muse ✨'s manga / #graphic designer(6)

Very silly and sweet boys from adjacent office buildings who fall in love (really quickly).

This was a pleasant surprise, a long story about multiple people, most of whom work in graphic design. The author clearly has experience in the field (or knows someone who does), because there were too many real-life situations for it to be a coincidence. I loved it. I am struggling to say which couple was my favorite, but I think it's the long-haired designer and the American. But Akira and Kai were also so, so cute. Everyone was cute. Everything was so cute and nothing hurts.

A graphic designer helps his hopeless boss improve his looks so he can attract women, but (you'll be shocked, prepare yourself) his boss falls for him instead. But the designer isn't interested in a relationship and there is some sad pining.

When his best friend and one-sided love of twenty-five years gets a divorce, Tokizou reluctantly takes him in. But what he doesn't know is that Ryuuji has been aware of his feelings for twenty-three of those years and has finally decided he can reciprocate.

Akio resigns himself to being Ryosuke's closest friend rather than risking their friendship by confessing even though he's been in love with him for twenty years. To make things worse, he blames himself for Ryosuke's fiance leaving him two years earlier. As much as he wants to get over Ryosuke, it's impossible, since Ryousuke assigns himself Akio's caretaker -- something Akio loves and simultaneously resents. The only person he can confide in is a former colleague and mentor, whose meddling might pay off. The one where the MC is a graphic designer and is hired for a book cover.

Another commenter mentioned that this has a lot of cliches but was a great read, and I agree - it's absolutely charming and the feelings between the characters seem to jump off of the page. There's wonderful emotional buildup, as well as some heartache, even in the final chapter, which is a one-shot and unrelated to the rest. A young man, Hanamura, is conned into designing for the company where he works by the boss he adores, who takes credit for his work under the veil of kindness - in order to leave Hanamura out of the spotlight. When it's announced his boss is engaged to a woman, Hanamura cries in the break room and is discovered by Takase, a well-known designer from another company, who recognizes Hanamura's talent and sleeps with him. Hanamura, realizing he's been taken advantage of by his current boss, quits his job and comes to work at Takase's company. But he's left wondering if what they had was a one-night stand and if he'll suffer another one-sided love. TEN POINTS for Hanamura's ABSOLUTE LOVE of having sex. It says a lot for this genre that that detail stood out to me, but so often it's "no, don't, stop" - as though an unwilling or hesitant partner is romantic. Hanamura begs for sex, says what he wants, and is not ashamed that he's gay. In fact, none of the characters in this story were dealing with internalized homophobia. What a fun read! The final story is about childhood friends who begin to live together.