Manga Review: Seven Days

Seven Days
by TACHIBANA Venio and TAKARAI Rihito
(Published by Taiyo Tosho in Craft )

A third year high-school student, Shino Yuzuru, met Seryou Touji, a junior in the archery club, at the school main entrance on Monday morning.
Seryou is popular among girls and there is a rumour saying that he must go out with the first person who declares love to him on Monday and then he breaks up on Saturday.
Due to curiosity, Yuzuru asked Seryou to go out with him on that day... (MAL)

[ OVERALL IMPRESSIONS ]

This manga is a boys love series, but please don't think of putting it on the same level as its kind.... for it's so unique and spectacular that it stands out even among other boys love manga.

The main couple isn't just pretty. The story's not about two pretty boys just being romantically attracted to each other either.

The main characters may be popular and handsome, but they have faults and undesirable qualities, making them unable to last in a relationship nor be truly appreciated by the people around them. They're not ideal lovers, but they managed to find the person they've needed for so long: Each Other.

Those two aren't that similar, but they're not complete opposites either. Both of them can be charming or idiotic, but in their own ways. The have different personalities, but they complement each other ...Masochist x Sadist, LOLz xD. The saying "Opposites attract" had been applicable to them. They had suited each other very much.... so what if they're both guys? One of them is like just a female in a male's body anyway, haha! There's a saying that "Love crosses all boundaries."; there are different ways to present star crossed lovers, you know. Hmm, gotta admit that many homosexual relationship centric manga tend to abuse that saying in that sense.

Its story is about falling in love.... seriously falling in love. There are so many types of romances but very little of them had both parties love each other for real. Love isn't just based on appearance.... you can't say that you truly love a person if you don't like him/her in and out.

Falling for someone undergoes several stages: the two of you meet, get to know each other, understand each other, appreciate each other's good sides, accepting each other's bad sides, and finally treasure each other. It takes time to fall in love... but that doesn't necessarily mean it takes that long either. This manga is short... and that's the point! Seven days could be long enough to fall in love.

It started really randomly: one of them just confessed out of plain curiosity.... but surprisingly, the other had taken it seriously. While the "game" is still on, they made use of that time limit as much as they can. In that short period, they tried new things, experienced new things, learned new things, felt new things, and realized new things. But their "playing time" has ended even before "game over"... because they already became serious with each other before the "deadline"!

If we consider the time limit of their relationship as their "destiny", well, our pair of lovebirds presented to us how they tried to fight against it. They weren't able to win over it in an instant, but little by little they've overcome those (internal and external) trials and struggles. Love gave them strength and helped them prevail.

You see, though the story appears to be very "plain", it managed to cover many of the important things about love and has presented a lot of popular sayings in regards to romance. There's no need for a knight in shining armor rescuing a princess to tell an epic love story; it can also be told with ordinary people... even during our time. Yeah, of course even in real life.

And like in real life, "prince charming" or "perfect princess" like those presented in media don't exist. The ideal someone is usually very different from one fantasizes.... but they can be found.... as long as you look hard.... and don't rely only on your eyes to find him/her.

Unfortunately, like real life as well, some parts of the manga suck ^^; Particularly on the character development part. Well, it's true that our main characters are well developed.... but the other characters aren't that developed at all. It would've been nice if the other characters had more background (We also never got to know the name of Yuzuru's sister, nor see the face of Seryou's brother!)... and we get to learn more of what happened to them in later events. The series also has a nice and interesting set of supporting characters.... it's too sad if they get neglected, you know.

I almost thought of complaining about the portrayal of most women in this manga.... because most of them are presented as judgmental fangirls. But at least, unlike most BL manga, Seven Days had a reason on why many of the females in the story act that way. Not all the women in the series behave that way either. Moreover, the setting is a school with majority of its students are female! Most BL manga I see are set in all boys schools.... or females are almost non-existent o_O

As mentioned early, this really stands out among BL manga series.... because it avoids majority of the flaws that a typical BL series possess. Honestly, you don't even need to be a BL fan to appreciate this.... it's just that good.

And as if an excellent story and charming characters aren't enough, the manga has been drawn so wonderfully. The illustrations are no doubt simple, but they're still so breathtakingly beautiful. They had fitted the story and the characters perfectly.

Seven Days had been very enjoyable to read (I really love the humor! Oh boy they crack me up xD). I'm drawn to its heartwarming story and attached to its lovable characters. I believe it had been somewhat considered as something a BL fan shouldn't ever miss..... yet at the same time it's also something for someone who wants a refreshing love story shouldn't miss either.