Futekiya has been publishing BL titles that are only really sold at Kinokuniya (and online), so once a month I wander to the bookstore and see what awaits me. Here and There and Us is a real treat and an example of why I end up buying somewhat random books that fall into my interest areas — this first volume is a real delight, with a compelling narrative and fluid, lovely cartooning. It’s also a thick edition for only $15.99 and the pages are dense, so this took me longer to read than I expected, and I really enjoyed poring over each page and seeing all of the little asides and details.
Sonoki is a more nerdy, introverted high schooler whose afterschool activity is the Meteor Club. He enjoys his quiet, study and reading oriented life. After the class reassignment happens, Majima, a outgoing, cheerful popular guy, starts talking to him and befriending him. Sonoki is taken aback by this and thinks that Majima’s friends are all delinquents, so he doesn’t know how to take Majima’s attempts to text him and hang out with him. As the story progresses, he becomes friends with Majima (somewhat against his will at times) and he gets to know the other people in Majima’s social circle better and realizes they’re actually pretty decent people as well. They both have a good influence on each other and develop a supportive friendship. This is a very emotionally realistic depiction of high school life with a humorous edge to it.
I think what I liked the most about this is that the author, Thanat, gives the narrative lots of space to breathe. I read a ton of BL and I can’t remember one where the whole first volume has gone by without some sort of love connection coming to fruition or at least some pining. But Thanat takes the time here to really establish the relationships without pushing it to romance yet, and I think that gives it the realism and emotional weight that make it such good story. I felt like I was really engrossed and engaged in their world and am excited to see what the second volume holds! My understanding is that this is complete in two books, which also heads off one of my pet peeves, endlessly and pointlessly drawn out angst.
