muse ✨'s manga / #mature characters(69)

A demanding young man in his early 20s struggling with his confidence falls in love with his tailor. This story broke a lot of genre stereotypes and it was incredibly touching and even erotic at times, but it always remained tasteful. I wish it were ten times longer. At Fujocon 2021, Scarlet said in her livestream that of all of her characters, Tetsuya is the one she would date. She also said he was the quietest during sex. Now we know!

OH!!! This didn't go the way I worried it would, and I am so happy. This is a side story to Yukidoke no Koi. Several years after graduation, Oushirou still harbors feelings for his childhood friend Koba, who is moving to Tokyo for work and will live nearby. One afternoon Oushirou drops his wallet. It's picked up by a regular at the bar he frequents. After talking a while, the man - Inamura - offers his contact information and drops the fact that he's gay. He figures out that Oushirou is pining for Koba and offers to be a distraction. I worried this would be a situation where the childhood friend wises up and dates the main character, but it didn't play out that way. Koba and Oushirou remained dear friends, and Oushirou began a relationship with Inamura - moving in with him five years later. Content warning: There is a reference to one-sided love between brothers, but it is only spoken. We see nothing and nothing comes of it. I WOULD LIKE TO ADD! This is the FIRST! manga I've ever read where the characters have a frank, honest discussion about sex before they have sex. And then after sex, evaluate what happened, and one reassures the other that if bottoming isn't his thing, they'll work something out - that sex isn't everything. I've never seen that and it was totally refreshing and wonderful. Thank you to this author.

Head's up for past nonconsent in the blind neighbor story.

An older writer ends up living with the man who was supposed to be his son-in-law when his daughter backs out of her wedding. (Spoilers) I was delighted that the daughter's reason for walking out was that she was in a relationship with another woman, and that she didn't want her father left alone after she left to live with her. I found all of the characters likable. A soft and sweet romance perfect for bedtime. I would like to know what happens to the neighbor!

I AM CLEANSED! Naohito, single and pushing 40, is forced to attend a mixer where he meets Tohru, who is friendly, young, and speaks his mind - sometimes a little too much for Naohito, whose obsession with maintaining a perfect public image has cost him all but one relationship. When Tohru suggests being friends, Naohito sidesteps it, assuming they'll never meet again. But Tohru turns out to be an employee of an important client, so when his apartment burns down and he begs for a place to stay, Naohito reluctantly takes him in. This is about being honest with people you're close to and opening yourself up to new possibilities.

Chapters 1-3: High schooler Haato feels a bond with his abusive mother's former lover Shibusawa, a member of the yakuza and the only person to have shown him kindness. Years later, Haato is working as a host and is openly in love with Shibusawa, who toes the line of a relationship but never crosses it until Haato loses someone close to him. The last story is about two coworkers: a man confesses to a coworker he sees feeding stray cats outside their building. ETA June 2020: After rereading the first story for the billionth time, I bought the manga. Hisashi does marry, but his husband dies post-story. We pick him back up here when he is 39 (chapter 5): https://www.mangago.me/read-manga/akanai_tobira/ July 2021: this might be the story I’ve read the most. Even more than the one about the hot dad who gets back together with his boyfriend after 20 years. Something about this makes me feel so sad and so moved. I wish there were more than just three chapters. I would love to know more about their daily life after they lived together.

A man awaiting cancer results sees an omen in a black cat and a young man who looks exactly like a friend he lost several years before. SPOILERS: This manga is a little confusing, but the jist is this: Nakatsu and Miyashita went to school together. When he realized he was developing feelings for Nakatsu, Miyashita prank-called him on April Fool's Day with the message that he, Miyashita, had been killed in a car accident. Nakatsu believed the call and never verified the information with anyone. Years later, walking home in the heat, Nakatsu faints in front of a young man who is the spitting image of Miyashita, breaking his glasses in the process. He begins to dream of the black cat and of Miyashita, who seems to transform from it. A bit later, he spots the same young man outside of his apartment and falls over the balcony trying to get a better look at him, knocking himself unconscious. He wakes up to find Miyashita in his apartment, having carried him inside. Worried about his own future and overwhelmed to see Miyashita again, albeit in supernatural form, Nakatsu confesses he's always loved him. They sleep together, and when he wakes, Miyashita is gone. Nakatsu, remembering the call about Miyashita's death years earlier, accepts that Miyashita must be a ghost and is shocked to receive a phone call from him ordering him to go the hospital for his test results. To his relief, the tumor is benign, and on his way out, he runs into...Miyashita, who is alive and well and working as a med tech. He also has a young son, who is his spitting image. It turns out he'd seen Nakatsu at the hospital before and asked his son to find out where he lives. The son is the person Nakatsu met initially, before his glasses break. With his glasses broken, he doesn't notice that it's his friend Miyashita, not the son, who actually visits his apartment and sleeps with him. Miyashita confesses to the prank phone call and they bicker affectionately in a park, and presumably live happily ever after or something like that.

The sequel to "Young Bad Education." The relationship survives graduation, medical school, and they eventually live together. A series of short stories about their life together. Nothing sad, just fluff, although I cried at one point I was so moved.

One evening, a high school student finds his homeroom teacher drunk on a bench and is shocked when the teacher kisses him, confessing he's watched him since his first year but has tried to forget him. Angry but interest piqued, the student proceeds to stalk the teacher, gradually eroding his self control. Teacher student with a teacher who is actually conflicted about the way he feels!

A year out from his divorce, Uematsu, a 40-something overworked businessman, frequents a gyudon restaurant and is befriended by the young waiter, Asahikawa. Something about him puts Uematsu at ease, so despite their age difference and his uncertain feelings, he accepts when Asahikawa asks him out. But when his estranged daughter comes back into his life, their blossoming relationship is put on hold. Luckily, these two aren't like the typical BL couple and work things out just fine. BUTTERFLIES. This was PG and I blushed.