I Thot You Was a Toad's manga / #reunion(22)

Childhood bullying.

Rip-roaring suspense thriller and urban detective drama as a blackmailer saves a smelly derelict from some hoodlums and, recognizing him as someone from high school with whom he has a score to settle, takes him home. But who is this man, really?

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.

Here is a sad tale about obsession and grief. If Natsuke could rewind the years back to high school when he rejected an ardent confession from Haruomi, the boy he led on, would he? Haruomi hasn't moved forward, instead numbing his pain in masochistic encounters with anonymous men, all strangers upon whom he projects Natsuke's face. When Haruomi uses the occasion of the marriage of a mutual friend to engage at long last in a similar sort of cold, painful sex with Natsuke, he is still unfulfilled. Natsuke remains obstinate and unmoved, even through a clumsy blackmail attempt. What will it take to break through this emotional stalemate?

Connor and Matthew were inseparable throughout a childhood which was horrifying for Matthew, until one day he discovered sex and Connor discovered he was gay, for Matthew. This resulted in a hellish school life for the boy, after which he picked himself up, reinvented himself as a supermodel, and wound up at the university of his dreams where, by chance, he reunited with Matthew, a changed young man who has no recollection of Connor or what he put him through. The art is a mix. There are beautiful moments; wild colours; strange, almost Byzantine, stylizations and stiffness; and an avoidance of scenery, buildings and fill for negative space; and a lack of facial micro-expressions. But it's getting better. Wait and see ...

Prequel to Hitorijime Boyfriend: Kensuke and Hasekura were childhood friends who parted on bad terms, but when they are reunited in high school, Kensuke is delighted that Hasekura bears no grudges. But then Hasekura tells him he never saw him as a friend, and that there was no reason to get together unless he could touch Kensuke in a way that makes the boy uncomfortable. Fortunately, Kensuke does have a spine and a way of taming Hasekura.

Hitsuji has fulfilled his dream of becoming a school teacher when a student shows up late with a flashy looking father who he refuses to acknowledge as his father.

Superrich heir, Akag,i is a regular Eeyore of a man, always rained on by his very own personal thundercloud, and he has no problem shoving away the one bright and sunny person in his existence, Ichimori, who loves him and protects him from dastardly villains who want to get him mixed up in their schemes. Akagi isn't falling for any bit of it. The question on my mind is how a likeable dude like Ichimori, who clearly thinks about others first, could fall for such a gormless wet blanket. Also, I know that romance writing holds a special place in its twisted little heart for the superrich, and I know that valid schemes for getting these Scroogie creeps to spread some of their hoard is better than trying to trick it out of them (for some reason), but in this day and age, wealth is looking more like supervillain material than a sympathy set up.

Interesting story with a lot of smart psychological tension built up between two men, sex partners in high school, who reunite after a 20-year rift.