Heuristic's manga / #Friends to Lovers(2)

One longer story and two shorter stories. The main story is about childhood friends, one a virgin and one a ladies man, who begin to date and awkwardly navigate a budding sexual relationship. The second story is about a yakuza who falls in love, and the third is a salaryman story about a newcomer to a company who, in the past, had an encounter with his superior that he cannot quite forget. All three stories are well-drawn and sweet. The main story is notable for being mostly about the awkwardness of trying to learn sex as a teenager, and while not starkly realistic, at least is indexed to the age of the couple in a way schoolboy stories sometimes aren't. This story (as indeed are all the stories in this manga) is a trifle generic, but pleasant. No rape/dubcon.

A dull but kind-hearted salaryman who feels self-conscious about his lack of ambition in his high-powered company has a fateful chance meeting with a porn actor on set in a park at night. The actor then pursues him, telling him he has fallen in love with him at first sight. Can he handle the persistent but gentle pursuit of this brash young man (who loves his job)? This is definitely an indulgent treat, and it oscillated between three and four stars for me upon a second read. However, while it does have a pie-in-the-sky, stars-and-roses feel at times, it earns its four stars by including a few elements that help ground it and give it emotional heft. The manga is at its best when exploring the mundane angst that the salaryman experiences when he contemplates how much he doesn't care about his work and how little ambition he has, angst that is brought to the fore when he is confronted with the way that the actor loves his work and takes it seriously. This is a persistent running theme that lends the romance weight without weighing it down, and the characters are pretty damn likeable (if a bit wobbly-eyed and overly nice at points). The buildup to the romance is great to watch as well, even if it was a trifle fast for my taste. While it does give a bit of a sanitized picture of what sex work is like, it's a refreshing break from the parade of sensationalized horror that often plagues yaoi stories about sex workers. Recommended if you want a solid feel-good story. **CW** Not really much for this one - consent is emphasized, but there is one point where the two characters are drunk and one character says he is going to rape the other. From context (and the fact that he doesn't go through with it) it seems like it's just hyperbolic dirty-talk, and for the most part consent is gladly given apart from that one blip. So no rapey dynamic, and barely a warning for one instance of drunken seme pushiness.