Kizuna

Description

Ranmaru Samejima is a star athlete and serves as the captain of the kendo club. His skills are almost unmatched. Almost. The only person to beat Ranmaru in a match is the president of the tea ceremony club, Kei Enjouji; someone who has no interest in kendo whatsoever. One day after practice, Ranmaru challenges Enjouji to a rematch. Enjouji accepts under one condition: if he wins, they... have sex!? Meanwhile, someone is lurking in the shadows. Kai Sagano has his sights set on Ranmaru, so it's only natural that he loathes Enjouji... but perhaps there's more to Sagano's disdain than meets the eye.

From Be Beautiful:

Three's a crowd. Ranmaru and Kei have a strong and passionate relationship built on years of trust, sacrifice and love. When the mysterious son of a Yakuza boss starts to have designs on Ranmaru's affection, tempers flare, and hidden emotions rise to the surface. Will Ranmaru and Kei's love for each other be able to survive this difficult test, or will the emotional conflict finally come to a head?

Type

Manga

Related Series

Sessa Takuma! (Adapted From)

Hana to Ryuu (Prequel)

Mezase Hero! (Spin-Off)

Gun and Heaven (Side Story)

Associated Names

KIZUNA -Bonds-

Kizuna: Bonds of Love

KIZUNA‐絆‐

Groups Scanlating

Essence of Purity

Kizuna Project

NijiNiji Nikubou Scans

Latest Release(s)

v.1 c.1 by NijiNiji Nikubou Scans 9 years ago

v.5 c.Extra by Kizuna Project 15 years ago

v.11 c.6 by Kizuna Project 15 years ago

Search for all releases of this series

Status in Country of Origin

11 Volumes (Complete)

Completely Scanlated?

Yes

Anime Start/End Chapter

Starts at Vol 1 (OVA)

User Reviews

N/A

Forum

2 topics, 6 posts

Click here to view the forum

User Rating

Average: 8.7 / 10.0 (267 votes)

Bayesian Average: 8.46 / 10.0

48%

22%

13%

Last Updated

November 1st, 2024 10:08pm PDT - 6 months ago

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Genre

Comedy Drama Romance School Life Smut Sports Yaoi
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Categories

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Category Recommendations

Usagi Yojimbo

Hyakujitsu no Bara (2018)

Love Mode

[Adult BL Anthology] Ssangbang Uldyul

Become a Girl at Night

Recommendations

Heart Strings

Banana Fish

Boku no Shiru Anata no Hanashi

Author(s)

Kodaka Kazuma

Artist(s)

KODAKA Kazuma

Year

1992

Original Publisher

Biblos (1992)

Libre Shuppan (2008)

Serialized In (magazine)

Magazine Be x Boy ()

Licensed (in English)

Yes

English Publisher

Be Beautiful (Defunct / 8 Vols)

Futekiya (11 Volumes + After Story)

June (6 Omnibus Vols - Complete)

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

Weekly Pos #711

(-31)

Monthly Pos #1627

(-122)

3 Month Pos #3292

(-304)

6 Month Pos #4631

(+53)

Year Pos #6108

(+140)

List Stats

On 406 reading lists

On 425 wish lists

On 596 completed lists

On 59 unfinished lists

On 350 custom lists

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Forum Posts Click to view the forum

I keep expecting to see Ryuuji...(Hana to Ryuu Spoilers)

15 years ago

Masa and Kai's age gap?

15 years ago

User Comments [ Order by usefulness ]

Reminiscing

by blueseeker
10 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

I remember this was my 2nd yaoi many years ago and absolutely loving it. When it was announced that it would be re-released in deluxe version, I started buying them. Somehow I was to scared to re-read and lose my pink-colored impressions. Now I think I was being silly, if anything I can appreciate the subtleties more!
If only it didn't mess with my OCD!!!! Going back and forth between the past and present drove me almost crazy. I started to understand why i sometimes keep the scanlations even though I have the physical book.lol

Was this comment useful? Yes

by Oriolidae
13 years ago

Rating: 7.0 / 10.0

This is one of those yaoi stories where you should just forget common sense and enjoy the ride. The plot is a bit vague, ninety percent of the time, it completely ignores the existence of females, and surprisingly (sarcasm), there's a very high rate of gays, especially among the yakuza. If you want to, you can keep on pointing out weaknesses in this manga, but if you're able to remain a bit uncritical, it's still a fairly entertaining through its 11 volumes.

I ended up enjoying the plot revolving around Kai and Masa the most, which is a surprise, since I actually disliked these characters in the beginning.

At first I was rather exasperated about

Kai raping Ranmaru - and the complete lack of reaction it created afterwards. The mangaka managed to amend a bit though, by making Kai realize his mistake later in the series, though it was still dealt with too easily.

If you can remain uncritical, this is an enjoyable read. If you're looking for something realistic, search elsewhere.

... Last updated 13 years ago

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A little of everything!

by OtakuMadness
13 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

This is an example of a story that didn't capture me right from the start, but had me completely in the end! Though that's not to say it starts out boring. No, if anything I just wasn't sure where it was going.

As I got into later chapters I found myself falling in love with characters, getting caught up in the drama and eating up every cliche! (you have to note the year this manga first came out)
As more characters were introduced and previous characters began to grow, the plot as well, this is when I really started to enjoy the story! Characters I previously didn't think much of, grew on me or even ended up becoming my favourites! xD
As for the art, I've never been one to be bothered by old style manga, but this I felt was definitely one of the better styles anyway. It was great to watch the art-style change; becoming cleaner and full. They just get prettier and prettier! ;3

Some might complain this series is too long but for me it was the perfect amount of growth to complete my love for it and each couple! Though I too wanted more MasaxKai! <3
As for the sexy scenes: it's not lacking and it's not overwhelming, plus I always enjoy a little sexual tension! ;D
In the end this was a lot of fun! Sexy, funny, romantic and packed full of drama!
I think this will have a special place in my heart for along time. :3

... Last updated 13 years ago

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Didnt catch my interest yet

by poisonousrose1517
13 years ago

Rating: N/A

I tried... I thought this would be really good because of the good reviews and bcuz Mezase Hero is one of my favorite mangas, but i just could not get into this one... I really tried to get into it thinking it probably gets more interesting as you go on but i couldnt get past the second chapter... I'm not going to rate this because i havent read the whole thing, i think i'll definitely try to read it again tomorrow or sometime next week... I'll update if i actually finish it...

... Last updated 13 years ago

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Kizuna~~~~*

by Bunny-chan
14 years ago

Rating: N/A

@ Quinni

Kodaka Kazuma's Kizuna, is mostly not porn in my opinion, yeah, some of the scenes get up there, but not all, so not ALL yaoi fans would call it "Porn WITH plot" as you say, I sure wouldn't. Considering what's been drawn/authored by so many new BL artists.

Anyway, it too around 17 whole years for Kodaka-sensei to finish, so that explains why her art style so DRASTICALLY changes from volume-to-volume.

Technically, this COULD be a classic in the BL world. I find it depressingly sad that when Kizuna was released in English, and it was one of the first, if not the "first" yaoi manga to be licensed in English: the sad part? It was marketed as "gay manga for gay men", which wasn't Kodaka's original intention, that, and that English-speakers who found terms like yaoi and shonen-ai while browsing the Japanese internet, ported them into English inaccurately, and is now what many people label titles like these (which is going away in the real world, but has been branded into the internet so much that more new-comers to the BL genre start using them and its all, BLLAAAAAGH!)
and was probably why so many people/fansites call BL manga "gay porn" and in reality, it isn't so much, if not at all.

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Wonderful Series

by Sasageru
14 years ago

Rating: N/A

I have to say this first: Masa is so cute! XD His threats in order to spend more time beside Kai crack me up, somehow i think its adoreable. Cough anyway. I admit my original impression of this series might be a bit tainted as i watched the OVA's long before i managed to get my paws on the manga. All the same, i really enjoyed this manga. The art style is clean and beautiful - the quality is years ahead of its time in my opinion - and it also manages to differentiate characters through art so well - many mangaka's drawn all characters with the same base characteristics making it hard to tell them apart save for hair differences. But with this art theres no problem of that, as each character is kept individual through a number of ways, making it more adaptable to change and more realistic.

Aside from the art, the story keeps you interested with its serious moments and twists in the plot, as well as the light fluffy humour that lightens the story in places. The characters are really what makes this series so great though. They are all so unique in their personalities and have great contrast with each other. This is one of the best yaoi manga's your going to come across. I hope i can hard copies of this series - so far i've only managed to get one volume irl and the rest i've had to read online (often as poor quality scans).

I also loved the Gun and Rose side stories/spin offs xD they make me laugh. Annnd i have to say. The random questions Kai fires at Ranmaru... i think i died a few times from those XD Kai is so innocently curious and even though Ranmaru and Kei are the experienced onces they still have such innocent and funny reactions laugh

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I WANT MORE KAI MASA

by shouichi
15 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

I NEED KAI MASA MOOOORE!!!!
I like their couple more than the main couple. sadly, their story aren't as much as kei x ran T___T

but still it's worth to read. kizuna is the first yaoi that I really, really love (oh..well...though it's because of kai's possessiveness towards masa) ^___^

Okay.. for those who wants to read a pretty guy with pretty art.. um.. well.. just be patient. because volume 1 was soooooooooooo much like classic shonen manga. rough and muscle man. but, dunno a little by a little sensei changed her artstyle. her latest art on the three last volume was much beautiful than before, eventhough I like her art before more.

... Last updated 13 years ago

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Wow!

by lafenice21
15 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

Kodaka-sensei has made a permanent impression on me not only in storytelling and artistry, but also in terms of growth. Her artwork changed over the course of this series, changes in tone, depth and detail were readily apparent from one volume to the next. I love this series for all the changes to its characters and artwork. Definitely in my top 5.

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It's a must-read if you have the patience.

by ilikeyoumorethaneggs
15 years ago

Rating: N/A

I actually enjoyed this manga once I had the patience to sit down and finish it. It is very easy to be immersed in the plot and although a lot happens, the main two couples feel like they move fairly slowly. I especially enjoyed the side plot with J.B and Roy, extremely raunchy and hot. As pointed out, the art itself is not that spectacular in the beginning, but it improves a lot. The plot itself is actually hard to understand in the first volume, but that also improves in the second volume. This is a complete series, some really sexy scenes, plot and probably considered a milestone in yaoi. The character development in my opinion, is one of the greatest strengths of this manga.

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one of the best!

by tomomimorgan
15 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

Well, I don't think there's much I can say that hasn't already been said. Don't be fooled by the summary: this story is so much more intriguing and complex than any old love triangle.

I loved the plot, the action, the comedy, the relationships... even if the art isn't great at first (but it improves DRASTICALLY in later volumes, and you get some real bishies!), and the beginning might seem a little confusing: stick with it, you won't regret it! The characters are great too; my favorites would probably be Kai, Kei and Roy (major hunk), but I love them all (I love it when Ranmaru turns all sly and pervy... so cute!).

10/10!!

... Last updated 15 years ago

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