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MANGA: Midnight Rain
Midnight Rain – CTK
A man with a 10-year history of debt x A lone wolf who likes to fight.
Just like a cat has wandered into his life of paying back debt…?
In a deserted coin laundry, Ethan asks the name of a man with an unpleasant look in his eyes.
The man named Mike once again shows up before him, covered in wounds this time.
A dramatic BL featuring these cool but somehow cute men!
Midnight Rain is a moving take on the cat/dog personality dynamics against a backdrop of a poor city district and nightly rain. It’s set in a western city with western characters in a style reminiscent of some TogaQ and Kikuchi Neko works.
Ethan is a sunshiny man who was inexplicably drawn to a younger man with a hard look in his eye and numerous injuries from street fights. He tried to strike a conversation with him in a laundromat by asking how he does his bloodstained laundry. The younger man, Mike, wasn’t that communicative. But later on, while Ethan was in despair about his life and was contemplating ending it, Mike appeared at his door, bleeding, and Ethan just had to take him in.
Ethan’s the kind of guy who’ll smile and say everything’s fine when everything is falling apart. He was super caring of Mike, feeding and clothing the younger man while he bitches and smacks the handsy Ethan. Mike is blunt and abrasive, frequently rubbing people the wrong way. He wants nothing AND everything to do with Ethan. This push and pull create conflict that drives the story.
As advertised, this delivers a fabulous mix of drama, heat, and fluff drawn in an eye-catching style. I loved the interplay of strong and vulnerable, rough and tender, violence and care, and how they underscore Ethan’s and Mike’s opposite personalities.
I’m not a fan of facial hair in manga, but I liked how it was rendered here. Ethan looks like a more attractive Tony Stark. And I loved Mike’s no-eyebrows-because-he’s-badass face. His eyes are sharp, but they could be pretty expressive.
All in all, a poignant tale of men with little left to lose finding more reasons to live.
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MANGA: Moto Yakuza ga BL Sakka ni Nattarashii
Moto Yakuza ga BL Sakka ni Nattarashii – Noda Nonda
A fearless Yakuza named Sudou decides to leave his life of crime when he finds out his clan is disbanding. However, his strong sense of justice and huge tattoos intefere with this goal, and he struggles to keep any job he finds.
That is, until an ex-underling gives him the idea to start writing manga.
After becoming a big hit on social media, a company scouts him, and he… somehow ends up working in the BL department?!
Because this ex-Yakuza doesn’t know the first thing about BL, a cool-headed, sadistic editor starts to coach him — thus beginning a tough, hands-on training regime…??From the classic manga about manga Bakuman, I learned how closely and hands-on editors work with mangaka. It Seems That a Former Yakuza Became a BL Writer takes that relationship further to very effective (and hilarious) results.
Ex-yakuza Sudou ventured into manga after several failed attempts at a normal job. His work was picked up by a bitch-faced editor, Hirose, who intimidated even the veteran yakuza who thought he looked like an assassin. He was suggested to create BL manga, but after multiple rejections, Hirose recommended they do a roleplay with the two of them pretending to be lovers to produce more realistic emotions on page. Would Sudou, who has never done it with a guy, bite the bullet?
Editors go the extra mile for their authors, but this is ridiculous! Sudou was determined to make it as a mangaka, and our boy sacrificed his virgin ass for the cause. It worked spectacularly, so every time writer’s block hits, guess what they do.
My favorite thing about this is how the romance crept into the story. We’re given Sudou’s POV, and through his eyes, Hirose was mostly seen as a hard-to-read, cold bastard doing a job. Then scattered throughout are one or two panels of Hirose’s subtle reactions. I realized later it was a rather clever, convoluted way of making someone fall in love. Whether or not Hirose did it on purpose, I’m not sure, but it was hella cute!
I loved the two dorks but Hirose looks extra adorbs with his sharp eyes and eyebags.
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MANGA: Tengu no Shiwaza
Tengu no Shiwaza – Kanon Chihiro
The goal of naïve high school student, Midori, is to get rid of his virginity! However, he must unexpectedly spend his last summer vacation of high school at his father’s family shrine, ruining his summer plans!! One day, whilst bored at the shrine, he decided to have sex with a tengu mask he found. Things were going great until the magic seal broke, and the real tengu appeared…!!
Tengu’s Tricks is one high schooler, determined to lose his virginity, decided to get creative with a long-nosed tengu mask. In the middle of which, the nose broke off, the tengu himself appeared, and the nose got stuck inside the boy. Without his nose, the tengu loses some of his powers. In order to get his nose back, he had to get creative with the boy.
The two idiots spent a lot of time getting the nose back. There were other more ceremonial attempts, such as one performed by Midori’s older cousin, the temple guardian Sou, the only sensible character here and who I think should have his own manga. The man is a looker!
There were some cringe moments, like Midori’s ancestor was also the tengu’s lover. The cringest one was the nose fucking from the tengu, which was gross because can you imagine the smell?!
Tengu masks are probably some of the earliest sex toys, cuz I’ve seen some old-timey art showing women strapping them on and doing the deed. Using it on a BL manga is a novel-to-me approach. Anyway, this was a riot!
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MANGA: Bakashoujiki ga Taosenai
Bakashoujiki ga Taosenai – Nukui Yuna
Three words sealed his fate…
People pleaser Kakeru Senma’s spent his whole life putting on a smile, and it’s made his life easy.
Everybody likes him.That is, until a total stranger, Makoto Takafuji, comes up to him and says, “I hate you.”
Swallowing his shock and anger, Kakeru vows to avoid the guy at all costs, but for some reason he keeps popping up everywhere!!
Just when he’s wracking his brains for some solution to his predicament, Kakeru is captivated by the sight of Makoto sternly practicing Japanese archery.
Maybe he’s not such a bad guy after all…
Then again, he’s always stealing kisses and feeling him up without warning!
Can’t Beat Stupid Honesty has pretty-looking characters and that’s about it.
The plot is the standard asshole seme hates the uke because the jerk is in love with him. Proceeds to harass him to submission.
From the blurb, you can suss out there’s going to be dub-con, and this one has multiple dub-con scenes. I wasn’t pleased with how it depicted a gay high schooler. The manga had the gay character forcing himself on the straight MC. While I love a confident, openly gay MC, sekuhara isn’t the way to a man’s heart.
The theme is being true to oneself delivered a bit too heavy-handedly. It would have been a little more interesting with the archery part, but it was mostly hot/cold treatments and boring dialogues. I’d say skip this one.
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MANGA: Cheri, My Destiny!
Cheri, My Destiny! – Okoge Mochino
A pastry chef from France is confident about his pastries until he hears word of a popular Japanese confectionary nearby. He starts a food war, saying that the owner of the Japanese store doesn’t understand the greatness of Western sweets, but he gets in a little over his head…
Cheri, My Destiny! is where a young pastry chef learns the hard way that the toughest rival to beat is he who doesn’t see one as competition.
Sakura is the hot shot manager and chef of Bisous, a shop popular among women because of the delicious pastries and his good looks. Upon hearing that Tatsuya, a generations-old traditional sweets shop, is just as popular with a chef who rivals his good looks, he went to scope out the enemy. Upon learning Tatsuya hasn’t tried western pastries yet, he set out to prove the superiority of his desserts. Little did he expect Tatsuya slayed him instead.
Sakura’s the kind of character who publicly exudes the princely aura, but the dork secretly feeds on fawning and compliments. When away from his adoring customers, the guy lets loose his crazy complete with hilarious rage faces at the thought of getting one-upped by his rival.
Then here goes Tatsuya dazzling the idiot with casual niceness and appreciation of his chocolates. Sakura stood no chance!
If you are on the lookout for sexy times, the last chapter has some spicy scenes ready. My favorite parts are the bonus chapters showing funny moments of the times Sakura is hit with how bad he had it for the Tatsuya. I expected lots and lots of pastry illustrations. Not that many, but the ones here are pretty enough. All in all, cute and super fun!
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MANGA: Subarashii Kiseki ni Yasashii Kimi to
Subarashii Kiseki ni Yasashii Kimi to – Yusen Atsuko
Enoki is practically the poster-boy for what a typical nerd looks like: short and slight, complete with big round glasses and social awkwardness. His main hobby is playing video games, and he’s used to not having many friends at school. Then, he meets Shirataki, a former member of the baseball club and his exact opposite; tall, muscular and sporty. Despite their many differences, the spark of friendship between the two boys begins to grow into something more…
This Wonderful Season With You is a jock-nerd romance that deploys the eyeglasses trick to fabulous results. You know, where there’s a super cute guy hiding behind thick glasses.
It started when Enoki was trying to recruit more members for his electrical engineering club that’s in danger of being disbanded. He bumps into a tall, intimidating guy, Shirataki, who turns out to be kind of nice. Each one left an impression on the other, and Shirataki joined the club, hoping it would expand his horizons. Little did he expect he would have that and more!
The scenes with the club members were a riot! There were two other members, the president and the robotics enthusiast. They were wary of Shirataki at first, but later on, they helped him face his feelings. I love that bit at the ending where they gave the robot enthusiast his moment in the sun.
This is a slow-burn, friends-to-lovers romance with some drama thrown in. As Enoki grow closer to Shirataki, he learns many surprising sides to him. A huge chunk of the manga contains many soft, fluffy scenes that are adorable. The last couple of chapters I skimmed because they weren’t that interesting. There was the obligatory sex scene at the closing, which I think was unnecessary since the vibe of the story was fluff and humor. Still, this is as wonderful as promised.
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MANGA: Nitta-kun Chuuihou
Nitta-kun Chuuihou – OtotoTwo short stories about an unexpected situation that turns into something more for both parties involved.
Nitta-kun Alert is a smutty story of a straight boy roped in to participate in his delinquent schoolmate’s secret kink. It made me wonder how a high schooler got into high-level adult stuff, but that’s how it rolls.
The manga creates tension and humor through the straight boy’s thoughts and wild expectations while the delinquent frequently throws him for a loop. There was a point where I thought the story would swerve to fluff, but it quickly course-correct to the usual smut.
Underneath the steam is a blossoming friendship and, possibly, deeper feels had the story been longer. It would have been cuter had it done so.
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MANGA: Aisaseteyo Sensei
Aisaseteyo Sensei – Kameno
“I can’t just pretend like it’s nothing. I’ve fallen in love with you, Sensei.” University Professor, Hatano Hotaru made a mistake last night- He slept with a student, a straight one at that. “In the end he’ll get tired of me. I don’t want to fall in love with a straight guy.” Or so he thought, but this younger boy won’t let him go…?
A BL about sweet, cute, and passionate love!A pretty looking age-gap romance where the older guy angst about the age difference but looks like a teenager.
Sensei woke up one morning with the worst hangover and got zapped by the presence of his straight student lying naked next to him. Yep, they fucked, much to sensei’s horror. Then, student not only confessed but relentlessly pursued sensei from that point onwards until he caved in and confessed his own feelings.
Let Me Love You, Teacher follows the standard plot of persistent younger seme and in denial older uke. It adds the extra challenge of the teacher/student connection with the student being straight. There’s the usual worry of being left behind once the younger straight guy has supposedly satisfied his curiosity.
Like in many recent manga, the MC openly admits to being gay. It still feels novel to me every time that happens after decades of BL manga playing coy about LGBTQ existence. It’s a development I wholeheartedly support. Bonus when you get characters acknowledging the other letters in the acronym.
I don’t have much to say about this one-shot. It’s not exactly blah, but it doesn’t bring much to talk about to the table. Maybe just read this for the art.
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MANGA: Kiss de Egaku Ittousei
Kiss de Egaku Ittousei – Wata Rainy
Chitose can’t take his eyes off the guy from the class next door, dozing off in class by the window. Each time Chitose leans out the window to sneak a look at him, he’s always there, dozing off as expected. His name – Seno. He’s a year older, but according to rumours, he was absent for a year because he was involved in a fight. Chitose is a friendly and sweet-hearted high-schooler and Seno is a mysterious guy. The two polar opposites gradually open their hearts to each other… A chaotic and heartwarming school-love between a cheery puppy and a questionable grade repeater.
The most adorable meet-cute I’ve seen for a while!!!!
A First-Magnitude Star Drawn by Kissing starts when Chitose glimpsed another boy sleeping by the window. One day, the boy caught him staring, and they started talking via notes. Completely entranced, Chitose set out to know more about the mysterious boy who seemed to be subject of some nasty rumors.
This is a dog energy/cat energy pairing. Chitose is a cheerful, genki individual who blurts out whatever he’s thinking. Seno has a cool, aloof manner and speaks only when needed. I love his eyes! The two became friends because Chitose is irresistibly friendly. It didn’t take long for him to realize he was in love with Seno.
This has mentions of rape and abuse that caused trauma to Seno and made him keep everyone at arm’s length. However, the story is generally fluffy and light-hearted, with some emotional moments. The characters are adorable, and I adore how they adore each other! Chitose’s boundless energy and unbridled joy just being with Seno is contagious! I loved how he drew Seno out of his shell and earned his trust. The scene where the title was based was ♡♡♡!
The best supporting character is their art teacher. Sensei made his students draw each other. His comments on Chitose’s and Seno’s graded artworks were gold!
My only complaint was how the characters proportions looked. I was surprised to learn how tall Chitose actually was. All the while, he looked smaller while Seno was drawn to look tall.
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MANGA: Ore to Buka no Koi no Saki
Ore to Buka no Koi no Saki – Nanameguri
Takanashi and Tokunaga were spending their peaceful office lovers’ life until Takanashi suddenly got transferred to another department. Separated with his partner, Tokunaga gradually realized the true depth of his feeling. But that doesn’t mean their relationship was getting better. The more important Takanashi becomes in his eyes, the clearer Tokunaga can see the dead-end of their relationship. In a world that sometimes becomes unkind, can the two lovebirds walk to the future they wish for…? “Another Love Story Between My Trainee and I” is a sequel from the famous “Love Story” series by Nanameguri!
The sequel to Ore to Joushi no Koi no Hanashi, Me, My Trainee, And the Sequel to Our Love continues the workplace romance between the openly gay Chikashi and his boyfriend, the used-to-be-straight Tomoaki.
The two have become inseparable at home and work, but a sudden change in the sales department had Tomoaki transferring to that department.
This sequel is more dramatic and angstier. Chikashi is swarmed with insecurities. It didn’t help that Tomoaki was struggling with his sales quota and the self-sacrificing Chikashi decided to take extreme measures to save Tomoaki’s career. I loved Tomoaki for holding on as tightly as he could. I rooted hard for these dorks!
The plot dealt with real-world problems, such as how being openly gay can affect work. This is in contrast with the prequel, where the emphasis is on how their company was accepting of Chikashi’s sexuality. It also depicts how a relationship evolve and how it can change a person.
My heart went out to Chikashi during some of the emotional scenes. The humor balances out the heavier moments. I prefer the first story, but this is a moving sequel.
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