Noumi Masataka, who's living the self-indulgent university life, joins a book club after being invited by his professor. There, he meets Tan Eito, an underclassman in the same philosophy department. Eito is serious, openly gay, and utterly unconcerned with other people's opinions. Combine that with his striking good looks, and Masataka is very much intrigued.

He decides to approach Eito, but how will the superconfident junior react to his easygoing senior when they couldn't be more different?

The Apology of Noumi-Senpai has story by and art by Koala Omugi. English translation is done by Christine Dashiell. Lettering by Jamil Stewart. Published by Seven Seas Entertainment (October 13, 2026). Rated M.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

Do you like your racy BL to come with a soupçon of philosophy? Then do I have the book for you! The Apology of Noumi-Senpai isn't in itself inherently philosophical, but both main characters are philosophy majors in college, which is unusual enough to be worth mentioning. Their interest in the subject – and specifically Ancient Greek and modern French philosophers – does inform their characters, too. Tan, specifically, is into Plato and the idea that humans are always searching for their other half, a reference to the idea that Zeus split apart humans, creating two separate beings incomplete in and of themselves. It's an inherently romantic belief, and one that Tan is actively striving to fulfill in his own life. This, he tells Noumi, is why he's open about his sexuality, because how can he expect to find his other half if they don't even know he's looking for them?

This sort of romantic hopefulness is foreign to Noumi. Although he doesn't say it outright until the end of the volume, it's clear from flashbacks and thoughts that he's actively dumbing himself down because his family always compares him to his brother. Noumi is brilliant, and he's been reading philosophy since he was in elementary school, but his family doesn't appear to have seen that as valuable. They want him to be like his brother (a politician, we later find out), but that's not what he wants, and rather than stand up for it, he allows himself to slide into cheap sex and a borderline gambling addiction. Tan initially sees him as a garbage human being, but he slowly comes to realize that Noumi's much more than he likes to show the world.

I suspect that this is something that will be covered more in the second volume. This one is mainly concerned with the two of them getting together – sexually, at first; emotions come later – and coming to understand each other. In the hands of a less capable creator, the book would have felt like one big melodramatic sex scene, and there are still plenty of places where that's the case. But the little details show us that Noumi is using sex as a replacement for a real feeling of belonging, while Tan is ignoring his emotional attraction to the older student and pretending that sex is all they have. Sex is a mask for both of them in different ways.

It's also very uncensored, so that should make some readers happy. Omugi's art is good in general, and I particularly like the way they draw faces. While I never expected to read a BL manga where the musings of Plato and Socrates play such a central role, I'm not disappointed that I did, and I'm looking forward to the next volume.

Bolts
Rating:

There's something refreshing about following a protagonist who spends a very long time being an absolute bum. Noumi is a character who takes great pride in the fact that his charisma can take him very far, mooching off of women, gambling any spare money he has and wearing his label like some kind of badge of honor. This story rides that fine line between him being absolutely annoying to follow and him being entertaining. But I think the story works because his attitude is never glorified, even when he technically gets away with a lot. This is a character that is borderline self-destructive, and it takes discovering a new sexual experience on a whim to realize that maybe he should get his act together.

The Apology of Noumi-Senpai is a very slow burn romance in that it drags Noumi kicking and screaming through his character arc. But at no point does anything feel forced. He is met with the right amount of opposition for his attitude and behavior. There are points where he takes his opportunity for change, but also points where he avoids it. There's no definitive singular moment that changes this whole outlook on everything but rather, it's a series of different smaller events that all build till he eventually realizes that he wants to be a better person for this man in his life that provides something that he couldn't find anywhere else. I have known people exactly like Noumi and seeing his journey is the most satisfying part of the story.

The romance that develops alongside that is also really solid, it just feels a little bit lopsided. Noumi is the definitive main character of the piece but his co-lead Tan also does get a solid amount of attention. His more grounded, no nonsense attitude acts as a good contrast to Noumi. The point is that Tan is at the end of his character or while Noumi is still getting started on his with the two eventually meeting as equals by the end. I would've liked to have seen more from him, but the chemistry is still really strong. The beginning of this book might not be for everybody, considering just how long it spends on a more flawed character, but I think the journey, comes together in the end quite nicely.