StrangenessAbound’s 見 & 漫 Page: Reviewing Yume Musubi Koi Musubi

Yume Musubi Koi Musubi by Sakuragi Yaya

Read It Now: Yume Musubi Koi Musubi

Description: High school student Ao decides he’s in love with Ryoumei-san, a priest at the local shrine and Ao’s childhood friend. Not one to beat around the bush, Ao immediately tells Ryoumei he wants to do perverted things together, but it will take more than a little persuading to get the shocked Ryoumei into bed. Between bad advice, romantic rivals, and Ryoumei’s scruples, there are many obstacles in the path of true love.

This review is based on scanlations provided by fans for fans

StrangenessAbound’s Review:

This week’s manga review is Yume Musubi Koi Musubi (夢結び恋結び), a love story centered on the relationship between Ao, and his paramour on whom he has an enormous crush, Ryoumei. Ao is an innocent, sweet seventeen-year-old schoolboy while thirty-year-old Ryoumei is a jaded, sarcastic Shinto priest. This deeply romantic story follows Ao as he does his darndest to capture Ryoumei’s heart by whatever means he can. However, Ao is largely focused upon “doing it” with Ryoumei; in fact, “doing it” consumes most of his thoughts when thinking about Ryoumei. Ryoumei’s knows how Ao feels about him and tries to keep him at arm’s length without alienating him, and of course, what would a romance be without people and situations trying to keep the lovers apart?

The art in Yume Musubi Koi Musubi is beautiful, detailed and conveys the aura of sweetness that Sakuragi Yaya is so adept at portraying. The story is well thought out and gives surprising twists. More than once, while following this saga, I squealed out loud in delight or held my breath at a new turn of events.

The relationship between Ao and Ryoumei may cause hesitation in some readers (and in later chapters, Ao and Ryoumei consummate their relationship with one another, which is quite explicit and almost completely uncensored. However, these scenes retain the sweet tone that glues the series together), but the entire story carries an innocent and gentle tone. The story simply wouldn’t wash nearly as well if it didn’t have the innocence and gentleness. Ryoumei and Ao grew up with one another, but while Ryoumei is aware of Ao’s crush on him, he is hesitant to take any action towards Ao. Ao absolutely glows in Ryoumei’s presence – you can see it in panel after panel as Ao blushes when the Shinto priest looks his way.

Yume Musubi Koi Musubi has not been licensed anywhere outside of Japan, and I’m suspicious that it never will be. The fact that a seventeen-year-old boy carries a romantic relationship with a thirty-year-old man is likely to create a bit of a stir – if not inside the anime/manga community, then outside it. Those outside the anime/manga community, oddly enough, make the rules for what can and cannot be licensed in the US and other countries. Yume Musubi Koi Musubi may be able to leap those boundaries and get a license – I would love to see this happen.

In the meantime, Yume Musubi Koi Musubi can be found on MangaFox and on the manga portion of Animea.net: several scanlation groups are busy keeping the series updated. Let’s hope that in addition to continuing the manga, Sakuragi makes an original video animation (OVA) to complement the series!