I Thot You Was a Toad's manga / #older man/younger man(27)

Taichi has a sentimental attachment to a beautiful spot by the river, which he is about to lose forever as a dam is slated for construction over it. There, he meets Zama, the man who will change his life.

Two stories. First, the story of an entertainment company president who harbours unrequited love for his secretary, and constantly pushes into his space up until the "last 3 centimetres", which he leaves for the secretary to complete. The second about the reunion of an aging and lonely tutor with the student who harboured a crush on him for years. Both of the stories are about love triumphing over loneliness and resignation, and like most of Chidori Peko's yaoi manga, are sentimental and light.

A pederast relationship between a 28-year-old writer and a 17-year-old student brings up issues involving emotional maturity.

Two separate stories. (2) Page 106: The story where the one roommate jumps out a window and sprains his ankle in order to avoid seeing the roommate he thinks rejected him. Two young men share a college dorm, but since one has been harbouring a secret crush on the other throughout their stay, he is anxious to find his own place. The other roommate is reluctant to let him. (1) Bratty kid takes friends up on a bet that he can't seduce the school nurse, a handsome man. The nurse gives him the best kiss of his life, and changes him forever. Sadly for him, the nurse spotted him miles away and was just toying with him. Now he has to win him back, or so he thinks.

A mysterious laboratory where stars are made; a scientist whose dead lover haunts him; a child whose encouragement pulls him through despair. Aoi Aki's stories are intense and, as always, so beautifully drawn and depicted. In this one, the birth of stars is linked to the rekindling of love.

These two stories gave me pause. They are interesting, but tough, and more realistic, than romantic, with bittersweet resolutions. (1) Chizumi's postpones dealing with his unresolved feelings for a dead friend by raising the friend's son, Ibuki, and having grief-relief sex with his other friend, Yatabe. When Ibuki confesses, Chizumi indulges his infatuation far too much for my personal comfort, but he does realize his mistake and takes action to correct it. Unfortunately, it throws his entire motive for rearing Ibuki into the realm of exploitation, rather than a sincere concern for his well-being, and he wounds Ibuki with, both, the inevitable rejection and the wildly disparate balance of power (Ibuki being completely dependent and vulnerable in their situation.) Realistically, people do betray ones who love them this way, without atoning or making amends, but it leaves a bitter aftertaste. Not quite as bitter as (2) the relationship between Kazuhi and Ichiyama, where atonement is expressed through violence. Yamakami Ryou's stories have an unsettling sense of personal contradiction, with pain and betrayal at the heart, but they are insightful and highly readable dramas, well worth the time and effort.