Boy Meets Maria - Reviews

**WARNING THERE IS AN ATTEMPT SEXUAL ASSAULT INVOLVING A CHILD IN THIS SO PLEASE READ AT YOUR OWN RISK**

Wow it's really a very dark BL story guys. The main characters Arima and Taiga had pretty decent character developments. Basically the story goes is that Taiga is literally a happy go lucky teenager, who just was influenced by superheroes from a very young age and he badly wants to do acting because of this. He also lives with his dad (a hero too). He then meets Arima who did a stunning performance since he's part of the drama club at the school, Taiga surprisingly confesses and Arima rejects him. Taiga also mistakens him for a girl. Then the rest is the pair of them getting to know each other though their pasts.

I'm not gonna say much since it'll involve a lot of spoilers throughout the 6 chapters of the story and want to let everyone read the whole story for themselves. It's definitely one of those BL that would pierce your heart, that's all I'm gonna say..

The artwork on the first page is very appealing to me--the crumbly panels and heavily textured backgrounds. On some level, I wish the entire series was drawn in that style, though the remainder is still high quality (if a bit more bland). It has brighter colors and uninterrupted rectangular panel outlines. There are some moments of increased sketchiness and I actually like those moments more than the more clean-cut stuff, I think. 

It feels like there's a kernel of heartfelt meaningfulness and sweetness underneath the heavyhanded storytelling, but I'm not sure if this story captures it as well as it could have. And this might be a controversial opinion, but I think this story would've been best served if it wasn't a romance. First of all, the pushy way that Taiga keeps confessing over and over again is problematic. And by having this pushiness rewarded with a romantic ending, it almost encourages not giving up on your feelings even if the other party isn't interested (and therein lies the path of entitlement, disrespect, and even abuse or stalking on the extreme end of things).

But also, the primary point of this manga doesn't have to do with the romance in the slightest. Instead, it's about people learning to face the traumatic parts of their past head-on rather than trying to repress them or rely on emotional crutches. It's also about how people like to place others into neat little boxes ("boy"/"girl") and how that type of thing is disrespectful and how it's better to engage with people as individuals instead. Taiga and Arima (in various senses) both admired the strength and courage they saw in the other and wanted to emulate those positive traits. At its core, this is a story about an emotional bond and about two people giving each other the support and acceptance they both were in need of. One of the moments early on that felt like it might lead into a romance--the keeping of the flower--is even explained as occurring because Arima was reminded of the man who had punched feir rapist and saved fem when fe was in elementary school. In other words, the flower wasn't kept for any sort of romantic reason. I'm not necessarily against the romantic ending, but I'm just saying that it felt a bit tacked on and it was also unnecessary.

This is the 1st BL manga I've read. I love the romance, tension and development of the main characters.  Art is magnificent. I think the sexual assault on child to give him trauma and sad story was not necessary and it was actually too much. Being alone and being forced to live like that by his own mother is enough tragedy on top of that the perception of people around him, gossips and constant teasing make his live unbearable enough it definitely didn't needed that exta bit. 

TW: r#pe

ik ik there's a r#pe content here and i when i see it i automatically rate it 3 and below out of 10. but no, this is so fcking different and it's so beautiful like, the angst part on this manga really makes sense. i love the part where they're healing from each other's arms. ಥ_ಥ ah, additionally others may expect this as a crossdressing main theme manga but it's not. i wish for more chapters tho:') i wanna see their love development (〒﹏〒)

"Boy Meets Maria" What a beautiful story!

I have long wanted to read this and now I finally have! It was really good I love reading BL stories with a bit of a twist to it.
I would recommend this to read (maybe a most) and for those who are new to the world of BL or LGBT+ I hope you can read it with a open mind set <3

SPOILER ALERT!

It is about identity crisis, accepting others for who they are and not for what they look like and different upbringings.
A sweet BL story with a secret dark background.
(Trigger WARNING in episode 4 there are pedophilia scenes!)