muse ✨'s manga / #tw past abuse(7)

Multiple stories looking at the concept of family and love: Two brothers who live on their own after surviving an abusive father. One day, the older brother introduces his boyfriend, who comes to live with them. A young man finds himself drawn to a customer only to find out the man is his brother's lover's older brother. But he is also coming to terms with feelings for a coworker who is actually a childhood friend he's forgotten. A heartbroken teacher finds new love.

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

A transfer student meets a beautiful boy in his class who doesn't speak. Be warned: This character has a horrible past, including rape and incest, and endures forced imprisonment by a family member.

This was fluff by Harada standards. Momo sells himself to pay his bills and is taken advantage of by the three people currently caring for him when he meets Yata, who offers to let him stay for one night. They end up in a convenient relationship that eventually grows close and serious, and eventually lifelong. This is a love story, a story about getting past your past, and not being caught up in blaming people for your present state. Now that it's over I want to cry. I really loved it.

Well-crafted, well-paced writing and interesting characters, and the art is beautiful. Both works I've read of Ogeretsu Tanaka's have been excellent. This contains two stories which are set in the same universe: 1) A man who had been unattractive growing up has reinvented himself as a stylist and is asked out by the guy who had tormented him in high school. Still hung up on past anger, he grasps his chance for revenge. 2) The second story I almost bypassed. It focuses on a man several years out from an abusive relationship where he had been the abuser. Rather than forgive his past or excuse it, the story shows that he lives with his guilt and shame. However, he has taken steps to change, and he's honest with his new lover about his past. ETA: Having now read the story where he abused his former partner Yumi, it's no wonder he continues to feel guilty. No amount of abuse is okay, but this was constant and violent - even sadistic. He needs long-term therapy.

A new company employee falls for his senpai and discovers he’s an M. And others.

A young teacher trying to encourage a 17-year-old to return to school ends up effecting change after he assaults the student, which sets him on a new path. Strangely, they end up together in what seems to be a happy, comfortable relationship. The teenager was dealing with past abuse from his father. There’s a lot of fish imagery in this. As boys, they both wanted to keep fish but could not, and in the final scene we see them through their fish tank. At a glance it seems happy, but I don’t know how happy either of them is or can be with the other. I would probably need to re-read this a couple of times to take in all of the detail but I don’t know that I want to.