New Beginnings (晴れてボクたちは) by Yamamoto Kotetsuko

I'm going to start by saying that Yamamoto Kotetsuko is one of the several mangaka whom I have read most if not all of their works because I trust their skills and have not been disappointed so far in terms of art style and plots. Although I will admit, her stories have at one point been too common for me that they weren't very memorable, but nonetheless they remained enjoyable in its simple form and never actually went "wrong".

Front cover of the book. To be perfectly honest, I liked Sensei's
drawings in the actual panels than the cover.

Back cover of the book, with Chihiro (left) and Keigo (right).

New Beginnings is a sweet story of romance between childhood friends Sakurada Chihiro and Gamou Keigo and their reunion after being separated due to Keigo's family moving to Vienna for his dad's business. As a Tokyo child living in Osaka, Keigo was being bullied by the other kids for his accent and Chihiro was the one who protected him. Now, Keigo returns and lives with Chihiro's family because he became a shut-in and wants to go back to Japan. To make matters worse, Keigo confesses his love to Chihiro, but the latter is in love with another classmate.

This is Yukino, Chihiro's crush who was his classmate until (unfortunately) they got into
separate classes the next year (early in the book). 

My first impression from the title page (not the cover but the first page inside, right before the table of contents and chapter one), other than the fact that it was written by a well-known mangaka, was that the eyes were drawn prettily, more than what I recalled from her other manga, for better or for worse. (I might be a bit allergic to girly characters—just a bit, though.) But knowing the mangaka and loving her previous works, especially Konya mo Nemurenai and Honto Yajuu, I bought it because as I said, she's one of the few mangaka I'm familiar with. But in the end, the overall art style on the actual chapters were exactly as I had remembered and loved it. The character designs may not be as realistic as Lies are a Gentleman's Manners (see: my review on that) and certainly not like Man of Tango, nor as pretty as Cute Beast (review!) or the Warui series, but there also exists a simplicity similar to Natsume Isaku's and something memorable about her art style that has you going "Oh, it looks familiar. Yamamoto Kotetsuko must have drawn this.". It's also something to note that the angles of the drawings (and the drawings themselves) are absolutely BEAUTIFUL. That should explain why I have more pictures here than on the other reviews I've done.

The title page I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

To be honest, there are also several downsides of the manga which I didn't like very much. For one, the plot wasn't very strikingly memorable to me. I had to reread (or scan, to be exact) through it to remember the things that transpired in the manga; don't get me wrong, I appreciated the book in its entirety as I read through it but if you asked me to list down the things that happened in the book chronologically using only my memory, I'd only remember up to probably around the middle of chapter two. (I swear, it has nothing to do with how I suck at remembering names, haha.)

A flashback of our couple's childhood. This was when Keigo and
his family were about to leave for Vienna.

It's probably because New Beginnings doesn't have that one thing that makes it different. And I'm not saying that the book is unoriginal, but what I mean by that is it lacks that feature that would make the reader remember it and distinguish it from all the other manga. (Some examples of manga that in my opinion played it off well would be: the 'toy' theme from False Memories, 'art and painting' themes from Star-like Words.) Although making any work of art as realistic as possible is desirable, being too realistic could also lead to repetition and cliches. In other words, if all works of fiction were to become faithful to reality, there would never be innovation. (That's why they're called fiction, after all.) We don't really need a lot of distinction between fantasy, but even if the stories are linear, as long as there's one item, theme, or whatever it may be that differentiates that work from the others, I think that makes for a well-constructed work. Unfortunately, I don't think this manga has that.

But of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that New Beginnings is automatically a bad read to me and to others, nor does it mean that it's not well-constructed. There have been manga that were simple as this one, and honestly, this work played it off better than the others. Because of its simplicity, you can actually feel the gradual development of their relationship through the events that transpired. I guess that's part of its charm as a manga that is down-to-earth and realistic.

Because the characters are so relatable, another good thing about this manga is that you can actually feel for the characters and maybe even remember your own experiences for some others who have been through the same thing. You can actually feel like you're closer to them and you would feel sad then happy for them throughout the manga—as if you actually know them as people, as friends. That's one thing everyday story manga like New Beginnings can do that the others can't.

It's also worth noting how Yamamoto Kotetsuko does not leave out females in the story. It immediately contradicts the 'Cast Full of Gay' trope in yaoi. In the beginning, Chihiro is straight and has a crush on his classmate Yukino, who will actually play a bigger role throughout the story than most girls in love triangles like this. Chihiro's mother and sister also add to the population, along with the extra classmates. Art style-wise, her female characters are just as simple and pretty as her male characters, and there's a good balance in terms of the number of males and females in the story. (Unlike some mangaka who either make the girls pretty but evil, ugly/undetailed and extras, or conveniently remove their existence by *cough* all-boys school settings.) It's also a really big plus that she implied a cute lesbian romance on the side, which is rare if not nonexistent for typical BL manga.

Finally, as for the sex scenes (let's admit, we tend to expect them on manga that's labeled 'yaoi' and not shounen-ai.), there's actually none of those at all, meaning the YA/16+ rating is actually correct this time. Baka Updates even labeled it as shounen-ai (because after all, it really is shounen-ai if you stick to the strict definition of yaoi and shounen-ai.) I think the lack thereof is exactly how it's supposed to be. Chihiro and Keigo's romance, although they were childhood friends, is only just blossoming like a new flower bud because of the long time they've been separated; thus, it would be best if the sequel continued to develop their relationship a bit further rather than insert the explicit scenes for fan service. But then again, from what I can get from the author's previous works, she doesn't focus much on that as much as she does on the fluff and the substance of the plot itself—which is a nice breather from all the other hardcore ones.

In addition to that, I noticed that there was no more dominant person between Chihiro and Keigo, unlike some yaoi manga tend to have. Body build-wise, Keigo is more dominant but personality-wise, it's Chihiro so it balances out. There isn't any obvious seme/uke trope that influences their appearance and characterization, which really adds to the realism.

Heart-stopping moment on the left, and heart-breaking moment on the right.

Overall, Yamamoto Kotetsuko's New Beginnings is a simple story with relatable characters; it's something like a break from the extreme angst or heavy fantasies, kind of the same way Natsume Isaku's works are a breather. It's a lighthearted, endearing read with comedy and cliches that never get old and lovable characters you'd want to root for.

What a beautiful way to end the manga.