The Spring 2023 Manga Guide

Long Lost Pals Living Their Breast Life

What's It About? 

You've heard of meet cute, but reunite cute? Now that they're both grown up, newly swole Shun visits his old friend Nana after an extended absence hoping to put a (figurative) stake in the heart of his one-time first love. But it looks like neither of these tiddy monsters is ready to let go! Join our hilariously awkward (maybe?) couple as they (hopefully!?) begin to bumble their way into an adorable relationship!

Long Lost Pals Living Their Breast Life has story and art by Tamaki Nao, with English translation by Nicolina and lettering by Finn K. The digital release of Long-Lost Pals Living Their Breast Life will be released in January 2023 and is currently available for pre-order on the Irodori Aqua website. The 110-page-long volume is priced at $12.25. The work will be made available on other digital platforms at a later date as well.

Is It Worth Reading?

Christopher Farris

Rating:

Oh, this one! I'll always be inherently amused to be living in the kind of modern era where manga series can go viral and wind up officially licensed for release. And it's equally amusing when the subject is as simple as a pair of childhood friends navigating their feelings for each other at the same time they're navigating around each others' massive mammaries. You know we love a bit of equal-opportunity fanservice here. Truly, the medium of manga allows us to experience some of the most fantastical ideas available through human expression, such as "What if there were two really, really hot people who might hook up?"

The down-to-earth courtship in Long-Lost Pals Living Their Breast Life is so simple it's honestly almost refreshing. There is some awkwardness occasionally in how our bosom buddies are childhood friends seems to result in both characters still regularly coming off as childish. But many of the other times it seems to actually ring true to how these young adults might grapple with the intrusive thoughts of their hormone-addled bodies reacting to each others' bodies. Both internally intone multiple times that they do know where the appropriate lines are, only to be tripped up on account of their big ol' boobs making them act like big ol' boobs.

The first volume of all this bounces past pretty quickly, with the second volume feeling more substantial to make the pair come off like a properly filled-out package. There's enough of a rapport between Nana and Shun in-between their incipient adult horniness that I can buy the childhood friend angle. And the story occasionally seems to be pressing at the idea of what "childhood friends" means in the context of growing, in so many ways. It's just a bit more than you might expect from what's otherwise a wholesome fanservice vehicle bolstered by an in-your-face title. On that note, the fanservice is definitely doing it. Tamaki Nao's aware enough of why people are here to let Nana get her Nanas out a couple of times, while the fact that they know to draw the cut of Shun's pecs in every outfit, even peeking through while he's in business attire, shows they understand the true culture. It's also funny to see them stumble into elements across the serialization of this one, revealing Shun's nipples as a post-chapter bonus "By…popular demand?", only to make them a recurring on-page fanservice feature moving forward. They know. Some of the moments of courtship might come off too possessive or overprotective for some people, but I think the character writing engages with it in an earnest feeling way. It makes for an earnestly entertaining time between two people, just doing their breasts.

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

The title may draw you in, but what keeps you reading is the fantastic combination of equal opportunity fanservice and a story so sweet and wholesome it may as well be a homemade apple pie. Seriously, it's a perfect combination that I didn't even realize needed to exist. Shun and Nana's relationship is utterly charming, but without the cloying falsity that often permeates books like this: they're both adults, and they both act like it, just in a very awkward way. Neither is quite ready (or able) to admit that they're in love, but they're also not above acting out their feelings, even if they're ready to die of embarrassment shortly afterward. It's an utter delight.

The nervous contradictions between actions, words, and thoughts are a large part of what makes this so nice to read. Both Shun and Nana were hurt by their separation fifteen years ago, and both of them have been dealing with that in their own way. For Shun, that means that he's gotten into bodybuilding due to a comment little Nana made about wanting to be carried like a princess on her wedding day. Nana's also never forgotten her words, but she's also a little afraid that they drove Shun away, and neither can quite bring themselves to believe that their feelings are mutual. There's some suggestion that Nana's unaware of her emotions, but I think it's more that she's trying not to notice them because she's afraid that she hurt Shun and doesn't deserve to love him.

Luckily for her, he's not holding a grudge, and luckily for us, he's all about respecting her. It's got the same “consent is sexy” vibe that Ladies on Top does, albeit in a much tamer way, and Shun is deeply invested in making sure that he respects Nana at all times. I love that he even backtracks when he says that her skimpy outfit will give men the wrong idea – he's trying to help, but after the words leave his mouth, he realizes that it wasn't an okay thing to say, especially since, as Nana says, she's only dressing to make herself comfortable, which is another excellent moment. It's just such a sweet and healthy romance, and we don't get enough of those.

Obviously, the fanservice is an expected part of this, and there's plenty of it. But it doesn't feel exploitative and the artist is fully aware of how it's being used, even making a comment about reader requests to see Shun's nipples. (Yes, the elusive male nipple is present! So is the female nipple; this truly is equal opportunity fanservice.) There's a good balance overall between attractive art and a sweet story, making this an excellent reminder of why you can't judge a book by its title. I can't wait to read more.

Jean-Karlo Lemus

Rating:

If you've ever read a romantic comedy and wished that the guys were as caked-out as the women, this manga has your number! Long-Lost Pals Living Their Breast Life is definitely for the breast aficionados, be they boobs on women or men. You know this manga is serious because they draw Shun with nipples and he shows them off exactly as many times as Nana has topless scenes. In the words of Ariana Grande, “It's equality!”.

Ignoring that both Shun and Nana are rocking some serious boobs, Long-Lost Pals Living Their Breast Life is a fluffy rom-com. It doesn't have much more going for it besides both Shun and Nana being twice-shy for each other, but seeing them fumble around each other is cute enough. We know these two idiots will shack up, it's just a matter of “when” and not “if”. Shun is pretty cute as a male lead, with a lot more emotional nervousness with Nana than his bulking physique would imply, and Nana is basically the perfect heart-on-the-sleeve counterpart to his surface-level stoicism. It's a race to see how soon these two lovebirds will end up in the sack together. Can it hold people's interest until then? I'd like to think so, especially with pacing as brisk as it has. Lightly recommended, though you might want to keep this one for mature readers.

MrAJCosplay

Rating:

Do you ever grow up and get swole out of spite? I know that sounds like it shouldn't be the premise of a fairly cute adult comedy but it is and I kind of love it for that. Long Lost Pals Living Their Breast Life is about two childhood friends reuniting after being separated for a long time except one of them has come back more noticeably different than the other. Turns out that when they were kids, one of them felt very self-conscious about being weak and not being able to carry his crush as a little boy so he dedicated his life to getting very muscular for the sake of making that dream come true. I thought that there would just kind of be a lot of reverse sexual-harassment jokes or meathead humor but in actuality, it was a surprisingly organic story about two childhood friends reconnecting. There is a natural progression to them conquering that hurdle of meeting each other for the first time again and the growing sexual tension that arises when the two are very upfront about how interested they are in each other physically.

It doesn't go from zero to a hundred and feels like a bit of a slow burn but nothing feels forced here. The characters have their own desires but there is a very believable reaction to themselves and to each other. Despite having a very cute presentation, there is a mature edge to everything, almost like I'm reading the setup for a very vanilla hentai. Normally I would be a bit upset that we didn't at least get the payoff that usually comes with that type of build-up but I didn't feel that way after reading these two volumes because I kind of want these two to be at a point where they can be fully open with each other before they cross that line. It's very refreshing reading a very simple story that is just about friends reconnecting and realizing the sexual tension between them. What you see is what you get here and I wouldn't have it any other way.