The Spring 2021 Manga Guide

Like Two Peas in a Pod

What's It About? 

The story centers on two teenage boys both named Tanaka, who are similar in almost everything, including height, test scores, sprint times, and favorite things. However, when one of the Tanakas takes an interest in a girl, but sees the other Tanaka hanging out with her, a rift of frustration begins to form that slowly turns into sorrow.

Like Two Peas in a Pod is drawn and scripted by Gorō Kanbe and Tokyopop has released its first volume both digitally and in print for $7.99 and $12.99 respectively

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Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

Tanaka and Nakata have a reputation of being two peas in a pod – very similar to each other, in other words. But are they really? The answer in this very sweet BL volume is a little bit yes and a little bit no, because as it turns out, they both used their initial similarities to start watching each other, resulting in them sharing more by the time the book ends than they did at the start. Naturally some of that is their romantic feelings, but one of the things I like about this volume is that it doesn't go all-out making promises of forever and eternal love. These are two kids still figuring all that “love” stuff out, and while that may not give us a perfect happily-ever-after, it works better than if the creator threw caution to the wind. I'm a bit surprised at myself about this, really, because normally I'm all about the unconditional happy ending.

That makes Like Two Peas in a Pod interesting on a few fronts. Certainly the fact that we only have one avowal of love at the volume's end is the major one, but the other is how much the two female characters drive this BL story. Generally speaking, I do like my BL and yuri to take place in a world where more than one gender exists, but rarely do I find that the “opposing” or “rival” characters do much to move the plot forward. That's absolutely not the case here, particularly when it comes to Futaba, Nakata's friend on the library committee. Futaba doesn't quite figure everything out about who Nakata likes, but no matter who she thinks it is, she's relentlessly supportive, making it clear that she has his back in all situations. She's a wonderful friend by almost any measure, and even when she eventually does learn who Nakata is in love with, she doesn't act in any way homophobic; she's surprised, but that's pretty much it. Her support helps to center Nakata and allows him to eventually take things forward from secret crush territory, and without it, I'm not sure that the plotline would have worked as well as it does.

But perhaps one of the best, or at least most striking, things about the story is that it has at least two of the characters admit that they haven't really figured out what “love” means yet. They have ideas, certainly, but then those change just when they assume they've got it down pat. That feels a little more honest than a lot of romances. The idea of trying to sort through feelings is also a theme in Don't Call Me Daddy, the other of this creator's works that I've read, and I like how they handle it both here and in that book. The characters may not have everything neatly filed away, but they all honestly try, growing and changing as they begin to get a handle on their emotions. This would have worked better as a two-volume series, but apart from things feeling a little condensed, I have no complaints about what is ultimately a sweet story.