Monotone Blue

3.5 for the "Escalate" oneshot

3 for the "Monotone Blue" manga

The fact that I'm still going to try and find a physical copy so I can this on my shelf kind of pisses me off because I don't think I like this as much as I wanted to. More importantly, I don't like Hachi.

The oneshot was kind of nothing but I liked how both of them were on mutual grounds about the whole thing. Now it felt like Hachi was being pushy and selfish while Aoi was much more timid compared to his oneshot self. I don't mind Aoi as much but Hachi's change turned him into a character I personally hate. Possessive, aggressive, and selfish. I get that he's a cat and the way Nagabe writes anthro characters seems to have more animalistic traits and behaviors, but I just really don't like him for most of the story.

There are also times when I felt like things could've easily been explained, dodged, or dealt with more calmly. But you either had Hachi overreacting and Aoi sounding suspicious.

Yeah, by the end it was pretty sweet and I'm here for Aoi's backstory, but there were just mostly Hachi-related things that embodied things I don't like in a character.