sadslime's manga / #Favorites(5)

In post-war Japan, Aoi spends his time working as a translator for the Americans and waiting at the docks for returned soldiers. It's been three years since the end of the war, but without a killed in action notice, he can't help but hold out hope that his best friend, Takahiko, could one day return. But when Takahiko does finally come back, he's his usual, grinning, carefree self with no explanation for the three years without so much as a letter. Aoi is enraged and punches him, but he still lets Takahiko stay at his house in the meantime. Now as Takahiko seeks employment as a screen actor and Aoi tries to figure out his muddled feelings, will they be able to overcome the pain and trauma of the war? Really beautiful and bittersweet story that encapsulates the way war destroys lives, yet life moves on. Trigger warnings: wartime violence, racism.

Yuuki and Akira are students at different schools who met while playing the game of walking on the white line on the road. Akira fell in love first, and this manga covers their lives as they go from silly teens to lovey dovey college students to working men struggling with the realities of life who ultimately find each other again. A very sweet story that is almost guaranteed to make you cry a few tears, but is absolutely worth it. Trigger warning: possible cheating.

Yoh is a successful entrepreneur who has the perfect plan to get revenge on his childhood bully Mima by staying at the hotel where Mima works and treating him as a slave. It goes all too smoothly as Mima takes his abuse without question until Yoh demands to know why and Mima's personality does a 180, taking him back to his bully persona from years ago who just loves to see Yoh cry. But this time, Yoh notices something more behind Mima's bullying that keeps him coming back. I actually think their relationship is really cute Trigger warning: bullying.

Kuroba is a former boxer who gets a job at a strip club where he meets their #1 dancer, Kaede. Though Kaede says he's dating one of the other dancers, Kuroba finds him entrancing, and he sees how Kaede struggles with the more extreme aspects of the stripping and pseudo sex demanded of him in his job. Kuroba offers to help as a "plant" in the shows with the pseudo sex, and Kaede agrees, forcing him to acknowledge that he sees Kuroba differently from other men, even as he continues to try to push Kuroba away. A well-written story that gets into aspects of overcoming trauma and pushing forward in life. ️Trigger warnings: violence, mention of stalker, mention of gangrape.

Yagi is just a goatman who has always dreamed of working in a bookshop in a world where goats are known for eating books. He finally managed to get a job in a bookshop in the carnivore zone, but his boss, Ookami, is always yelling at him for eating the books! But really, Ookami has been looking out for Yagi all along. So when an unfortunate incident ends with Yagi getting accidentally injured by a patron, Ookami immediately fires him, and Yagi finally realizes he doesn't just want to work at any bookstore, he wants to work with Ookami. One of my favorite stories with really adorable characters who are fun to see. I don't mind explicit stuff, but I do think this story might have actually worked better as a shounen ai, but that's just me. Still, really cute and worth a read. No trigger warnings.