I Thot You Was a Toad's manga / #friendship(20)

Primarily about the relationship which develops between Mitsu, an overly sensitive young man with a tendency to withhold his self-expression to the point that misunderstandings often crop up, and Tsuburaya, a historical novelist who gets so busy that he cannot look after himself, against the background of a boarding house with roommate who care for each other, and school chums who want to create friendships. Mainly an interesting character study and more shounen ai than yaoi.

Pleasant and slow-paced story about Makoto, a Japanese chef, who finds himself admired by his childhood friend and neighbour, Kota, even though he has taken care of him all his life. Makoto is scared to place too much faith in those feelings. Ayaku's watercolours are stunning.

An exploration of what it means to be kind without expectation of anything in return.

Smutty oneshot about college student, Hinata, who is stunned to learn that his good friend, the popular and handsome Yuuma, has been harbouring a secret crush on someone for ages and has never shared this juicy tidbit with him. Determined to acquire experience so he can be Yuuma's "Rock", Hinata accepts a casual date then asks Yuuma how to go on one. Classic idiot couple romance.

Jin, a stock trader and used bookstore owner, takes his friend, Touma's, recommendation to use Seina, a tattoo artist, to cover some messed up ink on his back. Seina intrigues him, and they develop a friendship before Touma drops the bombshell that Seina is his estranged brother. Jin refuses to get involved in Touma's family problems, but when Seina discovers that Jin is friends with Touma, their friendship takes an unorthodox turn. A gentle and slow-paced friendship-into-love story with some striking tattoo designs.

One schoolboy falls for another at first sight, simply because his face resembles that of "an angel", or rather, a porcelain doll that his mother collected. Unfortunately, when he realizes his angel is a boy, and a surly, bad tempered one at that, everyone freaks out at "the homo" proving the general adage that school is shitty and soul-crushing. Fortunately, "the homo" seems to have some good friends who don't care about that.

A cutesy-wootsy fluffball of a story about a trio of childhood friends, 2 boys and 1 toy-chihuahua-type girl, where one of the boys has a crush on the other seemingly oblivious boy, and doesn't know how to be vulnerable or needy in front of his friends.

Ohara and Kawai, childhood friends and schoolmates joined by a mutual love for astronomy, discover too late that their friendship turned into love. Or is it too late? Ohara, chained to his father's debts, seems determined to protect Kawai from his passion, but Kawai won't cooperate.

There isn't a socially awkward situation that Tsuchiya can't aggravate by making it even more socially awkward, but Serizawa does himself no favours by holding his cards a little too closely to the chest. Serizawa wants Tsuchiya to help out with planning school field trips to a region of Japan he seems to know intimately, but that's a cover for his real feelings, and Tsuchiya knows it and throws it back in his face. Asou Mitsuaki has a great sense of drama and can make the unlikeliest characters seem alive and in the moment. It helps that her artwork is so beautiful too.

This is the third Nagisa Furuya shounen ai I've read this evening, and although they are all very calming and natural, they are also all very much alike. The base line is friendship and personal affinity. One discovers they feel more than friendship, and they reveal themselves either accidentally or on purpose, but the other needs a bit of time to catch up. There is variety in the details, but the plot, conflict and resolution are all pretty much the same. Good stories, but rapidly becoming predictable stories.