Ever since taking in the wounded boy he found on his doorstep, nice guy Atsushi Ikeda has been emotionally involved with Riya Narukawa, a high school student and genius violinist who suffers from multiple personality disorder brought on by childhood abuse. One personality, called White, is in love with a cruel upperclassman while the other, dubbed Black, is attached to Atsushi. In this final volume, Riya’s mental distress escalates and it looks like one of his personalities will vanish forever.

Il Gatto Sul G. is a rarity among boys’ love manga—it has a substantive plot, with twists and everything! It’s got other positive qualities, as well. Unlike some BL, Riya’s mental illness is never used as a springboard for hilarity; he actually spends most of his time miserable and confused. And although the White personality’s relationship with Kousaka, an abusive guy who nearly breaks one of Riya’s fingers in an effort to keep him from seeing Atsushi, is disturbing, it’s made clear that Kousaka’s behavior is neither acceptable nor sexy. Lastly, the art is attractive, having evolved quite a lot from the first volume, with a markedly good grasp of body language.

My complaints are actually few. Some parts of the second half of the volume, featuring many panels of a weeping Riya, grow repetitive. They do, however, lead up to one particularly nice surprise which, in turn, leads to an unexpected and rather awesome ending.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.

From the back cover:
The crescendo builds as “Black” Riya becomes more dominant and, if he has his way, would erase “White” Riya from existence. But whichever personality surfaces, kind and compassionate Atsushi is ready to burst into a torch song for Riya, after realizing that he is in love with the confused young man. Upperclassman Kousaka, however, is set on derailing the symphony that is Atsushi’s and Riya’s relationship. Kousaka, you see, has feelings for Riya as well.

Review:
Seriously, you guys. Enough with the musical terms.

This volume suffers a bit from middle book syndrome. Some important things occur, but there are also some slow passages and I think it’d be pretty impossible to jump into the series with this volume and enjoy it. Essentially, Riya gives a concert and performs admirably, then promptly switches into “Black” mode and spends the next ten days at home, where Atsushi has been hired by a family member to be a live-in housekeeper and submit status reports on Riya’s condition.

One of Riya’s schoolmates overhears the details about his other personality and history of childhood abuse, and shares this information with the upperclassman (Kousaka) who has been tormenting Riya. When Kousaka runs into Riya’s Black personality, the Black personality tells him off (calling him a loser because of his nonconsensual desires!) and then promptly asks Atsushi to sleep with him. Atsushi nearly does, but doesn’t want it to happen that way, telling Riya he loves him. Next morning? Riya’s back to his White personality with no memory of the incident.

There are some things about this series I like and some I just don’t get. For example, I like that Riya’s two personalities, despite being called Black and White, are not really complete opposites wherein one is weak and one is strong. Black, while more willful, has a special attachment to Atsushi and gets really upset when people talk about White in front of him. White, while more obedient, has a lot of pride and doesn’t want to allow himself to rely on anyone. Also, I like how the intimate scene between Atsushi and Riya is entirely about the characters. That makes it all the more sexy, in my opinion.

On the negative side, I’m confused about Riya’s relationship with his pushy upperclassman, Kousaka. In volume one, it seemed that Riya didn’t enjoy Kousaka’s attentions even though he didn’t fend them off. Here, we see that he supposedly has admired Kousaka all this time and might be a bit interested in him. Is this just filling in backstory or is it retcon? I can’t tell. Also, both Riya (in “Black” mode) and Kousaka claim that they slept together, but honestly, after much careful perusal of volume one, I can’t see it. While Riya’s pants do suffer a hull breach, they’re never jettisoned that I can tell. Yes, I totally just made a Star Trek reference.

From the back cover:
Atsushi Ikeda is your typical “nice guy.” He’s so nice, he even has this habit of bringing stray cats home. But even he is quite unprepared for what turns up at his doorstep one day… a cut and bloodied young man. The injured boy turns out to be famous violinist, Riya Narukawa.

Seeing the frail Riya arouses Atsushi’s compassion for wounded creatures. He decides to look after the young musician, even giving him a key to his apartment in case Riya needs a place of refuge. But Riya has been on his own most of his life and is quite unsure as to how to react to Atsushi’s acts of kindness. Worse, Riya actually has another personality within him that is not so frail and timid as his other self.

Review:
I omitted the final paragraph of the back cover blurb which was full of cheesy musical references. You’re welcome.

This is the story of Atsushi Ikeda, who takes in a wounded young violinist named Rika Narukawa. The boy seems disturbed and, after claiming that the spirit of his dead brother resides within him, runs off, leaving his violin behind. With the help of a friend, Atsushi tracks down Riya at school (to return the violin) and there hears the story from a teacher: Riya suffers from multiple personalities and the person Atsushi has come to know is considered an imposter. Everyone wants the “real” Riya to come back and pursue his musical studies. Atsushi defends Riya, declaring that both are equally real, and gives him the key to his place to use as a refuge, if needed.

The focus then shifts to the “real” Riya, who is determined not to rely on Atsushi, but who faces pressures at his music school. He’s not playing the violin because he loves it but rather because it’s “all that makes [him] worth anything.” On top of that, an aggressive upperclassman keeps harassing him, saying things like “I just want to see you cry” and “When I see you I can’t help torment you.” Guess who’s my least favorite character?

I’ve read some boys’ love manga dealing with multiple personalities before, but Il Gatto Sul G. is loads better. Rather than play it up for lusty shenanigans, the story focuses on how confusing and disorienting these losses of memory are for Riya and makes clear there’s nothing sexy about his situation. I also was expecting that we’d meet a timid Riya first, only to have him go all assertive and raunchy, but that is happily far, far from being the case. Instead, we meet the “imposter” first and only gradually realize that he is the one who’s supposed to be the product of mental illness.

I like, too, that the more timid Riya isn’t as wilting as he could be. Yes, he stupidly goes to the home of the upperclassman to retrieve his precious key and winds up submitting to some nonconsensual groping, but he shows unexpected resilience at times which makes me think he’s not as different from his other personality as everyone may believe.

If you’re looking for a BL manga with lots of plot—it actually feels more like a mystery than a romance at times, at Atsushi struggles to figure out what is going on with his houseguest—then this might be the one for you. Its third and final volume also just came out, so you can read the whole series at once!