muse ✨'s manga / #psychological(24)

I like this author, and I appreciate that this author experiments with a lot of different subjects. This collection includes twincest, the intersection between arousal and violence, and a really nice story about a guy who taps into the sensuality of any person or animal he makes eye contact with for more than five seconds. If that's the ONLY one you want to read, read the first two and the final chapters. Chapter 3 is twincest. Skip if necessary.

First, this is not a love story or a happy story. It's Harada, which means it's an exploration of humanity. A psychopath has his eyes on a fellow stylist and will do anything to possess him. Ends on a deceptively happy note, but this is no happy ending.

A high school student runs a popular YouTube channel where he documents BL moments at an all boys' school, only to discover a real relationship between two students. This is told from a third person perspective, so we have little insight into the relationship. We do get a glimpse of the narrator's own level of detachment from reality, because he's unaware that his neighbor is in love with him. I don't believe we ever saw the narrator's face once; he is represented by his camera lens.

An untalented man who chose to study art on a whim to redefine his past becomes obsessed with the impressive work of a fellow student, the deeply introverted Yukari. He and Yukari grow close after an incident on the train, and he comes to understand that Yukari's neuroses may have to do with his famous father's parenting. When Yukari is attacked during an art theft, Kurose's past surfaces when he has to fight (and nearly kill) the assailants. But the point of the story is that the past is defined by the future. Using his fighting skills to save the person he loved redefines Kurose's earlier life. And Yukari's past made him into the artist he is. In the very last panel, we see his notebook scattered across the bed, indicating that he's working again. But also sleeping and eating, since he appears to live with Kurose now, who -- unlike Yukari's own father -- actually wants to take care of him. What appears to be an earlier work by Eigyou Nika's author, Kanai Kei.

Another melancholic, beautiful story by Asou Mitsuaki. A bartender struggling to overcome the abuse and trauma he faced from parents and a teacher connects with a distant relative who is determined to treat him well. This doesn't hold the emotional power of Only You, Only or Season, but it was moving and I liked it. I cried right at the end. I think if I had read this a little more slowly, over coffee, I would like it quite a lot. ETA June 2020: I reread this with tea across a couple hours during the rain, and gave it full stars. This is beautiful.

If Doukyuusei were messed up

Collection by Asou Mitsuaki. Full disclosure: This author is my favorite, and I will read anything she writes with great interest and very slowly to absorb the details. 1) A young escort is assigned to a problematic client who has to be blindfolded and tied up to enjoy sex because of past psychological trauma. Things become complicated when the client turns out to be someone from work. 2) A university student falls for his sempai who is in love with his brother-in-law.

A supernatural police drama about a detective and his subordinate, whose body reacts to crime scenes and recreates a person's last moments. This is the BL sequel to the original seinen.

This is what would happen if Harada wrote Eruri fic.