muse ✨'s manga / #reencounter(186)

I preferred the first story between the detective and his roommate. The art style is lovely! ETA: The first story is a tie-in to "Beast & Feast." If you've read that, it makes a lot more sense at the end when the detective & yakuza show up!

A young man believes his first love died years ago and harbors regret for the last thing he said. Now in high school, he meets a determined young man with memories of a first love that match what he recalls of the love he lost. This is fantastic.

A man is reunited with the guy he'd been in love with in high school, and they fall into a physical relationship that grows serious, but they have to navigate jealousy and family issues. There's a movie version that I don't care for, but I really enjoyed this manga. I've read it three times - and the third time was probably my favorite. Kurata is a jackass when we first meet him. He's never understood the feelings he has for Keisuke, going back to high school, and sleeps with him to confirm that Keisuke had once liked him. He continues to use him for sex - often forcing it - but eventually falls in love and experiences a pretty significant personality change. He's sweet by the end, and Keisuke calls him out on his terrible behavior and breaks up with him for a while - I liked that. Includes lots of cute oneshots about their life after moving in together.

While he recovers from heartbreak (Minori no Te), Tatsuyuki travels to Fukuoka where he falls into one of Rogi's schemes to see Akitora again, and also reencounters someone from his past -- a traumatized boy he'd comforted. When I first read this, I didn't know Rogi's past and had little feelings for him until the final extra. Knowing his history, this is much sadder to read. Scarlet did a wonderful job of weaving in his heartbreak. I believe the kimono with leaves he wears in one scene is actually the one from Jealousy. He may be twisted, but I feel sorry for him. I raised this a star on 3rd reread.

An unfaithful college student cheats on his boyfriend and ends up working as an office boy for a gangster - whom he'd actually met as kids. With time, they fall into a relationship which eventually becomes dead serious and eventually romantic. Lots of drama, but I think it's worth reading for the love story! Lots of dubcon along the way, though. So. I didn't realize I was into this story until it was 9:30am and I hadn't gotten up to go to work at 10am. It took a while for me to like the characters, but by the end, I really liked them. No tears for me but a lot of emotion. Head's up: there is a sexual relationship between a father figure and a person he raised. It's denied at first, but it's A Thing. You don't really see it on page or get any specific details, but it's talked about.

When I finished Antique Bakery, I came away wishing that Ono and Chikage had explored their relationship further. I knew Ono's dream of being with Tachibana was impossible, but Chikage seemed to truly adore him. I had no idea this DJ existed until this morning. While I'm pissed at Ono for what he did to Tachibana following his assault - absolutely fucking not okay - I get why it happened for the story. I was happy that, even though he harbored feelings for Tachibana, he chose a healthy relationship with Chikage and (eventually seemed to) stop sleeping around. Despite what he says about Chikage being a substitute and that he really loves Tachibana, I think he's lying to himself to keep himself safe. He does love Tachibana - a part of him always will - but he cares for Chikage, otherwise he would've slept with him without thought and never worried whether Chikage was hurt or not. The flannel pajamas he buys him solidified this for me: something left at Ono's house that belongs to Chikage, making him part of the space. Ono didn't say he'd bought pajamas that would fit Chikage or buy a cheap pair of sleep pants. He'd bought a proper set of pajamas for him, and he tells him that. It indicated a desire for something stable and long-term, not just sex, whether Ono realized that at the time he bought them or not. I also like the way that Ono treats him. Of everyone in Chikage's life, Ono is the one who treats him like an adult. While Tachibana was content to make him breakfast and fix his buttons, Ono taught him to cook and how to do up his own shirt. He doesn't look down on him. He treats him as an equal. He cares for him (and was extremely kind to Chikage's daughter in the last chapter, graciously supporting her dream to be with Tachibana when she is older). That's love to me. We can't all be with our first or greatest love. Finding love later, or while you have feelings for someone else, or finding love that is comfortable but not explosive doesn't make it illegitimate. I think they will be happy together.

While this has LGBT themes, this is not a typical m/m story. The people you want to get together won't. It's not a romance. This is a story about multiple men working together in a bakery while overcoming their pasts, and it's great.

Two sets of childhood friends reunite five years later.

Two men who weren't close in high school meet again at their high school reunion. A one-shot with a hopeful ending by Asou Mitsuaki.

Three years after they broke up, two men re-encounter one other in a bar. They'd been in love but sexually incompatible, and while one is desperate to reconcile, the other thinks he's moved on. From the "Kokoro" universe, where they have a cameo in the same bar. (I like their story a hundredfold more.)