My Thoughts:
I seem to be reading a lot of LGBTQIA+ books on my queue and perhaps this is in preparation for LGBTQ awareness month in June. Maybe this is in preparation for Asian Pacific American celebration month in May. However, I am reminded that a few years ago, I changed my reading mantra on this blog to say "Diversifying YA Bookshelves one book at a time." That is really what this is. This book, out of Japan and translated into English is not an Asian American book, however it is a diverse book and it is a LGBTQIA+ book. That is what gets it into your classroom. But at the end of the day, this is a cute book where friendship is friendship and love is love. This is a manga story that needs to be available for the student that is waiting to read this.
The awareness of this odd feeling of friendship and perhaps more starts with a pun in both English and Japanese. The final "awakening" at the end is not a surprise. We as readers are much more emotionally awake than either "Eito" or "Hachi." However, the cute factor of this is that these two high schoolers from different programs of the school meet over the 8 pun that shows up in many ways besides their names. That is what makes this meet cute different from the endless others.
From the Publisher:
High schooler Eito Tachibana has always hated his name, including all of the jokes and puns about the number 8 that have come along with it. It's as if the number has haunted him like a ghost ever since he was a child. One day, he meets a classmate named Tomoya Hatta, aka Hachi-the Japanese word for “8.” What begins as casual greetings and small talk in the hallway soon becomes something much deeper, and Eito realizes that it's more than just a similar nickname that draws him to Hachi. Could the number that Eito resented for so long finally bring him something he'll love-and is that someone Hachi?
Publication Information:
Author, Artist: Nagisa Furuya (she/her)
Publisher: Kodansha Comics (March 12, 2024)
Print length: 196 pages
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