sadslime's manga / #Trauma(36)

Two Nakamuras, both gay! Kazunari and Hayato end up bonding and becoming best friends who can talk about anything. At least, until Hayato suddenly suggests they become sex friends, sending Kazunari spiraling. Relationship continues and deals with Hayato’s issues in volume 2. Really good depiction of a believable friendship with non stereotypical characters, though it gets a little intense. Trigger warnings: cheating, attempted rape.

Hashiba's crap company is so bad that his boss actually sells him off to the Yakuza to pay his debts. When he tries to convince the young boss Miki to let him leave because he wouldn't want a gay man as his housekeeper, Miki demands a blowjob, setting the tenor of their relationship from there on. It's fine as a quick smut read, but nothing special and the way the same keeps forcing himself on the uke is kinda gross. Trigger warnings: noncon, masochism, sex work, rape, attempted rape.

Ren's a high school student in love with his best friend, but after waking up with his sister's boyfriend mistakenly entering his bed, he finds himself interacting more with Kazuya, who offers to "help him out" by touching him. As their relationship progresses, Kazuya moves from playing with Ren to feeling guilty for what he's done to him as he realizes he's causing Ren to relive his own trauma. This story is interesting, and I enjoyed it, but at the end of the day, there's no defending Kazuya as a male lead. Trigger warnings: noncon, cheating, rape, statutory rape.

Junichi was drowning his sorrows in a bar after a bad breakup when he happened to run into his childhood friend, Shizuru, seemingly getting forcefully propositioned. Junichi was once a delinquent after being ostracized for his sexuality in his hometown, and Shizuru and his policeman father had saved him, so Junichi wants to pay them back. But after dragging Shizuru home with him, he finds out that the innocent kid he once knew has changed and now has fun with whoever will have him. After some twists and turns that result in them living together, it finally comes out that Shizuru felt abandoned by Junichi, who left before he could become attracted to the still very young Shizuru. But with everything out in the open, where do they go from here, and how will they face the policeman father who saved Junichi and who Shizuru now resents? I know there's a lot in there, but that's because it's a good story! It has a lot of details and interesting characters with believable inner selves that make it really a great read. Trigger warnings: homophobia, bullying, false accusation.

Theo is a beta who needs a job, and the perfect opportunity seems to fall into his lap when a rich man offers to pay him to live with Oliver, an omega who has lost his mate and lives in perpetual heat. Theo is at first a little put off by Oliver's bluntness, but he can't help but sympathize with Oliver's struggles, as well as feel attracted to him. Meanwhile, Oliver has been living an isolated life for a year now, but he finds himself quickly warming up to the companionship Theo offers. But what will happen to the budding couple when Oliver's mate suddenly returns? This is a really interesting story where I feel like they use the omegaverse setting to do something new and ask interesting questions about this world. Trigger warnings: forced(?) abortion, violence.

Haruki(sub) works as a host but he's in such bad shape even medicine can't help, so he finally uses a matching app to find a dom. The dom, Shirai, has a really fulfilling play with him and offers to become partners, but Haruki books it out of there. Only next thing he knows, Shirai is a new hire at his host club asking Haruki to give him one more chance, and if he's satisfied, they'll be partners. Haruki doesn't want to become addicted to the pleasure a sub can feel, but he can't say no, and their relationship begins. This wasn't quite what I expected from the title, but it was fine and I liked that their relationship had good consent. Trigger warnings: blackmail, attempted rape.

Kanata is a shy, innocent university student who's anxiously fending off the advances of mafia boss Alex, or at least that's his cover. Really, he's the infamous assassin black swan, and he's been hired to kill Alex. When he finally gets his chance, Alex catches him off guard by saying he knew Kanata was after him but he's still in love, beginning their strange relationship and game of cat and mouse where Kanata could kill him at any time. Kanata is a truly interesting and complex character who I deeply feel for, and the artwork is beautiful. The author did very well. Trigger warnings: violence, murder, human trafficking, child abuse, statutory rape.

Towa(omega) is deeply in debt thanks to his ex boyfriend running out on him. That's when he meets Aiji(omega) and Seiji(alpha), twins who claim to both be marked omegas, and they offer to buy him for the night. It goes so well that Towa agrees to a slave contract where they pay off his loan and treat him as their dog. Even when Towa realizes that Seiji is really the alpha who marked Aiji, Towa doesn't mind and things seem to be going well, but as Towa starts to be able to tell them apart and encourages Seiji to differentiate from his brother, it starts to upset the careful balance between them. This one is a little dark, but I think it shows interesting character growth for the twins by the end. Trigger warning: sex work, slave contract, rape, abuse.

Shuu is a little unsure about his new job working at a winged person's estate as they're known to be pretentious and difficult, but his new master, Rai, is withdrawn and seems lonely. When Rai adopts a winged person's egg to raise as his own, Shuu ends up becoming Rai's co-parent, and the two of them develop their own family together as Shuu helps Rai overcome the pain of his past. Trigger warning: aphrodisiac, child abuse (neglect).

Shouta went to an S&M bar without much interest, but when he ran into rope artist Misaki, it was love at first sight. Although Misaki is used to sex being a more casual thing, he responds well to Shouta's impromptu confession, and the two begin dating. But even though they love each other and Shouta is eager to learn more about S&M to please his masochistic lover, Misaki has a difficult past that he's avoiding that begins to rear its ugly head. I liked their healthy relationship, although they do get into some harder S&M. Trigger warnings: Bondage, S&M, strangulation, gang rape, grooming, blackmail, violence.