stressedpenguin's manga / #8/10(76)

Daisy Jealousy

Complete | OGERETSU Tanaka,Ogeretsu Tanaka | 2019 released

MC desperately wants to be a video game modeler for a big game company. It's been his dream since childhood and he works really hard in vocational school to achieve it. One of his classmates, a quite and unsociable guy, is really really good at modeling, and MC winds up developing a nasty inferiority complex. Although he acts nice to his rival, it eats away at him inside. After they graduate, and his rival lands a job at MC's dream company, our MC's jealousy reaches a head and he gives up on modeling all together. Throughout this, MC and his rival have a messy off again on again romantic relationship They're both a mess but I appreciate the realistic look at how it feels when someone is just better than you at the thing you love. Inferiority complexes are brutal. I'll be honest, I wasn't really rooting for the relationship. The rival was too oblivious and the MC's inferiority complex was too all consuming. I'm glad they worked things out but I almost would've liked this more if they didn't. Dunno. Either way, 8/10

Keisenjou no Cantata

Complete | Hayane Dentou,HAYANE Dentou | 2020 released

Really liked this one although I wish they had told the two couples stories in blocks instead of jumping between them. It was a little distracting and less satisfying. Now I really wanna read the story within the story, but perhaps its better as just brief glimpses. This had a really strong bittersweet vibe despite the endings for both couples being very lighthearted. 8/10

Dead or alive

Complete | Iago | 2022 released

Last read ch 28. Bounty hunter Callahan just needs to catch 1 more criminal to collect a fat 10 mil pesos (?). His target is Jonny the Scammer, bona fide twink. Tbh there were bits that were pretty confusing. The story avoids going that play by play thing or giving exposition dumps, and generally does a good job presenting the information through visual storytelling and subtler dialogue... That said, there's A LOT happening in this story that divides what little space the story allots for exposition. As a result, it's easy to miss key backstory details (skill issue on my part) and could sometimes be a little unsatisfying? It's unclear for a BIG portion of the story if out Jonny is actually the scammer. He doesn't act like one even for the 1.5 ish chapters he's alone. I was never sold 100% that he's a criminal deserving of arrest. He just seems like some unfortunate guy. I think this actually could have benefited from being longer, having time to explore the characters (and world?) more. But it was still a cohesive, comprehensible story with what it gave us. Also shoutout to the person in the comments for explaining, re:ch 12 that Jonny lied about the timeline to give himself an alibi. I totally did not clock that at all 8/10

Kimi no yoru ni fureru

Complete | mori moyori | 2019 released

I really loved how gentle this was. I loved the softness of Chinatsu describing the aquarium to Kasumi, and all the soft face caresses, and the way Kasumi constantly reaches for Chinatsu to feel that he's there and that gentle photograph of Kasumi at the ocean. Aaaaahhh my heart 8/10

All My Darling Daughters

Ongoing | Fumi yoshinaga | 2019 released

Wow. That made my heart ache in a way I wasn't prepared for. The manga is generally about the lives and struggles of various women. The stories are tied together by the women's connection to Yukko (Yukiko?), our focus character, one way or another. And it's just raw. Like it's just so...human. and so its messy and raw and painful at times but highly cathartic. Warning for chapter two (?). It's definitely a story of its time. One of the male characters is sexually assaulted by a female student, and the story doesnt even recognize that its sexual assault. It was pretty rough to get through. Though the manga isnt ABOUT misogyny or the patriarchy or living as a women in a man's world, those things have a tangible impact on these women's lives. This story is about showing you the women as people, and the problems a misogynist society are just there because they're there. I'm struggling to articulate my thoughts, but hopefully I got it out clear enough that you'll understand. 8/10

Marriage as Friends

Ongoing | Nakata yuki | 2019 released

Two women who have comfortably lived with each other since college start feeling the social pressure to get married or otherwise be in a romantic relationship. They try it with each other and they try it with the men they've been dating, but in the end they're most comfortable being friends. I really like that conclusion. There's more than one type of family, and I'm happy to see that represented here. 8/10, I am biased but I think this was good