Love on My Terms
Two former child actors reunite, one very successful and the other laden in obscurity after an accident blurred his memories and trauma caused him to retire. The former can read minds, we later learn within the manga, except for the actor whose childhood is blurred by the traumatic experience at the set. They end up sleeping together -- it's "good practice for the movie we're in" according to the first, the flimsiest of justifications, and end up in a real relationship. There are many details of the latter's past that aren't clear, including his shady relationship with a former idol/colleague/neighborhood boy turned model. Does he have something to do with the accident? And can they find out before it's too late -- this time? ~Chapter 26.1
If You Treat Me Nice, We Can Do It
That's an all-around pretty sad situation to end up in, and everybody involved knows it. The uke is in love with someone who's straight, the seme is in love with the uke (who is decidedly not in love with him), they're both in the yakuza world and one of them is getting framed for money laundering (the seme). Some things could have been handled better by the author, like when the seme forces himself on the uke, and the uke doesn't really address it, and when the uke and the seme refuse to talk about their relationship and use sex to obscure some to the elements they want to hide. Anyway, it's a lot less frivolous than I gave it credit for when I saw the front cover. ~Chapter 2
Siren's Song
A business magnate is taking a pseudo-vacation at an apartment complex, and ends up getting involved with guy who is stuck in an apartment for abusive relationship reasons. The main person he's involved with (and he's involved with him for both involuntary and voluntary reasons) is also the person who the business magnate is investigating for business reasons. Both end up sleeping together, but there are some ugly power dynamics (clear power differential) involved between them because of the lack of knowledge (both from a situation and sexual information standpoint) that the uke has. Also, I think that the seme sort of forces the uke into sex with him because the uke doesn't really know what's going on (see what was said in the previous sentence). ~Chapter 8
Mask Danshi wa Koishitakunai no ni
Ha ha ha, another mask manga for the pandemic of the century (discounting the 1918 Spanish Influenza). This story has nothing to do with a pandemic though. Sayama, regular guy with a penchant for wearing a mask, ends up in the nurse's office after some douchebag (read: the main romantic lead) falls hard (literally, not figuratively) on Sayama and doesn't even apologize properly. Therein lies the set-up for the romance, and our mask-wearing hero is pursued. Update: Sadism, weird, creepy...Saikawa's got some issues... Update on update: Like, I understand why you've got the hots for him (bc he's a good kisser and smexy and whatever) but the feels? I don't get it brah... ~Chapter 7
Masked Woman
On chapter 14. She has the completely correct reaction (as far as I’ve read). He, on the other hand, is super problematic. He is literally being so creepy and crossing so many lines!!!! He’s not sexually harassing her, but he is harassing her with unwanted attention and a complete abuse of his position as her boss. On top of all that, he fell in insta-love with her.
Hananoi-kun to Koi no Yamai
Chapter 13
Mikami to Sato wa Mada Yamashikunai
The couple is fine/whatever...I actually like their dynamics more as friends. They are much funnier like that. Another observation: aside from the gay romance part, the two main characters and two side characters (all of which are friends/in the same friend group) read to me like a realistic picture of (chill) guy group dynamics! Honestly, it’s probably the first time where I’ve seen a group of guy friends in yaoi and thought “this is how a group of guys acts around each other in real life.” I’m not a guy, so I can’t say through experience whether that’s true or not, but that’s what it felt like to me.
When the Star Sleeps