I Thot You Was a Toad's manga / #age gap(47)

Aoyama Toomi took on some very trigger-laden subject matter, especially in the first story, but she treated her characters with such respect and kindness that it overcomes the power imbalances. The stories are generally light with realistic emotional responses. The main story is about a doting uncle and his relationship with his introverted teenaged nephew, based on an emotional connection built up slowly over time and games of chess. There are two secondary stories, one about mistaken identities and judging people on appearances, and the third about how cats respond to gentleness.

Bildungsroman about a young man whose life revolves around the love hotel his late father left behind, the sense of pride he takes in its purpose and the censure he picks up from others. Throw into this mix a gay romance whose premise is based upon an impulsive lie he told to protect a younger brother whom he believed to be in peril from someone he believed to be a predator, and you have an excellent, thoroughly believable story with sympathetic characters who are doing the best with the fate they were dealt. Fantastic story! Definitely a favourite.

Abandoned by his mother, Reo has recurring nightmares/repressed memories of being raped by the only person upon whom he can depend, his foster father, Shuuji, and so confides in his friend and neighbour, Kenta. But neither Kenta, nor Shuuji are who they seem to be. Takarai Saki's stories always seem to feature an off-kilter, possibly outright lunatic, character, and her sex scenes are often depraved enough to make this reader squirm with discomfort, but the long and soothing resolution to this story pulls it away from the edge of crack and back into plausibility. It can be maudlin, but there is sweetness at its core which also redeems it.

Two separate stories: (1) A small and passive high school boy is attracted to a tough and intimidating older student's muscular body, or so he thinks. The older student doesn't mind at first, but then, wants to be liked for himself, not his appearance. (2) A transient good-for-nothing in trouble comes back to the bedroom of a young man's sister, never realizing that the sister has moved on while the young man has moved in. The boy tells him he can stay as long as he does everything the boy tells him to. Realistic slice-of-life stories which are part comedy, part drama, but where nothing particularly sweeping and grand happens, unless you count life changes as sweeping and grand ... which I do, sometimes.

Pleasant and slow-paced story about Makoto, a Japanese chef, who finds himself admired by his childhood friend and neighbour, Kota, even though he has taken care of him all his life. Makoto is scared to place too much faith in those feelings. Ayaku's watercolours are stunning.

A silly comedy about a butler-turned-teacher who tames a spoiled young master-delinquent and his coterie of other young master-delinquents at a fancy-schmancy private school with blackmail, public humiliation and spankings. Ride 'em cowboy!