muse ✨'s manga / #reencounter(186)

Boys on motorcycles IN LOVE! They stop talking after they hook up but four years later they work together at a salon and WEAR SCRUNCHIES! Heads up for an age gap. It didn’t occur to me the first time through but uhh,

On a school trip, 17yo Rin is shocked to wake up next to homeroom teacher Takamura, who touches him, leaving Rin upset. Takamura, the son of a politician, later reveals that they had studied with the same piano teacher seven year ago, when he was 17, and that playing together with Rin had been the only time he'd been happy. The back story is nice. The rest of the story is explicit sex justified by a thin romance. I'd love this if I felt Rin loved Takamura, but this reads as coercion by a teacher. Rin is in his third year by this point. Since he's going to school shortly anyway, I wonder why Takamura didn't tip him off that they'd known each other and then struck up a friendship until Rin was no longer his student. "That's because teacher x student is hot!" It can be so, so hot and I like it in fiction, but this missed the emotional mark for me entirely. I didn't like Takamura at ALL. He's too manipulative. Side note: Rin's father is super hot.

Eri does his best to appear respectable to his students and peers, but his facade unravels when Motou, a former student Eri had comforted after finding him bullied for being gay, begins work at the school. Eri's words to Motou, and a single kiss, saved him from a life of self loathing and have made him into a confident man proud to be by Eri's side. Only, they're seen kissing by a student and have to negotiate the fallout. Comes to a refreshing resolution. The second story is about their coworker, Izumi.

A PWP with nice art and a sweet, dense main character who doesn't realize his male roommate - who cooks, cleans, and has sex with him - is interested in him. Normally I wouldn't support a boyfriend installing surveillance equipment on his lover's phone, but in this case I'm not sure Yano would live through a day otherwise. The second story is about a front desk clerk who considers turning down his dream of being transferred back to to the main Tokyo branch because years ago, he messed around with the manager. At a friend's bar, a man spots his business partner's son dressed as a young woman.

The first story is about a man who has been mistaken as an otaku his entire life and then falls in love with one. Giving this five stars for the final story: two friends separated for six years because one accompanied his parents to America are reunited in high school. Haru is hopelessly in love and prepared to keep it secret, but then Genta asks to help him practice confessing. (Has Haru/Makoto vibes, which this mangaka has also drawn.)

me: Why is the guy with red hair so hot? He reminds me of someone. manga: *fanart of Rin from Free!* me: I just can't put my finger on it manga: *character has sharp teeth* me: this is a mystery manga: *the other guy is named Haruto* me: maybe I'm thinking of a Yakuza story manga: *more fanart of Rin* me: must be the piercings

Explicit, disturbing yakuza love story. I liked the couple a lot and it was nice to see their love develop. A man struggling with ED goes to a specialist...who turns out to be the childhood friend he used to hook up with, whom he blames for his impotence, and then has sex with in the office. PWP. Coworkers hook up after realizing their years-long mutual interest, and then they have breakfast! Features the wonderful "of course you're not still here in the morning, I was an idiot to get my hopes up, but oh! you were just out buying groceries!" trope.

Kyouya returns home from Tokyo to Karatsu to sell his late grandfather's house and reconnects with Motoharu, his childhood friend and the man he loves. (Yuri on Ice fans should recognize Karatsu as the town Hasetsu is based on.) Coworkers are actually dating; one reveals secrets to us about his lover (starting with an apron).

Wataru and Saeki have one thing in common: their love of movies. So when Saeki confesses that he's in love with Wataru, it comes as a shock, but he demands nothing more than a pilgrimage to visit locations from a film that is special to him. The trip brings them closer together, and just as Wataru is beginning to unravel his own feelings toward Saeki, he transfers schools and Wataru has no idea how to find him.

Kinda funky pacing. Chunks of time were skipped, which took away from the potential to really get you in the heart, but the art was nice and who am I to tell you that you can't sleep with your fictional cousin. The story: University student Miya lives with an incurable disease that will likely kill him in his early 20s. He spots a flashy man in the university's library one afternoon and is surprised to discover the man, Rei, is actually his cousin who used to visit him in the hospital as children. But even more surprising is that Rei has an interest in biology and in Miya's disease, which he claims to be able to cure.