This review may contain minor spoilers. This is a yaoi about chasing after your hero. Riddled with cliches and poor writing, Hinekure Chaser is not a great read. I dropped this story in the middle of volume two, so some of my issues with development or backstory may be solved. However, I do not value having to slog through poor writing to get to explanations. As a heads up, there are more volumes than MAL has listed. Characters: 3/10 – Hirokawa is our main character and is in love with Yamato. We are introduced to Hirokawa as he bullies Misaki, a sweet character who isvery kind. Hirokawa bullies him because, “He just looks cheery.” Hirokawa is a blatant tsundere and all his actions are forgiven quickly because “he’s just so dang easy to read”. Yamato is a classic cool, tall, strong type with a stereotypical bartending job he has to keep secret. The big “twist” of the story is that Hirokawa is actually a rich boy who’s had a falling out with his father, which we learn very quickly. Before that backstory gets fleshed out more in the back half of volume two, it’s used in a way to make the reader sympathize with Hirokawa. Despite his unfortunate falling out, Hirokawa is still a complete jerk, acting more like a small child than a freshman in high school.

Plot: 2/10 – There is no plot. Yamato rightly dislikes Hirokawa for all of three chapters before falling head over heels for his best friend’s bully. Misaki completely forgives Hirokawa and even urges Yamato to consider Hirokawa’s feelings. It progresses incredibly fast and they are dating before anything can really happen. All the more interesting bits come after they begin dating. By the time I got to the more interesting bits regarding Hirokawa’s shrouded past, I was just bored. The plot was rushed, boring, and jarring from chapter one. There is also a very awkward sexual assault scene. I am not one to shy away from the more graphic scenes, but it just made no sense. Yamato showed no romantic, much less sexual, interest in Hirokawa up to that point. Why he would feel compelled to assault him is beyond me.

This story is very underwhelming. It’s bland, full of cliches, and illogical. Yaoi as a genre generally encourages some suspension of belief, but this was too much of an awkward execution to warrant more time wasted. I do not recommend this to anyone.