Future Lovers by KUNIEDA Saika

[epistasthai]

I like to read manga, and some just catch your attention straight off the bat. One such is KUNIEDA Saika's "Future Lovers". This manga features a favourite couple of mine: Kento and Akira. It is alternately hilarious, sweet, and tear-jerking, but very satisfying. I often re-read it when I want something with a realistic feel to it, but which has a happy ending.

Having lost his parents as a young child, school teacher Kento lives with his grandparents. He wants nothing more than the usual: to have a happy family, which to his mind involves a loving wife, happy children and his kind grandparents. Kento is steady, dependable and kinda shy. Somehow he meets Akira (how he does this is one of the hilarious points of the story), and Akira couldn’t be more different. Wild, smart, beautiful, and definitely NOT shy, Akira ends up (to Kento’s horror) becoming the art teacher at Kento’s school. They keep ending up together, and as Akira puts it, “You can blame it on the alcohol or the spur of the moment if it happens once, but if there’s a second time that can’t be the case anymore, right?” There’s a third time, a fourth time, and well, you get the picture. Kento (dark hair) and Akira (light hair):

 

I think Kento’s grandparents are hilarious and they are a major part of the reason this manga is so great. I enjoy every scene they’re in. I’m gonna even put in a pic of them, because they add so much to the story. On the surface they are really annoyed at Akira ‘cuz he’s a man, but then they also give Kento lots of very good advice. When Kento and Akira are having arguments, Kento’s grandma has some really good advice. And they’re always there for Kento (and Akira).


 

This manga is just so good that I often find myself re-reading it when I need to be cheered up.
(images from 'Future Lovers' v1 chapter 1, cropped pp78 and 80.)

Comments

Thanks for the suggestion

[june-fairy.livejournal.com]

I read future lovers becouse I didn't know the manga and ... I liked it and I can see your point.
I don't know if you know Asou Kai works but if you want to try I think you can find something nice ... start with SORENARI NI SHINKEN NANDESU even if my favorites are SOKO NI SUWARU NA and YACHIN HANBUN NO IBASHO DESU.
If you have already read it you'll have your opinion on 'em.

Re: Thanks for the suggestion

[epistasthai.livejournal.com]

Oh, I just love ASOU Kai's works! I think one of the reasons I like the works of hers that you mentioned is because although they are 'realistic' to a point (not as fanciful as some, and the action usually takes place in the world as we know it), these also have some element of hopefullness. (Future Lovers has this aspect also). I like to read something that shows us how the characters grow and develop, and how they come to see others in a different light. I enjoy seeing relationships grow and change over time.

Re: Thanks for the suggestion

[june-fairy.livejournal.com]

I'm happy you like Asou Kai's work couse I love them.
Coherence is what I appreciate most in fiction and life!
Sometimes you read stories where characters act according to the flow of the story and it's something I really don't like becouse you lose the sense of reality and it's impossible to have an interesting psychological traits of the character.
Even in the tyrant I love the slow and hard path Sempai need to do in order to know himself and learn how to relate with Morinaga.
Now that he is aware of what he want I hope that in the epilogue and extra we'll descover a little more about how he want to relate with others (family and friends)... Takanaga Sempai stories are usually very consistent.
If you have more title to share don't be shy ... I'll appreciate!