Hollow Lovers
Two men who seem to be the complete opposite of each other -- one adrift and sleeping with anyone in order to have a place to live, the other completely and wholly focused on his fashion business -- meet and end up in a platonic relationship with each other. The former ends up using his latent talents to build up the empire of the latter, who is on the edge of success. It is a story of friendship, a story of later romance, and the depth of two complex characters, their relationship with each other, their contributions to the fashion business, and their histories. There's also a subplot of kidnapping and attempted rape (which at first seems so left field but is done with enough grace for me -- and ends up fitting into the larger plot of the fashion industry -- to go along with it). 5 stars for plot, depth and complex characters. ~Chapter 91
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
Musebinake, Junjou
There are beast humans in this world, as well as regular humans, who are zone-cut off in different areas based on previous designations of the law. There is Yuki, a half-beast, and Goudai, his friend/savior/mentor, who works for the anti-beast police department (basically like the DEA, that enforces the border between humans and beasts). Yuki and Goudai have something, especially since they started living together. However, Yuki has never told any human his secret; and he just got exposed in the last chapter that I read (chapter 4). Who knows what will happen next? ~Chapter 4
Too Close
LiTian Yu and Xu Ze have a contentious relationship, only to become something more when they start to spend time with each other. They have an interesting relationship, but then it all falls apart when LiTian Yu moves out of the country their junior and senior years... Fast forward 5 years in college, and Li Tian Yu has come back to become a doctor and fix their friendship (finding the former love interest by accident) while Xu Ze is the basketball coach/captain at One University's basketball program. They have to deal with the obstacles that come next... I really enjoyed seeing LiTian Yu and Xu Ze during the years they were in high school...I'm not so sure about how this is going to go now they are in college...The relationship could fall into more typical tropes familiar to the yaoi world, which I would be sad about... ~Chapter 58
Green Apple Paradise
A kid in a high school named Si Tong likes another kid in high school named Li ZiChen. He thinks his feelings, which started in the middle of high school, will end once they graduate, but he ends up in the same friend group as Li ZiChen in college (which he didn't realize they would be in the same campus in the same major). Suddenly, SiTong is faced with the reality that his feelings won't just go away, like he had planned in high school; instead, he is stuck with his crush, vacillating between wanting to hang out with him and trying to distance himself out of a need to crush his feelings. He ends up spending a lot of time with him, both because they are in the same group and because Li ZiChen wants to. At some point, Li ZiChen realizes that SiTong has a crush on him but doesn't push him away -- first out of reasoning that it's only a tiny crush, then figuring that he wants to have this person in his life (which evolves into wishing this person was perhaps closer to him than he is). What will become of this relationship? Update -- Chapter 22: Ooof! He did NOT drag that out at all. And it was perfectly casual. I thought it was going to be 10, 20 chapters into this (after chapter 20) when he was going to confess. DANNNG you spicy Li ZiChen. Update of update -- wow wow wow he confessed and I was not ready for all that drama to unfold *cries quietly into pillow* Edit (Chapter 43): They got together! Edit (Chapter 44): Start of Season 2! ~Chapter 67
Perfect Propose
Hirokuni finds himself in the care of his childhood friend Kai, who wants to stay at his apartment for some odd reason (you later find out is the result of Kai's adoptive father getting sent to the hospital). His childhood friend has had a hard time growing up, and doesn't expect anything from Hirokuni, much to his chagrin. Hirokuni wants to treat his childhood friend right, but he doesn't expect his own feelings to turn romantic??? Truly enjoying how much they add to each other's lives. ~Chapter 5
Hinadori wa Shiokaze ni Madoromu
I'm just floored by how good this was. The trauma, the relationships they had to their past were dealt with skillfully, and even the love interest's reaction towards the main character based on the love interest's past actions (where he said something extremely rude but hated himself for saying it) was spot on. The one thing was the romance -- it did feel a little rushed at first, considering the love interest kind of suddenly made a move on the mc -- but the pace of the development was fantastic afterwards. How the mc was managing the loss of his loved ones and the sudden removal of a position with the responsibilities of a different one; the little nephew's feelings towards that loss as well as his sense of abandonment; and the love-interest's interest in the pair because of how he saw the nephew as a version of his past self; all of those elements were done with so much depth. I'm really glad I read this manga. Summary: Mc lost his mom, dad, and sister in a car accident. His sister had a son; he took him in and they moved to a different town. In that town they met a cook at a restaurant, whose story had some mirrors to the story of the nephew. The cook inserts himself into their lives, wanting to almost heal and protect a part of his past. The cook makes a move on the mc, and he and the mc fall in love. There are many beautiful metaphors and deep philosophical points conveyed within the manga.
Blue Period.
Kid who has a lot of talent, a high school student "leveling up" through life, suddenly wakes up to the sound of his fellow classmate's art. He's always known that he's going to get a good government job, study hard and play it safe the way his mom wants him to, but that was before his eyes were turned to art. It made him feel alive for the first time, and although he had tried to suppress the feeling based on practicalities, he decides through the middle of high school to aim for an art school. This is his story. Lots of drawings, great character development, art galore, and practical techniques, this manga is almost a life-lesson and an art class wrapped in one. Chapter 25 -- Entrance exam results for Gedai ~ Chapter 54
Sanju Mariko
An older lady who's feeling ignored by her own kids, crowded in her own house, not sure of her direction in life despite being an author runs away from home and sets out on a new adventure. This manga is about the ups and downs of getting older, and the beauty in starting a new adventure. No matter what age you are, you are never too old to experience the joy and curiosity of life. Due to the risk she takes, she ends up finding something wonderful in the most unexpected places. ~ Chapter 14
Kurayami Ni Strobe