チョコレートのように Author: Hichiwa Yuka Illustrator: Kane Hikaru Format: BLCD H-level: ★★★☆ Plot: ★★★ Artwork: ★★★★ Characters: ★★★ Overall: ★★★

Betrayed by Hichiwa sensei! Apparently the uke is not the poisonous uke I expected!! Harsh review ahead so please be careful!

Story
Shizuka Kyouichi ( Takeuchi Ken) works as a programmer in a company, along with his best friend Nagase Kouji ( Suzuki Tatsuhisa).  He designed a brilliant program but Nagase stole it and claimed the credit.  Kyouichi was pissed and went drinking alone in a bar.  There he met Kajimoto (Yasumoto Hiroki), who was crunching chocolate all the time.  The guy came over to talk to him and soon learned he was unhappy because his program was stolen by his friend.  Kajimoto then offered Kyouichi a plan for revenge.  First, Kyouichi would have to alter his appearance, then use his own body to seduce Nagase.  Deeply wounded by Nagase’s betrayal, Kyouichi went with Kajimoto’s plan and transformed from a dull programmer with no fashion sense to a decent looking guy.  During the process, of course, Kyouichi slept with Kajimoto and gradually fell for him along the way, to the extent that he almost gave up his revenge.  Yet he knew Kajimoto had a lover and when he saw the photo at Kajimoto’s place and a man walking into his apartment, he jumped to the conclusion that Kajimoto still loved his lover.  So he proceeded with the revenge again.  In the end though, Kajimoto revealed the truth that he was actually the head of the project and he was really impressed by the program.  At the bar when he saw Kyouichi, he fell in love and when he learned the brilliant program was actually written by Kyouichi and not Nagase, he wanted to help (and along the way own) Kyouichi! Well, all’s well that ends well, Nagase is replaced by Kyouichi in the project and Kajimoto and Kyouichi are now all love love.

Review
Although I wouldn’t say Kyouichi is a brainless uke, I can’t say he is very brilliant either… and he’s simply fooled around by Kajimoto and Nagase.  Of course Nagase is wicked for stealing Kyouichi’s project, but the latter should really fight for his own right!! You can’t blame people when you sit around doing nothing after knowing someone has stolen your project.  Also he keeps saying he doesn’t want Kajimoto to help but he keeps on going back to Kajimoto, definitely not the type of uke I like.  As for Kajimoto, he is SO TYPICAL of Hichiwa sensei’s seme, a.k.a. tough, intelligent, but stubborn, self-centered, and hardly listen to what others have to say.   He is surprisingly hetare though ,eating chocolates and watching classic anime. Overall, I think the two may be a pretty good couple (a.k.a. ba-couple).  Finally, Nagase! He is not much different from a villager A in a RPG game.  If he is the “horse”, at least give him a bigger role! Suzuki’s “bad boy” acting is actually quite good so I feel it would be better had he appeared in more scenes.  ??Finally, I find the pacing of the CD extremely slow .  Hichiwa sensei is famous for her speedy dialogues but somehow I can’t feel the speed in this particular story.  Maybe it’s not the best story to be dramatized?

Bottomline
Sorry if my review is a bit “spicy” but I had high hopes for this CD (cast and author) so when my expectations were not met, I feel a bit angry .  I certainly think there is not much “plot” in the story so it’s not necessary for a 2-disc package.  If you have plenty of time and interest to listen to a very sweet story, I think this is for you.  Unfortunately, I don’t like sweets and so this is just not my taste.

P.S. I think Kajimoto won’t last too long if he keeps eating chocolates and pizzas as they’re not good for the body. Hopefully Kyouichi can change his diet .