Don't Blame Me Vol. #02

By Briana Lawrence     July 11, 2008
Release Date: June 24, 2008



Creative Talent
Writer/Artist:Yugi Yamada
Translated by:Sachiko Sato
Adapted by:N/A

What They Say
Takasaki-sempai is Kujirai-sempai's half-brother! And they're making love anyway! Kaji and Nakamura are doubly shocked. Then, Nakamura begins to notice feelings growing for Kaji... The final volume of this bitter and sweet story of young love.

The Review
There's a lot of confused, jumbled feelings between Toshi and Nakamura in this final volume, and the Film Club is quick to give advice and even catch some embarrassing moments on camera. In the mist of all of the drama is Yamazaki, a new member of the club who joins to try and get Toshi's attention. Before the manga gets a chance to turn down the predictable one-way street of "female love interest who tries to divide the two boys up," Miki (the club's boy's love fangirl) smiles and slaps the girl away. If you've ever wanted to smack that irritating girl who shows up in a boy's love manga for the sheer purpose of causing drama, you'll probably enjoy this moment as much as I did.

The Film Club is in the middle of making a movie for the film festival, and despite the crazy boy's love drama they manage to get it finished. However, there's a mix up of the videos, and the film festival ends up watching a video of Toshi and Nakamura having sex that Miki had secretly video taped! It's a rather unique way of seeing a couple's first time because the manga illustrates it as it's portrayed on film. The flashback ends on that note, and now that Makoto knows that Toshi is 100% gay Toshi worries that Makoto is uncomfortable with him. In reality, Makoto wonders what his cousin could possibly see in a guy like Nakamura, but when he sees how insecure Nakamura is he can't help but feel some compassion towards the guy. The story ends with the both of them bonding over their strong feelings for Kaji, and Makoto comes to the conclusion that his very cool cousin isn't as cool as he use to be, but he's all right with that. In a surprising twist, the last page is a post card from Jun with Yutaka (the man in a bear suit, who has now reduced it to a bear hat), showing that the two of them might have actually gotten together.

Sadly, this final volume doesn't focus on Toshi's love for film making. We don't get to see why he stopped making movies, which was supposed to be the entire point of the flashback. This volume is all about Toshi's relationship with Nakamura and brings up the issue of coming out to your family. I would've liked to see the coming out issue being played out a bit more since the manga brought it up, unfortunately, it felt like a last minute plot point towards the end of the story. I definitely would've liked to see more of the cousin Toshi that Makoto idolized. I thought we'd get a glimpse of the movie making, big dreamer that Makoto looked up to, but we didn't get to see that at all. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the story, and I enjoyed reading about Toshi and Nakamura's developing relationship, but I feel like we didn't get to see any of what the manga promised to deliver in this flashback. Granted, we did get to see the Toshi that loved movies in volume one, but I feel that Makoto's initial question never got answered: what made Toshi stop wanting to make movies?

There is a short story in the manga called "Please Take Me In." Kazuo and Tateishi were on the basketball team together back in junior high. Kazuo remembers Tateishi as being a cute kid who always followed him around, even when he was bullying him, but the Tateishi he meets today is nothing like the Tateishi in the past. This guy is an all-around jerk who thinks he can push Kazuo around, but without a job or money he has no choice but to do what Tateishi wants. Their new relationship starts off on a horrible note, but soon Kazuo starts to see the Tateishi he loved spending time with back in junior high. The story ends with Tateishi pushing Kazuo down to the ground, kissing him, and the both of them are so turned-on that they both rush to the bathroom to... take care of the problem. They don't completely get together at the end of the story, nor do they fully admit that they are attracted to one another. It's sort of up to the reader's imagination to figure out where their relationship is headed. I decided that they spend many sleepless nights together, running to the bathroom and going through an unhealthy amount of tissue until one day, finally, they rip each other's clothes off.