Nana to Kaoru: Last Year

[Hikki-kun]

I was expecting the

Spoiler

NTR

, as this author usually uses this to spice every single one of his mangas. it will end up with

Spoiler

kaoru winning nana back or something

but is still very unpleasant. its basically why the first run nana to kaoru bombed in japan after the final arc. you can search 5ch comments about that arc, it will make sense.
now, Im not against this type of things, if they're handled very good, as his manga about the voyeur guy. that manga had that element too, was indeed unpleasant, but it made sense as the plot was around that. i liked it.
There's literally no reason to include this shit so far in the manga, specially when bondage/sm its so important for their relationship. i still find it cheap and unnecessary, and prolly the same thing that happened in the first manga series will happen here.
No mercy for authors that use

Spoiler

NTR

bait. they aren't even ballsy enough to go all the way.

 

[Phuocphuc46]

Nana to Kaoru was, unironically, an amazing rom-com with a realistic and fair look into the S&M world. Black Label was pretty much a perfect followup, and conclusion to the relationship between the 2 main characters (can't remember their names). So what in God's name is this.
Don't get me wrong, I thought I would love seeing more of this amazing series, but Last Year just completely swept the developments in Black Label under the rug and replaced it with a disappointing storyline. It especially did the S&M author character dirty, making him do the one thing pretty much anyone who has practiced S&M should ALWAYS follow which was ignore the safe word, among other things. Also, the art funnily enough lost its unique charm by being more clean and sharper.
Overall, just read the original Nana to Kaoru, Black Label and the first 16 chapters + last chapter of Last Year, for the best reading experience of this series

 

[yeahthatsright33]

I loved this. one of my all time fave series. However I do agree one thing only from this post and that’s how the handled when a safe word was ignored. I get wha the motivation of the character was for doing that in that in that scene but that was bad writing. The author could have handled that SO much better. That scene could have carried so much emotional weight and could have been a defining moment for those involved but it just didn’t hit. No pun intended. Anyways I couldn’t be happier with the overall conclusion of the series. I don’t buy hard copy manga other than my absolute favorites which so far is just berserk. However this series I will buy in full one day. Yes the writing flops sometimes and I think it had potential that it didn’t reach Because of it, but man for Some reason this series had a little something special.

Nana to Kaoru was, unironically, an amazing rom-com with a realistic and fair look into the S&M world. Black Label was pretty much a perfect followup, and conclusion to the relationship between the 2 main characters (can't remember their names). So what in God's name is this.
Don't get me wrong, I thought I would love seeing more of this amazing series, but Last Year just completely swept the developments in Black Label under the rug and replaced it with a disappointing storyline. It especially did the S&M author character dirty, making him do the one thing pretty much anyone who has practiced S&M should ALWAYS follow which was ignore the safe word, among other things. Also, the art funnily enough lost its unique charm by being more clean and sharper.
Overall, just read the original Nana to Kaoru, Black Label and the first 16 chapters + last chapter of Last Year, for the best reading experience of this series

 

[The_H_Guy]

Oh, it's finally over...
The original manga already milked this to the limit. Arashi exausted everything that remained to be told. This was just the beating of a long dead horse.

 

[Shuubaru]

I got to say that the author really stretched the "I'm not worthy, she's out of my league" narrative too much to the point it was very tiring to keep reading it over and over on many chapters, it was repetitive in the original manga and it was certainly even more repetitive here. I wish the author spend more time actually developing the couple relationship instead of insisting with those fillers about Tachi. I also really hated the "almost" NTR bullshit being put again in a final arc, it was the biggest disappoint in the original manga, and this time it went unacceptably and disrespectfully far for the reason people mentioned in other comments.
Still, I'm happy this time the author decided to actually finish the manga with an actual (and good) ending. Even though I think this manga is far from being a masterpiece it made me feel a lot of pleasant and unpleasant feelings. In my opinion if something can give you a rollercoaster of feelings while still making you feel good, then it cannot be that bad.

 

[rafi_rahman]

Was an exhausting but rewarding journey from start to finish. Peak.

 

[darksoullegendz]

Sequel we all need. Finally a conclusion of S&M adventure. Artstyle gotten more light/soft(?), and it shows how our characters grown physically.

As usual, the last arc with sensei was a screwed up. This also happened in the prequel. In the prequel, we got out-of-nowhere crime drama. In this one, we got something worst in S&M play.

I understand what the author want to show us. Sensei want to help our MCs relationship progression by pushing our MCs limit(chapter 26). And our MCs feeling got through to each other. This is where it got worse in S&M play, ignoring the safe word is a big mistake.

ignoring the nitpick last arc with sensei, this is a good series. Definitely recommended.

 

[harrysoung]

I'll defend the creative direction for the last few chapters. The romantic development was excruciatingly slow but we see the confession between them not even like 3 chapters after that NTR fake out. Plus the author already established that Kaoru doesn't communicate through words but S&M so it fits in thematically.

 

[CertifiedNutter]

Shuubaru: "In my opinion if something can give you a rollercoaster of feelings while still making you feel good, then it cannot be that bad."

I cannot agree with this statement more if i tried and to that end i would recommend this series to anyone, i have some negative and borderline traumatic experiences with BSM which leads me to generally avoid content that includes it, so i think it should speak volumes that even i can read and enjoy this series even if it did cause some anxieties to bubble up and haunt me for almost two weeks now. if you wanted to skip this installment and only read the original and black label i would not blame you... the last 4 chapters are nice and wouldnt be too bad to read after black label...
Overall it is a gripping love story with BSM and it affected me in a way i was not expecting nor really prepared for and i have really suffered the 'after-its-finished void' as a result, so forgive the verbal diarrhoea but i have alot i need to say in the spoiler sections... its been a little bit since i finished the series and i have had to sort my feelings and thoughts thoroughly before i could write a review for it, it is quite the emotional sucker punch to the feels.

Spoiler

So lets just say it does end on a happy ending, NtK together with a dedication to be 'serious' however we are left to interprit that, and neither betrayed each other, technically, although one cant help but consider there was an emotional betrayal...
Before the next part i think its important for there to be a distinction between BSM and Swinging, just like any kinks there can be overlaps but they are not ingrained, Nana and Kaorus relationship is not one where i think swinging or partner swapping is acceptable, and so far Kaoru has mostly only 'played' with others for art (aka exhibition) or with Tachi to keep the secret...
That leads me to the incident which is completely unforgivable on sarashina and tachibanas end, they say it is to repay for the events on black label but i see no correlation to support this, had that been the case there would have been a reciprocity or a mirroring, if their intentions had been to expose thier feelings for each other or 'the shape of her heart' that was well and achieved by the time Kaoru begged for them to stop, that was achieved by the time Nana said the safe word let alone had to scream and beg to stop. Not even then after Kaoru summoned the courage to physically intervene was that enough of a display for either sarashina or tachibana, so what was the true point of this play of theirs? i think the answer which they did not disclose is betrayed by what their threshold was, i will share my theory on what i think their real intention was in the next spoiler tab... But regardless they can not be trusted, they are not friends or mentors and one of the biggest betrayals for me the reader is that they would stay in any form of contact after that happened, going back to my comment about mirroring when Kaoru tied tachibana he took cues from her dom who watched over, he relinquished when asked, if it were truly done to repay a kindness done during that it should have mirrored the experience if that is what he wanted to share... totally unforgivable.

Spoiler: The threshold, and why i think 'they' are r*pists

If you consider, like me, too heavily what the hell they hoped to acheive by torturing Nana and Kaoru past the point of safe words, extending to physical violence with Kaoru i think the key is in the threshold they had set for themselves, which neither Nana or Kaoru were aware of, which is heinous as shit to begin with, but that was Nana struggling enough to cause serious harm from her restraints... i dont even think that was their threshold it was just a line that couldnt be crossed. The series has repeatedly demonstrated Kaorus attentions to detail and minimisation of risks and the guilotine that they had her in comes with some serious precautions, the reason is a slip, buckle of the legs while you are bound can cause you to fall and break your neck, with death and parapalegic being the biggest risk, add someone struggling to get out it is much more likely they would loose their footing, fall and have their entire bodyweight fall on a single vertibrae. In my opinion they didnt stop for any other reason than they were not able to get away with murder. As sarashina stated all that obnoxious stuff about rewriting feelings, erasing memories, extended and unconsented torture will lead to the tortured doing anything to make it stop, i fully believe he intended to continue untill she had no choice but to say and do what he wanted to avoid sheer torture and then they would use manipulation and further shame/torture/brainwashing/blackmail/etc to silence them into not getting reported for r*pe. I think that was sarashinas intention all along and tachibana is just fucked in the head enough to let that happen. (also might lend a little credence to why the craftman-sensei hated sarashima so much). So at best if their face value is to be trusted as the author put forth, they are not friends, they should be cut off and i hate that Kaoru and Nana would continue to work or associate at all with them in the future, but worst case scenario they are r*pists and deserve jail, hell in my country doing anything after a safe word is criminally classified as rape/torture and they should be charged, jailed and shanked in prison

Spoiler: What i wish would have happened, and other grumblings....

After black label i would have loved a short series just on the cute, the anxious and the awkward moments as Nana and Kaoru enter and adapt to being 'serious' i would have prefered chapter 28 happen right after chapter 18 and then spend the rest exploring how they deal with dates, coming to terms, and hell call me a pervert but after the commando ending in black label the final 'breather' in this felt a little tame, i dont need to see anything explicit but i think it would be good story to know how they end up having their first time, do they go all the way during/before/after a breather or does Kaorus insecurity force Nana to jump him under more vanilla circumstances? Despite being so well written and getting me sooo invested in the characters and development, having so many unanswered questions leaves a tinge of disappointment at the conclusion but worth it non-the-less.

Spoiler: Meta Theory-craft: The only way i can forgive the author for what hes done to me

So if your like me and have read this entire series all in quick succession of each other your likely experiencing some whiplash and emotional despair.... and its something i recognise, black label didnt do this but i noticed something in the original and Last Year which led to two seperate theories as to why he did this at all;
Firstly in either original or last year if read quickly it takes you through anxeity, sadness, hope and frustration leading to a crescendo of anxiety, fear and worry and right at the moment when you can take no more and you feel your heart start to break... relief, support and placation which comes so suddenly and contrastingly that its an utter shock to the system, and thats a BSM session in a nutshell, im almost convinced these were just included so that the author could dom his entire audience, not sure whether to be outraged or impressed...
Secondly, i have only found this series recently so i can only take other comments words for how popular it was when it came out, which made me think that there could have been an influx of inexperienced people taking an interest SM as a result, which leads me to wonder was those horrible things a stark reminder/warning to new readers about the dangers of venturing into this world, whether it is intended to shock the new and curious readers into not taking unnecessary risks over a passing fancy from a popular manga? Both incedents highlight real risks in BSM which are only amplified for the inexperienced, the first one being, just because you have the same kink does not mean you can trust each other with it, and the second being, just because you like/admire someone you can not trust them blindly with your partner. A dom is suppost to be in control, if you concede that control to someone else you have no ability to get it back. I feel the latter lesson is not made as clearly as it just got swept under the rug so to speak (honestly i worry author-san was going to go full degen but thankfully editor-sama rescued us from that fate at the last minute, which is why its such a weird scene) So although it was horrible for the flow and feel of the story in my opinion, if i disconnect from that and see it from these perpectives i can respect his choice to use them, however there are soo many examples from previous posters on how he could have included these warnings without making it so hearwrenching

So yes that was alot... i had alot to get off my chest it seems, but if nothing else this emotional outburst should speak volumes for the quality of writing and characters and i can only refer back to the quote from Shuubaru on how i see such things