I Thot You Was a Toad's manga / #drama(235)

The relationships which have been established in Nakamura's Doukyuusei yaoi romance series continue through college.

Quiet Imai is dating Tooru, but knows almost nothing about him. One day, a man approaches Imai, purportedly to scout him for a job as a model, but it soon becomes evident that Mishima is there to get at Tooru. Imai succumbs to temptation when it is revealed that Tooru's father has arranged a marriage for him, but what will Tooru do to win back his trust?

A series of three interlocking stories about boys coming to the realization that they are gay. In prequel, Lovers and Souls, Tooru's lover dies just as Tooru realizes he's in love. In Rules, Tooru is messed up and works as a male prostitute, but makes a play for Hikaru, who looks like the man he loved. Hikaru, a bisexual man whose heart was broken in the prequel Hydra, will have nothing to do with prostitutes. He initiates a high school boy, Yuki, on the rebound from an unrequited love for a classmate, Atori. By the time Yuki finally summons the courage to confess to Atori, Hikaru has fascinated Yuki. Atori is, at first, outraged by the confession, then curious about gay love, which causes him to wander into Shinjuku, where he winds up meeting Tooru. Miyamoto Kano's stories are bittersweet, full of heartache as well as relief and compassion. This one is less bitter than its prequels, although these young men seem to live on a knife's edge.

Kaichi is a mind reader with his own home and business, and a friend from back in school in the handsome lawyer, Anan Kei, whose thoughts are largely veiled from him. Just as it seems as though Kaichi and Anan are about to become lovers, Kaichi is asked by his uncle — the man to whom he owes his livelihood — to look after his abused step-cousin. Tatsuya is also able to veil his thoughts from Kaichi, but it is clear that the darkness hides tragic secrets which Kaichi is determined to find out. The trouble is, this leads to serious misunderstandings with Anan. A fascinating story with Kitazawa Kyou's usual sexy drawings of men. The translation needs the support of a good editor, but the meaning does come across.

Unresolved Sexual Tension is stretched to the utmost when Reiji, a sales and marketing product tester crosses paths with his first lover from when he was in school, Kagami, now a successful architect, who dumped him with no explanation or consideration. Reiji still loves Kagami and it seems as though his feelings are returned, so why does Kagami persist in pushing him away? The drawings are beautiful. The story is smoldering. This is a great romance for ramping up a steamy mood! Volume 2 is about the company president and his lead model.

Hiroki and Ryou are seniors at the same high school, neighbours in the same apartment building, and both raised by single parents who love each other. Another thing these young men share is an attraction that only Ryou expresses because Hiroki feels he has important reasons to repress it, flipping the blame for this choice onto others. With a grim start and no happy ending, Hidaka Shouko's keen insight and perception provides us with a clear look at a young man whose pride, obstinacy and orthodox purview obstructs his own happiness and of everyone around him.

Satoru, a hatter with his own boutique and employee relations problems, needs a new clerk fast and picks up a starving stranger to fill the role. Ryou reminds him of his old dog, whom he dearly loved, but Ryou has a past filled with mobsters, government corruption, violence, betrayal and abandonment, and the question is no longer whether it will return on him, but when and how violently it will return on him. An agreeable and engaging story with beautiful art, and a touch of Disney (Hello Flynn Ryder) in the style and mannerisms. The characters are interesting features and the plot comes intricately wrapped in a seriously absorbing suspense thriller! Just watch out for the non-linear transitions and flashbacks.