muse ✨'s manga / #Prostitution(13)

Well this feels like a world of heartache just waiting to slam into me. The MC is a brat just turned adult and the prostitute he had sex with once actually has a serious thing for the MC's father. If they're the destined pair, it'll be a loooooong time before we see any emotional build between them, but I understand this is ending soon due to the author's health. (I feel awful for the author. I hope they recover.) Chapters are short and not much happens in each one, so I don't think we'll get much more in terms of character build. The art is beautiful, though.

A 17yo looking for his missing older brother comes to the city where he meets Joe, a hustler. Thus begins this strange, strange love story. This started out fade-to-black and ended up tastefully explicit, and while the love story between Joe and Otoji was a nicely developed slow-burn, the author threw so much unnecessary drama at them it got ridiculous. I'm not sorry I read this, but it's not something I would re-read.

This was fluff by Harada standards. Momo sells himself to pay his bills and is taken advantage of by the three people currently caring for him when he meets Yata, who offers to let him stay for one night. They end up in a convenient relationship that eventually grows close and serious, and eventually lifelong. This is a love story, a story about getting past your past, and not being caught up in blaming people for your present state. Now that it's over I want to cry. I really loved it.

The best story in here was the oneshot about the man whose mother had warned him against a haunted house - to find later it was inhabited by prostitutes. I wanted to know more about him and the man he'd started to see. There was also a sickly childhood friend who had recovered and come home; I wanted to know if their relationship ever got off the ground, what happened with the distance college had put between them. Neither is developed past the initial groundwork.

When his family's business goes under, young Kagerou is sold to a brothel in the red light district. He befriends another boy and fellow worker, Kichou, and they vow to one day leave the district together. But when they come of age and are sold to customers, their forbidden relationship turns bitter. Ten years later, they vie for the spot of top courtesan and hide their feelings behind pettiness, until a string of suspicious crimes leads Kichou to discover his true identity, and Kagerou has to prepare to give him up entirely. This is beautiful but has the potential to be extremely upsetting. I read it almost a day ago and haven't been able to get it out of my head. Very happy ending in spite of everything that happens!

A conceited playboy takes in a homeless prostitute and they play a game of chicken to see who'll say "I love you" first. This appears to be an actual licensed manga that has been uploaded, NOT a scanlation. The copyright page was included. :-/

Reno's new roommate Roger has a scandalous reputation as a prostitute who sleeps with anyone for money, but who Reno discovers is a lonely person isolating himself from the world. TW for past non-con and suicide.

A shy young man accidentally goes to a boys-only sex club and falls for Sakura, who is struggling to accept his own past. Content warning & spoilers: Sakura's father had sold him to a teacher as a toy when he was underage. Sakura had believed that the teacher loved him and comforted him after his father's abuse, but in fact was sending money home with him as "school reports" daily.