Uru and Tenyo are two elite soldiers with a bond that runs deeper than blood. Living together and fighting side by side has only heightened their affection for one another...but in a world ravaged by war, connections can be severed in an instant. When Uru loses his life, he leaves Tenyo behind with nothing but a final kiss goodbye.

After two years of mourning, Tenyo sneaks into the enemy general Kakezuki's territory with the intent of finishing him off, as promised to Uru. But when he gets there, he finds that the enemy looks exactly like his dearly departed brother-in-arms! There's no way Uru is still among the living...or is there?

A Howl of the Heart has story and art by Ayato Miyoshi. English translation is done by Melanie Kardas and lettering by Bianca Pistillo. Published by Square Enix (March 13, 2026). Rated T.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

It's a good thing that Ayato Miyoshi says that this story is being written with the intention of a happy ending for the main characters, because this volume is one I read on the edge of tears. It has a well-realized sense of the shift between hope and despair throughout, and by even just one chapter it begins to feel imperative that Tenyo and Uru/Kakehiko find some way to be together. It's heartbreaking that Uru was killed saving Tenyo, exhilarating that he may still be alive as Kakehiko, and then devastating again when it looks like that might not be the case before pivoting back to hope. It is, emotionally, a lot.

It's also very reminiscent of Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou's danmei series Remnants of Filth: Yuwu in that these two men who loved each other and fought side-by-side have been separated by both war and death only to be reunited in an unexpected way. Most of the book is spent with Tenyo and Kakehiko attempting to make sense of their situation while Tenyo also grapples with the fact that the enemy nation he's been fighting has basically fallen under the power of a single sorcerer and his zombies. Toka (the sorcerer) has his own, sad reasons for doing what he's doing, and Kakehiko is his greatest triumph in that he's not mindless. And when Tenyo shows up and brings out fragments of Uru in Toka's creation, he believes he's finally on the verge of the breakthrough he's been yearning for all along.

There's a real undercurrent of bittersweetness to this book. The tragedies are real and taunt both readers and Tenyo with the possibility of reversals, but watching small joys unfold is equally part of the bedrock of the story. Although I was surprised at first that the author makes a Fushigi Yûgi reference in the afterword, thinking about it, it makes a lot of sense, because there are some real tonal similarities. Don't get me wrong, this isn't BL Fushigi Yûgi, but I do think that if you like those two things, you'll probably enjoy this.

With its beautiful art and a story it's easy to get pulled into, A Howl of the Heart is good reading. It jolts awkwardly at times, but rest assured, I will be reading volume two out of a desperate need to see things work out for these two…whatever that looks like.