Senpai, This Can’t Be Love! Brush up Volumes 1 and 2 Review
I can’t take this for granted. I should treasure this happiness while it lasts…!!
Yuki Kaneda, a talented young and aspirational CG designer is a gentle, earnest soul at heart from a rural background (his folks are farmers). However, given his fierce expressions and his spiky haircut, he’s often mistaken for a rebel and the fact that he’s really rather shy is sometimes taken for an aggressive attitude. However, thanks to his supervisor Jun Yanase (whom he idolizes) he’s settled into the workplace and is eager to work hard to learn new skills, which is why they’re currently in Vancouver (Canada). It’s been a steep upward learning curve but after eight months (and attending a language school for English lessons) Kaneda is doing well. However, on the relationship front, one thing has led to another and now Yanase and Kaneda are going out together. But Kaneda, overwhelmed by his first serious relationship, finds he can’t concentrate on his work in the office as his mind keeps drifting back to their love life.
And then Yanase tells him he’s going back to Japan as his internship has finished – even though Kaneda has another three months still to go. Kaneda is confused – but determines to make the most of his time in Canada. No sooner has he arrived back in Japan, though, than he’s busier than ever as the studio has a tight deadline to meet. After three months apart from his lover/mentor, Kaneda finds himself only thinking about Yanase again and in order to stay focused on his work, tries to put some distance between the two of them. Yanase misunderstands and thinks he’s fallen for someone else! And then, to complicate matters, Kaneda is transferred by the studio to another company for a month – and this then turns into the offer of a permanent appointment. What is Kaneda to do?
It’s been over a year since Kaneda has visited his family out in the country (Toyama) so, as the boss tells all the staff to take a break when the project comes to an end, he goes home. He’s wondering if it’s the right time to tell them that he’s fallen in love with someone – but just as he’s agonizing over this, who should arrive but Yanase? After visiting the local hot springs, Yanase tells Kaneda’s family how much their boy means to him. “If it’s okay with you, I want to always stay by his side.”
However, when they return to the office, the boss introduces a new team member: award-winning 3D modeler Teru Mizushima, and appoints Yanase as his mentor. Mizushima is talented, ambitious and quick to learn and monopolizes all of Yanase’s time, leaving Kaneda feeling left out and maybe even… jealous? After all, he’s never won an award. But then Yanase tells Kaneda that he’s decided to set up his own CG design company and asks him to join him. Kaneda wants to say yes – but the fact he hasn’t even one award to his name has been bothering him; he feels he wouldn’t be an asset to Yanase and asks for time to consider the offer. Yanase is confounded. He was so sure that Kaneda would agree straightaway. I can’t tell what he’s thinking anymore, he realizes, even as Mizushima is asking the equally depressed Kaneda, “Did you get dumped? You’re giving off a heartbroken vibe.” Where will it all end?
Senpai, This Can’t Be Love! introduced us to Kaneda and Yanase and the world of CG modelling as they worked on the fantasy film Red Honey. The relationship between the charismatic Yanase and the star-struck Kaneda was set against some interesting and informative sections about the CG design their company was producing. That element is mostly not on show here, which is a shame as it’s fascinating – although the two get to go to Enoshima in Volume 2 to “collect references for textures we can use in our work!” as their boss puts it (although he might have ulterior motives for putting them together on a project so they can work things out). Mangaka Shinta Harekawa has an appealing art style and her characters are well portrayed in the art as well as their interactions; the chibis are really sweet too. She reminds us in the Afterword to Volume 2 that the series has been adapted to a TV drama and she credits the main actors; at the end of Volume 1, she does little cartoons of the people in the CG industry that helped her and modelled for the characters. There are also attractive colour pages at the start of both volumes which echo the soft colour scheme of cover art. Translation for Yen Press is by Leo McDonagh and lettering is by Dietrich Premier and both work well together to make for a good reading experience.
These volumes come shrink-wrapped with a parental advisory as they’re rated 18+. There are several sex scenes between the two main protagonists but everything is consensual and rather tenderly portrayed (and mostly from Kaneda’s point of view).
Senpai, This Can’t Be Love! Brush up is a cute but relatively superficial look at an M/M relationship in the workplace; I’d describe this as ‘BL Lite’. This doesn’t mean it’s not an enjoyable read, it just doesn’t delve very deeply into the relationship. However, we don’t need all our love stories to be angst-ridden, either – and could be just the thing if you’re looking for a longer BL romance with some ups and downs but none of the heartache or homophobia so often encountered by the protagonists in other Boys’ Love manga.
Our review copies were supplied by Yen Press.
