Genboxxy's manga / #Psychological(51)

Yuki to Matsu

Complete | TAKAHASHI Hidebu | 2016 released

What the heck??!! What the actual heckkkkk! This is sooo frigging good, a definite contender for my top 1 manga, I'd put it on top 2 but it's so close with my first they can alternate no problem. Where do I even start, ahhhh! The character dynamic, the pacing, the right amount of drama, angst, romance, comedy, is just *chef's kiss*. Nothing is dragged on, I was captivated by this work, really. Usually while I'm reading manga/manhuas I have this side comments for myself about the characters and the plot, but not here, I was just happily gliding along the story, and I was actually a bit sad when I reached the end. The art style is reminiscent of ancient japanese art combined with the typical modern manga style, it's so stylized and fun, I like that it's different that way. There's also a love triangle here, sorta, but like I said, nothing gets dragged on and the emotions are just right that even that aspect was handled really well, they even managed to be friends in their old age. old age! Another reason why I abso-freaking-lutely love this, it's such a rare thing to see it in BLs, and even in normal manga where the main couple is actually shown in their old age without either one of them dead or on the verge of dying. The extras on modern AU and the kitty-Yuki were also absolutely adorable, just love this altogether. If I have to nitpick a con to this, it's only this very, minor thing I noticed during the first chapter where the sensei was supposed to come off as a sensible/practical dude who's apathetic enough to ask for corpses so he can make it into medicine for profit, this profile was abandoned quickly in the later chapters in exchange for the wholesome, altruistic doctor profile, which was not out of the blue since it was implied also during the first chapters, however, even when they are faced with a dead body, they no longer seek out this option, still it doesn't affect the story so all's good.

Stigmata - Seikon Sousa

Complete | TAKAHASHI Hidebu | 2014 released

One of the leads has a condition like Will Graham in the The Red Dragon (Hannibal series) but his is so much more intense and hardcore, he literally embodies deaths and its physical effects, so it's kinda supernatural. It's episodic so the chapters have different cases except for 5 and 6 which are connected. This is so goooood too, what da heck is with this author, both the art style and plot are so gripping, my emotions were so invested everytime. I love this, absolutely love this. Even if it's just like this, by that seinen and not BL, I don't care, there was absolutely no queer baiting anyway and the relationship could definitely work as strong friendship and nothing more, nonetheless, the sequel apparently is BL, so off to read that one and see how sensei handles the transition of friendship to romance.

Stigmata - Aikon

Complete | TAKAHASHI Hidebu | 2019 released

It's a different approach from the prequel, it's not episodic and only focuses on 1 case throughout the story. There's not much fluffiness here but the relationship between the couple was strong enough prior to the romance that even though their realization, specially the seme, was abrupt, it still seemed like a smooth transition. They also do be reminding me of Yuki and his ex from sensei's other work, Yuki and Matsu, only the hairstyles are different. I like this too though I do think there are certain loopholes that were swept under the rug for this; like the fact that the uke bleeds out/retains the physical manifestation of the victims he's exposed to so long as their case is not resolved, like how would it work though? when he was a kid, he was exposed to someone being murdered (?) how did that stop? and throughout the years, it can't be that every victim he encountered had their cases solved, and if not, wouldn't he already bled out to death long before he even reached his adolescence. Also I don't get much if the touching thing is a good thing, like the manifestation stops when he's touched, it also prevents him from manifesting if he's being touched prior to his contact with the victim, so that's good right, but then, touching also halts the manifestation and gets him stuck in that state unless the case gets solved? it's kinda confusing, I just chuck it off to it being fiction, and a supernatural one at that. Overall, thoroughly enjoyed it, great action scenes and the art style never failed.

Red Theatre

Complete | OGAWA Chise | 2000 released

why the freak is this rated so looooww?!! I skipped this becoz of the rating and comments, but this is defo my cup of tea, everyone is just so messed up and demented but not messed up just to be edgy and different from other stories, the narrative for this is just bliss, sometimes it seems the pacing is too fast, but all in all I am still satisfied. This one is truly a psychological trip, a lot of possessiveness and obsession for careers, ambitions, other people. Yet another reason why I put sensei in such high regards, they're really able to pull off this kind of stories well, matter of fact I actually prefer it to their fluffy ones (tho I still enjoy those a lot too). On a different note, in the earlier chapters, the seme and uke really reminded me of the older brother and the uke from sensei's other work "Gosan no Heart" and not just the character design, the behavior too coz the uke there is also possessive and clingy, and the older bro (tho he's also an uke) is also the obsessive sort that knows how to play it cool for appearance.

Mizusoko ni Sumu Kodomotachi

Complete | Azuma Kaya | 2000 released
2023-04-04 08:28 marked

psychological but not that messed up as I expected. Seme was repressed his entire life, met a student, lusted after him, but repressed it too. Then said student went AWOL, teacher wanted to help, student keeps chasing him out, then student's mom abandoned him for realsies, he wanted to off himself, teacher saves him, then rapes him in spur of the moment. Uke goes to school after that and keeps assaulting seme for what? said coz he loves him after that incident (doesn't really make sense), then uke's mom wants him back for something, uke forces seme to assault him again, then boom love, apparently. Execution was meh, couldn't care for either plot or characters. 3.5/5

Monster

Complete | URASAWA Naoki | 1994 released
2023-04-09 21:49 marked

Ten Count

Complete | takarai rihito | 2013 released
2023-04-10 07:04 marked

Nii-chan (harada)

Complete | Harada | 2013 released
2023-04-10 14:44 marked

Piercing Hole

Complete | Harada | 2015 released

Sumomo (harada)

Complete | harada | 2014 released
2023-04-10 14:47 marked