I Thot You Was a Toad's manga / #Comedy(251)

Kuraishi, a twice-divorced events manager, is a depressed and self-destructive alcoholic, until he is nurtured back by Izumi, the florist who has a supernatural ability to communicate with plants. The plants tell him Kuraishi is withered and rotten, and he needs some tough love to recover. Volume Two deals with the return from Europe of Chouno, a colleague with whom Kuraishi shared a strong connection in the past.

A series of short stories by Mio Junta: (1) A waiter with an unpleasant personality attempts to mimic the Prince character in his sister's role-playing game and snags himself an actor who comes with a surprise twist. (2) A serious swimming teacher finds himself learning some fast lessons from a grocery store clerk who knows more about kids than he does. (3) A young man experiences insecurity when he notices how attractive his lover is.

(1) Itsuki has the hots for his stepbrother, Yuki, whose shortness (and, more likely, mouthiness) impedes his romantic prospects with the girls. Yuki, however, is not ready to take on a male lover, but he is aware of the tragedy in Itsuke's past, and tries to balance his brotherly affection with keeping the dog-like stepbrother at bay. (2) Satoru and Yuzuru are lovers, but Yuzuru sees himself as a subordinate, not an equal.

Shougo, shiftless and lighthearted, shows up on the doorstep of his stepbrother, Kyoura, whom he has not seen since their parents' bitter divorce years before, after losing his job. This reignites Kyoura's thwarted passions and leads to the revelation of old secrets that tore apart their family. Serious subject matter, but treated lightly and sweetly, with many comic moments and lots of hot sex.

A series of comic oneshots. (1) The ox-headed demon and horse-headed demon are twins who guard both sides of the Gate of Hell, admitting souls and guarding the exit. As such, they seldom see each other, but their longing grows with every glimpse. (2) A king asks a knight to initiate his son, Prince Hal, in swordsmanship. (3) A winsome, but unlikely duo, of host and gardener play off an exchange of gratitude and favours to each other. Kuku Hayate's style is completely unique and her stories always refreshing and different, although sometimes (like with the Prince Hal story), they can lapse into embarrassing cringe territory. Still, the goodnatured fun overrides everything else.

A sweet little oneshot about a schoolboy whose friends play a cruel trick on him, and the other schoolboy who turns it right around and makes it all okay.

Chidori Yuuma, a 19-year-old male housekeeper, looks after the real breadwinners in his family: his tough, widowed mangaka of a mother, his sisters and the art assistants. This promising and unorthodox set-up for a story spices up when Sou Ikenouchi, a hot new assistant, arrives and, after this and that, Yuumi's heart starts thumping. Alas, Sou's got a past and after endless pages of slapstick, misunderstandings, refusals to have sex, thwarted sex, blocked sex, no sex, the limp ending just kind of deflates and hangs all flaccid and floppy. I'm not sure what the purpose of this adventure was, if after all her fun-loving cupcake-Yakuza characters of the past, Fuwa Shinri had a crisis of conscience and decided to take a moral stance, "Kids, don't try this at home!"—But it's kinda weak and disappointing after such a brilliant start. Still it has its moments.