I Thot You Was a Toad's manga / #botanist(2)

Law student, Arikawa Youichi, has portentous dreams about someone named Misaki, an enigmatic and formless "presence" activated by a pretty floral crystal pendant that Arikawa suddenly found in his possession (the result of a mishap), never realizing that Misaki Shouta is a man whom he met by accident and happenstance, on two prior occasions, and heard about by rumour, once, thus setting the scene for a story about predestined love. Upon actually identifying Misaki, at university, Arikawa instantly declares his love and fascination. His straightforwardness comes across too forcefully to Misaki, who veers off, but since Arikawa has been hired by Misaki's professor as an assistant, they are forced to share time and space in the botany lab where Misaki researches microorganisms in soil cultures. As they grow accustomed to each other, Satoshi Kawahata, a parental authority/conflicted would-be lover from Misaki's past, tries to re-assert himself as the central person in Misaki's heart, revealing the back-story behind Misaki's reticence. Can Misaki overcome his insecurities and defeat his loneliness? This story has many nice touches, including the symbolic language of flowers, the differences between free expression and withholding, a secret garden, the magnificent prequel Hana No Miyako De "The Flower Capital" [http://www.mangago.me/read-manga/hana_no_miyako_de/] and a twinkly "magical fairy-godfather" type. After the initial declaration by Arikawa, it moves along at a fairly slow and realistic pace, but I like the introduction of subconscious elements, like the dreams and the connection with the grandfather. The artwork is beautiful, too, with Takarai Rihito's delicate line drawings enhanced by the floral subject matter, but some of these drawings are undermined by poor quality scans and cleaning, especially in the first volume. Other than that, this is a must-read!

A misogynistic — indeed, misanthropic — botanist is thrown together with a young gay man from the same university when pharmaceutical student, Oohashi Umi collapses in front of his door one night after a vigorous date with a stranger. Umi demonstrates his thanks by preparing meals and, it is to be hoped, starts changing the unnamed botanist's rigid thinking about gay men, at least.