Twittering Birds Never Fly vol.1 (Yaoi Manga)

I’m so glad I went ahead in purchasing this manga. While I do enjoy some lighter, fluffier tales, I was intrigued by the plot synopsis and wanted to read a darker story with equally darker themes surrounding sex and relationships. While most volumes are read in a single sitting anyway, this one I didn’t want to put down. I have it ready in my reread pile for when I don’t want to start something new. As for the quality of the physical copy I received, it was in shrink wrap and there were no imperfections anywhere on the book. Immediately upon reading I liked all the characters. They’re unique with their personalities, desires, and maybe most importantly, in appearance. I thought the intro/prequel-like chapter with Kageyama and Kuga was a cute, heartfelt read. In a way, more instances in the story and interactions between other characters can be considered heartfelt, but we get to see them show it in different ways. As jarring and a little twisted as some of the themes and plot points are in this manga, if you’re into them (or at least interested in them), this is an enjoyable read. The characters are well drawn and expressive. I’m a sucker for the looks of both Yashiro and Doumeki, and feel that their personalities match the appearances the mangaka chose for them. It has great re-readability for me, and I found myself flipping back to pages and scenes I really enjoyed. The tension between these two characters had me hooked from their first meeting, and Yoneda certainly did not shy away from any awkwardness or take easy ways out, which I loved. If you're looking for a darker change of pace with a tasteful hint of sleaziness, something new from more cutesy reads, give this manga a chance. There are sexy scenes, cute scenes, compassionate scenes, and they are all so well done. This is the first work of Kou Yoneda I’ve read, but I’m ready for more.

Twittering Birds Never Fly, Vol. 1 is a haunting and beautifully crafted beginning to a series that explores trauma, desire, and emotional restraint with rare depth. Kou Yoneda introduces two unforgettable characters: Yashiro, a powerful yakuza boss with a painful past and a self-destructive streak, and Doumeki, his quiet new bodyguard who carries his own emotional scars. Yoneda uses the symbolism of a caged bird to mirror their internal struggles—both men are trapped in their own ways, unable to fully reach for the intimacy they crave. The story is slow-burning and subtle, balancing moments of tension, vulnerability, and emotional complexity. The art is clean and expressive, capturing nuance in every gesture and glance. This isn’t a typical romance. It’s a layered, emotionally charged narrative that doesn't shy away from darkness but treats its characters with empathy. I picked up this volume without knowing much about it, and it quickly became one of the most impactful reads in my collection. I’ll be following this series closely—it's the kind of story that stays with you.

I have been waiting for my preordered copy of Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai (Twittering Birds Never Fly) for a very long time. I finished reading it immediately after I recieved it, a few days ago. Yoneda Kou never ceases to amaze me with her mature, removed, but almost comical usage of dark themes in the context of the modern world. Her main character Yashiro capitalizes on underworld crime and indulges unapologetically in one of the most deviant sexual tastes: masochism. His unlikely first love, which took place in his highschool years, is told in a short story at the back of the volume. Regrettably, this is an unrequited love and the front of the volume includes a short story where Yashiros crush, years later, is seen falling in love with someone else. Compared to a classic, more warm-hearted BL like Sekaiichi Hatsukoi (The World's Best First Love), the story sets itself up by framing our main tale in a character history that dispels the butterflies of romantic happily-ever-after. Wedged between the unfolding misfortune of Yashiro's past years is the the actual title story of the volume: Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai (Twittering Birds Never Fly). Yashiro again picks an unlikely love interest (well, the fact that he can love at all, in this volume, is debated and considered miraculous in and of itself). This time, it is his subordinate in the yakuza, Doumeki whom he fancies (or LOVES? well that isn't clear yet). Doumeki is impotent. Although most of the readers of Yoneda Kou tend to be on the older side, there are some young BL readers that need clarification on the specifics - impotence is psychological or biological erectile dysfunction (as it is normally called). Doumeki, our seme(or tachi) experiences psychological impotence. This means he is not incapable of getting an erection physically, but he has a very severe mental trauma that is governing over his sexual responsiveness. It is not impossible that he will gain proper function of his member once more. (So essentially, not all hope is lost for sexy time between Yashiro and Doumeki ^_^) Despite Yashiro's very active and very abusive sex life, he seems to prefer the company of docile, quiet, and stoic Doumeki to any other. This seems to be a spell for disaster, considering the main pairing isn't able to interact sexually at all (but ironically, this volume is full of sex). However, as the pages keep flipping, the dynamic between the two is revealed to be quirky, clever, cryptic, and revealing, all in the little bits of dialog they manage to share with each other. Their relationship feels surprisingly very genuine, and though Yashiro's history and character development receive two full short stories in this volume, Doumeki is far from neglected, and receives his own character arc over the course of the story, making this a very eventful, very explosive debut volume. Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai (Twittering Birds Never Fly) is the award-winning, ground-breaking series that has finally reached the West with its first official English translation (beautifully rendered at that, I might add). If there was only one BL manga that an enthusiast could buy, make it this one. Absolutely stunning! Edit: Concerning the translation: I bought the print version. There were not any typos that I caught. And the awkward dialog that some people might have found in the Ebook or otherwise might be attributed to implied subject problems. I called the translation beautifully rendered for technical reasons, as a student of the Japanese language myself: The translation this time around captures perhaps the silent content of Yashiro and Doumeki best. It's by far not the worst translation I've seen, and the informality of the yakuza is toned down a bit, to make things easier to read. Since I've tried translating the raws before, the level of implied subject brings a casual aura to the characters' speech that really can't be translated into English with the same efficiency. I think, unlike - let's say - Kyuugo's You and Me, Etc. translation, where the kansai dialect is rendered by dropping the -g in -ing endings, writing up the dialog of the character's yakuza slang in standard American English gives (Yashiro especially) an elegance to the characterization that I think would have been intangible, had the series been translated with a more crass tone in mind. For instance, in the most recent chapter of Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai (Chapter 13), Yashiro says, "Betsuni bibi ja ne shi." "Bibi" is an onomatopoeia that actually doesn't even exist - I would guess "bibi" is stort for "bikuri," which means surprised. "Ne" is a super-informal, male-used form of a negative, "nai." The line translates to, "I can't say I'm surprised," but honestly the closest equivalent to the level of informality is borderline unrecognizable English (perhaps something like "'cain't I'm surpris'd"). Not to mention, in that sentence, Yashiro never marked himself as the subject ("Betsuni" means not really, "bibi" means surprised, and "ja ne shi" is a super informal negative tag), so it's implied that he's referring to his own emotions, not someone else's....Saezuru is full of dialog pieces like this, that have no exact translation, or the closest one would have some sort of hick implication. That's why I think the translation was well done. I got the feeling that the characters were from societal underbelly, but they were still upstanding and of well-formulated thought. In that way, the awkwardness of some sentences, I can let slide. Japanese to English in general is a very hard translation task. I would still say, at least to the print version, "Well done."

The shipping was fast, the condition was great. Although I was expecting few coloured pages same as the other volume that I own. I’m a little disappointed tbh. I don’t know if it’s only my copy or this edition completely lacks the coloured content.

The summary that I saw in Amazon was not attractive, so my expectations were not high. The story caught me by surprise. Storyline, characters and artwork, all were perfect. I didn't expect it to be this deep. The story is much much deeper and much more interesting than the summary. And the artwork! The artwork reflects the body language. The faces and eyes just caught me! The emotions are depicted in the most natural way without usual exaggerations in manga world. I had some problem to read it on my kindle, so I had given it 1-star. But I have to correct my previous judgement. The page numbers and index of contents are not shown correctly. (Maybe this is because that this kindle book is made for older version?) When I selected Goto on my Kindle it showed only 1 to 36 page, so I thought it contains only 36 pages! But that is not the case. The kindle book is complete. Only number of pages is not shown correctly. Also some kindle features are absent, which was not a big problem for me. The text was clear and fine.

Such a good story, the dynamics between the characters is so interesting. I read it all in one go, then ordered vol 2 straight after!

Love it! High quality print

Leider wie immer zu kurz. Ein Mitglied der Yakuza, der tief in seine Seele blicken lässt. Asolut Lesenswert....Vor allem die Flashbacks