I Thot You Was a Toad's manga / #stepbrother x stepbrother(5)

(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.

Hideami, former reigning host, returns to the home he had left in disgrace long after his father's death, defeated and in debt, to beg money from his rich day-trader of a brother, Yukiya, whom he once raped. It was his father's discovery of this violation that led to his expulsion from home, and he learns that this same father's dying wish was for Yukiya to look after the old home and take care of Hideami. Yukiya's terms for looking after Hideami are increasingly intimate. An authentic and interesting story with a very colourful cast of side-characters.

The artwork for this manga is gorgeous and delicate, as are the stories, although their threads are so subtle and character-centric, they can be a bit tricky to follow, all interconnected by a common character or precipitating event in common. (1) Sunose, a straight university student falls for his cat-like and uncommunicative gay professor, Yukimura, who is too bashful and insecure to admit the love is mutual, even after a frank conversation behind closed doors with former lover, Kitakami, reveals Yukimura's true feeling and is overheard by his beloved, Sunose; (2) Backstory: it seems that Kitakami, a renowned painter, makes a habit of revealing, too intimately, the inner souls of his models, who usually also become his lovers, just as he paints their nude bodies too explicitly. Although the hitherto heterosexual, Yukimura, is forewarned of this propensity, he throws caution to the wind and agrees to be both Kitakama's model and lover, although he refuses to promise his heart or his fidelity. (3) Seiji, Akira's stepbrother, invites himself into Akira's workplace, a mahjong gambling parlour, to coax him into returning home, unleashing a storm of feelings that Akira has never been able to resolve about being abandoned, first, by his mother and, then, by his lover. A small cameo by Kitakami, in high school, links this story to Yukimura's. (5) Sarashima Satoshi, Akira's co-worker, also happens to be his roommate. He is blessed with above-average intuition and discovers, through the slightest sign, one of which Akira cannot possibly be aware, that Akira is depressed because he was abandoned by someone with whom he once regularly slept. The main plot engines are driven by abandonment, loneliness, recklessness or subconscious signals which reveal too much, followed by feelings of being overexposed and too vulnerable, withdrawals, inadequate communication and misunderstandings. One of my favourites!

A failure to be honest and straightforward about their feelings of love and longing shifts a spontaneous sexual encounter between two stepbrothers into a set-up for darker sex, and just when they start to be honest, guilt and other social pressures interfere.