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You Should Be The One To Come Kiss Me by Yamayade
Japanese:
お前のほうからキスしてくれよ
Omae no Hou kara Kiss Shitekure yo
Links:
Yamayade Twitter
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moment Homepage
Have you ever wanted something you can’t have? Have you loved someone so much you were afraid to be honest about your feelings? Have you ever loved someone so much you were afraid to accept theirs?
At the office, Eito Kanda and Kou Ueno have a cat-and-mouse relationship. Their coworkers are convinced that they have some kind of unspoken beef with each other and that Eito messes up on purpose just to mess with Kou. And, who can blame them? The two couldn’t possibly be more different: Kou is aloof, quiet, and detail-oriented—which resulted in him being removed from the sales department and swapped into accounting—while Eito is the company’s star salesman. Intensely outgoing and hardworking, with strong communication skills, Eito’s loved by most everyone in the office while Kou mostly keeps to himself.
In reality, though, the two are incredibly close. Having gotten to know each other during their time together in sales, Eito and Kou know each other better than almost anyone. Kou knows all about Eito’s issues with his father, and Eito knows all about Kou’s sexuality. The two hide their relationship at the office because Kou is skittish about their coworkers getting any ideas about just how friendly the two are. They’re just friends, and Kou is intent on keeping it that way. Having been traumatized by a previous relationship, Kou isn’t keen on dating a friend, and he’s particularly uninterested in dating a straight friend.
Eito, however…? Ever since being told he’s not Kou’s “type” as a backhanded form of reassurance when Kou came out to him, Eito’s been on a strange path to prove to Kou that he is desirable. Is this just his pride talking, or is something inside him desperate to get even closer to Kou than he already is? He already stays over at Kou’s place constantly. The two already know each other’s deepest, darkest secrets. So, why is Kou always keeping him at an arm’s length? And why is Eito equally as desperate to close that divide?
Thus creates the push and pull of two men who truly adore each other but just can’t move past the invisible barriers that prevent their relationship from deepening.
I know I’ve mentioned this multiple times on Twitter, but this manga holds the record for how many times it’s made me cry at the office. I feel like it’s a beautiful showcase of how love and relationships don’t necessarily get easier as we age—our experiences as we move through life can make or break who we become, and one traumatizing experience can easily mar every relationship going forward. We want to think that, as we grow and become better at communicating, interacting with others and making important decisions becomes easier over time. But sometimes, it’s the smallest things that feel unbearably difficult.
All that is to say, I found Kou’s struggles through the manga to be unbelievably relatable. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot because I cannot express enough how much I hope everyone reads this manga, but there’s a reason I personally chose Kou as my favorite seme character of 2024. It was soul-destroying to watch him continually hurt Eito—the one thing he desperately didn’t want to do—because he’d been so thoroughly scarred by the past. Usually it would be a bit frustrating to watch two grown adults who clearly love each other just not be able to make it work, but because Yamayade does such a great job introducing Kou’s trauma and crafting how he reacts to Eito’s overzealous love and advances, it feels incredibly real. Painfully real, in fact.
I need to give Eito all my love, too. Similar to Kou, Eito’s personality is given an incredible amount of depth. Because of the gaps he has in understanding Kou’s past, he unknowingly picks at Kou’s trauma wounds in the most adorable and sweet and sincere ways. He thinks he’s just signaling his interests to help Kou move past his misgivings in dating a straight man, but he’s accidentally acting in a flippant way that makes it hard for Kou to take his advances seriously. It’s soul-destroying watching him be pushed away again and again when we—the audience—are fully aware of how real and honest his feelings are. But it’s just as understandable to the audience why Kou is worried he’s being (lovingly) toyed with.
And before I scare off anyone who isn’t interested in reading anything too heavy, this manga is absolutely not just incredibly heart-wrenching, painful moments. As I already mentioned, Eito is so unbelievably cute. I can’t get enough of his dumb little attempts to flirt with Kou (which Kou is almost always oblivious to). Trying to leave things over at his house, walking around naked, changing his hair to match Kou’s preferences… For Kou, the cute moments are more sparing since he’s much more withholding with his moments of affection (and they’re often quite bittersweet rather than silly), but that makes them really stand out. It’s clear how much he adores and values Eito. The side characters are also great, as are the running jokes. I love the fact that a silly gag that’s brought up in the first chapter (Eito leaving his stuff over at Kou’s apartment) is reoccurring down the line in a way that’s actually significantly important to the plot.
Yamayade creates the perfect tone, expertly balancing between sweet and sad moments so the manga never feels too heavy while also never losing focus on Kou and Eito’s emotions. All of the emotional scenes are handled masterfully. There’s frequently a lot of focus on Kou and Eito’s faces to show just how much a moment has hurt them, or brought them joy, or caused them a sense of unease or melancholy. Yamayade is incredibly skilled when it comes to drawing expressions. Something as simple as a side-profile as Kou gazes at Eito creates so much longing it’s unbelievable. When I was putting together the inside shots I wanted to showcase for this blog post, even, it was almost impossible to pick and I ended up with more than 20 without even realizing. There’s no wasted space in this manga—every panel adds to the mood.
This is definitely for those who’re in the market for a bit of an emotional rollercoaster ride. The ero scenes are fairly sparing and also plot-relevant, so if you’re in the mood for something light on plot and heavy on the steamy scenes, maybe wait to read this. There’s a sexy scene in the middle, but it’s honestly such a “sweetie nooooo! stop!” moment that the emotional distress may outweigh the titillation. (But then again, maybe you’re into that… 🥴)
And…! After all that turmoil, this manga has an absolutely amazing emotional catharsis at the end. I can’t wait for everyone to read the sixth chapter, during which we can all collectively enjoy Kou and Eito being sweet and cute and in love. I’m sincerely looking forward to everyone’s reactions.
Overall, this manga is truly the whole package. Both Kou and Eito are such wonderful characters, with an abundance of depth and personal growth through the course of the volume. Their behavior is understandable, their trauma is relatable, and their love is so real. I can’t wait to see where Yamayade plans on bringing these two in the continuation!
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