia. I love how friendship can be a salvation, how Yuiji and Yamato face their problems together.
I think these characters will be very important for me... I can easily relate with them. They

The art style is simple, as always, with a thin lineart but some characters are similar and sometimes I've confused them... ahahah.

I know that this manga is a BL but I'm happy even if the "red scenes" have not been shown yet. I will definitely continue reading this manga series.

Koimonogatari is a really sweet manga full of friendship but doesn't shy away from heavy topics like bullying and homophobia. I think it handled the topics well with a lot of care and nuance, especially when discussing the hardships of being queer and out. I don't think this is own voices but the story still tackled how people having varying degrees of prejudice and acceptance and navigating this can be very complex. This manga includes stalking, outing, bullying, assault and homophobia and while not overly graphic is not a light fluffy read. The story was positive with the gay characters having friends who support them which was very nice to read. The characters had a lot o depth and were fleshed out, I especially liked how the female characters were well rounded and not simply caricatures or background elements.
Koimonogatari is a rather slow burn for a BL manga but I loved how it is more focused on friendships, the struggles of being gay, and self acceptance rather than being solely about romance.
Overall it is a great manga I'm glad I got to read the continuation. I look forward to see how it progresses.

This talks about some intense things but the overall story is so sweet.

The art is really pretty with the thin lineart. Sometimes the art is a little funny but it's going to get better over time, so I'm looking forward to that. I really love the way the author draws the hair. It makes me just want to ruffle their hair.

It's a heartfelt but serious story. It's a cute story but it has deals with pretty intense homophobia from a bunch of characters, including internal homophobia of the main character.

I'm excited for the next volume!!

Thank you NetGalley for kindly providing me with a copy!

It's not often that you find a manga that deals with being in the closet, coming out, friendships, and first loves, in such a delicate, tender, respectful way. The characters, especially the two mains, are poignant, and I grew extremely attached to them.
I'm not really into love stories unless they're complex, nuanced, and slow burn. This was all these and more, and even if I'm personally not a huge fan of the art style, the story and characters are more than enough for me to rate this volume a solid 10 outa 10, a good 5 stars on goodreads, all that jazz.

I genuinely liked this volume more than the first one! I loved everything from the characterisation to the storyline to the pacing. I felt like a lot more happened in volume 2 with the development of inter-character relations and character development. I had a lot of fun and definitely recommend this for readers who enjoy a slow romance.

ACTUAL RATING: 4.4 STARS

Koimonogatari: Love Stories, Vol. 2 was definitely a good follow up up to volume 1. The Book Follow's A group of friends as they try to discover their sexuality and process on how to come out to their friends and family. The Love story is slower passed than usual from any other BL Manga I have read but its still Blooming in a beautiful way. it is definitely a wonderful series to pick up i cant wait for the next volume to come out I do Believe Volume 3 Will Conclude the story. Waiting to see how the romance will pick up, The artwork is very well drawn.

Koimonogatari Vol. 2 was a good continuation from volume one. The story thoughtfully explores the difficulties of coming to terms with your sexuality and navigating coming out to friends and family. As with book one, I was pulled up here and there with regards to knowing who was speaking, since several of the characters look very similar. However, that is only a minor gripe. This was still a slow, slow burn, with not much romance to speak of, but from the author's afterword, it looks like the third volume will be the last and that the romance will pick up before the finale, so I am keen to read on to the next book and see how everything concludes. Overall this is a pleasing story, sensitively told, with attractive artwork. Worth reading if you don't mind a slow burn on the romance front.

I love the story and how it deals with the important theme of being in "the closet". The book is about high schoolers dealing with the idea of being unlove due to their sexuality and even about how to love yourself. Can't wait for the third book!

Koimonogatari is a story about two friends in high school, each with their own issues - be it being in the closet about your sexuality, or generally feeling unable to love.
I really like how the story deals with some very important, even heavy, themes but does so without making the manga hard to read. I don't want to spoilt anything, so I'll leave it at that.
I also really like to quality of the translation, editing, and typesetting - just like page formatting for classical books, it has a big effect on the readers comfort.
I definitely recommend the story and will be continuing the series.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Diamond Book Distributors for providing me with an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.*