I Thot You Was a Toad's manga / #yaoi(950)

Masami nurses a secret crush on his childhood friend, Shirou, and goes to extraordinary lengths in order to protect him from perceived rival, Ryuuji. Does Shirou really need to be protected, and how far will Ryuuji go to win?

Hotaro, a self-absorbed graphic designer, is roped into cleaning up his scruffy nerd of a boss, Honjou, so he will be more presentable for matchmaking. He certainly doesn't expect to fall for him, but once he does, Honjou's personal integrity about love and commitment doesn't suit Hotaro, who prefers to keep things casual. Fate and a fresh rival push the issue. Will Hotaro change, or lose Honjou forever? Followed up with a sexy extra. Three other lighter-than-air short stories deal with men who are reluctant to enter relationships even though they are attracted to their lovers, all rendered with Takatsuki Noboru's gorgeous line drawings.

Yorokobi wa Ude no Naka is the sequel to Yorokobi wa Hiza no Ue [http://www.mangago.com/read-manga/yorokobi_wa_hiza_no_ue/] and develops the story of Orito Aoi, whose inappropriate love for his younger brother, Kouki, led him to leave his home and move in with Sagara, an older man who loves him. Their relationship is constricted by Aoi's past, however, and by the imbalance of power as Aoi uses Sagara. Sagara sets up some boundaries which force Aoi to change, just as Aoi receives a few hard knocks from Kouki and his mother and comes to new self-realizations. Better than its predecessor, this story is a very satisfying and rich exploration of character.

Yorokobi wa Hiza no Ue follows the love story of Orito Kouki, a waiter who works in his mother's bar, and Mitsuru, the older brother of Kouki's friend, Yuzuru. The boundaries of brotherly love and duty are explored as Mitsuru tries to be dutiful to Yuzuru in a way that Kouki's own brother, Aoi, cannot be, as Aoi's love for Kouki is transgressive. Aoi's story is continued in the sequel, Yorokobi wa Ude no Naka [http://www.mangago.com/read-manga/yorokobi_wa_ude_no_naka/]. Katou Setsuko's storytelling is realistic and subtle, and this story is a very satisfying read.

Magical world where the forest folk are all sweet and live in harmony with nature, whereas the townspeople are exploitive creeps who destroy everything they touch. Ronet is one of the townspeople, now, although he is hiding a secret past. One day he inadvertently rescues a magical creature and it asked him to take him to the forest where he must confront his tragic past. Like all of Kuju Siam's work, this is highly imaginative and interesting.

Cuteness overload. The characters are all adorable fluffballs and the situations they get into are all squishy, but not smutty. This is the perfect manga for days when a reader wants nothing but soft landings.

One afternoon at school, Mashita spies Matsushita sitting at his desk, resting his cheek against the top, and realizes that his friend is infatuated with him. After that, he compulsively toys with and teases him, deluding himself that it's to make Matsushita love him even more, but never realizing that his own heart was lost that day. One of Tenzen Momoko's great stories.