Ophiuchus's manga / #SA2016(4)

2016 - 2017: 2v 12c Yuji Mase, a university student who is rather popular with girls without his knowledge, taciturn and withdrawn type. In fact, he hides a secret wound that will be revealed during the visit of his sister hairdresser-stylist: he does not feel at ease in this body of a man that he's in ... MU Tags: Angst Arranged Marriage Bisexual Character/s Cross-dressing Duty vs Freedom Family Gender Identity Infertility LGBT Character in Non-Yaoi/Yuri Manga LGBT Issues LGBT Themes Loneliness Make-up Playboy/s Reflections on Human Existence Self-Harm Tomboy/s Transgender Character/s Transgender Protagonist Trauma University Student/s Unrequited Love Unrequited Love Stays Unrequited Unresolved Romance Review: This is like Honey & Clover but not as nice as Honey & Clover. I love the romance in this. Not all romantic feelings have a good ending. Despite the MC and Masaki losing their love, they still talk to each other and openly embrace each other's weaknesses and pain while smiling. Bonding through the pain is an understatement. The MC knowingly and openly loves the ML all the years they have been together as friends, and he never forces his feelings on the ML. That is one of the most significant forms of love - love isn't selfish; it's selfless. Etsuko is selfless, Masaki is selfless, the MC is selfless, and the other girl who confesses to Masaki is also selfless. Masaki is at the centre of all the 3 love interests, 2 women and a man (the MC). He accepts the other girl's proposal to date as a rebound relationship, albeit elopes, and to be more specific, cheats on her with Etsuko, while being this self-centred and selfish person that he is when he contemplates double suicide when Etsuko suggests they do it almost subtly, Masaki leaves Etsuko by calling the other girl he has abandoned to make her drive to some remote location to get him out of there. All 3 love interests go through a lot because of Masaki, this ML is the baddest lmao This story unravels through the lens of the MC, the man who will never be able to become a woman, although he desires it and his body dysmorphia consumes him. It is tragic, it is a struggle he goes through alone, the loneliest ever when he can't become the image he has of himself. Using the analogy from Masaki's essay, the fire in the forest will only keep growing bigger and bigger once it starts and will never be content with what it has achieved. They began to want more and more and dared to keep striving to become what they wanted to be, be it in the image of another gender that is entirely different from theirs, be it in a sport that they do not have a natural physique to support the dream or the talent and physical attributes to excel as a pianist virtuoso. As the bar owner said, it's all futile despite all the attempts because there will never be any future when you realize you are never meant to become what you are not born with. A man can never become a woman. An infertile woman can never bear children, but that does not mean the woman is less than that. However, in this context, Etsuko feels inadequate since she can never give Masaki what he wants, leaving something like a legacy behind in this world, something a part of him. Etsuko can never give birth to his child due to her health condition. No matter how much they love each other, their love will amount to nothing if there is no future for the both of them together. That was the saddest part of this story. Masaki is poor and has nothing to offer to Etsuko, whereas Etsuko, who is living with the pressure by her parents to marry an elderly man and is infertile, couldn't give Masaki an addition to the family that they so wanted to build. They were so young and felt inadequate that they couldn't protect their love. Masaki's family is financially strained, and he struggles silently, never opening up to others about his true feelings. He hides behind so many of those indifferences he exudes to others because, deep down, he's hurt but powerless. The MC who cares about the ML does what he can to help the ML. When the ML gets the job, he could've continued studying, but chooses to stay in the trade and earn money, still feeling unmotivated, still feeling depressed, still longing for Etsuko, still very aware that the MC loves him to the moon, and back, and he unabashedly mentions it to the MC as they enjoy each other's company as best friends. MC's feelings have slowly become more bearable for him to be open about it, and he's slowly moving on from the romantic feeling (slowly, slowly). Overall, I find this bittersweet.

Smile (Penguin Frontier) (2016): 6 Description Smile tells the story of 2 childhood friends - Wayne Huntington Jr (a half-japanese, half-american) and Itou Ren (Japanese) - who fall in Love. MU Tags: Drama Romance Shounen Ai Slice of Life

One Shots (2016) 20xx.08 (SA) 20XX.12 Countdown (Yaoi) Doujinshi Réunion Romance Summer

Was it during covid (Well I started using mgg during Covid19 tho) that there was an influx of florist trope and Flower shop SOL everywhere? It was usually nice tho. It's always interesting to read about SOL-type settings like this. I'll come back to finish reading later