Never Hollowed By The Stare

Yakimochi wa Kitsuneiro – Suehiro Machi

Akiha came to Tokyo to attend school, but on his first day, he’s molested on a crowded train. Surprised by it, he was struck dumb but one young man stepped in to help. As they talked, he suddenly hugged the young man to thank him…?

A slapstick love story between a college student who is loved by animals and a pure new student who is possessed by a fox!

Fox-colored Jealousy is a sweet manga about fox spirits and cute boys.

Akiha’s family is cursed with a fox spirit for generations, and it’s now his turn to be possessed. When he’s stressed or nervous, the fox’s ears and tail appear, and the fox can control his body. It was getting out of hand, so he was sent to live with relatives at a temple in Tokyo.

En route to the place, he was molested in the train and was rescued by a college boy, who later turned out to be the younger son of his relative. Yuukuri is well-liked by animals, and the fox spirit is drawn to him. Akiha feels awkward towards Yuukuri, especially when the fox spirit gets extra frisky and affectionate towards Yuukuri.

This could have gone ecchi, but I loved that it went extra fluffy instead. The character design of Akiha is just ridiculously adorbs, with fox ears, tail and little fangs, and so blushy too! Yuukuri looks good too, but his older brother is more attractive, IMO.

Akiha struggles with the possession, his ears and tails popping at an inconvenient time or when he cannot control his body. Yuukuri is the fox whisperer, able to convince the fox spirit not to show his ears and tail until Akiha is home. Akiha is also strongly attracted to Yuukuri but worries that the always kind Yuukuri only likes him out of pity.

Interestingly, while the fox spirit is a key character, playing the matchmaker to Yuukuri and Akiha, they never gave them a name. Akiha doesn’t shift into a fox; we only know the fox spirit is in control when his eyes changes and the ears and tail appear. The fox’s personality is also more forward compared to the timid Akiha.

While the (mostly visual) fluff was doing its magic, I didn’t squee as hard. The overall swoon factor was muted by the not-so-interesting dialogue that I glossed over. Still, the cuteness factor is high, and plenty of readers love it.

For me, it’s fun eye candy, just missing that extra spark.

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