Reviews for My Boy

I want MORE of this. This manga is so refreshing; the leads, art, and its plot. if you like shotacon, (REAL SHOTACON, not those whose mc are only young on the age but is looking older than the female mc) this is a good read for you. It is beautifully drawn though there are parts that I didn't appreciate the partitions of panels which is really minor and can easily be overlook. The development is steady and the female lead is level-headed (not those cringe-type) I'm really curious to how it will turn out so I'm really really looking forward for more updates!

Boi did this one hit close to home. Ok so I'll start this review by saying that it will include what I consider minor spoilers but may be considered relatively important by others. It's kinda hard to tell more without spoiling you know. Anyways before spoiling anything, let's just say that : it's a cute story about two people having truckloads of affection for each other but everybody else is kinda frowning when looking in their direction. Go read it. Now onto the real review. You know, this type of story with an adult and a child getting together by chance and forming a sort of parent-child relationshipbetween two somewhat broken people is a type of story that I really like. What I like is the fact that this is about pure love and care. Not romantic love or anything, just love. Two sentient beings manifesting high levels of empathy for no other reason than "my heart fills up with butterflies when I see their smile".

But even though I love these stories, I never can shake the feeling that the author may take the relationship into the nono-zone of the romantic relationship between a thirty+ years old adult and a goddamn kid. I mean, drawings don't have feelings, I don't care, but I personally don't like it.

Watashi no Shounen had me scared at first, but it's not that. Quite the opposite. It plays right in this apprehension, even. I was expecting a parent to child relationship developing over time and how they would support each other through the hardships of society, and I got a story about two aromantic people struggling to come to terms with their feelings and society's expectations while deeply caring for each other.

And this was great. This was awesome. I loved every single page of it.

Oh and of course it's backed up by a wonderful artstyle, I just can't begin to describe how beautiful it looks. It's just... warm. Go read it.

Not a couple, not friends, not mother and son, not siblings… We have Satoko, a 30 year-old office lady who suffers from loneliness and doesn’t feel satisfied with her life in any way. On the other hand we have Mashuu, a 12 year-old boy who feels ostracized in school and determined to practice and improve his soccer skills which is the only thing to hold onto in his life. What makes this manga so unique is the way balances are created and maintained in the relationship between the main characters throughout the story. How many manga do you think exist out there that either doesn’t defineor couldn’t define the relation between two people? It just sounds impossible, but it's in fact happens in this manga. When they become gradually involved with each other, I bet you’ll find yourself immersed in this odd and warm relationship, and feel like supporting their future. Even if the ending might kind of leave you disappointed since it doesn’t have a proper conclusion, the mangaka’s success about keeping the balances in the relationships must be greatly appreciated.

Individual thoughts, feelings, behaviors and so many details about human psychology are expressed astonishingly beautiful on just two-dimensional papers, and that’s the reason I’ve decided to write this review actually. Many psychological elements are amazingly presented in this manga, like portrayal of mental pain of past traumas and confrontation with them, development of high empathy, true forgiveness towards yourself and others, etc.

If you seek psychological depth in the manga you read, then you should really give it a try.

They're not enough adjectives to describe this master piece, whether it is the character or plot everything just clicks in this manga. You may think "oh it has to be the age gap plot device that makes this compelling like a forbidden fruit" but that is hardly the case, this manga stands alone just on the realistic and dynamic character relations and characterization of the inhabitants that makes you understand the actions and feelings taking place. The art itself is not outstanding but it has a simple yet very profound touch that makes it perfect for this manga. I would typically say this is mangafor older readers but I think younger readers would also be able to relate to this. You can tell the author went through pain staking work to be able to write the two main MCs outside of the typical schtick you get in romance manga. To be honest to call this manga a "romance" one would not do it enough justice.

I'll start this review off by saying that first page of every chapter of this manga should have a disclaimer that warns people that they shouldn't do anything they saw in this manga. I started reading this because I just finished reading My Girl and I thought this was a manga with different premise but similar themes, but boy was I wrong. Yes, this is wholesome manga, BUT (and I can't stress this enough), the behavior of the female mc is UNDER NO CURCUMSTANCES ACCEPTABLE, EVEEEEER. I haven't read the whole manga because I had to stop at the half way point since I couldn'tshake off the uncomfortable feeling I had while reading it and I will explain why.

*What the female mc is doing is simply wrong*

There is no excuse for what she is doing. Yes, we know that she had no malicious intent behind her actions but that doesn't make them justifiable in any way. And the worst part is, she is aware of it. *Spoiler alert* When the father calls the company to report the fmc and her boss confronts her about it, we finally get to see fmc realizing the whole situation. Yes, she was aware before that what she was doing isn't really ok, but now she experiences a break down because she finally understands the severity of her actions and the situation. And almost losing her job and being transferred to another branch didn't seem to had as strong of an impact on her because she goes back to square one. After she gets into contact with the kid again, she becomes determent to explain to him the situation and how what they were doing isn't right or acceptable and that they shouldn't be in contact anymore, but seeing the kid in person again was enough for here to forget all about it.

*She is an adult and should know better*

She is 30 years old. He is 12. He is A KID. He doesn't know anything and you can't explain these stuff to him. She on the other hand is a fully fledged adult and a functioning member of society. She knew that she shouldn't have developed the relationship between them, and even if she did do it, once she realized that it was wrong, she should have acted as a responsible adult and ended the whole thing even if the kid didn't really understand it and not what she actually did. She even said to him that her actions could be interpreted as the actions of child abductor and after he said "So what if other people think that, that's just normal for us" she should have just ended things then and there. The whole thing even started with her misunderstanding his circumstances thinking he is mistreated by his father and that his father doesn't care about him, and apparently her realization that she got the whole thing wrong about everything wasn't enough. She as an adult had the responsibility to cut off contact with the kid and allow him to forget about her and stop being depended on their relationship which was completely inappropriate.

*Yes, I read the ending*

I had to because I had to give my mind peace. They didn't end up together (YET, and the ending is also kind open so they could have ended up together) but even if they didn't, that doesn't make whole thing any better. Honestly, it makes it mildly less worst. They shouldn't have developed the relationship that they did in the first place and at the half way point, she should have ended it and that's it. And to people who actually shipped mmc and fmc, I'll just remind them that, best case scenario, this was borderline paedophilia. I don't want to rate this manga because I didn't finish it, so my rating is purely arbitrary for the sake of posting this review.

I love reading forbidden love stories. I don't mean the rich girl-poor guy type or love between a couple whose families are bitter enemies. What I meant is the huge age gap in romances, incest, student-teacher, etc. I honestly loved Domestic girlfriend which portrayed all those, but somewhere down the line it lost its track, but Watashi no shounen is an epic manga that didn't do the same mistake. This story is about a 30-year-old lady (Satoko) who is tired of life, tired of being forced to live the rules of society finds a 12-year-old boy who is mostly neglected by his parents in a park playingsoccer at night. They both find solace in each other and are able to forget the pain. But then as you know society doesn't accept this type of relationship and so this is a realistic story about the journey of these two out-of-place characters.

The characters are so realistic and relatable that you can feel as if you were them, you can feel their dilemma, you can feel their love. coming to Satoko she is such a mature and pure lady that I would fall in love with her over and over again, I will never forget her. The story tries to do a little bit of a shoujo approach in the middle but then it comes back to the main plot and ends it properly instead of milking fans with tons and tons of chapters with the unwanted and unrealistic storyline.

The art is freaking beautiful, the characters look so captivating and realistic that you would forget that these are manga characters.

I know the ending kind of pissed of many people, even the author was in a dilemma on how to tackle this tough subject. It felt like she took a cowardly route, but even then I loved the way the story ends in a mature fashion. This is where this manga shined and captured my heart while the manga 'Miman Renai' failed to do so. I know this manga has a shota hentaish plot but please give it a try, it is such a pure story that you will definitely not regret reading this. Just show this story some love and recognition it deserves. Peace.

My Boy is such an emotional experience. The author did a too good job of making me emotionally attached to the two main characters. Out of all of the books, movies, TV shows, and comics I have read and watched, My Boy is one of the few ones that have the characters I feel hopelessly attached to and desperately want happiness for them. Yet, I was incredibly sad that as a reader, I am powerless to steer the plot of the story. The characters (Satoko and Mashuu) and their feelings feel so genuine. I fall in love with them immediately. My Boy is aforbidden love story between a 12-year-old boy and a 30-year-old woman. The author Hitomi Takano gave an interview toward the end of the series, saying she tried to not make this a romance story. I suspect this may be due to some outside pressure. The story, after all, challenges the traditional moral barrier. Even though there is no physical relation between Satoko and Mashuu, most readers would agree with me that the romantic tension between them is strong regardless of what the author said.

Here is a slight spoiler. The ending is open to interpretation (maybe due to outside pressure too). It ended when Mashuu is around 15. So obviously, it would not be ok for them to be in a romantic relationship openly yet. But most readers like me, want to see a more definitive ending, the happy one. In our society now, powerful men marry girls 20+ younger frequently. Yet, somehow the other way around is more frowned upon. I am a man and I feel that this is injustice.

My Boy tries to break the age and more importantly the traditional moral barrier. Yet I think the author may have fallen under the same traditional moral restriction she tried to break. Either that or the author toyed with my feeling a little. In the end, I have a strong mixed feeling about the ending, because it did not completely finish the way I wanted it to finish. Very few stories have left me with this strong sensation.

The two things I disliked about Watashi no Shounen is how there is something lacking about the other supporting characters (maybe the backstories could have been longer or given more depth), especially that of the MC's parents and his female friend, Ogata, and how the latter part or the ending of the plot seemed rush. I believe the author could have executed it better but it's possible that the author considered doing the ending in a unique way that connects, ties, and ends everything in only 2 chapters or less with the use of symbolism. Otherwise, I love everything about the manga, especially the art style,the way the author told the story and the backstories (symbolisms were everywhere lol), how things were given resolution, the progression (like seeing everyone grow up and what happened to Ogata, which really affected me) and how the author ended the manga in a way that lets the readers imagine in their own way Satoko's and Mashuu's afterstory.

Watashi no Shounen was definitely not cliche and I really love how there were no excessively ecchi scenes or fanservice, unlike most manga that revolves around the concept of "forbidden love".

Anyway, Watashi no Shounen deserves more attention and I'll try my best to promote it. I'm just so happy that I finally was able to finish Watashi no Shounen. Watashi no Shounen will definitely be in the top 10 of my manga favorites and I'll be wishing this gets an anime adaptation someday.

This story was (surprisingly) very heartwarming and wholesome. It breaks down the typical age gap relationship manga and shows the reader how a relationship like this can be parasocial. Unlike most oneshota manga, it tells a more realistic and well developed story with fantastic characters that are constantly changing. Highly recommend reading it, not for shota enjoyers but for anyone that wants a story about real characters that become better people and break out of the past pains in their life/childhood. I was shocked with how realistic the characters acted and how their troubles were portrayed I initially started reading the manga because Iwanted to see some lovely artwork and was pleasently surprised with how serious the story got, especially the overall commentary about how unhealthy and parasocial age gap relationships can be, and the nuance on both sides.

Came for cute oneshota art, and was drawn in by the emotional & engaging story about love and family.

This is my completely honest and subjective feelings on the matter: the type of love that this manga is trying to describe, one that ignores all boundaries, deeper than platonic friendship, less than romantic, but not familial nor based on some kind of mentorship, is not possible to have between the two characters in their specific type of relationship. Perhaps if you met someone as a kid and then met them again when you were say, 60 and they were 24. That *pure love* is then possible because A: you haven't seen this kid grow up for a majority of their life, B: that person'sinitial impression of you isn't in the form of a guardian/mentor figure, and C: that younger person is a fully mature adult and should be capable of making mature decisions. Of course, relationships change throughout the years, a famous example being Hellen Keller and her friend Anne Sullivan, who continued to be Keller's companion long after she became an adult. But there are two key differences between these relationships. First, Sullivan immediately established herself as Keller's teacher, cementing the dynamic of the relationship between them and allowing for its natural evolution. Second, that deeper kind of love fomented itself when Keller was an adult, and this manga ends with the male character Mashuu still in high school.

In Watashi no Shonen, the mentor relationship is not confirmed, which not only seems incredibly unrealistic to me but there is absolutely no reason for the main character Satoko to feel this way. In one of the last chapters she describes how she is "scared of love" which is why she doesn't want to establish boundaries around her relationship by categorizing it and instead leaves it vague, but then I remembered she was feeling this apprehension for most of the story towards a 14 to 16 YEAR OLD BOY. This entire relationship started because he had no supportive parental figure! Almost every interaction she had with him where he made her happy was when she was mentoring and caring for him! It was not vague what she was feeling! The relationship dynamics were clearly established! Even when she feels happy when Mashuu was showing concern for her can be explained by this dynamic, because guardians/mentors (doesn't have to be a parent) feel happy when children show empathy and concern for them!

The only reason this vagueness has to happen is so there can be a possibility of Staoko being in love with Mashuu romantically, which obviously is a big controversial move. As long as the possibility is only teased, the whole time the reader can be going "oooooo is she trying to become his mother? oooooo is this a *forbidden love?!* (adult grooming a child)." It's a good way of keeping your reader engaged, after all, how would the conflict arise if things could be cleaned up so easily? The story ends by the characters saying "Where we are is currently fine, but who knows what happen in the future? *wink wink*" This is so the author can please all of her fans: the age gap romance fans will say "They totally got together!" people not into age gap will say "Things totally stayed platonic." I can only see this as a coward's move, appeasing everybody while ultimately trying to say something about love that just doesn't fit the story.

I don't know what kind of life the author has had, but they try to ignore a very basic fact, which is that adults are adults, and children are children. I'm not a trad guy or a believer in some strict hierarchy of who you should associate with, but you can not have that kind of equal relationship with a child as a person over 30 years old. They are not mature enough, they have not lived enough, and adults acting immature and childish sometimes does not equalize this fact no matter how you try to look at it, because when an adult acts childish it is despite all that they have learned, not because they haven't gotten to learn it yet.