Shiro No Koro
TW: homophobia A a a a a a a i love this one so much. No idea why i didn't read this sooner, Mita Ori is one of my fave authors. All the stories here are very heartwarming and sweet, they're short and i wish each one of them had their own volume, but at the same time they're good as they are. Overall a beautiful book to make your day better!
Bright Blue ni Shizumu
Woooow this reads like an LGBT movie you'd find nominated at Sundance. The atmosphere was on point, the angst pierced my heart a thousand times, and the happy ending was well deserved. I'm not a big fan of the cover though, it's too understated and i wouldn't have guessed that the story is this good if i didn't read the reviews. Also, the resolution to the conflict between MC and his family felt too flippant and handwavy for how integral it is to the whole story.
Neon Sign Amber
TW: homophobia, internal homophobia I was once traumatized by Ogeretsu Tanaka's work (it was Escape Journey....may that book burn in hell) so I've been avoiding her other works ever since. I'm really glad i gave this one a chance though, because it's way better than i expected.
Hotaru wa Ashita Shinu DJ - Enough
Exotic Love
TW: dubcon sex, abuse (drug, alcohol, power, sexual, mental, physical....you name it), toxic characters and relationship, threat of rape between MCs I kept reading this one because i'm a huge fan of the translator group. Like--their work is Superb. They even translated key scenes from the original novel that makes it all the more immersive. Story wise it's definitely not my cup of tea, but now that i've finished reading the main part of the story, i was pretty glad that this turned out to be different from other manhwas that tried to take on a darker theme but just ended up romanticizing abuse like always. I never felt like the author is trying to make the MCs seem perfect for each other. It was clear cut from the very beginning that these characters are fucked up.
The Beast That Yearns To Be Tamed
TW: age gap (18yo hs student × 20yo uni student), dubcon because of misunderstanding Aah i love this. The circumstances where they got together were iffy, especially with Junta being the pure-naive highschooler type. It kinda got resolved pretty quickly, they reaffirmed that it was consensual, and later when Junta told his friend about Arata, his friend made sure that Junta wasn't being taken advantage of. Moreover, their relationship is just really sweet. I love when men express and ask for affection openly, and this couple certainly did not hold back in that department. The dirty talk is cringey but easily skippable.
Backstage de Aimashou