sadslime's manga / #Dom/subverse(20)

Nishina Zen is an ordinary man who wandered into another world one day where everyone has animal ears. He got into an altercation and was saved by Alivian, a member of a government bureau who takes him in and explains this world. But while they're talking, Zen reacts to one of Al's words as if it were a "command," leading to the realization that Zen is a sub. He demands that Al (dom) take care of him, and they end up living together, much to Al's surprise, as his glare is usually too much for even neutrals, but Zen doesn't seem to mind at all. In fact, "playing" with Zen seems to help manage his glare so others are effected less as well. It all seems too good to be true, and Al feels guilty for using Zen, while Zen is starting to feel romantic feelings for Al that Al seems unprepared to accept. No trigger warnings.

Dom model friends in the subverse

Ayato Izumi(sub) is a gay CEO who deals with his need by meeting with strangers to "play" at night since he knows he can't get attached since he'll need to marry and have an heir one day. His new secretary, Yuma Kosaka(dom), is young and highly competent and totally Ayato's type, so when Yuma finds out about Ayato's plays and tells him it's dangerous and he should stop, Ayato says he will only if Yuma will be his partner, thinking it will scare him off. Except Yuma goes for it, and it's actually great! So great, that Ayato is starting to worry he won't be able to break things off one day like he knows he'll have to. Cute story. Trigger warning: noncon.

Yuuma is an ordinary sub who's having trouble finding a partner. Ever since his friend Mao bit him in high school and awakened his sub nature, he's been seeking that feeling of pain and pleasure, but his partners just can't seem to give it to him. He's finally matched with Mao himself, and Yuuma is ecstatic at the prospect of feeling the way he did before, but Mao is determined not to hurt him! Mao decides to teach Yuuma what a dom/sub relationship should really look like, and while Yuuma finds it enjoyable, he starts to worry he'll get in too deep. Pretty good up to chapter 4, but the plot gets a little confused after that. Trigger warning: violence.

Jun is an up and coming young actor who is secretly a sub. He's gotten the chance of a lifetime to work with his favorite actor, Ryunosuke Shiba, also known as the Nation's Dom, and even though he struggles a bit, Mr. Shiba is surprisingly nice and even flirty with him. When Mr. Shiba accidentally reveals Jun's secret, he gets even more interested, and manages to get Jun to live with him during their next project together. But even though their relationship seems to be getting better and better, but Jun worries about rumors that Mr. Shiba seduces all his coworkers, only to drop them after. Trigger warnings: dubcon, attempted outing.

Watanabe Akito(sub) is a high school teacher with a seemingly perfect life, except his fiance just left him. Drunk and desperate, he tries out a dating app for doms and subs, and ends up accidentally meeting with his own former student, Izumi(dom). Watanabe tries to play it off, but Izumi begs Watanabe for a place to stay, and the two end up living together and crossing all the lines. Trigger warnings: dubcon, blackmail.

Kyoya(S) runs a dom host club and pretends to be a dom himself, at the expense of his health. His new parttimer, Sota(D), pretends to be a sub, but when he finds out Kyoya's secret, he offers to be Kyoya's dom. Still, Kyoya hates the part of him that wants to submit to Sora, so he's not ready to give in yet. It ended up being an interesting relationship, but it felt pretty rapey at the beginning. Trigger warnings: noncon, overdose.

Manato is a sub who can't express himself, which was the cause of his recent breakup. His best friend Yoh insists he go see a professional and sets him up for a night with Seiya, a top-selling dom escort. Though Manato says he wants to be spoiled, halfway through the play Seiya sees through to Manato's true desires and treats him more harshly, awakening Manato to what he really wants. But as he continues to see Seiya, Manato knows he can only be a customer, and he fears letting himself fall too hard. The best friend Yoh is the standout character of this story, and the author did a great job with him. Trigger warning: S&M

Watase is a sub who wants to top, but he can't seem to find a willing partner. Resigned to his sexless life, he goes to a club to at least get some play, where he meets the dom Touma. But to his surprise, Touma is a dom who wants to bottom, and it seems like they were made for each other! But just when their relationship seems to be going perfectly, Touma starts to notice some changes in his body...I'll be honest, I think this one has a really good setup that it totally betrays with it's "twist" two separate times, so it didn't win me over at the end. Trigger warning: attempted rape. SPOILERS: Okay, so the setup is meant to challenge the "norm" or the idea that a bottom is naturally in the submissive position, which is interesting and something that shouldn't be set in stone, so it's great to challenge the idea. But then it totally betrays that premise by having Touma turn into a sub, thus reinforcing the idea that by bottoming, he's awakened his submissive side. Then it introduces the major conflict--Touma is a switch and he can't control when he's a sub! How can he stay with his partner who is a sub? This is interesting and could have had a really emotionally fraught but satisfying conclusion. But no, they just toss it aside with a quick, oh, actually he's a switch too! Because again, if you're topping, you must be a dom, right? It was just so frustrating for me to have it completely betray the setup by reinforcing the stereotypes it began by questioning. So good characters, but probably too frustrating for me to read again.

Sora and Kenshi are friends and both normals in the dom/subverse, but when Kenshi inadvertantly uses a command, something begins to change between them. Though they try to resist it, they both get lost in their second sexes. Quick, could have been good if it had a little more time to tie things together. As it was, it felt a little pointless. No trigger warnings