I Thot You Was a Toad's manga / #slice of life(123)

A series of short stories about all the ways boys have to avoid admitting they are in love with someone.

Youka Nitta's sweeping soap opera about Katou Youji and Iwake Kyousuke, two AV actors who risk everything to be true to themselves and each other. This story starts at the beginning of their relationship while they still work as porn actors, through negotiating their places and integrity in Japan's Byzantine entertainment industry, until they emerge with the approval of families, friends and colleagues; live together in their own home; make the movies they want, and eventually take responsibility for a production company, enduring treachery, censure, humiliation, attempted murder and even a huge earthquake in the process. The boys get a little overwrought at times, and ending feels a little truncated, no doubt in part to Youko Nitta's scandal, but the sex is hot and the overall arch is absorbing. A yaoi classic.

A beautifully crafted story about a prodigal's return, male lover in tow, to the rural home he left years before, the process of reconciliation between he and his family, his former neighbours and classmates and their families, and the deepening love relationship with his partner. The art is beautiful. The characters and stories are authentic and touching. An enormously satisfying read!

Don't let the sombre tone of the cover illustration fool you. So far (Chapter 1), this is a cute and well-paced story, which flirts with the edge of too much coincidence for realism without quite crossing over it ... yet. Yokoyama Naoki, a salaryman mired in gloom after his male partner and former colleague dumps him for a wife and child, keeps having fortuitous and random "meet ups" with Okada Yuumi, an eager and bright, young errand boy with romantic problems of his own. Is this a fluffy cure for heartbreak? Keen to see where mangaka, Hanakawa Chito, takes us.

Kanda Neko produces another Waffy fluffdoodle. This time the issue is deflowering the shy and virginal uke, who approaches the project with far too much pragmatism for the seme's comfort. Good luck with that, young buck!

Childhood friends Sumiyoshi and Shinomoto appear, from Sumiyoshi's somewhat blinkered perspective, to cruise together through life side by side, even while he goes through girlfriends like a box of tissues, until realization strikes along with the full consequences of being a feckless, callow and self-absorbed jerk. Then it's all about the changes. Slow-paced and authentic, this story doesn't flirt with any emotional or psychological danger zones, but it's not bad—just a bit dull, like housekeeping.

Heita lives with his retired grandfather in a small rural community boarding house that closed after his grandmother died, while he attends school and looks after the one remaining boarder, Miharu, a university researcher who seems incapable of looking after himself. He has some vaguely realized feelings toward Miharu which he expresses by preparing luxurious bentou and sharing the futon during rainstorms. Meanwhile, Miharu's feelings for Hei-chan are hardly vague, but he is an adult and Heita isn't, and that seems to mean something in this story.

Beautifully drawn, tentative shounen ai stories which address the issue of men coming to terms with taboos. The first deals with an age-gap that requires the boy and man to restrain themselves. The second is about autonomy and vulnerability to harassment. The stories deal with the subjects in a well-reasoned, calm and mature slice-of-life fashion. There is nothing unsettling or surreal.

Beautifully drawn shounen ai oneshot about a man who, upon return to his childhood hometown, finds himself couch-surfing with the man who, as a schoolboy, rejected him many years before, but who has changed and offers him a new chance. I don't know why Rocky's stories get such low reviews. They are interesting, mature slice-of-life glimpses into the lives of authentic-feeling characters, and they usually require a bit of thought, but they are well worth the investment of time and contemplation.

Senior high school teacher Kasei Shinichi has his hands full with Katou Reiji, a star basketball athlete sidelined by a knee injury who has developed a serious infatuation for this teacher. But where most yaoi stories take this as an opportunity to push toward sex, Yuki Ringo recognizes and respects the moral and legal boundaries that these situations present. There is no question, in her story, that a teacher would dismiss a confession as impossible on the basis of professional misconduct, and discourage a minor from harbouring any sentiments. Kasei is left with only fond memories and a smoking habit until Katou returns as an adult and fully credentialed teacher in Kasei's school. From there, the story really embarks on a near-Odyssean world of pain as Katou gently struggles to overcome each obstacle between him and his beloved, moving it forward from fond affection and collegial companionship. And the obstacles are doozies. For one thing, Kasei isn't gay. For another, Katou tried to numb his pain and confusion with some pretty reckless behaviour before he thought he might have an atom's chance of success. This is a rich and rewarding soap opera, well worth the effort of reading.