TheMidnightower's manga / #Cute(72)

I read this ages ago, and remembered it as soon as I saw it. One of my favorites.

I'm weirdly obsessed with this. The color choices are interesting as are the characters; their flaws are messy and violent in a way that doesn't usually balance out to a positive, and the side couples we see are dysfunctional in a way that makes sense and also somehow seem to work out. A lot of stuff feels like it kind of tapers off, as opposed to being properly resolved and there are moments that get genuinely terrifying but while the plot fails, somehow the tone still works.

Okay so, I was on the fence about this one at the start but it really grew on me with some some of the background characters. Honestly, this is one of those ones that feels like it coulda been shonen-ai for all that sex is a thing in the plot- outside of background, it's thrown in kind of ridiculously. That said, older brother who is a total boss (actual mafia boss?!) and that one kid who meets one gay person and has being an ally/finding an identity is just so, so good.

I didn't think I'd like yet another one of these but this one is too wholesome. Pretty much her first go around of her marriage is terrible (she was young and naive, he's smitten but emotionally incompetent.) That said, she ends up sticking around the second time so she could have her children again. Can't relate, but I respect a focused MC.

Short but I appreciate the dynamics a lot.