ボーイミーツマリア

BOY MEETS MARIA

MANGA

STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
1
RELEASE
August 28, 2018
CHAPTERS
7

DESCRIPTION

Taiga dreams of becoming an actor, so the first thing he does upon entering high school is join the drama club. There, he meets the beautiful, enigmatic Maria and immediately falls in love with her. Not long after, Taiga is told that she is actually a boy—but is that all there is to Maria's story? This beautifully illustrated, single-volume tale explores the nature of personal expression and the fluidity of the power of love.

(Source: Seven Seas Entertainment, edited)

Note: Volume contains an extra chapter.

CAST

Yuu Arima
Taiga Hirasawa
Fukumaru
Tetsu

CHAPTERS

REVIEWS

Kumichou
80/100
Hypnotic whirl of characters treading onto a tightrope of problems until they gracefully bow at the story's conclusion
Boy Mets Maria contains scenes of sexual assault involving a child. Please read at your own risk.

Boy Meets Maria is a story that follows Taiga Hirasawa who had always longed to become a hero just like the movies he watched as a kid. Along with that, he also desired to have a heroine to accompany him. On his first day of high school he saw the star of the drama club “Maria” and fell in love with the idea of having her as a heroine to his hero story. Quick to act on his feelings, Taiga confesses only to find out that “Maria” was a male classmate by the name of Arima Yuu. The story then follows the path of Taiga slowly peeling away the layers Arima placed onto himself as they come into an understanding about each other’s wounds from the past.

On face value, the story feels raw. Throughout the first story it felt like I was watching a wound slowly open up to reveal patches of raw skin. Delicate, painful and dry around the edges but needs patching up nonetheless. The story slowly starts to focus on Arima’s character and we get to have glimpses of his reasoning and his part as teased as chapters pass on. I was slightly worried in the beginning as stories centered around drama go through the fool-proof factory of typical drama characters: characters that are generally birthed from tragedy. I had this feeling when Taiga’s superficiality and fixation on being a hero was explained as a way to cope with a less than heroic parental relationship. It weaved beautifully with Arima’s own story as they subsequently influenced each other’s climax and reconciliation. Suffice to say it was enough for me to like that aspect of the story.

The manga provided a new lens to look onto as the characters go through their own personal problems. I hated the heroism Taiga was donning at the beginning but the story was able to turn it around as I read on. The main focus of the story for me was Arima. He intrigued me as a character. He was rough around the edges and had a hard time coming in terms with himself due to his upbringing. I’m glad that the author was able to portray Arima’s inner turmoil in such a good and raw way to the audience. It felt like I was slowly witnessing Arima shed off his old skin into something beautiful and more him. Watching him struggle towards the way he lived as a child onto understanding what he really wanted to be was both refreshing and relieving. I was glad that they were able to be at peace with one another in the end. The characters are charismatic. As a reader you can't help but root for them and you want to see them overcome their obstacles. The only character in the story that feels missing something was the Father. He was given a brief limelight due to the reveal in the end and it made him seem normal as his weaknesses and strengths was laid bare. I wanted a more thorough exploration on what was happening in his mind and how his personal story got twisted due to the distress and confusion he was going through with his fraying relationship with his wife on her deathbed.

Other than the plot aspects of the story, the art was beautiful. It fits well with the narrative and the way the author handled the heavy scenes was terrifying. It felt real and I had to pause after reading that chapter to take a breather.

In conclusion, “Boy Meets Maria” is a whirl of compelling and charismatic characters told in a new light with drama as its backdrop. It tells a lot for a story revolving around 6 chapters.
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hotakaa
65/100
A sour spot in an otherwise good narrative.

MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING. BE CAREFUL GOING FORWARD.

So, "Boy meets Maria" is definitely a manga that exists.

It features a beautiful lesson, that "anyone can be a hero", that "anyone can save others", and that "you should find comfort in others", such a beautiful message is accompanied by masterfully crafted characters (... I'll get to that later) and a wonderful, engaging narrative.

The art, coupled with the way the panels are arranged perfectly conveys the happy-go-lucky way that Taiga lives his life, and he's such an interesting protagonist to have in here.

Arima is such a wonderful main character, he's not a simple perfect mcgee and has an actual personality beyond his pretty looks. Such a wonderful character.

If you paid attention to the title, however, you might be wondering where this sour spot is.
Well... It's in the way it ends.

The manga perfectly sets up Taiga's trauma: He's a boy whose father's less-than-ideal treatment of his dying mother made him obsessed with heroes as a coping mechanism.
This also helps us see the main theme of the manga, "anyone could be a hero".

This theme, however, starts to fall apart with one simple reveal: Taiga's father was the one good man that helped Arima when he was getting molested.

Why Hotaka, you might ask, how does this affect the theme in any way?
Allow me to explain.

Arima's situation was portrayed with the man being obscured at first, with Arima not sure on why he sees Taiga as said man.
Leaving his identity unknown would've helped greatly to enhance the idea that Taiga's presence helped Arima slowly overcome his fear of others, the explanation for Arima seeing Taiga in this adult could've easily been "they both helped me unconditionally when no one else would".
But this really touching lesson gets shafted in favour of... Physical similarities...? Because his father bailed on his wife...?

Yes, this shows that the father isn't the monster we thought he was (although he still is a massive prick), you can still have the father be the man that helped Arima.

What i DO NOT like is that Arima seeing Taiga as the man is explained with this.

The ending wouldn't have changed that much either: the way Taiga and his dad treat each other would remain the same because KEEP IN MIND: TAIGA DOES NOT KNOW THIS. Arima DID NOT tell him, as far as we know.

This twist undermines a legitimately good lesson, in favour of pushing an entirely circumstantial explanation to what could've been an incredibly touching story.

The reason i don't give this a "bad" rating (below 50) despite focusing merely on the negatives is that at it's core; there's a very good concept and a lot to unpack when it comes to this manga, it's just that some choices really dragged it down to just "fine"

I really wanted to like this, i really did, i might reread this manga later but as it stands; it's a pile of wasted potential that could've been something special.
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Magenta
80/100
Viscerally intense in an indescribable way, truly something that can only be experienced. (Pride Month 2024 Review #3)
This review is spoiler-free.
_This review is also part of a series of reviews where I review an LGBTQ+ manga/anime once a day._ _This is Review 3, released on June 3rd, 2024._

Boy Meets Maria aims to be a narrative that is as visceral as possible. Putting aside every other aspect of the manga, it should be understood that its primary goal as a narrative is to make emotions run as high as possible in just one volume. This is very different from the surface level aspects of the story, like morals, themes, and arcs. These are also worth discussing, but it should all be taken in with the understanding that the manga is intended to portray them in the most emotionally intense possible way. This is far from a negative quality, and in the case of Boy Meets Maria, since it is its greatest strength. However, it does lead to some difficulty in discussing and reviewing, which I’ll get into later. But before getting into all of that, there is a lot we need to unpack with Boy Meets Maria.

It’s remarkable how much ground is covered in just one volume, with two satisfying emotionally and thematically meaningful arcs shared by Taiga and Arima, each representing different facets of self-identity, self-confidence, and repressed trauma. It also utilizes the very much important queer aspect of its storytelling to give commentary on the repressive societal expectations of traditional gender roles. All of it ties into the scream of a shockingly coherent intense emotion that just ends up building more and more on itself. This might be one of the most direct examples of “less is more” out there. It is something that is so damn short, yet so perfectly uses its space efficiently. It can so quickly cause major story shifts and heartstopping moments in just a manner of a few pages without much whiplash. The strongest example of this is in Chapter 4, which is the rollercoaster of emotional turmoil.

For me at least, there isn’t really much to complain about. However, if I do have to find one aspect that I am mildly disappointed about, it is that there are barely any double-spreads or full panel pages. These typically emphasize more impactful moments in a manga, and they would be perfect for a manga like this, but they are sadly absent. It's not like the paneling and art isn’t beautiful by itself, because there is never not a dull moment visually. The more abstract diversions in art to for certain moments of internalized emotions. But the lack of double-spreads leads to less emphasis on moments that should be more memorable.

But past all of the surface-level stuff that give the manga a presentably pretty face, there is still a certain difficulty in quantifying something like this. The emotional intensity is pushed to such an extreme that praise of the manga becomes more difficult. Even if the themes of the story are as clear as possible, they can still be obscured through that same emotional intensity. A positive review of something like this is difficult since it’s created to be felt more than anything. And for a review, what is even the point of stating things in words when they can come nowhere close to the emotions that are naturally nebulous.

It’s a lot easier to quantify negative critiques, as it is the manga failing to properly deliver on that visceral quality. Hell, my review has dedicated a whole paragraph to the lack of double-spreads, despite it being a very minor complaint of the manga in the grand scheme of things. However, giving praise becomes infinitely harder because that nebulous emotion is extremely hard to express. The pure scream of intense emotion can be overwhelming to a point of near speechlessness. I know that I’ve tried my best to explain these emotions, but I really feel like any word I say can’t do something like this justice. Just a simple “It was good, I liked it” can’t suffice to describe this quality. There may not even be much point in giving a comprehensive, positive review of Boy Meets Maria because nothing can properly convey the viscerality that it so prides itself on.

So, I want to leave the people reading this with a simple recommendation. Everybody deserves to read it, due to how its short length makes it so accessible. Even people who don’t think they’d like it should probably give this a go. Some will come out a mess and will be able to give a mumbled inkling of their thoughts, and the people who didn’t connect with it can probably give a very direct explanation as to why. But for the person who likes it the most, the complete menagerie of emotions should come with no words at all.

Thank you for reading to the end of the review if you did. If you have any criticisms of how this review was made, you are free to message me to critique what I had to say.

Also, please don’t like or dislike the review without reading it.
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