Kejora's manga / #interesting(14)

4 stars // It's really a shame, if the first and last story didn't exist, if it was just the "God is at Town Hall" omnibus story, i would've given it five complete stars. That's my problem when rating mangas with multiple stories, like, what happens when i super fucking hate one of them and then super fucking love another? Anyway, first story. To be honest it was fine, it felt a bit rushed but that's only because it's just a short story, but i felt like this kind of story shouldn't only be one chapter as there are a lot of things to unpack, with only one chapter it's just too overwhelming to grasp it all together. And i am not a fan of voyeurism and extreme exhibitionism, that's for sure a major turn-off for me, no hate to the people who do, i respect fetishes people have as i have weird fetishes myself, but to me sex is something only the two of you should share to bond your relationship. So eh, at least it was mutual and they ended up talking it out and actually getting together in the end. Second story through to the fourth, it was perfect! I genuinely thought Akaishi was a gag character made to actually be a "god" coming down to earth to help the spirit of the dude cross to the other side, i did not expect him to actually be a really important character for the next chapters and to even have his own story with Arashima. The second story was sad, but it was weirdly realistic and hit something in me, a friend of mine passed away when i was little because he was run over by a car while trying to cross the street, he was supposed to come over to my house because our moms arranged a play date but i got sick so it was cancelled, i thought to myself had i not gotten sick, he would be at my house and not get hit by the car, i blamed myself a lot, until his mother hugged me and told me, "he tried to catch a butterfly for you to make you feel better, so try and feel better for him so he could smile and be proud of himself up in the heavens," thinking back on it, that was probably a lie she made up because how would she know he was trying to catch a butterfly, but it did make me feel a lot better. The third story was really sweet, to have someone love you because you are you, for who you are unconditionally, you should always treasure people like that and i cried on the inside when Sensei finally confessed. Fourth story! Initially i thought to myself, "then Araishi just likes Arashima because he can cleanse the bad spirits around him, if Arashima couldn't do that then Arashima's crush would totally be one-sided and unrequited", but then i thought to myself, well okay, no. Arashima wouldn't even know Araishi existed if he didn't introduced himself to him, and Araishi met Arashima way before Arashima realized so if you put it into his perspective, Araishi's probably have been eyeing on Arashima since forever and could have possibly developed feelings. Well, even if he didn't I'm sure he's going to love Araishi anyway as they're almost always together and he's his sanctuary. Fifth story-- oh my god what, what the fuck. You know you could still make a perfectly fine or even BETTER story without having to add the uncle/nephew relationship? You could've just make the uncle the store guy dude who's always yelling at them and start a relationship from there, or if you insist on the whole "I'm like this because of you" thing at LEAST you could've make him some kind of tutor or a family friend, not his UNCLE, people have different perceptions for this because he's good-looking but i bet if it's your stereotypical ugly fat hairy uncle people would be having different opinions, the whole uncle/nephew thing threw me off and it wasted the potential for it to become a good story, sigh. How could someone make something as good as the second to fourth story and then fuck up so bad for the fifth? it was not even good in the concept, it's certainly worse in the execution. The only reason I'm giving this four stars, such a shame, honestly it could've been three, but i loved the second through fourth too much to give it three. I get for people maybe it's a fetish but for me, i don't want them in my fiction, and well people with incest fetishes in fiction better NOT fucking execute it in real life i will slit someone's throat.

4 stars // I remember reading this years ago and absolutely hating it, i was fuming, "what the fuck does this mean? this makes no sense their relationship isn't even going forward or backward they're literally hanging on a thin string, waiting for it to just fucking snap and destroy both of them." was a line in my reviews. Now that i have matured and gained a little bit more life experience, i still sort of hated how it ended, but i understand it more now. I mean, a relationship that blooms out of hatred and revenge from one end and deception and twisted fetish from the other, it's never going to end well no matter how many couples counselling they go to. They rely on one another's twisted desires to build the relationship and it's so, say it together with me folks, toxic! The only time they ever feel connected to one another or feel the thrill of being in a relationship is literally when they're triggered by their past memories; Seme-kun with his anger towards Uke-kun when he bullied him and Uke-kun's twisted fetishes of being turned on by Seme-kun's eyes that are full of rage and hatred towards him. It's so twisted how they're only bound by that and expect to build something out of it, if i was their psychiatrist the least i could suggest them doing is just staying as FWB's rather than dating and find much much better people that could help them out of things like that. And plus, i could totally see them as like, a past relationship of another story-- like for example another dude who works in the same place as Seme-kun has been crushing on him (could be another seme that would give him all the comfort and acceptance in the world, or an uke who could give him something to protect, giving him purpose in life) but yet Seme-kun is still stuck in this limbo of twisted toxic relationship with Uke-kun, and the new MC is going to help Seme-kun out of it and the two of them are going to end up together, that would be a satisfying story no? But for now i guess we're stuck with this problematic couple that i weirdly don't really hate anymore, i get it, i get them, so yeah, four stars suit them well.

5 stars // Because it's cute! I actually stumbled upon this manga years ago and totally forgot what it was about so i decided to go in blind without reading the synopsis to guess if i might be able to remember where it was going, and dude. I thought that by the cover it would be some cute love story (totally sex-less) about a dude and another dude fake dating but then slowly falling in love, well, in a way, it is that, but rather than cute (and totally sex-less), it's hilariously adorable and definitely very sexy lmao. I love Asahina so much, i have similar but strikingly different concerns is that i look weirdly young but not really for my age so people on dating apps are always wary, even straight out tell me they felt uncomfortable chatting or dating me because it feels like dating their little sister, so in a way i could relate about having a specific type of face lmao. I love how weirdly light this story feels like? like the author could totally make the part where Asahina changed seats and distancing himself totally dramatic, emotional, and sad, but rather we got a comedic scene where Tsukasa fell down the stairs and then consulted to Satoya-san about his feelings, oh and btw, Satoya-san has the same birthday as me! that's cool! (i want to date her she seems cool （ﾉ´∀`）) It was an easy five stars, i like it when stories don't go the dramatic route when they know they don't have to be. And of course I'm rooting for Senpai on his own story too, i'm going to review it later.

5 stars // Although i praised the main story for being light-hearted and did not go the dramatic route when they know they don't have to, i actually prefer this spin-off a lot more. The start of this story is already hella dramatic since we have a gay man with trauma behind him as a main character, it's bound to just get more and more heavy as the story goes. I get Iida, it's scary to be rejected by someone you thought would accept you, worse when that person is the one you had feelings for and got not only rejection but also humiliation, that must've taken one hell of a toll on his character. Though, that didn't give him a pass to make forced moves to Asahina, he's still an asshole for that, but i think with a little bit of "talking it out" it could be resolved, so i like Iida, I understand his desperation, I too would be head over heels for Asahina. Then we're introduced to Yanagi, and i love this son of a bitch, from the moment he showed up i was already wheezing, masochistic tops are such interesting creatures! ٩(◕‿◕｡)۶ To be honest i have always thought about this "straight x gay" trope because it's so weird, because yes, maybe if it's not Iida, Yanagi wouldn't be attracted to any other dude, but would he? how could we know about that? maybe Iida woken up Yanagi's homosexuality, so that would technically mean Yanagi is bisexual now? or Pansexual? If he falls in love with Iida because he is Iida, and not because he's lusting for a man, Pansexual? IIdasexual? But eh, to be honest i don't really like labeling myself either since i never really know my sexuality either, so. As for the story goes, i like how complex it is-- to me it's not that dramatic to the point where i cry, but i was kind of visibly upset when Iida told Yanagi to end things between them because WHY would you go and do exactly what a straight girl who's the ex of your current fwb told you to do? It just felt very unlike him to listen to someone he doesn't even know that well, but again it's understandable because i think Iida was just scared to fall in love for another "straight" dude (truthfully it's always so weird because Yanagi clearly would take a bullet for Iida and even ended things between him and his ex the moment he's getting it with Iida, like he didn't two-time him and treat Iida as like an experiment to see if he's gay or not that boy is hEAD over heels for this really troubled third-year who needs therapy) and thus backed away before his feelings developed more but SIKE, it has already developed so much. The resolution was my favorite because we get to see them both be vulnerable, without their guards up and really, really talking things out; Iida's horrible past, the reason why he hates people like Yanagi, Yanagi's reasoning, the adorable blushing Iida asking "should we date?" and the hug afterwards, it's just such a heartful. Oh and also, a fucking timeskip of them living together living their best lives at their respectful jobs together? Are you fucking kidding me? That's so fucking adorable, what the fuck? I love it when high-school couples grow old together and be the domestic full of love couples that they are, especially after such a rocky road to get where they are, hhh. I love it.

5 stars // I'm a sucker for gang family stories like this! Especially the ones that stick to their traditional gang cultures more rather than the more modernized/western ones, they just hit different, the culture you know? As expected with Natsume Isaku sensei's works, we're introduced with two interesting (that keep on being interesting) characters; one is the fifth heir to a very powerful yakuza family, and the other one is a childhood friend who's family has been friends and taking care of the yakuza family, even one of the family members is also a part of the gang and holds an important position. And let me just confess my love for Naoki for a moment here-- i love his character! He's the cool-headed type and genuinely cares for Ryuu, but his feelings towards Ryuu are cloudy because he doesn't know if he cares so much because Ryuu is a childhood friend or because he has grown to love being beside him. My heart was hurt when i read his inner monologue thinking that when Ryuu eventually takes over as the fifth leader, he might get into more and more dangerous situations, getting himself hurt, and one day, he might die for real. Oh that hurt ( ╥ω╥ ), and that was i guess, the trigger for Naoki realizing his true feelings, and i love how he decided to make sure he's always by his side by doing the traditional gang initiation ritual, he's so cool, /swoon/ (⁄ ⁄>⁄ ▽ ⁄<⁄ ⁄) For the story, quite frankly it's very simple-- didn't really dive into actual gang business and more into the outer aspects of it (?) familial aspects if you will, I like that there was at least a bit of build-up, but the peak act where Naoki got kidnapped feels very lax for such an important moment, it was saved by that bitchass motherfucker Nishi though, it's so weird for me to say this because i don't wish this upon anyone but if Ryuu didn't see Nishi trying to assault Nao the result of the build-up wouldn't probably be that good. I like it when both of them are strong fighters, so they protect each other and not only a one-sided protecting (which shoujo mangas are usually guilty of, i swear to god the heroine is always so meak and getting kidnapped all the time it's annoying), even though i have to say that again, the peak conflict of this manga where Naoki suddenly couldn't beat up one (1) person that literally has the same body weight as him, it was kind of a cop out, but eh, i could overlook it since i'm already grateful that Naoki isn't some shoujo manga heroine in a dude's body. There was never really a resolution to this since they were already pretty clear and straightforward from the very beginning, they just need a little push to get to the end of the story. This thought just hit me but i guess the reason why i love Natsume Isaku sensei's works is because i love the uke characters way, waaay more than i love the semes, they always have such interesting personalities that just makes me want to read them again and again, Naoki is probably in my top three favorite Natsume Isaku characters in general he's so, so cool σ(≧ε≦σ) ♡

4 stars // I remember first reading this years ago and was conflicted about it, because i do still really love this manga it's so adorable and every intimate scene makes my heart flutter; i just don't really get the outline of how this even happened in the first place. Like, is Ashitaka already gay before getting together with Noshiro? Was he a dom then or was he a virgin? Noshiro was definitely straight before dating Ashitaka because the dude had the guts to compare his experiences with women in front of the man he literally just fucked, still butt naked, hell yeah i would've been super pissed and never want to see the guy again. But is the bottom trauma from the sex or from the words? Or is it both? Like he was already struggling with bottoming because it hurts but then the words just made him snap and created the trauma? idk the basis of the whole plot is wobbly and how the fuck did it take him years to reconcile over something like that? I know Ashitaka went overseas but not for that long, eh i don't know the plot could've been thought of better but i still enjoyed their interactions, especially since we know that Ashitaka still has feelings for Noshiro because right at the start of the first chapter we literally see him thinking about the tomato plant that reminds him of Noshiro, and Rui is so cute! I would like to have him pocket-sized and give me advices in my love life too, he's so adorably hilarious lmao, "Rock his world" he said. Other than that, i enjoyed how they don't give a fuck about society norms and just showcase their PDA just like that lmao even straight couples doing those would be a little bit too much for the public to see, it just shows how carefree they are and comfortable they are that the proud bisexual me reading at home feel a little bit at peace because "ah thank god this is not one of those mangas that has homophobia in the plot", also loved the sexi scenes, very hot and sexy and Ashitaka is hot as fuck!

5 stars // I like the part about one shots where you just have to immediately be accustomed to "yes this guy is like this and this is the world they live in don't ask questions it's a oneshot", it may seem annoying at first but it's actually pretty fun because it's open to interpretation, you get to make headcanons of your own to either make it less sad or make it extra fucking deppressing, in my case i made it even more sad because i imagined it Tomoya had to physically kill himself to have his soul released and go back to the divine gods, so that's why he didn't want Tarou to see him off. Yeah i'm sad now. It was a fun read nonetheless, short but impactful in their own way, and the fact that it's set in high school hurts more too since to some people highschool years are the prime years of their life, from teenager to adult, where your feelings are developing yet he had to deal with losing his bestfriend, who is, a fucking god. Didn't expect to cry though so that was kind of surprising, it's not that sad but i cried.

4 stars // Okay, whew. This is going to be a LONG roller coaster of a review because my friends and myself honestly, are shook that I gave this really controversial read a four out of five stars, and I have my reasons everybody please lower your pitchforks and don’t burn me just yet. First of all I would like to defend myself with the saying that— liking something or someone problematic does not mean condoning the actions of it, and this is fiction, hold your horses. Story-wise, we follow the life of an older brother who’s a shut-in, doesn’t go to school and just goes to his part-time job at a convenience store, oh news flash, he’s gay and he’s in love with his step-brother so bad he wants to fuck him. Stand down, we’re not done yet. Not going to lie I don’t know what possessed me to just keep going through the pages and eventually finishing it because usually the mere mention of sibling and romance in the same sentence would’ve usually turned me off. But I guess there’s away of “legalizing” this trope and make it somewhat not as problematic as it seems; it’s making the two step-brothers not related, like, at all. The older and younger have different parents altogether, the parents that raised them fell in love and married each other, bringing a kid each into the new family, and the number one problem that’s always talked about regarding incest is the fact that it is— incest. But with this concept, it’s technically not incest as they’re not blood-related, but it still does fuck with your morals, but to be honest with you here, I blame both of the brothers. There’s no “true” victim in this story as the two of them are both as twisted and weird. We’ve talked about the older brother briefly but to continue, the reason he’s not in school was because he was severely bullied after he was outed as gay, by whom? His own step-brother, the brother he loves so much he masturbates thinking about him, ugh, my god help give me strength defending this manga. If being bullied to the point you quit school isn’t enough, you have to know, that this older brother has no sense of self-love whatsoever, this motherfucker blames *himself* for his demise, that it’s his fault his younger brother’s idea of him is completely ruined because the younger brother saw him giving another guy a blowjob, that he’s sorry his younger brother had to see such a disgusting thing and he deserved to be bullied into quitting school. Really, what a thoughtful older brother, you should’ve also thought that uh, falling in love with him and taking advantage of him are also as bad? Or is your brain a selective moral compass? His younger brother isn’t even that pitiful or pure to begin with. Let me introduce you to the younger brother; an asshole fuckboy who is in denial that the brother he idolizes so much is gay for *someone else* and not for *him*,, that’s the vibe I’m getting from him. My running theory I discussed with my girlfriend is that the younger brother didn’t have enough time to process his thoughts because he’s in his teenage years, his muddled feelings for his brother he thought was idolization (which were not) were bitchslapped when he saw his brother sucking off some other dude, and his mind goes straight to hatred, disgust, misguided disgust. Because of society, and the fact that he himself haven’t realized his own feelings, he went the homophobe route and called his brother disgusting and told him to fuck off, classic! And then, he felt the need to tell people that his brother is gay (because he’s an edgy teenager going through a weird phase in his life) to get other people to also shame him, when deep in his twisted heart he did it so that his brother would be left alone, and since they live under the same roof he’s going to be the only person who’s going to be in close contact with him at all times, this is his intention, hidden in between homophobic slurs and hurtful insults. God give me strength— okay. Continuing on, personally what made me intrigued is the psychological aspect of it all, it made me make deep discussions with my girlfriend too about the boundaries you could try to skip over lightly and be fine, and the ones that the moment you cross it you become the worst thing to come out of society. Like how normally in stories like this the younger brother would usually look the most victimized but in this case people are almost rooting for the older brother more, rooting for him to wake the fuck up and settle the feelings he have for his step-brother. And it introduces a girl character to get us an outside perspective to this relationship, which to be honest doesn’t really help because the girl had a crush for the older brother so of course no matter what she’s going to see him in a positive light. The way it all unfolds is interesting, is it a slow and romantic journey of redemption and atonement? Or is it just fucking manipulation between the two of them manipulating the other into becoming what they want out of each other. Oh and just to clarify, I hate the ending. It’s the only downside of this pyschological mindfuck of morals (and they’re not even related, it’s not as bad as people make it seem), they shouldn’t have ended up together, I think an open ending would actually be better with stories like this, because with them being together, when you look at them you just see a couple now, they have different genes altogether so they don’t look alike and the only things they have in common are their twisted minds and their family names, but if they stayed in that limbo of brothers-but-there’s-something-more-to-it, especially in college where they’re steps away into actual adulthood, I feel like it’ll be an interesting thing to imagine how it’s going to *actually* end, after the book is closed. Personally an acceptable ending for me is for them to DRIFT APART during college because they’re in two different majors, older brother is actually mentally strong and stable so he wouldn’t be easily broken by new environments, he would meet someone new in college and date him, wow his life isn’t sucky? Not going to lie, the older brother would be fine without the younger brother I feel, it’s just something he’s obsessing with because of his raging hormones, once he grows up idk why but I feel like it’ll fade. For the younger brother however, he would grow more and more broken because of his unsettled feelings he buried underneath homophobia instead of trying to accept it, now he reaps what he sow because his older brother is no longer close to him and he’d probably go to addiction, tabacco, alcohol, drugs, anything really, and just lives like useless citizen and would probably die young, it’d be so interesting to get a glimpse into their adult life where they drift apart, but eh fine yeah get together and date, if it makes you happy in the moment, I don’t see a bright future with that but f I n e. Okay, I’m done defending this manga, I liked it, it was really interesting, it made me use my brain to fart out a more professional reviewer vibe for once, I’m,, definitely going to stray away from this kind of manga because there’s only so much psychoanalyzing I could do in a month lol, but it was enjoyable, the younger brother is an asshole, the older brother is a degenerate, and both of them need therapy, thank you for coming, now burn me.

4 stars // I'm back in a reviewing mood so here we go! Another of Kurahashi Tomo-senssei's works, and i would say this one is the best one out of all the other works sensei has done. It's not the best thing out there, if i could compare to one of my favorite BLs, this one is far far from perfect, honestly it's not even going to sit in my top 50 BL list but eh, i liked this one enough to have some nice things to say about it. The story follows the seme's perspective,

3 stars // i'll review it later!