Linkage – short GL manga review

Linkage or in Japanese リンケージ is a GL Manga by Uso Kurata. A collection of 5 stories that have been published in magazines before. 

I’ll be reviewing them separately. 

Chapter 1: Kusari wa Mou Iranai (鎖はもういらない (No More Need For Chains))

That was cute.

Felt a bit off when Aoi was hanging out with the others and didn’t even tell her lover where she was going, but other than that it was cute.

Also cool how Yoshino learned something about herself through the “drama”.

Rating: 4 stars

Chapter 2: Kikoeru Suzu no Ne (キコエルスズノネ (Hearing the Sound of Bells))

Not a fan of the “two girls can’t fall in love, what are you doing?” trope, but as it was released in 2008, I guess that’s fine. Considering there’s a happy end. 

Also not much a fan of Hiromi’s personality. I thought Tomo overreacted at first, but actually, her pov was totally valid, and given that Hiromi seemed kinda sus, that slap was totally fair. 

The ending was cute though. (A bit fast-paced perhaps, but understandable for the limited length.)

Rating: 3 stars

Chapter 3: Present (プレゼント)

“Haruki, who couldn’t see, was the one present god gave me.”

Well, damn, they made up during class? Very random and weird place to do that, but you do you I guess.

Not a fan of the trope “we must cure disabilities”, especially since the quote above was so good. I had high hopes for this, and apart from the surgery, it was quite cute. Unfortunately they had to go that route… and while I understand that you’d want to be able to see, especially when you have been blind since only recently, that trope in stories is so wrong… 

Rating: 3 stars 

Chapter 4: Kakera (欠片 (Fragments))

Not bad. The author wrote it quite well. The big sister especially made me emotional. You could feel her fear and regret over what she did and how bad she was treating her afterwards, but at the same time her pain over feeling that way in the first place. 

I’d have loved a bit of a backstory of them, especially from the younger sister’s POV, why they love each other so dearly. There was a bit of a hint but it would’ve been nice to show some more childhood memories of them or something. 

The beginning was a bit confusing, I couldn’t tell right away what was the present and what a flashback, but that became clear in the middle.

Rating: 4 stars

Chapter 5: Linkage

“I want to create a robot that helps patients in need of love” is a nice quote, however, followed by an image of the robot – a young girl, middle-school age –, wasn’t the best introduction. 

“You have to wear a little makeup. After all, you’re a girl.” Eww. No.

“A female type falling in love with a woman? This is abnormal behavior.” Eh? This is supposed to be sci-fi, yet they still live in the Middle Ages, when it comes to queerness? Wtf?

The ending was cute but eh… too many icky scenes/quotes. And this could’ve been so easily avoided by making the robot older, even by just 3 years. 

Rating: 2.5 stars

Overall cute stories, each very different. They don’t really ‘link’ (get it?), other than being GL and having a blossoming romance.

The art-style is good and makes each of the characters from all 5 stories distinguishable.

Some of the tropes could’ve been changed, especially regarding the disability rep (which I came here for) or in the sci-fi story, though it’s still recommendable.

The homophobia bits were annoying, but given it’s from 2008, it’s understandable. And tbh I think they were handled better than in some recent Mangas. (Might also be the limited page count, but still.)

Finished reading: 16th July 2024
~Arden Skye

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Written By: Arden Skye
Favorite game/film/book: doesn’t have one, cause there are too many good ones!
About: generalist, who likes a bit of everything, but especially has a love for magic, queerness and melancholy. When they’re not arting, they’re probably dreaming/reading through another world, or spending time in nature with their dog.
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