マミタ

無口で強面でメタラーなのに、なぜか可愛い!?メタル好き必見!? あるある&豆知識満載の、メタルお兄さんとのほっこりラブv

となりのメタラーさん

mimi

I actually want to fucking scream. I've never... Related... To a character so hard like I did with Soushi when reading this. I'm not into metal or any of its variants, but reading him talking about how the metal music and intimidating look prevented people from talking to him hit me like a train. Seeing him dealing, growing, and how his generalized anxiety, his social anxiety, and his possible AVPD kept him from conveying important shit or even living a goddamn life felt like I'd been thrown off a fucking plane. Seeing him trying to speak up made me cry more than once because I know... I know how that feels when you're on the verge of passing out because there's so much weight on you to speak. Coming from someone with AVPD and BPD and struggling with that constant tug-of-war of wanting to speak, wanting to make friends, and wanting to keep the friends you somehow made while so much of you is scared to do so at the same time fucking sucks. I've been that person starting from 5th grade that had a permeate depressing look, a permeate intimidating look just so people wouldn't come up to me. Hell, I still do! The moment I had with this book...

Anyway, the story was great, I had an existential crisis, and I'm looking to buy this physically.

Katerina Thorson

4/5
ko-fi • Instagram • TikTok

What an absolutely wonderful story of found family and friendship, love of music, trust, and finding your own voice. 

Tonari no Metaller-san "My neighbor, the Metalhead" follows the story of a young man, Kento, who gets trapped in the the middle of winter - outside his apartment - and is found by his neighbor, Soushi. Who also just so happens to be a serious fan of Metal music. Soon both of them find themselves eating breakfast and dinner together and growing closer together. 

I absolutely adored this manga! The art was stunning and I could honestly look at Mamita's work all day if I could. The panels felt simple yet told such a big story at the same time. I loved how well the dialogue and art flowed together and how it was so easy to transition from one person to the next. 

However, what I loved more was watching Soushi and Kento grow closer together over the year they have spent eating with each other. At the beginning you can obviously see that Kento finds Soushi attractive; however, he never really does anything with it. Kento and Soushi are completely night and day and the mangaka expresses this through her artwork. Soushi is the quiet metalhead that wears black and Kento is the bright and bubbly, never have a worry kind of guy. 

I loved how much plot we were given in this stand-alone manga. We were able to delve into Soushi's past and understand why he is so quiet and not very outspoken. Music is a powerful thing and it brings people together, and it was so interesting how Mamita uses this technique as a way to express Soushi in words when he himself does not like to talk and is very soft spoken. 

And then of course there is Kento who is anything but soft-spoken yet has the fear of coming out to Soushi. Kento tends to cover up his feelings with talking too much and exerting a lot of energy. It's an amazing contrast to that of Soushi and maybe that's why these two fit so well together. They just make sense. And can we take a minute to appreciate the fact that Kento is becoming a pre-school teacher! UGH that ripped my heart in two. 

And if you are looking for a BL manga that is focused on plot and very little sex (and I mean little like a 2 pager), then I definitely recommend reading this manga. 

**If you want to read an English version of this manga than click HERE

となりのメタラーさん

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