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

An art teacher, Jun, brings about an unconventional awakening within a serious student, Homura, that puts him at odds with the expectations that others have placed on him. Things escalate and it seems to Homura that Jin is pressured to resign under circumstances which are completely misunderstood. After years of guilt and just by chance, he comes across a notice with regard to his former teacher in another city and decides to pursue this lead, unsure of where it will take him.

Two stories about being on the opposite sides of unrequited love: (1) Two stories about being on the opposite sides of unrequited love: (1) Monji realizes that his two-timing lover, Chiba, will never reciprocate his feelings, but while his heart has been preoccupied, he never noticed the steady and nurturing quality of his long-time friendship with Hagiwara, nor understood what that meant. (2) Takaaki doesn't know what love is until he is loved by someone with so much intensity that, in an O Henry twist, his lover cannot bear the passion and needs to break up. Jaryuu's illustrations and characterizations are simple, clean and precise, and the observations are detailed and interesting. There was one strange passage that made no sense in translation, but the story was otherwise clear.

Crowded out of his home, after his mother remarries, Hirano moves into the dormitory at his all-boys' high school where he is put under the care of Morioka, a student who had been accused of bullying his juniors in the basketball club. At first, Morioka's taciturn deflections and sullen appearance make it seem as though the rumours about him are true, but Hirano discovers there's more going on. A story that starts off slowly and builds momentum and interest as it goes on.

Yajima, depressed by the going-nowhere relationship with his much older and married male lover, is offered some sexual stress relief by a handsome stranger, Watabe, in a gay meet-up park. Yajima takes Watabe up on his offer, although he makes his preference for older men almost insultingly clear for their first encounters. He never guesses that Watabe isn't as innocent as he looks, and the offer had more to it than Yajima could imagine. The question is whether that's an insurmountable problem. Great art, handsome guys, interesting story premise and lots of fantastic sex!

Tamaquis Wren specializes in yaoi where the uke surrenders himself to love so much, he gives up his own dignity. Dignity is reinstated by love returned, a classic romance trope. This story is hardcore, however, for, instead of love, the sole motivation is vengeance, and there is no surrender, just rage-fueled detachment and dissociation. To extract the cruelest revenge he can, Yan, the son of a murdered king, becomes the favourite catamite in the court of the Chinese Emperor who committed regicide against Yan's beloved father. Bent on destroying his enemies and slowly debauching the Emperor past his body's capacity for tolerance, the only revenge Yan can extract is what he has, himself, endured. In the end, in spite of page after page of strangely utilitarian sex and seduction with child rape, gang rape, slavery, sex cults, drugs, felching, castration, BDSM, odd sex toys, vegetable-slicing(!) and a huge and surprising reveal right at the end, the story is empty and cold, just like Yan. Weirdly, it's the court intrigue and politics that move it beyond mere shota wish-fulfilment smut fantasy and redeem it (for me; I can't abide child rape), transforming it into Wren's best work. It isn't romantic at all and, for once, Wren doesn't pretend that soul-crushing depravity and oppression are romantic. Wren's drawings are distinctive and stylized, but here they focus on lips, hair, eyes, skin and a boy whose naked body is modified to look like a young woman's. Everyone else is nameless, fully dressed and, either a wild-eyed and lust-maddened rapist, or a fellow scheming manipulator — distorted through the lens of obsession. Yan is an interesting character who gains his individual freedom, revenge and personal power, although nothing else — certainly not love.

A series of oneshots in which violence and control are sub-themes: (1) an abused boy finds love in the arms of a kind widower with a baby daughter; (2) a middle manager who cannot smile falls for a new office worker who can't stop smiling; (3) a pair of salarymen negotiate their way through a master/pet relationship; (4) a pair of schoolboys with deceptive appearances negotiate their way through a master/slave relationship.

Final installment in Takanaga Hinako's Kimi ga Koi series, which began with Kimi ga Koi ni Ochiru and continued with Kimi ga Koi ni Obereru. Rejected firmly by Kimono proprietor, Jinnai, procurement manager Kijima is swept away by the beauty of unknown newcomer Ichikawa's designs, even while he is dead set against the innocent man's growing infatuation. Ichikawa's resistance to having his designs showcased is rooted in a past marred by treachery and professional sabotage. Will Kijima overcome his own resistance in order to uncover Ichikawa's secrets and protect him? Or, having outed him in spite of Ichikawa's reservations, will he leave the designer to face his enemies alone?

2nd in Takanaga Hinako's Kimi Ga Koi Series, that started with Kimi Ga Koi Ni Ochiru and ends with Kimi ga Koi ni Midareru, this story furthers the adventures of Reichirou, from the first series, as told through the eyes of Jinnai, a kimono salesman from the shop which Reichirou, the eldest son of the company's owner, now manages. Jinnai's reaction to losing out the managerial position to such a young man starts off as irritation and envy, but evolves into attraction as Reichirou's modesty and purity win him over, then love as he confronts his own sense of entitlement and impetuosity, fighting off jealousy and insecurity when Kijima comes on the scene. This comes to a head when Reichirou's duty to his family includes meeting with a prospective marriage partner. Can Jinnai learn to trust?