Teenage years suck. Why? Because you're going through so many emotions, and so many thoughts are flying through your head, and on top of it all a lot of the times sexually motivated or frustrated. Author Inio Asano decides to cleverly depict teenage life through depression, loss, sex, and more.

Now the big thing here before jumping into this is understanding it's pretty raw. In the sense that these kids heavily talk about death, suicide, and of course there's a ton of sexual moments. I'm talking full on blowjobs, fucking, and so on. So if you are uncomfortable seeing teenagers depicted in such a way this might not be for you. I'm pretty lax on it all and even I was kind of shocked at moments, but more so with the outlook on death/depression instead of the sexual acts of teenagers. Why? Because teenagers like sex as much as adults usually. So no shock there really.

Now on to the story. This focuses on Koume and Keisuk. Koume is shown to be a girl who was rejected by the person she originally had a crush on after a sexual act. She then moves on with Keisuk, who is a depressed boy who just decides he wants sex. So Koume and Keisuk begin their sexual adventure together. Which is mostly just pure sex, at home, at school, wherever and whenever.

But see this all has a purpose. The sex is to shield them away from the pain they're both going through. Koume seems lost in life, unsure of what she wants, and maybe even a bit ashamed of it. Where's keisuk story is deeper, and a lot darker, especially when find out what happened to his brother. Together they basically are two miserable people and they clearly show a distaste towards each other at points that mirrors depression and anger.

What I found so interesting was how real the dialogue felt. Instead of typical romance/drama stories where they end in huge fights or get together, this ended extremely normal. Without spoilers, there's no happy ending, but it's not a sad one either. It's kind of just "normal" and that is what makes it special in a way.

I can probably keep blabbing on and on about this one because the more I thought about it the more it stuck with me. The feeling of loss and wanting to die is something I think everyone at one point goes through and can relate. I think this book shows it in the most honest and truthful way. I think the sexual acts might be tough on some due to the ages of these teens, but I think it was done in a way to show how hurt they both are, and how lost they really are.

If you can get through a dreary story filled with sexual moments I think you'll enjoy the more human moments here with the characters. It's not a easy read but I personally loved it. A 5 out of 5.