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Match Uri

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Description

University student Kiyotaka Hirose finds a love letter tucked into the pages of a borrowed book. The intended recipient is a mystery, but the writer’s identity is clear: a fellow student who’s suddenly leaving Tokyo and heading back to his hometown. Hirose is determined to return the letter, and as he tries to do so he runs into a black-market match seller, Seiji Hanashiro. Drawn to each other at first sight, tangled up in destiny and their own feelings, the men see their lives turned upside down by a single love letter. The first volume of Sakae Kusama’s standalone series, Lost Letters. g434

Type

Manga

Related Series

Yagi-san Yuubin (Sequel)

Associated Names

Lights a Match

Matchi Uri

The Match Seller

マッチ売り

卖火柴的男人

卖火柴的青年

賣火柴的男人

Groups Scanlating

N/A

Latest Release(s)

N/A

Status in Country of Origin

1 Volume (Complete)

Completely Scanlated?

Yes

Anime Start/End Chapter

N/A

Reviews

N/A

Forum

0 topics, 0 posts

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Rating

Average: 8.3 / 10.0 (53 votes)

Bayesian Average: 7.57 / 10.0

34%

19%

17%

13%

11%

Last Updated

November 20th, 2024 6:56pm PST - 7 months ago

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Genre

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Categories

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Category Recommendations

The Broken Star

Aishiteru Dewa Omosugite

Hatsukoi Splash!

In Love With My Trouble

Kedamono no Rensa

Recommendations

N/A

Author(s)

KUSAMA Sakae

Artist(s)

KUSAMA Sakae

Year

2010

Original Publisher

Libre Shuppan

Serialized In (magazine)

Citron (Libre Shuppan)

Licensed (in English)

Yes

English Publisher

SuBLime (1 Volume - Complete; Digital)

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

(-22)

(-163)

(-1111)

(-272)

Year Pos #7894 (No change)

List Stats

On 101 reading lists

On 305 wish lists

On 103 completed lists

On 3 unfinished lists

On 145 custom lists

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Comments [ Order by usefulness ]

I fell in love with Sakae Kusama ss's art

by suyouera
8 months ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

The four-volume series, set in the late modern period, tells the intertwined stories of Hanashiro, Hirose, Arihara, and Sawa—four individuals bound together by an unfinished letter written and sent by Arihara. Among them, only Hirose grew up with a relatively normal life, while the other three carry shadows of a painful and troubled past. Each character bears their own sorrows and secrets. The author skillfully weaves glimpses of their past into the story through brief scenes and the perspectives of other characters. Though brief, these glimpses give readers a sense of empathy and hope that each will eventually find peace.

In Kusama Sakae’s works, the male characters may be handsome or have ordinary appearances, but they are far from the usual "bishounen" or the overly delicate types often seen in BL manga. They are not self-sacrificing saints; while they refrain from morally questionable acts, they each have their own motivations and schemes for personal gain. They’re not virgins, nor do they concern themselves with their partners' romantic histories. Their actions feel grounded and exude a natural masculinity.

Since the author took a full decade to complete this series, the art style also shows a clear evolution across the volumes. The first two chapters of The Match Seller reflect a rougher drawing style from the early stages of the author's career (though it’s noticeably more refined than in her debut). In the later sections of Lost Letters, her lines become softer and more bold. A noteworthy plus is the author's commitment to detailed backgrounds, never leaving them blank, which adds a sense of depth and vibrancy to each page.

... Last updated 7 months ago

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Bitter-sweet romance with depressing realism.

by Pennyiscute
11 years ago

Rating: 8.0 / 10.0

The Lost Letters series is centered around a love letter that a student finds and wants to return to it's author. The story is about the characters who are some how connected to the author. That's the basics of the plot.

The manga starts out with Kiyotaka Hiros, the student, waiting in a tunnel to meet up with his friend, Arihara Mineo, to return his letter. There, he meets The Match Seller Hanashiro Seiji and they start talking about why this letter is so important and why Hirose is waiting out in the cold for his friend that never comes. The story then quickly becomes about Hanashiro Seiji and why he's also standing out in the cold selling matches, or whatever he's REALLY selling. Later on, Seiji drags Hirose back to his office to have sex with him. The next morning, without even knowing each others names the two form an awkward relationship that Seiji's colleague Sawa Jinichiro describes as "another whim", or is it?

My first thoughts were about how romantic this sounds: someone trying to return a undelivered love letter so the author can fulfill their desires and deliver it, but it's actually not as rosy as it seems. While reading this apart of me felt that the romance was dirty; tarnished; spoiled by the characters and their personal demons. Both the men (Seiji and Jinichiro) are broken souls who pray on anyone who is willing (and sometimes not) to satisfy them. Both men have been around the block many times and at first treat the student's as their pets. This is the part I felt was dirty. Sure the sex was consensual but it felt like broken hope as the older men bullied the boys to amuse themselves and their mundane lives. As we tumble down the rabbit hole, we discovered the bitter-truths behind three of the characters. The only character who wasn't messed up was Hirose. He was oblivious to what was happening around him. Even though the story was about Arihara's love letter, Hirose is at the center of everything.

There were touching moments but the overall feeling of the events are about damaged people with no morals who become entangled in hopeless love triangles.

There are many chapters to this series. Sometimes, as each chapter turns into the next, the story would start at a new point changing the POV; shifting to who is telling the story or who's inner thoughts we were reading. This was a great way to mix up the plot and throw the reader off. Memorizing the names of the characters was important as the story was told like a jigsaw puzzle; slowly filling in the missing pieces to create the overall picture.

I like Kusama Sakae's art. It's sketchy and messy but doesn't loose it's appeal. I like her lanky characters. The time period is set early 1900's, post war, and her costumes and backgrounds were detailed enough to leave an impression but not overwhelm you. Her characters also were appealing even though her art can sometimes look sharp and blocky.

I liked this series as it still had heart warming moments amongst all the depressing scenes. You could tell that the bitter-sweet romance would eventually become moments of real love as the characters discovered themselves and let go of their problems. I liked following along knowing this and hoping that our couples would eventually figure this out.

In the afterword, Kusama Sakae explains how she would love to keep going on with the Lost letter series but fears that she can only afford to do one more volume. No release dates for the next volume have been released, at this stage, but she did say she will finish this in volume 3.

[Copied from my MyAnimeList review]

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