pidgeonreads's manga / #minimal x overly expressive(9)

Short and sweet manga. Niioka is the supervisor of a construction site and also a 32 year old man with a thing for body odor and an expressive face. And Kawaega, a 23 year old scaffolding constructor, just so happens to be his perfect match. He’s got a unique smell and a face permanently set in an accidental scowl.

This is one story where you really, truly have the just ‘hear me out …’ In the beginning, it reads as a smutty and comedic BDSM webcomic with fun reverse power play dynamics and a spicy dash of horny hatred covered in a gorgeous art style. I actually nearly stopped reading early on. But the author did a great job of following their three act plan. The original chapter ‘Blood Bank’ is this exactly. As you leave the original chapter and delve into ‘Carnival’ and later ‘Masquerade’ a touching and heart aching back story is revealed. The main couple is in fact the product of more than one generation of hardship, suffering and dreams that never saw fruition. The interpersonal relationships explored are painful and raw and I found myself falling in love with them more and more every page. For a story with less than a hundred chapters, I truly can’t believe the author managed to so gracefully build a world, follow a plot and explore a relationship.

Despite an utter lack of relationship build up, there’s truly something about these two. Kaoru is a student well known for being a delinquent to most … and a big softie to his best friend. He comes equipped with a history of ‘breaking up’ fights by beating up everyone involved and a rival (cough - childhood bestie) who occasionally shows up at his school just to have a good spar. He hears word of a new delinquent transfer student and immediately high tails his way to the scene of the fight only to be struck by something entirely unexpected upon witnessing the new student in action: love. And, as any rational person does, he immediately confesses his love. Or - I should clarify, he first gets his ass handed to him by a confused Shun, then confesses his love and then experiences his first several kisses AND enters his first relationship all in a handful of very confusing moments. None of the characters have a ton of backstory introduced, saved the slight history between Karou and his rival as well as the concerning information that Shun comes from an abusive home. The couple makes quick work though and in the course of four chapters go from strangers who started dating before knowing each other’s names to fucking. And that short timeline even left room for Karou being taught how to kiss, Shun nearly ruining it all by admitting that he doesn’t particularly feel anything like love for Karou (only to immediately change his mind after he witnessed Karou beating up some ruffians), and plenty of comedic content of Karou sparing his friends absolutely zero details of his newly found sex life. Including an entire arc where he has his rival go to a sex shop with him and give him advice on how to take it. Overall, these two tick off so many of my favorite tropes. There’s a plentiful selection of horny heart eyes, Karou is a very enthusiastic bottom despite Shun being a full head shorter than him, Shun himself is stupidely hot. The entire sucker and candy scenes had me blushing. There’s also a delicious contrast between Karou constant expressiveness and Shun’s lack of expression that makes it so *chefs kiss* when you catch that slight blush on Shun’s cheeks. They’ve both got a few screws loose and it makes for some hilarious little scenes of the best friend and rival going :0 ??? The both of them are also hilariously shameless be it that they constantly screw around at school, can’t stop themselves from telling the others all of the details or even Shun with his dedication to making both of Karou’s friends his friends … even if he doesn’t quite understand the how.

Normally, I’m not a fan of psychological/mystery thrillers. Especially not when it appears that the relationship is toxic. But something told me to keep reading and I’m so glad I did. This story isn’t perfect and neither are it’s characters, but somehow that made it even better. This is one of the few stories I’ve read that managed to display how a healthy relationship dynamic can function between two individuals with unhealthy tendencies. L literally kills people and has an extremely possessive side, but his steadfast loyalty and strangely silly personality made him so loveable. In the same sense, S is lackluster and unlikeable even. He can’t make up his mind and has emotional outbursts on top of pushing people away. But he’s honest and hardworking with a passion that L lacks. They’re both so authentically flawed for characters from a story leaning toward fantasy. The plot itself managed to come together in a perfect way. That last shot of their dinner filled with onions really got me. Onions are disgusting. Raw onions even worse. No one in their right mind would want them in every single meal. But neither of these two are perfectly sane. The onions are such a perfect and understated representation of their relationship and it brought me great joy to see it come to its conclusion.