I Thot You Was a Toad's manga / #shounen ai(99)

Very cute story about a scruffy, older guy, Yamada, who saves a young student, Chihiro, who is semi-passed out drunk in a park after suffering his first episode of unrequited love for another guy. Realistic, slow and kind (so far), there are many lovely moments and the art is beautiful. I particularly love the scene where Yamada wishes for all his luck in love to pass over to Chihiro.

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

Romances involving three sets of dorm-mates at a boys' school.

Mishima, company president's son, thinks he has less talent and skill than his older brothers, so when he starts working at his father's company, he is slam-dunked under the care of the toughest boss in sales, Chief Kokubu. Kokubu is not only tough, but the leader in sales for the company, and he refuses to baby Mishima.

Two students at the same high school, Ume and Take, keep meeting up at a laundromat. This leads to conversation and, eventually, doing things together. Take has lots of brothers, a motorbike, a part-time job and he's popular at school. Ume doesn't say much. They go to the same school. They know girls in common. So far, it's real, but there isn't much sign of yaoi.

Jealousy, cruel words, regret are the theme of this romantic comedy about Kaidou, a schoolboy whose personality is seriously misunderstood as a violent delinquent and who actually works as a costume actor for a department store hero mascot, and Honda, the schoolboy who considers himself unremarkable, who discovers his secret. Very cute school story with a great resolution, nice pencil-style drawings and a college-aged extra by Aomiya Kara.

Rokujou Itsuki, the elite president of an absurdly class-segregated private school, is smitten with one the general schmoes, Michiru, and their forbidden friendship, crypto-affair threatens to bring down the whole school, especially when the snobby elites take offense. This peculiar set-up is so heavy and dramatic, it's out of all proportion to what is, essentially, a lighter-than-breath fluffball of a romance. It's like using a battle-ax to stir up some dandelion clocks.

High school photographer, Arata snaps action pictures of (mainly) Shoutarou and his basketball club teammates and sells the pictures to young women, who confess without success to Shoutarou. The two young men come to a slow realization about mutual attraction. I usually like Hayakawa Nojiko's manga, but this time I found the pacing very choppy and disjointed. I love her watercolours, but the fractured jumpiness, and sparsity of storytelling elements and background detail pushed me out too often this time.