EnBogreol's manga / #Tattoos(2)

Heartbroken after not getting to be with Minori-sensei (a massage therapist who seduced him), the fourth head of the yakuza, Tatsuyuki, drinks his feelings away. After passing out on a park bench, he is carried away by a stranger; a stranger who seems to know exactly who he is... —- A close to 5 star story for me; only thing that breaks it is the dubious consent after Nozomi carries Tatsuyuki home with him in chapter 1. It’s not cool to sleep with people who are completely wasted, when you are sober, Nozomi-sensei. Other then that, I very much enjoyed this manga. Story is interesting, art is beautiful, and I cared about that characters. Tatsuyuki is a good example of an unconventional “yaoi bottom”, and I like that he feels like a strong character, without being cartoonishly intimidating. His design is also just soooo fucking beautiful. Nozomi was not too bad either, though his initial methods of getting closer to Tatsuyuki were... questionable. Stalking is not cool. I found the pages featuring Nozomi’s backstory highly disturbing, so I skip those. But in regards to his backstory, I really liked that after learning about it, Tatsuyuki was very careful about not triggering Nozomi when they slept together. It was very cute, and showed that the author took the care to not gloss over the abuse, like is unfortunately the case in many other smutty manga. Side characters were fun as well, Reika was my favourite. It’s nice to see positive depictions of female characters in BL. I still feels it’s a shame that I won’t be giving it 5 stars; it was sooo close ;W;

Yuuya keeps failing at getting a job. Frustrated and looking for change, he goes to get a tattoo. At the shop, he meets a flashy foreign-looking young man, named Atsushi. Having fallen in love at first sight, Atsushi manages to get Yuuya into his bed. He now hopes to be able to keep him there. —- This has a lot of things that I like. It also has a lot of things that I hate. I think that the puppy-love vibe coming from Atsushi is great; pining is my jam. That they got together as early as they did was something that surprised me, but pleasantly so. No beating around the bush, let’s live together! Yuuya’s design is also pretty cute imo. I also really liked how chill Atsushi’s “brother/friend” was. What I hated was Atsushi’s possessiveness and abusive behaviour. He tried to isolate Yuuya, have him be completely reliant on Atsushi for everything, and got extremely upset whenever Yuuya had to stay out a little later than normal. This seems to have been intended as at least mildly funny, but I don’t agree with that sentiment. This is not cute, it’s alarming. Their physical altercation did not help. I mean, BITCH, HE DEADASS CHOKED YOU...! I get that Atsushi is possessive because he was abandoned, and can’t bear the thought of going through that again, but I do t think that’s an excuse to choke your boyfriend????