otakulys's manga / #yaoi(378)

This is a strange set of stories in that one of them is super cutesy and one of them is about child rape. But okay, whatever works for you, author. The first story is really sweet, so I rated this a four based on that story alone. The others were probably more like a three, partly because they didn't always have a natural flow from one major moment to the next. I hate stories about clones because the concept of replacing someone with a duplicate is depressing to me. Like, does the person you loved originally not even matter anymore? There's an episode of Black Mirror that touches on this very well. It's soul-crushing but it's very reflective of the issues behind the concept of creating a copy of someone. Overall, not the worst thing I've ever read. There are some weird things in the stories that don't fit, for me, but I did like elements of all of the stories included, so hey.

Pretty weird and random so far. We'll see what happens.

I don't know why I'm torturing myself with this, knowing how it ends. I thought I could handle it, then the flashbacks showed up. I don't know if I can take watching a sweet, beautiful love develop, knowing that it all falls apart in the most painful way possible, with no happy ending. But here I am.

Noooooo, I want more! Honestly, it's not even that great, but there is so very little yaoi with actual plot and action. Yaoi horror is so rare, and this isn't just a case of smut with blood and vampires or something. It's an actual horror story. But it's gonna take forever to upload. D: I hope it's a long story, at any rate. And maybe more like this will come about. The translation is okay, and it's greatly appreciated that they took the effort to do it at all. Art is pretty, story is a bit abrupt, but I'm sticking with it. Hope it doesn't disappoint.

Lots of vampire yaoi lately. I'd love to find one that I really like, but so far it seems like I keep running into stuff like this, loaded with yaoi cliches that ruin it for me. I hate straight boy pairings, and honestly, at this point I'd rather see him end up with that girl. He likes her, she likes him, and there's nothing at all between the two straight guys. But we're gonna force it, by golly. I need chemistry or it's dull. I guess we'll see if anything improves.

I have mixed feelings about this one. The art is GORGEOUS, and I love Umi, the uke. I grew to tolerate the seme, and I understood that his behavior was reflective of his own demons and inability to separate his father's behavior from what was happening with Umi. But I don't feel like there was ever a satisfying moment of accountability and remorse for how he behaved. He slapped Umi right after he was assaulted. That really needed to be addressed, and it never was. I did like the catharsis at the end, and the truth about Umi's first love. So sad and heartbreaking, so I'm glad he finds happiness in the end. However, it's so brief, you don't get much time to enjoy it. It's great that the seme realizes now that he's found his other half. And up to that point, I feel like he was primarily asexual, with even his pleased response to seeing gay sex videos coming across as scientific, more than anything. But I think they work together, and though it touched on the depressing realities of being gay in a homophobic world, it was sweet over all. I just want to squeeze Umi forever, though. I love him so much. Four stars instead of five because I find the way a lot of things with the seme were handled to be annoying. At least the end is sweet. (And bonus points for Umi's awesome mom and her perfect response to his confession!)

Cute story, cute art. The sex was a bit abrupt, lol. Also, this guy clearly has never owned a rabbit. "They don't bite," since when? XD One of my rabbits used to growl like a demon if you tried to put her back in her cage before she was ready. XD Anyway, it's on the 3.5 scale because it was a little rushed in places. We'll see how I feel after reading the follow up.

Mixed feelings so far, as this is a weird freaking manga. Oddly gets LESS weird when the hell brothel comes in. But I like the art, even when it's strange. I'm intrigued, at any rate. I hope it doesn't disappoint. Four chapters isn't enough to be sure, but I hope that it's long enough to satisfy what it's set up. Also, lol at whoever tagged this as "slice of life."

This review is just for the one shot at the end: Honestly, as sweet as they both are, I kinda want them to stay platonic friends. I like that Haniwa doesn't have an agenda, that he's just protective of his friend, not protective because he wants to bang him. It sucks that it ends there, but I guess I'll just say that Hina finds someone great who's actually gay or bi, and he and Haniwa remain best friends forever. You never see gay characters with a truly awesome, close, straight male friend. I want him to have a happy ending with a guy who loves him back, but someone who actually likes guys. And I hope Itou gets his shit together and stops being a homophobic dick. I didn't really read the manga itself, just this oneshot, since people were raving about it. I'm not as interested in the manga for a number of reasons, but I might read it eventually. I wish there were more stories involving being outed and people dealing with coming out and potential homophobia. So few seem to want to tackle that at all, let alone do it properly. Most of the time it's brushed off as a random insult, or the other characters come around really quickly. This was just a sweet story about a good friendship, and I'd love to see more like it.

Reviewing up to chapter four from volume one, for now. At the beginning, I really didn't like this manga. It's weird. It had all of the components of something I'd like in theory, but I really hated that Kaji, for no reason, says he doesn't "bat for that team," then bugs Yura constantly about stuff that isn't his business. If he likes him, why immediately make it seem like he'll never be interested? Like going out of your way to make someone feel awkward. And after that, he was kind of a dick all around, and I just hated that Kaji had the power. I wanted him to get hurt, too. I wanted him to realize his shitty behavior resulted in him not getting what he wants so easily. But I knew from the start I'd never get that satisfaction. I hate that in yaoi, a gay guy swoons the moment a "straight" guy compliments or smiles at him. Like, he hates him, then pow, omgz what if he likes me??? He should be annoyed, like, what, you're a dick to me, and now you think I'd be into you? Blah, it just irks me. I mean, it's better than rape to love, and that "it's okay if it's you" bullshit is still kinda there, but not as bad. I just think it's up there in my top five most hated yaoi tropes, a guy suddenly tolerating this other dude, doing everything he says, fawning over him, when five seconds ago, the guy was just another fuckhead. It's just dumb. It's just so annoying that he hated this guy, but now he's getting all flustered and crap when it's the other guy who should be stressing out. Stop giving him all the power. x_x At any rate, it's a sweet enough turn when they finally come together, and I liked the emotional catharsis with the ex, so I stopped hating it so much. I'm looking forward to see where it all goes when I have the time to read it. And I'm glad it has more than one volume. So much yaoi is purely about the guys getting together, then it ends. Like, an entire volume of misunderstandings and pretending to be straight, sex in the last chapter, then the end. Drives me crazy.