I Thot You Was a Toad's manga / #bittersweet(8)

Nishina, newly divorced, accidentally bumps into the high school lover he cruelly threw away, Miyama, at the café Miyama now runs, and all his longing is rekindled. The question is whether Miyama can ever forgive him. Full of flashbacks, this story is a realistic look at the difference a decade can make. Hatsukoi is a side-story to Arashi no Ato.

Realistic and moving story of Shima, who is deliberately outed by his former gay-lover-gone-straight as a means of professional sabotage, at his former workplace, and Togawa, the straight and divorced boss who doesn't care ... about Shima's past or much of anything elsef, but cares very much for Shima. Shima has become hyper-cautious and sensitive as a result of this treachery in his past, and he doesn't know what to make of this man who is so, seemingly, heedless and rough-spoken. Can Togawa pierce through his armour?

Two stories. The first story is a prequel to Kare No Barairo No Jinsei where a gay man has trouble believing that an otherwise straight man might fall for him. In the second story, a man is shaken by the idea of the world's end. One loose end he cleans up is to reconnect with a former schoolmate with whom he was infatuated, but who is now depressed and at a standstill, re-igniting the man's desire to take care of himself. Hideyoshiko's stories move slowly and carefully, but are rewarding and realistic.

Astrophysicist fellow, Kawamoto Kuroki, has cast his wandering gay eyes on Koroki, another doctorate student in the Astronomy department, who he met during a particularly magical meteor shower viewing one night. Sadly for him Koroki is solely fixated on the professor, and there is no attachment to his desire. So what is a jaded maneater like Kawamoto to do? A richly developed and realistic story about mature love, the lack of expectations and personal sacrifice. A very satisfying read!

Abuse-trope soap opera about a doctor, Motoki, with his own private clinic, who believes that he is in a one-sided love affair with a yakuza enforcer, Kashima, because Kashima is cold, arrogant and abusive toward him. A visit from Kashima's underlings gives Motoki some hope, but is it false? Kirishima Tamaki, like Tamaki Wren, has a particular drawing style in which her men seem to have strangely flat facial features, even in the midst of emotional upheaval. But it is a stylistic element, not an inability to draw.

Bittersweet stories about heartbreak and loss suffered post nubes lux, when one person within the friendship leaves the other in order to improve his life circumstances or livelihood, when the confession or command of the other becomes a sort of ironic exclamation point which makes a lie of that improvement. Excellent emotional tension, particularly in the first story.

Beautifully drawn shounen ai oneshot about a man who, upon return to his childhood hometown, finds himself couch-surfing with the man who, as a schoolboy, rejected him many years before, but who has changed and offers him a new chance. I don't know why Rocky's stories get such low reviews. They are interesting, mature slice-of-life glimpses into the lives of authentic-feeling characters, and they usually require a bit of thought, but they are well worth the investment of time and contemplation.