muse ✨'s manga / #tw dubcon(60)

Art evolution! This begins old-school and evolves into the artist's current style. Two main stories: A boy mistaken for a call boy sleeps with the man who picks him up, Takamiya, and eventually they end up in a relationship that feels one-sided until the end. The better story: Aoe, Takamiya's friend and the owner of the call boy club, falls for Naoya, a high schooler he takes in. Their love story was really sweet all the way to the end. Also included: Aoe's brother Kiichi's love story with his bodyguard/long-time companion. Also also included: Takamiya's past with his uncle, who fell for Aoe before he died. This was a ride.

I was about to drop this, but the chapter I was on turned out to be the last. It's not bad, just didn't really grab me. A proud man who has lost his mother refuses to accept money from his wealthy step family, who turn out to be yakuza. His step brother is into him; his other step brother assaults him. It missed a mark somewhere for me.

A selfish boss and his subordinate end up in a hotel because the trains have stopped running. The boss, too drunk to recognize his coworker, comes onto him and asks his subordinate to film the encounter, giving him the perfect weapon for revenge. Only the more they get to really properly know one another, little by little, their relationship begins to change. I almost skipped this and am so happy I didn't. This was a fantastic love story, well paced and believable. I agree with other commenters who said this has the best confession scene they've ever read!

In his grief over losing his father, Natsuki seduces Yuni, his closest friend, and then disappears from his life. Yuni is left confused, with no way to find Natsuki, and can only hope he'll keep his promise of attending the same university. But when they finally see each other again, Natsuki seems desperate to forget what happened between them, while Yuni has realized his own feelings. The final dream with Natsuki's father is a tearjerker.

Desperate to escape his twin's shadow, Haruhi turns to clubs and one-night stands, using his twin's name as an alias and letting himself be hurt in an attempt to hurt Katsuki by extension. When he meets a kind man named Masahiro, his self worth is so low that he's shocked to be offered friendship, but with Masa's constancy and love, he learns to like himself. The first time I can remember seeing an HIV test come up in manga.

I love Misaki. I've dealt with many of the issues he goes through in this story. There is so much dub-con in this series it makes me squirm, but I love him and I want to know how things work out for him. Also, Akihiko really is growing as a person as the series goes on. I'm glad Misaki calls him out on his behavior, and that he legitimately listens. He's controlling and has jealousy issues, but he does work on them, which I am glad to see. I love their story, even though it had a horrible beginning. June 2022 update: Ijuin-sensei and Yuu getting together made me CRY. So happy for them

Omegaverse-like world where people emit pheromones others can't resist. Also features one couple mutually obsessed with each other.

Classmates vie for the attention of their mutual friend...or do they? Past!me rated this a 3/5 because there was something wrong with her.

A soul bond unites an unlikely pair who have to navigate a future together. Spinoff about the much more interesting couple from Pendulum. Normally enemies-to-lovers isn't my thing, but this features INSTANT SOUL BOND and FALLING IN LOVE WHILE BEING GROUCHY, which kinda is. There's a spinoff about their kids which is cute as heck.