Ano Hi, Seifuku De – Nakamura Asumiko

1) Ano Hi, Seifuku de (That Day, in the Uniform)
I haven’t got myself used to this adult-like appearance with some nostalgic flavour of youth.

2) A Senpai
Body and mind think different things. But which one is true? A junior and senior love triangle.

3) Chuugaku 3-nensei (Middle School, Third Year)
There is a pervert in the male restroom in the book-store. Beware!

4) Hadaka no Boku (Naked Me)
Being shaved, becoming naked, the hidden feelings

5) Tenkousei (Transfer Student)
The secrets under the uniform, that none of the classmates knows.

6) Nikoichi
God knows when my childhood friend become much tinier than me. We have been through the heights and lows together, and now is my start with that childhood friend.

6.5) Extra to Ano Hi, Seifuku de – Konya, Ano Hi ni
2 years have already passed since that night.

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Nakamura Asumiko-sensei once again breaking hearts in this collection of short stories featuring school boys past and present. Her stories ran deep, dark and quite often devastating.

This manga is the more explicit of her works. Majority of the stories had gratuitous scenes. Dialogue was kept minimal and the artwork is stunning as always.

Ano Hi, Seifuku de (That Day, in the Uniform): Two salarymen found themselves in an office drinking party. One of them just got married. The other recalls that fateful day where the other left him an unforgettable confession that was unanswered in their last day of high school. He brings up the topic and they sleep together. The next day, they both pretend it was nothing.

This is the best story of the collection. It’s full of nostalgia and regrets. We get the POV of the one confessed to and he wonders, what if he had ran after him and gave his answer? Too late…

A Senpai: A love triangle between two sempai and a kohai. Characters had no names, just letters from the alphabet designating the points of the triangle. C-kun likes B-sempai but couldn’t resist A-sempai. There’s not much substance or novelty in the story. The ending felt incomplete.

Chuugaku 3-nensei (Middle School, Third Year): Rumors of a man giving out 10,000 yen for a blowjob in a bathroom stall ran wild among schoolboys. One day, a schoolboy happened to come across a man offering money to his schoolmate near a bathroom. He confronts them and the man runs away. Then his schoolmate offers him the money in exchange for blowing the schoolboy. And so their salacious encounters begin.

The money exchange presents their relationship as mere business and taints the story with a whiff of prostitution. It also begs the question of where a middle schooler gets that kind of money. This is one of the more compelling chapters here. I really liked how a story about lost innocence ends with purer motives coming to light.

Hadaka no Boku (Naked Me): A story about a kohai who had an affair with his sempai who prefers the kohai shaved down there. This is more of a sketch of a relationship that came and went. No feelings were involved excerpt the kohai’s. Sad but not outstanding.

Tenkousei (Transfer Student): This is about a transfer student rumored to have slept with a teacher and his classmate who discovered his secret. Then the two proceeded to sleep together.

There were no real relationships here. This is mostly the two students sleeping together and the transfer student taking pictures of himself in his special clothes. The affair with the teacher was revealed when said teacher hysterically confronted the student.

I wish this ended better because this felt incomplete.

Nikoichi: A gay awakening between two childhood friends who discovered they were attracted to other males. Most especially each other. The fact that the smaller of the two had sex with the teacher in the gym was kind of glossed over as part of said awakening.

Shady teachers aside, this was pretty sweet. This was also practically conflict free. So not much happened here.

Extra to Ano Hi, Seifuku de – Konya, Ano Hi ni: This is Sensei throwing us a bone.

Salaryman receives news that the other salaryman got divorced. He immediately asks for his contact number and rushes to catch up to him. Would he get there in time?!!! RUN DAMMIT!!!