stressedpenguin's manga / #light angst(91)

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

Aww!!! They're so precious. I really REALLY appreciated the more realistic, step by step depiction of sex, the mild homophobia of the seme's friends who get over it because they care more about the friendship than being bigoted, and the extremely soft boi energy of both seme and uke. The relationship was built up slowly despite being just one volume, and the character actually communicated. Their one major drama stemmed from an understandable "one character comes to an internal conclusion to match the pace of the other and doesn't see a reason to communicate this directly with words leading to a sudden change in behavior that sets up the other for a bit of miscommunication." That's not a problem because the characters reach a tipping point and c o m m u n I c a t e I really liked this one. The main couple was lovable. The seme's friends were lovable. The uke was loveable and also had friends of their own, just less because they're a less social person. The conflict was the realistic progression of a romance. My soul is cleansed and my skin is clear. Also shout out to the seme's friend specifically for meeting glasses guy in the middle actually considering an environment he'd be comfortable in. I love them. 8/10

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

A classic one sidedly in love with your bff with a sprinkle of that "dont wnna ruin what we have" but don't worry the friend likes you back. Uke is pretty insecure about the romantic relationship and that never quite goes away despite the seme bring 100% devoted to him, so it's a little frustrating, but understandable. He's an anxious guy. 6/10 a meal well made

2nd couple was very wholesome, woulda been hella smutty too if not for the censorship. They're ACTUALLY just jerking the air Uhhh 7/10? Cute and fun

Cute lil master x servant with species ism... thrown in for... flavor text??? I guess??? I wish the seme HAD actually gone abroad for a bit and THEN realized he really didnt want to be separate from the uke. Add a bit more spice to the story. But it was cute still 6/10

Playboy seme encounters a seemingly innocent uke who turns out to be more devilish in bed than he anticipated. He gets a lil pissed off and tries to get back at the uke only to fall in love and also find out they've met before in the past. Personally, I'm not big into "i actually loved you all along" plots. But that's personal preference. We stan an uke who knows what he wants and goes for it, and can also be a cute, shy bean. Relationship was a little spontaneous for me, but I did like the characters so 6 or 7/10

Wow that took them longer than I expected and also they were fwb for as long as I was expecting. Either way, cute and a lil angsty 5/10

Uke has an unrequited love for his childhood best friend who acts like a housewife. And then he starts talking to his nice coworker and the friend gets jealous 7/10

I waited until winter to read this for the aesthetic~ Worth it. BUT actually kinda not. Furuya's works always have this atmosphere to them and I usually love them, but this one just didnt go deep enough into the many different psyches of its characters. When the teacher asked Itsuni if he had hobbies, I was expecting that to TRIGGER a deeper ecploration of Itsuki's character. Theres a specific kind of angst you can get out of a character who is naturally talented at everything but has no interest in anything and that driving a wedge between him and everyone around him. The poor kid stops doing ANYTHING out of fear of triggering other peoples insecurities. That's heavy. I want to see an exploration of that. The ending is unsatisfying because it's trying to pay off on a plot thread that was never adequately set up--Yuusei's writing. Why did he stop? Why did he start again? Did any of that have to do with his feelings for Itsuki. I thought we were going to get an exploration of that too, but if just didnt go anywhere. This story really dragged on of my personal insecurities into the open and then didn't interrogate it at all, just brought it up in passing and then went to play hacky sack at a park by itself. It had nothing Monday about the interesting threads of its characters, rendering them boring and without a real resolution. really had Thoughts about this one i guess I'm kinda torn on a 7 or an 8 for this I think if it had been better executed, itd be an 8, but it's just missing a strong set up, carry through, and pay off. 7/10