Midnight Rain (manga review, spoilers)

I'm back on my BL vibe.

This is a story I read a while ago, and it touched me so deeply I decided to re-read it. Midnight Rain by CTK is a quiet and bittersweet manga about two men in complicated circumstances who encounter each other during their lowest moments.

Cinnamon Roll Ethan works tirelessly to pay off his deceased father’s debt owed to the mafia. He lives alone and wrestles with crippling isolation. Mike is a violent tsundere, a transient loner doing dubious work for good pay. The pair meets by chance in a launderette and very quickly develop chemistry, but it is fleeting until Mike suffers potentially fatal injuries during an alleyway fight and stumbles onto Ethan's doorstep a few days later. They then attempt a situationship, with both men holding their cards to their chests, albeit in different ways. It's obvious they nurse a pure, deep affection for each other, and have found solace amid a hostile and dangerous environment.

I have read other works by CTK, and so far Midnight Rain is my favourite. I have been underwhelmed by the characters in CTK’s other stories; sometimes they appear flat or nonsensically problematic, and I’m left wishing for a little more depth to the actual plot. In Midnight Rain, the author has carefully weaved a story with an obvious tone of tragedy, sometimes threatening a disastrous ending, but beautifully mastering a build of literary tension that leaves you feeling relieved and jubilant by the conclusion. Likewise, both Ethan and Mike, whilst occupying a ubiquitous trope dynamic, are whole, subtly written, and their behaviours are realistic.

A perfect example of CTK subverting the trope dynamic is found in Ethan. He is forward and friendly and easily expresses his romantic interest, but later in the story, when Mike questions him about his debt, his profile is cast in ominous shadow, and Mike grows apprehensive. The moment passes quickly, but Mike is unnerved by the image. In another moment near the end of the story, just leading up to the will they/won’t they resolution, Ethan is covered in blood. We are led to believe that Mike is the violent brawler, but Ethan very nonchalantly assures him (and us) that he knows his way around a fight, revealing that he held his own against a group of thugs, and spilled enough blood to drench his own clothes and bruise his knuckles. So whilst Ethan is genuinely ebullient and carefree, his persona conceals a much darker side. He reveals this side to Mike during their very passionate sex sessions.

Conversely, Mike spends much of the story berating Ethan’s kindness, constantly pushing him away and showing open disdain for his shameless advances, but he is truly sensitive. He observes the destitution Ethan is living in long before discovering the debt, and decides to repair the mould problem in the apartment. When internally contemplating whether they would be a good fit, he expresses guilt for the number of times he’s been hostile or despondent.

I kind of have to include this official art because it is STUNNING. Ethan looks very pleased with half-dressed Mike.

CTK’s artwork is stunning and the character designs are beautiful. Ethan is almost blind in one eye and I like how the whiteness of this one pupil contrasts with the dark blades of his hair. I also enjoy the rain motif that sneaks its way into the panels. A character will snatch an umbrella from a stand before leaving the apartment, or lightning will crack outside the windows, or faint, diagonal lines will mar black backgrounds, or the characters will huddle, shoulders hunched, against an unexpected downpour. It helps to set the mood for the dreary environment, and of course provides means to show characterisations: Ethan is often prepared with his umbrella; Mike slinks around the streets in a hoodie.

I like how coincidental circumstances bring the characters together. Ethan works a graveyard shift at a factory, and so he is often travelling at the titular time, which is why he was at the launderette at their fated meeting, and why he witnessed Mike’s first alleyway brawl. Mike’s transient, dubious lifestyle unfurls during the late hours, and of course he needed the launderette to clean his blood-smeared clothes, which provided an inappropriate-yet-perfect opening for Ethan to talk to him.

Additionally, Midnight Rain comes with some wonderful surprises. The watershed moment in the story is triggered by Mike: when he is stabbed, he seeks Ethan’s house and tells him he doesn’t want to die. Ethan nurses Mike to health, not only because he cares about him, but because moments before, he had planned to take his own life. Mike’s plea, and Ethan’s suicidal ideations, are two very touching reveals at the conclusion of the story, and it encapsulates Midnight Rain as a whole: two men of dire existences, clinging to life despite it all, and hoping for something better to crest their horizons. Thankfully, they found the sunrise in each other. With these revelations, Mike—angry, despondent, hard-to-get—reaches forward and clasps Ethan’s hand. He chooses happiness, for both of them.

This is one volume of absolute beauty. A very refreshing romance. 10/10