Hyperventilation

One reason I truly love this book is the small dialogue. There aren't a lot of lines spoken between the characters but there is so much yearning and adoration in their expressions, that there is no need for extensive conversations, overly explaining how much they like each other. It's a short story that encompasses nine long years of dreaming and desire, of hope and unrequited love. There's little dialogue but a lot of emotion, and once their love is realized, the sensation of bliss is much sweeter than if it had been overly described. The art design is very pretty, and though the steam factor is there with plenty of titillation, it is censored, much to my grief. But overall, it is one of my favorite stories, because it shows how well a tale can be told without a lot of embellishments and drama, just love and yearning sweetly fulfilled.

Seen a short for this and immediately knew I had to buy it! Very beautifully made!!

The blurb says, "Myeong and Seonho haven't seen each other since they were 18 years old. Now 27, they run into one another at a high school reunion, and the romantic feelings they had for one another come rushing to the surface. But are they the same people now that they were back then?"That question is, in my opinion, not answered in this story. We're given next to no detail about them then other than Myeong was a bit of an outcast in high school due to weak lungs and Seonho was obviously popular as class president. That's literally all it says about their "unique traits" in the reference materials. It's heavily implied that the two had a moment in high school when Seonho escorted Myeong to the nurse's office after a coughing fit in class. Exactly what happened isn't shown or discussed on page, but it conveys they each had a thing for the other back then.So, now, 9 years later at what seems to be an informal class reunion, Seonho is the center of attention, wearing what looks like a wedding ring, but saying he's not with anyone while former classmates offer to set him up with women they know. Myeong is just kind of there. When Seonho expresses interest in being set up by asking, "Is she pretty" Myeong seems to have enough and leaves. Seonho follows for them to have a smoke together in an alley that leads to some sexy kissing against a wall with Seonho declaring he wanted to go all the way that night.At this point, I'm honestly thinking that they might be secretly married and this is them keeping that from their former classmates, but that's not the case. The ring is never explained, but has obvious significance. Myeong asks Seonho to take it off while they're intimate, which he does, only to slip it on Myeong's finger afterward while Myeong seems to be sleeping. The moment seems to mean a great deal to Seonho, but in the morning he wakes to find Myeong has left him. And Myeong meant to leave, but after some distance realizes he's wearing the ring and runs back to return it only to be embraced by a Seonho who only cares that Myeong was coming back to him.There is such beauty in the art of this. I get the emotion, but I'm missing the story. Where's the rest? Because I love that they appear to end up together, but it honestly made more sense for it to just be a one night stand with Seonho giving in to a long-held desire for Myeong with the permission of a spouse left behind somewhere or to rebound from a recent divorce or spouse death. If Myeong leaves it at that without having asked any questions then we readers just get that bittersweet moment between them, and I love the angst of it all, but if they're together in the end then they've got some explaining to do to make it a satisfying story. Is there more of their story somewhere?

Love this book, the movie is amazing too ;p.

Compared to other manga, this story was super short... Took me half hour to read the book and usually it takes like an hour or so.There is no depth to the story... Apparently there was a highschool crush on both sides but that is only delivered in a few pages as images that are somewhat unclear. Because it's barely touched on, the depth of the feelings didn't really exist for me as a reader.At a reunion the characters meet and hookup and story ends.The whole story felt shallow and rushed... The book is beautiful and full color but the story is lacking. I paid full price when it came out but it's not worth that in my opinion when so many better BL stories are out there.Tokyopop has some decent BL stories but the newer ones I've been reading feel like cash grabs. They know people who enjoy BL will buy them so they are pushing out a bunch and not exactly selecting the best... Just to publish a BL and make money off an audience that doesn't have many other options.Maybe if I had seen the movie, this would have been better. But as a stand alone graphic novel, it wasn't that great.

A wonderful, complete, beautifully animated short story. Loved it!!

I first came across this story years ago when it was an animated short film. This is the manga version of that film, so it’s basically just the screenshots put together from it. But the art is so beautiful you wouldn’t know. Although it’s brief story without too much detail, it’s a beautiful story between two young men who meet again as adults during their high school reunion. There are some adult scenes, but all the bits are covered up as you’d expect. I’d highly recommend watching the film or reading the novel since there is a bit more you get to see of them afterwards that you don’t get from the manga. 10/10 recommend.

An aesthetically gorgeous story. It’s a short read I thoroughly enjoyed, but heads up — this is not for everyone. Much is left up to interpretation & not absolutely definite, so if you don’t enjoy “reading between the lines”, this may not be the one for you. There’s a lot of jumping back and forth throughout the character’s youth and adulthood with little dialogue. The ending felt like a swan song, but then the extra chapter breaking down the stylistic choices of the color used in each page was so satisfying to read through.