Dekoboko Bittersweet Days (Dekoboko Sugar Days Book 2)

Product Information

A slow-burn love story between a diminutive, athletic teen and his towering, kind-hearted best friend as they journey the slightly bitter road to adulthood towards sweeter days. Dekoboko Bittersweet Days is even better than the first part of the series! It's not common actually, so this surprised me positively. Yuujirou and Rui were childhood friends, but they actually got together already in the first part and now in this second they need to think about the future. High school is over soon and the boys need to think about where to study and it's not necessarily the same place, the same country even. I really loved the realism and how nothing is a real obstacle if you fight for what you love. The slow burn romance and real feelings get through easily and all in all, the manga is heartwarming and melancholic too. Growing up is never easy. Seasons are chapters, and besides some steaming scenes, there is a focus on emotional maturity and talking things out instead of the trope of misunderstanding and misinterpretation growing out of hand. Very well done in that department, and you really feel they are supposed to work together as a couple on that level. Also family and societal reaction is a source of anxiety, but not being made overly problematic, a refreshing take as well.

Yuujiro for instance says: It’s already pretty incredible to make enough to live your life without any restrictions kind of fawning over the glitter of middle class financial stability.

Interest Stacks

Tiny and adorable when they first met, Rui - still just as adorable - now looms over his boyfriend, Yuujirou. Though they were little more than best friends at first, the confusion over their true feelings for one another smoldered until they confessed. Now every day passes with such overwhelming sweetness it's all they can do not to ask themselves, "am I allowed to be this happy?" The final high school judo contest, the last summer of their high school careers, and beyond... the thought of his future with Rui makes Yuujirou's heart flutter. A slow-burn love story between a diminutive, athletic teen and his towering, kind-hearted best friend as they journey the slightly bitter road to adulthood towards sweeter days. With Dekoboko Bittersweet Days, Yusen makes me want to stay with Rui and Yuujirou as their romance matures and life throws curveballs. I hope we get to see these two grow with each other in the future. One thing to appreciate about the one-shot is that it’s accessible to new readers and has enough sweetness to keep its wholesome core while exploring the importance of communication and the trouble that comes with entering the adult world after high school.

Featuring Yuujiro Matsukaze, judo champion, an aspiring architect. He is quite short ( Quit kissing my forehead. It just reminds me of how much taller you are) and occasionally bothered by that. And: Then again, it might be impossible to afford a stand alone house right away, which, definitely combined with the wish of a cooking island and a garden seems a realistic take on things (the Tokyo housing market, am I right 😂). I was curious as to what ‘dekoboko’ means and, on further investigation, I found that it can be translated as ‘uneven’ which probably refers to the difference in height between the two protagonists and also, perhaps, their contrasting characters. However, there was also an unrelated animated TV series Deko Boko Friends of 30-second-long episodes for preschoolers that aired in Japan from 2002 to 2011. Stop Press: I’m very grateful to Tokyopop’s Marketing Associate Kae Winter’s for this helpful clarification:

Discussions

Tiny and adorable when they first met, Rui - still just as adorable - now looms over his boyfriend, Yuujirou. Though they were little more than best friends at first, the confusion over their true feelings for one another smoldered until they confessed. Now every day passes with such overwhelming sweetness it's all they can do not to ask themselves, "am I allowed to be this happy?" Rui and Yuujirou have been best friends since they were kids. Now that they confessed the feelings they’ve been harboring for each other, it should be smooth sailing. They haven’t told anyone about their relationship, but life is good until they face the possibility of a long-distance relationship. Will their relationship survive this bump in the road? The final high school judo contest, the last summer of their high school careers, and beyond... the thought of his future with Rui makes Yuujirou's heart flutter.