Okujou no Bye-Bye

As I'm trying to make it through all the shounen-ai one-shots, I'm starting to get a better feel for what makes a good one. It's all about being able to convey your story succinctly, dropping in short panels that build up the main characters and setting things up in a way that means there's an arc for a satisfying conclusion...and that's something Okujou no Bye-Bye does exceptionally well. This is definitely one of the better one-shots I've read. It has a great story structure. It sets up a scene which immediately establishes some kind of conflict but still leaves the reader guessing the ins and outsof it all, then flashes back to their first meeting and sets up their relationship and their special "thing" that they spend time together on the "out of bounds" roof. There are some great short scenes that just boost the character depth enough that it gives you a clear sense of who they are for a story so short. It has a satisfying and wholesome conclusion that's cute and gives you the "aww" feeling you want from a romance. I really liked the characters. In such a short space of text and image, you really do get a sense of their relationship, who they are and why they are acting that way. Their characters manage to have an arc which is a feat in a one-shot. The art is very good, not my favourite but still very competent. Overall, I would definitely recommend this to someone. I found it cute, wholesome and enjoyable and was pleasantly surprised at how well-crafted the story structure was. It's a one-shot so it's not a magnum opus of character development and complexity but it's a very good one-shot nonetheless.