muse ✨'s manga / #top 5(15)

This was the slow-burn love story of my dreams. After being cruelly dumped on Christmas Eve, Ei finds a man and a kitten asleep outside of his apartment in the snow. He takes them in out of pity, and Junpei becomes a fixture in his life, helping him to emerge from his stoic shell and to learn to love someone good for once. This was one of the most realistic stories I've ever read. A few years ago, I probably would've been frustrated with Ei's behavior, especially taking back his ex. But I did the same thing because I was so desperate to save my relationship, which I clung to because it was familiar, not because it was happy or healthy. People do make mistakes. They do seek out other humans just for comfort, even if they love someone else. They do withhold their love for fear of being hurt. This was touching, exquisitely drawn, and the pacing was just right. I cannot recommend it enough.

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!

A candy store owner and a doctor enter into a relationship with little drama (and what there is is understandable), lots of mutual affection, a slow and realistic emotional build, passable communication (they try), FABULOUS sex, frank discussions *about* sex, a refreshing and honest attitude about their future, and they even have friendly relationships with their exes. Also features the cutest little girl ever. Have I died? Is this Heaven? This story is set in the same universe as the one with the hot priest, who shows up in this a few times.

The granddaughter and fourth generation of a yakuza family follows her dream to become a teacher, transforming the lives of the students in her care. Her other dream is a life with the family's lawyer, but one of her students, Sawada Shin, has his eye on her. SPOILERS This is officially the best thing I've ever read. I devoured this across a few days. Ojou is precious, hilarious, loyal, and so relatable. I expected she'd end up with the lawyer, and that Shin would grow wiser after his first love, but no!!! She fell in love with Shin after he graduated! We get to watch their relationship develop across a couple of years. I'd love to see them in the future after he has graduated law school and they succeed the group. Aw I bet they'll have kids too. :-DDDDDDDD I'm pretty sure, after extensive googling and my poor ability to read kanji, that this is the 4-panel manga from a 2009 release showing their two kids: https://up.gc-img.net/post_img/2017/09/fgPHGvzbTBoVKHg_lRWj9_99.jpeg The first baby is calling out "Techya!" and striking his face. He increasingly experiences more pain and finally says, "Seriously??" I haven't translated the final panel yet but I think it mentions blood. From https://girlschannel.net/comment/1360570/99/ The panel and the magazine containing it were listed in the Japanese Gakusen wikipedia.

Azuma, the teenaged son of a deceased kimono maker, falls for the mysterious Matsuoka--a man who insists on caring for Azuma and his sickly mother, saying he is only paying back a kindness. As he falls in love, Azuma grows jealous of his father's memory, believing that he was Matsuoka's savior, but his eyes are opened in more than one way when he visits Matsuoka in Tokyo. Original notes: A beautiful story. Matsuoka seeks to repay the kindness of the only person who ever treated him as human, the young son of a former employer. This author is spectacular.