Nana to Kaoru: Last Year

(Spoilers will be censored) I'm gonna go away from the norm here and say, despite agreeing with the other reviews, if your a NtK fan, you HAVE to read this. Cause it does conclude the story at the end, and does gives you the ending that you probably wanted. But first, having the first 7 chapters being before Black Label throws me off, I couldn't even enjoy [spoiler]The Tachi candle wax "breather"[/spoiler] because I just wanted to get through it, to reach the post-BL chapters. So my suggestion is, Read NtK, read the first 7 chapters of Last Year, read BL, then read the rest ofLast Year. Now, with that out of the way, I have to agree with the rest, this last part takes all the development of BL, crumples it into a ball of paper and throws it in the trash. To then just build it up again, for no apparent reason. Close to the ending [spoiler]The NTR elements does throws you off, but unlike the other reviewer that seemed pretty mad about it, to me, the fact that at least Nana, clearly wanted to get out, and never changes her stance once she realizes that, made it tolerable.[/spoiler] The way it concluded that scene wasn't too bad for me, I just thought it could've been skipped entirely and replaced with some sort of other development. At the end, I was satisfied with the ending of the series, and with how much love I have now for the protagonists, I needed to read it, and I'm glad I did. With that being said, BL is definitely my favorite installment in the series, and what elevated this whole thing, to me, as a great romance manga. Love Nana and Kaoru.

I've read this while it was being released and recently got to re read it again. I was surprised to see there was not that many positive reviews so decided to leave my own. The last arc of the original series is SO bad and random I remember how excited I was when Last Year was announced. Black Label is still the peak of the series for me story-wise, but I feel this is an integral part of the Last Year developments. And it closes the series with a satisfying development and ending. What I like the most is how it gives a lot more ofNana's perspective than the original series, especially after Tachibana gets more and more involved in the story. Also, her and Sarashina's addition addressed one of my biggest pet peeves in the original series of how it never actually presented actual S&M. This is actually mostly in Black Label but Last Year develops on it, how now they're both looking into new stuff, and shows how their experience with S&M is also improving along with their relationship as Nana gets more bold and trusts Kaoru more and more. I love that. Also, the complications in this run seemed more interesting than just the "school social status" from before. The art is very inconsistent during the original run, but in Last Year the author is at their best. I still dislike Kaoru's gigantic frog mouth but especially Nana's expressions got a lot better since the first volumes of the OG series.

Amazume sensei really has refined his style and it's perfect to show how both Nana and Kaoru come to face themselves, gaining an understanding of their inner selves and the security that comes with it. The conclusion of the saga is really also a conclusion of their adolescence and a proper entrance into adulthood, a satisfying ending that shows all of their growth. The characters naturally go towards this ending as if it was meant to them since the very beginning, and still they gain depth to themselves by doing so, especially Sarashina and Tachibana (and our MCs of course). The artstyle is good as always,Amazume sensei has reached artistic maturity a while ago and he can perfectly arouse the reader while also cconveying everything that needs to be conveyed through facial expressions more than just words. I've read the last 8 chapters at once. It's such a powerful whirlwind of emotion I've been shaking and trembling the whole time and ended up crying for the last few chapters. So good...