sadslime's manga / #Old man(5)

Yul is the creator of a revolutionary new conversational AI named DD, and his friend connected him with the retired gentleman Manaka to serve as DD's conversational partner, training him to talk to others. The only problem is, now Yul has to review all the tapes of Manaka and DD's conversation, and Manaka's gentle praise almost seems to be seducing his AI, which Yul programmed with his own personality and voice. Yul starts to get jealous of DD's closeness to Manaka, and one day while going to see Manaka, Yul witnesses him getting attacked by someone trying to steal the AI. Yul learns that Manaka was once a leader in the world of AI who had his ideas stolen by his boss, who is now trying to do the same to Yul. Yul and Manaka then decide to protect DD together, while Yul also decides that he's in love with Manaka and he's going for it. A very large age gap, and Manaka is actually drawn like an older man, which I appreciate, but I do see how that could make it uncomfortable for some. But I found the unique story interesting and refreshing, and their interactions were all very cute. No trigger warnings.

Koutaro is a high school teacher with a marriage on the rocks as his wife works overseas. Koushi is his father-in-law, who Koutaro recently learned is gay and has a somewhat messy love life. Sayotani is Koutaro's gay student who was recently helped by Koushi and has fallen in love with him, despite the very large age gap. This is the story of these three men figuring out love and relationships. Honestly, the age gap is a lot, but I wouldn't mind it if Sayotani was just out of high school. Still a very interesting and unique story. Trigger warnings: violence, cheating, statutory rape(?).

Godai is an older, gay, art dealer who offers to show some of the young artist Mizuki's work, but Mizuki offers to sell him even more than that and suggests Godai buy him for sex. Godai can't resist and the two begin a physical relationship, but when Mizuki's work starts to sell, Godai loses confidence that they can be in the same world. I like Godai's character design, but their actual romance felt lukewarm to me. Trigger warning: sex work.

Dandy is a male prostitute who lets people live out their dreams with him for a night without ever getting in too deep. But his next customer, Ibe, sought out Dandy not for his prostitution, but for his former life as Okuda where they worked together until Ibe caught Okuda sleeping with their married boss, causing Okuda to quit. Ibe just wants to apologize, but Okuda says he won't stick around if it's not a client, so they sleep together, then Okuda leaves saying his apology was unnecessary. But is Ibe really satisfied with that ending? These two have potential, and I'd love to see more. Trigger warning: sex work.

Tomoya Ishida is a young man with little ambition working at a magazine when he's assigned to work with the famous chef and food correspondent, Ayumu Mitsuya. The much older and openly gay man instantly charms Tomoya, but Tomoya knows he needs to keep things professional between them in order to stay close to Mitsuya, at all. But when Mitsuya's ex comes back into the picture, Tomoya can no longer just sit back and watch. Very cute with some really solid character moments. I especially like that the ex felt like a real person and not just a plot device. Trigger warning: mention of cheating.