Minato, a 30 year old who recently took over his grandfather’s laundromat, has his life turned upside down when a new customer becomes romantically interested in him. While Minato would normally be happy with the attention, the fact that this particular customer is just a high school student makes things complicated.
Before we start the review…
Who wrote this manga?
This manga was written by Yuzu Tsubaki and Sawa Kanzume.
Info about the volumes (ongoing)
- There are currently 6 volumes out in Japanese.
- There are currently 6 volumes out in English.
- There is also a live action drama for this series! You can learn more about it here.
You can check out Volume One of this series for yourself below.
What’s this series about?
After growing tired of the corporate life, Minato takes the opportunity to inherit his grandfather’s laundromat. While it’s a rather rundown establishment, this type of work is very refreshing when compared to his old job. Things are going smoothly and he’s slowly establishing relationships with the regular customers, when an unfamiliar face makes an appearance.
Minato can’t help but find this new person incredibly attractive, but upon learning that he’s just in grade 11—quite a bit younger than his 30 year old self—he sucks the attraction right up. He stays as friendly as he is with everyone else, but this high schooler, Katsuki, seems to have taken an interest in Minato. When Minato lets it slip that he’s gay one day, the interest the 11th grader has in him only seems to grow.
As Minato is an adult, having once had feelings for an older man when he was Katsuki’s age himself, he understands the precarious situation he’s found himself in. While keeping clearly established boundaries with the now infatuated Katsuki, Minato tries to respect his feelings.
My thoughts on this volume (spoilers!)
I tend to have a love-hate relationship with BL manga, and I’ve been working to discover exactly what subgenres I enjoy. I saw this on the shelf at the library, thought it looked sweet by looking at the cover (yes, I judge books by their covers), and took it home.
I’m glad to saw that this is one type of BL story that I really enjoy! Minato and Katsuki have a very complex relationship—while there’s the obvious dynamic of a teenager having a crush on an adult, the power dynamic between the two seems to always be changing. Katsuki spends the majority of the volume trying to get closer to Minato, and Minato has to constantly enforce his own boundaries. While it’s clear that Minato has feelings for Katsuki, he understands it’s very much not right for an adult to date a high schooler.
Katsuki does his best to pull on Minato’s heartstrings, and in a few separate scenes we see him attempting to manipulate him—this is what I mean by a changing power dynamic. While Minato is something of a pushover, he’s still the adult in the relationship. So, when Katsuki does things like “tell me if you hate me, or if you like me”, trying to get a confession out of Minato, it makes things a little uncomfortable for him.
Despite this, I really did like this story, and I enjoyed their dynamic! When it was revealed that Minato also had a crush on an older man when he was in high school, I felt a great deal of empathy towards both him and Katsuki. When a minor has feelings for an adult and they try to act upon them, it’s up to the adult to put a stop to it. But, because Minato went through what he did, he’s having difficulties. His own personal feelings for Katsuki, and Katsuki’s relentless pushiness doesn’t help at all.
My favourite parts of this volume (spoilers)
💛 Katsuki using his cooking skills to slowly make his way into Minato’s heart—I really liked that he’s shown to be a good brother, having honed his skills to help out his siblings.
💚 Minato constantly firmly stating his boundaries, and standing by them. I really liked watching him understand that although he has feelings, taking advantage would be a serious no-no.
💙 The heart to heart the boys had after breaking into the school to hang out by the pool.
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