Sono yubi dake ga shitteiru
Written By: Satoru KannagiIllustrated By: Hotaru Odagiri
Published in Japan 2002 by Tokuma Shoten Publishing Co, English 2004 by Digital Manga
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Synopsis:
It's the ultimate expression of love- to wear matching rings with your significant other, showing the world that you are a couple. High school student, Wataru Fujii, also wears though he is single. When he accidentally switches rings with popular and handsome senior, Yuichi Kazuki, they discover that their rings pair up! Since then, Kazuki, who is known for being kind to all becomes strangely harsh to Wataru. They alternate between hot and cold, as in between clashes they begin to sort their feelings for one another. Are Wataru and Kazuki the worst of enemies or are they actually soulmates?
(Synopsis taken from back of volume.)
Review:
This right here is the story that started it all. This novel is what led me down the proverbial rabbit hole, my freshman year in high school, when Lynnafred handed me copy saying, with that quirky knowing smile that I should read it. (The same smile she wore, not long after, when she gifted it to past me, staring at her with stars and hearts in my eyes, her description not mine.)This is probably the single series that I return to time and time again, to the point that my original copy of this manga has started to fall apart.
Firstly, there is something about Hotaru Odagiri's art style that has always drawn my eye, in the same way that certain artists do. The characters are reasonably well designed and though not unique per say they are distinguishable. (Although according to my mom, sometimes it's hard to distinguish the two main leads during close ups. I am however chalking it up that being her.) One of my favorite things about this series is that it is not guilty of falling into the same trap that so many other yaoi and shonen ai stories do. The world of Only the Ring Finger Knows is not populated entirely with grossly attractive homosexual men.
I seem to have found in my Internet travels that the two biggest gripes with this series is the face it's riddles with cliches and that one of the male leads comes off as having a bad attitude. To address the first, if you're looking for a series with a plot that you've never read then this is probably not the book for you. This story is wrought with stereotypes, ie. popular boy and odd boy, the not really love rival, the misunderstanding that breaks them apart, the love at first sight, and the very convenient plot device with the rings. But if you take this for what it is, a well written, drama about two boys unintentionally falling in love, and dealing with the life upheaval that follows, then by all means I encourage you to pick it up and start reading. As to the attitude, I don't think either character really knows how to handle what's going on, so they lash out in varying ways. Yuichi comes off a cold and almost mean. How many of us were sometimes mean to our crush, either for attention or so they wouldn't figure out we liked them. Personally, I found the personality flaws to be realistic and felt that they added to the overall story, neither of these boys was perfect and it showed.
All in all, love or hate it, take it or leave it, I give this series a solid 4 of 5. And it will remain my personal favorite.
The manga is based off and followed by a series of five light novels. I would suggest giving the novels a fair shot as the beginning of the first novel is the basis for the manga. They will be given their own review once I get my hands on volume 5 when it releases mid September.
