stressedpenguin's manga / #kinda melancholy(44)

Ch 1: A aspiring writer working as a bell hoy has a one night stand with a visiting model and falls in love despite himself. Ch 2: The son of some important person has been kidnapped by a group of terrorists. He's attracted to the gruff guy lowkey in charge of him but it's just not meant to be. 8/10

That cant be it. No way that's it. We were just getting started. Jonathan is a med student just tryna live his life. He and his professor, the affluent Paul Haskins, take turns seducing each other, getting on each others nerves, and dancing endlessly around their almost lovers relationship. A lot of the conflict centers around honesty, being honest with others but and to yourself. The characters dredge up old, painful memories and have to grapple with a very homophobic, rich people culture that just... [insert sigh here] Update ch 8.5. ??????? The... the alternate ending feels like it resolved even less????? It was good. 8/10

That... I had a really hard time processing the translation. I understand enough to get through the story (mostly on vibes) but I think I'm missing a lot of the nuance. I liked it, though it was kinda frustrating to read. 6/10. Its probably higher but I just could nor understand it, so 6/10 Prequel to 23:45 Re:

Glad I'm not the only one who had struggled u freestanding this . I get the overall fist and I really liked the concept, but man it's just hard to understand. I originally read this a long time ago and it left such an impression on me that I was thinking about it for years. I guess that speaks to how good this story is. Just a shame I cant find an official translation for it I guess... 6/10? I'd probably like this more if I could understand it.

Dunno how to summarize this one. Uh, seme is a 17 yr old model, who's genearlly known to be callous and emotionless. Uke is like a writer or something who gets involved with the seme. Uke is very pure and doesn't want sex without. Seme sleeps around without any emotions attached and that causes a lot of friction between them. Very off and on story Seme is a literally a kid (17 yrs, so yikes) and really struggles with communicating his feelings and winds up talking like he doesn't care which only makes this relationship more complicated. Overall, I kinda liked this, but it also irked me and I'm not a huge fan of adult x minor with massive age gaps hmmm. 7/10?

Another one I read a while and don't remember well. I remember flowers being a big part of it and it had a nice atmosphere, kinda dramatic but not too much. Plot had something to do with the uke getting involved with the broody vampire seme and the vampire seme slowly warming up to him? 7/10 from what I remember

Guy runs into his old classmate who's always been an aloof asshole. Keeps running into him and the seme keeps kinda prying into his past. Their relationship starts off very terse and almost combative. Both of them initially hope the other is more miserable than themselves. I'm sad the hamster wasn't more relevant. She's only in a few scenes but shes so ROUND. I need more hamster! Overall thoughts tho. Didn't really enjoy it. Its just not what I want to read rn I guess. I may have misread it since it was late af, but characters were all kinda nosy but with a feeling like they wanted to amuse themselves? Also the teacher was kinda a creep? Who runs I to a former student and then begs them to let you stay there? Don't you have other people closer to you? And then also prying into basically a strangers sec life? Weird. The story does feel grounded, but the characters feel isolated. It left me feeling like... depressed for some reason. Idk. This one wasn't it for me. Sorry. 4/10

Huh. Okay I didn't really feel much while reading this one. The seme confessing was almost a surprise for me. Uke gave me almost aro / ace vibes with his complete lack of interest in the romantic part of the date and general not understanding romance, but that's just me projecting. The seme put a lot of effort into their relationship, but the uke barely reciprocated at all. Everything was for research. Yknow... it's kinda bugging me know. He barely seemed to think about the seme at all ever, even when they split up. He seemed so lonely but part of me wonders of a romantic relationship was the answer, or if he was just lacking in close friends outside his brother. Like, when the seme finds him alone and he finally starts reciprocating the seme's feelings, I didn't feel like he was actually in love. It almost felt more like... he was relieved someone was thinking about him, romantically or not. In the end, their relationship still felt one sided to me. So I wound up feeling kinda.. empty when I finished this. Idk. Not sure how to rate this one. I feel so conflicted about it. Hmm 4/10? 8/10?

Guy moves out to the country to take care of a family house for a bit. Gets attacked by a yokai, gets saved by a komainu (dog statue) spirit, gets raped by the komainu for protection or whatever. Komainu then moves into his house and now they're gonna live together. There's a theme of loneliness, and the art is very pretty. Coulda seriously done without the rape and this would be good.... Update ch 5. Wow. That ending was sad. Didn't really feel like a resolution to me since it was so abrupt. It's like the story didn't consider anything but the romance, so once that was done, so was the character's life... I dunno. Hit exactly the type of angst I love, but also left me feeling a bit slighted (for whatever reason, this is the emotion I am left with) 6/10? 4/10? Not sure

Ow my heart. The cheerful popular guy at school dies suddenly and only the loner uke can see his ghost. Uke helps helps him cross off his checklist of unfinished business including reconciling with his mom The ending was inevitable but it still hurt Its bittersweet but I'm happy he makes friends 7/10