like nowaki's namesake, i too was swept away.

In the year of 2017, various well written BL works exist to choose from. So much so that when readers stumble upon this series (after having read these stories), they easily write Junjou Romantica off for several reasons, one reason being is that it's full of "awful yaoi tropes." While it's understandable and some tropes are present in this narrative, for readers like myself who've entered the genre in ~2006, the availability of multiple volume series was limited. Aside from Junjou Romantica, Koisuru Boukun and Sex Pistols were a few of the on-going series I knew and kept track of. Among the three, Junjou Romantica is arguably the tamest. Junjou Romantica remains a classic and is a reasonable introductory series to the boys' love genre, specifically Egoist's story.

Junjou Romantica was the second series that I've managed to read, the first one being Our Kingdom. Although the latter briefly introduced the notion of being attracted to the same sex, it pales in comparison to Hiroki's introspection about the matter. Setting aside the issue of sexuality, what hit me was when Hiroki asserted the notion that you don't choose who you love; it isn't within your control.

While it may seem nothing, the idea and words had loaded meaning to me. My strict, traditional and Catholic background and environment didn't allow me to frame homosexuality in such a way. While I personally didn't see anything wrong, there was a certain, unsaid stigma. It's always been "wrong" but some parts were "okay" (e.g. comedians), the contradiction™ that kept repeating itself but was constantly left unexplained even though gays existed in my life. For once, I allowed myself to ask, "Why?" and challenge the notions I grew up with.

Apart from this, the idea of Hiroki and Nowaki being "equals" — being partners — and their relationship not being tied to other characters before coming together are other factors I enjoy about Egoist.

The age gap of Egoist (4) when compared to Romantica (10) and Terrorist (17) are wide. Although age gaps are not indicative of how successful or not a relationship is, the four years between Hiroki and Nowaki have a closer footing when their story has started, Hiroki a college student doing his thesis and Nowaki wanting to finish his hs credentials so that he could enter a university. Neither Hiroki or Nowaki has more power — authority over the other. While a pure 50/50 relationship is ideal, it's not often the case in real life. Egoist however, comes close to that in the universe of Junjou Romantica. ❤

I'm not a big fan of
situations where characters are compared to their lover's previous romantic interests particularly if the character being compared and the past are related: Akihiko's first love was Takahiro, Misaki's older brother (Romantica) and Shinobu's You's ex-brother-in-law (Terrorist).