muse ✨'s manga / #psychological(24)

This is absolutely spectacular. ETA: I can't stop thinking about this story. I'm glad the authors chose to give it a happier ending - much happier than what I was expecting. I was upset about this story for two days and can't shake it. I think you should proceed with caution and step away for a bit if it becomes too intense.

1) After his parents' business goes bankrupt, a young man turns to crime after they're forced to leave their family home. Years later and estranged from his parents, he returns to the house under the pretense of visiting his former butler with the real motive of robbery. But the butler has no intention of letting him leave. 2) Shuu actively ignores his roommate Chitose, an insatiable playboy famous for his habit of sleeping with any woman on campus named Aki. Only Shuu understands the cruel reason: it was Chitose's nickname for him, a misreading of his name, but Shuu forbid him from saying it after they slept together and quietly suffers jealousy. This is no "how to" guide for how to land a boyfriend, but it's an entertaining read.

A man traumatized by past childhood abuse is afraid of the dark and begs a coworker to sleep next to him.

Character-driven Erwin centric oneshot, beautifully drawn, introspective, felt in character, incredibly sad given the canon storyline. I want to lie down and cry for a while.

A young member of the yakuza becomes fascinated by a piano player.

Harada, man. Codependent childhood friends. Following a severe injury that left his best friend scarred and dragging his foot, Yuuma vows to spend the rest of his life by his side. The friend accepts, and years later, is too afraid to tell him what Yuuma needs to hear - it was never your fault - because he's afraid of Yuuma leaving him. Also...his leg's fine. But he'll never let him know. A twisted love story.

Harada wrote a frightening story about a man traumatized by his own abuse, who then repeats it on a young boy who becomes infatuated with him. Years later, they reunite, and they're eventually officially together and stay together at the story's end. However, the man is abusing pills, and the now-college-student can't tell his parents who he's dating because it's the adult caught with him as a child. In the very last scene, the college student finds pills in his pocket and takes them while trying to convince himself the relationship isn't wrong. This is not a love story. It's not romance. This is going to disturb a lot of readers, and I don't think this was meant to be seen as beautiful or romantic - in fact, I know it's not, because the female avatar for the reader calls it out as disgusting repeatedly. It's deeply, deeply upsetting. But it was well told. I'm reminded of the movie "Normal" which also dealt with this subject. I've never been able to forget it.

After his heart is broken by the school nurse, a boy falls in love with his openly gay classmate. Moves quickly but interesting. Surprisingly happy ending.

A refugee who has spent most of his life in a hospital escapes and proposes to a novelist he admires and happens to meet at a bar. I didn't think Chris's mental state was defined enough for this to really work, or that we saw enough of his influence on the novelist (beyond knowing he did write again), but it had a quiet tone.