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

"Sato" and "Kio" are the usernames of two gay strangers who meet up on occasion in front of a gelato store for a treat, then procede to Sato's home for sex. At first, it's casual and comforting, but as their feelings for each other deepen and intensify, the sex also gets rougher and longer. Unfortunately, they can't seem to break through the barricades of anonymity and casual sex, until one of them breaks off contact completely. But is that really the end. Like a nice dish of gelato on a warm day, this story really hits the spot! The pacing is right, the characters are authentic, the story is not too sweet and not too bitter.

A series of short stories about lovers who aren't interested in being high achievers, but in living a free-spirited life with the men they enjoy. There is something quite fresh and clean-feeling about these stories, even when the stories are simple.

Iga, deprived of his dreams of corporate success when his father passes over the directorship of his landscape architecture firm to his younger, married, heterosexual brother, is banished to the boondocks of a smaller urban region in order to complete a primary school garden. There, he meets Asakura, the son of florists and an amateur photographer, who reminds him of the joys of gardening and slowly warms his cold, unused heart. Beautiful art, great supporting characters, fun story, especially whenever the small children come out, the only thing that is a drawback to this story is how long it takes to get to rumpy-pumpy.

Slice of life story about a gay couple entrusted to raise the baby daughter of a female friend who happens to be a wartime photographer, and all the readjustment that requires from them.

A thwarted love affair between an oyajiisan and someone from his past is transposed onto the grandson of his beloved, who is, in turn, loved by the oyajii's grandson.

A traditional Japanese Inn and hot spring sets the backdrop for some killer lessons in customer service for entry-level Nakai, Yukimura, who has nowhere else to go. It seems as though the knives are out for him before he can gain a foothold.

A part-time, slackhanded customer relations employee falls for the terse, perfectionist manager of his call center, while being targeted by their jokey supervisor. There's the prerequisite caring for the cold scene, and a whole bunch of misunderstandings, but other than that, not too much plot.

Fuwa Shinri is great at yaoi soap operas. In this series of short stories, we read about gay men who stay closeted for the sake of family, pesky fan girls who want to out them, divorce and child abuse, rape and the odd ways survivors punish themselves for having been raped ... They are generally quite authentic apart from some of the outward emotional reactions which seem a bit overt, but still within plausibility. One very realistic element is that not all the conflicts are resolved or the injuries healed. Fuwa Shinri is good at this sort of story.

Another slice of life drama from the Queen of Yaoi Soap Operas, Fuwa Shinri. This time stepbrothers, Sora (5 years older) and Tatsuki, love each other in every sense of the word, but they will never say it. Noooo .... instead they have to take each other and everyone else they love on a long and torturous journey that includes Tatsuki moving out, psychotic fans (Soru is a popular mystery novelist), stabbings, aggrieved girlfriends (and rightfully so), a miscarriage, runaway avoidance crap, incensed editors (and rightfully so), a near-death accident and drama-rama-rama! It's a darned good thing Tatsuki's ex-girlfriend isn't the stabbing sort, because in her case, he deserves it. Instead, he gets stabbed for something else. It's also a good thing that the relative who Tatsuki hates so much is so plain-spoken, or these two jackasses would take their closeted gay secrets to an early grave. In Sora's case, he nearly does anyway. So, yeah, it's a ride on the tearjerk express, but Fuwa Shinri does that so well, and even when the story's just too much to qualify as realistic, it still feels like it could happen.

Shinohara Satoru has moved from the country (and newly wed sister) to a 6-tatami mat apartment in Tokyo in order to achieve his dreams of independence. Izumi Yuushin, his new neighbour, tests that resolve to the limits as he is aware of all Satoru's shortcomings on the personal responsibility scale. How's that? Well, Yuushin is a free spirited kind of guy himself, and moved away from his own doting mother in order to perform as an actor in a theatre troupe, and it isn't as though he wasn't in that same boat himself, once. The gay attraction business is just a side effect from being caring individuals, but the free-spirited acting stuff throws enough doubt into this idiot couple's miso soup that there is actually some conflict, resolution and plot to go along with this little family soap opera.