Sayonara Game

By Yuu Minaduki

TW: None

Rating: 18+ (NSFW)

Length: Single volume, but starts a wider universe of characters

Vibe: Cute.

Star rating: 4.8/5

Official Summary:

A high school crush gets a second chance when fate brings two former teammates together again. Arimura hires an old schoolmate from his baseball club days to tutor his teenage sister, and it’s not long before she catches the tutor’s eye…staring at her brother?!

Arimura enlists the help of Yosuke—a younger baseball club teammate from his high school days—to tutor his little sister. Yosuke has always been rather brusque around Arimura, but to the older man’s surprise, he discovers Yosuke actually looks up to him. Could Yosuke’s admiration be masking something more?

Review:

Re-reading this made me remember HOW MUCH I love these two! It's been a while since I read this title considering how expansive this universe has gotten (Change World, Love Nest, Love Nest 2nd, and the upcoming Engage are all spinoffs of this volume). This volume focuses on Amira and Yosuke's origin story. Amira hires Yosuke to tutor his sister for her college entrance exams. Yosuke is an old junior peer of Amira's and it becomes clear to the reader AND to Amira that Yosuke harbored/harbors feelings for Amira. A love triangle unfolds, insecurities bite, and Amira has to learn how to actively seek what he wants rather than just going along with what he thinks others want.

This title is by far not the most loved in this series of books, however, if you are down for a cute romance origin story or want to complete the set, I highly recommend this read! Minaduki-sensei wastes no time in this volume, so you get relief pretty quickly, and then things get "real" in a very compelling and enthralling way. For those chasing steamy moments - this one is alllllll about the ROMANCE HUNNY, so if you're feeling spicy, this is not going to be the read for you at the moment. Minaduki-sensei is a storyteller first and is clearly dedicated to doing justice to their characters, so plenty of plot and plenty of depth.

More thoughts (with spoilers) after the jump!

(YEP, drama ensues)

Full thoughts (SPOILERS AHEAD)

One thing I like about this mangaka is that isn't an absence of women in her work! In this case the help of the "Aunty chat" comes in the form of Amira's sister, who is featured in the love triangle given her crush on Yosuke. Shout out to this young lady for selfessly putting herself aside and cheering these two on (even if she did have a moment of immaturity at one point, she's like 17 so...)

Common Themes:

You're going to get really common themes when it comes to a first timer (first homosexual relationship). In this case, it is compounded by thr fact that Amira is a person who typically goes along with what he thinks others want. We first see this when he encourages his office crush to date another co-worker because he thinks that co-worker likes her more, and therefore is more deserving.

Since Yosuke knows him so well he worries that Amira is only dating him to simply reciprocate his feelings, on top of worrying that Amira therefore actually prefers women. This is highlighted often as Yosuke notes he is suprised at Amira's comfort with their situation (i.e. kissing a man) and then feels devastated that he doesn't feel a physical reaction from Amira during their first makeout session.

While this may seem like just a plot device, this is a very real and common theme in reality, which is why you will never see me here roll my eyes at it. Minaduki-sensei uses this reality to force Amira to evolve as a character in learning to actively seek out what and who he wants. We see this change in him proving his love, and then speaking up when he wants to make love with Yosuke.

Overall, there are some common and heartbreaking themes in this that reflect the context/culture in which these stories take place. Amira laments that there us "no point to two men dating," which is something you'll find in many slice of life BLs. It has me screaming: "Isn't LOVE THE POINT?!", but then again, in Japanese and many societies (including here in the US), marriage often ties in duty, procreation, etc, and it is nice to see BLs challenge those notions with a "wait, LOVE IS THE POINT that matters MOST."

Love these two and hope you give 'em a chance! All of the books in the series are ones I enjoy very much.